Evils that Divide the Church, Schism
Evils that Divide
the Church
Schism
Schism
Okay, we admit it.
The Catholic Church is guilty of shameful, sinful terrible acts against
others: atrocities. Well, not all of
these acts were atrocities.
The Great Schism
So, in 1054 Michael I Cerularius and Humbert of Silva
Candida, in a fit of pique and pride, excommunicated each other. It was a tempest in a teapot, affecting
little else than these two individuals.
It was so shameful that it has since been vacated by both the Roman and
Constantinopolitan Churches. You can
read some of the sordid details for yourself.[1] Constantinople was still the political, if
not the spiritual, capital of the Roman Empire, which is why there were Greeks
in southern Italy. It is beyond our
scope to discover why the Normans invaded.
This is very obviously, a political turf war brought about by factors,
such as: the political vacuum caused by moving the capital from Rome to
Byzantium; the sack of Rome by Germanic hoards; the difficulty of coordinating
the administration of so large an empire.
Spiritual leaders had no business being involved in such
clearly political matters: yet, they were.
Spiritual leaders had no business making decisions that coerced the
consciences of others:[2]
yet they did. So, the Greeks were
deprived of freedom of worship in Italy; while the Latins were deprived of
freedom of worship in Constantinople: two crimes that should never have
happened. The Filioque Clause remains a
controversial problem: yet, the Church was not divided over this issue in 1054.
Are you kidding me?
The Church remains divided today because a few people are still nursing
a grudge, boiling in bitterness over something that happened, mostly between
two arrogant, bullheaded, prideful, puffed up with self-importance, rude, and
stubborn individuals. It’s time to forgive
and move on. We’ve got to learn to live
together in brotherly and sisterly love in this new twenty-first century. We have bigger fish to fry than a nearly
thousand-year-old kerfuffle that didn’t mean much, even when it happened. Well, we can’t blame that on the Catholic
Church, can we? Can we at least lighten
up and laugh at ourselves?
The Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade (1202-1204)[3]
was a lot more than a kerfuffle. Still,
many historians agree that the actual driving motivation behind the sack of
Constantinople was the corrupt Venetian banking system. Practically speaking, the Venetian Navy ruled
the Mediterranean Sea; and the Venetian bank ruled the Navy: neither Rome or
Constantinople had much influence on international trade relationships in that
day. Venice cleverly spread innuendo and
lies, inflaming public emotions, and inciting the whole conflict. The gold of Constantinople was a ripe and
profitable plum to pick, so the bank of Venice drove the empire to war because
of their own selfish ambition. Nearly
everybody agrees that this power of usury was just as evil and wrong in 1200 as
it is today.
Are you kidding me?
The Church remains divided today because a powerful central banking
interest, managed by a few greedy, pigheaded, very selfish people devised a
plan of grand larceny; and a few others are still nursing a grudge, boiling in
bitterness over something that happened over eight hundred years ago. It’s time to forgive and move on. We’ve got to learn to live together in
brotherly and sisterly love in this new twenty-first century. We have bigger fish to fry than an
eight-hundred-year-old armed robbery that defrauded and killed thousands, only
to line the pockets of the Doge[4]
and his friends. So, we can’t blame that
on the Catholic Church either. Can we at
least lighten up and not make money our only life goal?
The Council of Florence
The Council of Florence (1438-1445)[5]
is more complicated. The Hussite Wars (1419-1436)[6]
were boiling in the background: yet, most of the Hussites reconciled with Rome
a long, long time ago. The Conciliar
Movement (14th-15th centuries)[7]
mostly fell apart: yet, almost all church decisions have since progressively
returned to greater measures of conciliarity.[8] After the Council of Florence adjourned, the
Greek Church left the table (1454) and never returned; the Slavic Church
departed (1459). The Kievan Church
remained intact until at least 1458, and possibly even until the Union of Brest
(1595):[9]
even today the heirs of Kiev do not seem to share the same divisive spirit
found elsewhere.
Are you kidding me?
We still don’t know how to resolve nearly six-hundred-year-old
conflicts, that have largely devolved into highly polarized and politicized
issues that have absolutely nothing to do with actual spiritual life
whatsoever. That’s hardly the exclusive
fault of the Catholic Church. Talk about
having our feet firmly planted in midair!
Reformation and Counter-Reformation
The Protestant Reformation (1517-1648)[10]
and Counter-Reformation as embodied by the Council of Trent (1545-1563)[11]
fared little better.
