The Byzantine Church
The Roman Empire
• The Christian religion started in this
empire.
• It was called the Roman Catholic religion.
• The leader of the Roman Catholic church
is the Pope.
When the Roman Empire fell…
• The Pope stayed behind to help calm and
Christianize the Germanic Barbarians.
The Byzantine Empire
• The Romans who moved east to
Constantinople needed a new religious
leader since they could no longer easily
communicate with the Pope in Rome.
Rome
The Byzantine Empire
• Selected a leader they called the Patriarch
to be the head of their faith.
• They began to call their religion the
Eastern Orthodox Church.
Both are Christian
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Roman Catholic
Western Europe
Leader = Pope
Other churchmen select
who will be Pope
Used Latin in the church
services
Crowns leaders in a
religious service
Believes the Pope is more
powerful than kings
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Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Europe
Leader = Patriarch
The Byzantine emperor
selects who will be
Patriarch
Used Greek in the church
services
Crowns leaders in a
religious service
Believes the emperor is
more powerful than the
Patriarch
Icons = pictures of holy people
• Many Byzantine people liked them.
• Their emperor, Leo III, banned them.
• Many Byzantines and the Pope in Rome
were upset by this.
• This caused the Roman Catholic and the
Eastern Orthodox Christians to start to
separate from one another.
• Oddly, the Eastern Orthodox church still
uses icons today.
The split widens
• The Pope in Rome claimed to be the head
of all Christian churches everywhere.
• The Byzantines disagreed, saying the
Patriarch and other bishops were equal to
the Pope.
One leader for all
Christians everywhere.
No, we are all equal
leaders.
The split widens even more
• In the late 700s the Byzantine emperor
refused to help the Pope in Rome when he
was attacked by barbarians.
• The Pope turned to the Frank tribe for help
and gave the Frankish king, Charlemagne,
the title of Holy Roman emperor.
• This angered the Byzantines.
Schism = the final separation
• In 1054 the Pope and the Patriarch
excommunicate one another (declare that
the other is no longer part of the church or
heaven bound.)
• This separated Roman Catholic
Christianity from Eastern Orthodox
Christianity.
Roman Catholic
Eastern Orthodox