Even though Trent resolved many of the Protestant complaints
in Protestant favor, few paid it much attention. Trent was delayed in publication, it was a
technical document, written by experts, which few read, and fewer still
understood. It did not reconcile the
warring parties, and has not reconciled them until this very day.
Instead, split, has been built upon split, upon split, upon
split, “ad infinitum, ad infinitum, ad infinitum, ad nauseam.” So now, we have in the neighborhood of
thirty-thousand separate “Christian” denominations. We look in vain for resolvable theological
issues. Instead, we find as the common
core: the nearly universal coercion of consciences by all parties, and extreme
exercises of pride.
We should have learned by now that the consciences of men
cannot and will not be coerced. God
forbids the coercion of consciences. God
does not practice it; neither must we: it simply does not work. Coercion produces an immediate, yet short
lived, illusion of agreement. But, the
coerced conscience is only driven underground, to nurse its grievance, and seek
revenge. Ultimately, that revenge is found,
and the intensified spiritual cost is multiple, multiple times any original
seeming spiritual gain: the actual outcome is that people are simply driven
farther away from God and from His Christ: the Spirit is both grieved and
quenched. Who do we think we’re
kidding? Nobody is deceived by this,
except we ourselves. So after over
one-thousand years of foot dragging, we now find the Church on earth in worse
shape than it has ever been before.
We all had a hand in this; our ancestors by bringing it to us
and leaving it, unresolved, on our doorstep; we, by continuing it: schism
cannot simply be blamed on the Catholic Church.
No matter how many times the Catholic Church sincerely repents,
publicly apologizes, provides visible acts of penance, and the like: it all
falls on deaf ears. Is this a false
repentance? Or are we actually so hard
hearted that we cannot love either our neighbor or our enemy?
Outcomes
Today is aptly named the post-Christian era. More than ever the coercion of consciences is
the rule of the day. Even our evangelism
is riddled with endless guilt trips, repetitive nagging, and the like. We all do it; we are all guilty; we all want
to be in control. If we fail to lead one
person to Christ each and every day, we think ourselves guilty of the
unpardonable sin. Instead of drawing
people to Christ with the Good News that, only because of the work of Christ,
they are forgiven; we are driving people away from Christ with the Bad News, scathing
people over the exceeding sinfulness of sin.
Make no mistake, sin really is exceedingly sinful: it is our incessant
carping, harping, and niggling that are out of balance with New and Old
Testament values. We may expect only one
outcome from continuing this process.
“Therefore, I say to you, ‘The kingdom of God shall be taken
from you, and given to a nation bringing forth its fruits.’ ” — Matthew 21:43
Jesus’ condemnation of the Jews for failure at fruit bearing,
may be equally applied to the Christian Church.
This is exactly Paul’s point when he writes…
“If some of the branches are broken off; yet you, being a
wild olive, were grafted in among them; you became a fellow-participant of the
root and fatness of the olive: do not boast against the branches; yet if you
boast, you do not hold up the root; but the root [upholds] you. You would then claim, ‘The branches were
broken off, so that I might be grafted in.’
The truth is that they were broken off because of unbelief, yet you stand
by faith. Do not be so arrogant, but tremble[12]:
for if God did not spare the natural branches, lest neither would He spare you. Then behold the kindness[13]
and harshness[14]
of God: on those who fell, harshness; yet on you, kindness, if you continue in that
kindness: else you will also be cut off.
They as well: yet, if they do not continue in unbelief, shall be grafted
in: for God is able to graft them in again: for if you were cut from the naturally
wild olive tree, were grafted unnaturally into a good olive tree: how much more
will the natural be grafted into their own olive tree?” — Romans 11:17-24
We see the fragmentation and polarization of the Church as
the single greatest obstacle to getting the work done: the building of the
Kingdom through fruit bearing lives. The
root causes of such fragmentation and polarization are: the widespread coercion
of consciences, resulting bitterness, revenge seeking, escalation of injuries,
and pride that replaces trembling. This
is God’s work: lest we ever forget….
Healing
Let us begin with the rash assumption that we are not cut
off already; we still have a little time left; yet, not very much. What should we do?
We should start with an all-out frontal attack on our own
nasty habit of coercing consciences. I
regret that much of what I have written here involves such coercion: in many
ways, I don’t even know how to stop.
It hurts, doesn’t it?
The truth hurts. Nobody wants to
get fixed by somebody else. We don’t
need to be reminded that we’re broken: we are already painfully aware of that
fact. I need to be told when I’m pushing
too hard. I need to have enough love and
respect for you as a child of God, for you as a person to back off. Spiritual tailgating is a dangerous and
destructive habit; one way or another, we are all traveling on this one road:
safe spiritual driving is a necessity. I
need to give you your space. You need to
be given the confidence that my only concern is your welfare. I’m in the same boat you’re in; I’m not God;
I can’t fix you: God is the only one Who can heal our mutually broken condition. My learning patience will help you more than
anything. We need to build more
accessible watering troughs. We don’t
need to flog the horse to get him to drink.
We cannot wear both the omophorion and the mitre at the same
time. For the most part, we need to
strip off the mitre and forget that we own it.
For if leaders everywhere stopped coercing consciences, the people would
gladly follow.[15]
Reunion is won by building relationship first, not by perfecting
doctrine. Much of the genius of Kyr
Vsevolod, whether he realized it or not, rests on the fact that he gave at
least as much time building solid friendships and relationships as he gave to
the technicalities of ecumenical dialog: and he gave a lot of time to ecumenical
dialog, pulling no punches about the obstacles he observed. Somehow or other, Kyr Vsevolod knew that even
when one disagrees with a friend, the commitment to listening and respect are
greatly intensified: one cannot argue with a friend without changing both
friends: as we are remolded, we become closer to one another in heartfelt actuality. If we begin here, the walls of separation
will come down more quickly. It is only
in isolation, where the bitterness of division festers.[16]
We need to read each other’s mail. Orthodox and Protestants would do well to
study the Roman Catholic Catechism.
Catholics and Protestants would profit from reading Orthodox studies. Catholics and Orthodox would find a treasury
in Protestant contributions. Gentleness
and respect must become our byword.
Such building must begin at the lowest level: we adults are
too fixed I our ways. I treasure, as one
of my greatest life experiences, the fact that I grew up in a small mixed
community: English, Greeks, Polish, a variety of other Europeans; most
immigrants, some refugees, others displaced persons; other races; Catholics, Orthodox,
Protestants… sure, we had our squabbles… yet, in attending the same schools, we
learned to love each other. Much, if not
most, of my ecumenical zeal comes from the fact that I desperately want to be
in agreement and at peace with my friends: God built such hunger into me as a
little child. If we grow together in
childlike love, our differences will quickly melt. If we wait for the highest intellectual level
to form friendships, it will be too late.
If we could begin to write a simple joint catechism, perhaps that would
help us get started: finding those things upon which we all can agree.[17] Perhaps the little children should write it.[18]
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East%E2%80%93West_Schism
[2]
Almost all church bodies strictly forbid any form of moral or spiritual
coercion: yet, it happens all the time, even though it is dreadfully wrong.
[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Crusade#Diversion_to_Constantinople
[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doge_of_Venice
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_Venice
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_banking
[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Florence
[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussite_Wars
[7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conciliarism
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conciliar_movement
[8]
More than merely rule by church councils: conciliarity speaks to a total
collegiality of all authentically succeeding apostolic bishops; as well as the
fact that all Christians receive the Holy Spirit at baptism, hence, are equally
shared vicars of Christ in sense, if not in title.
[9]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eparchy_of_Kiev_(Moscow_Patriarchate)
[10]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformation
[11]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Reformation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Trent
[12]
Paul may be referring to Daniel 5:6, where Belshazzar dared to arrogate to
himself the prerogatives of the Kingdom: after all, his nation had vanquished
Judea in 586.
[13]
This kindness has a certain utilitarian practicality attached to it: God will
have His Kingdom built. This is not
about the eternal loss of salvation. This
is about being fired for not doing the job.
God can be and is very tough minded about this: consider Jonah 2, if you
are left with any doubts about the building of God’s Kingdom. Don’t kid yourself; I, you, as well as whole
churches are expendable, as far as the work is concerned.
[14]
This harshness literally means to be cut off and separated far away.
[15]
Botean, Bishop John Michael, “Always Vladyka”, Jack Figel, ed., We Are
All Brothers, Volume 3, (Eastern Christian Publications, Fairfax, VA,
2007), pages 69-78. Psalm 119:176;
Jeremiah 50:6; Matthew 10:6; 15:24; 23:11 (see 23:1-39); Luke 15:4-6
[16]
Samra, Bishop Nicholas, “Kyr Vsevolod”, Jack Figel, ed., We Are All
Brothers, Volume 3, (Eastern Christian Publications, Fairfax, VA,
2007), pages 79-86. Not only in this
essay, but also in page after page of pictures and dialog throughout the three
volumes, Kyr Vsevolod was a man devoted to building friendships.
[17]
1 Peter 3:15
[18]
Matthew 18:3; 19:14; Luke 18:15-17; Mark 10:14
[19]
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