Eastern Orthodox Vs. Roman Catholicism

Although the Eastern orthodox church shares roots with the Roman Catholic church, they have many contrasting beliefs.

One major issue that divided the two churches is that controversy of icon use in their rituals and worship. The western church deemed the images appropriate while the Eastern church, influenced by the Iconoclasm movement of Leo III, believed such icons were against the teachings of the Old Testament.

Another major dividing issue between the two churches was the possession of power.Traditionally, the Pope was the top leader of the church and all matters of divinity were his concerns, but this changed when Eastern Europe adopted Caesaropapism. With this practice there was no separation of church and government. The emperor in the east began controlling the church through his newly appointed eastern Pope, and therefore controlled all divine and earthly matters. An example of this can be seen through Constantine's influence at the Council of Nicaea, around 325 C.E.

Due to the "new Pope" of the east, the pope in the west was fighting for respect and began to look for ways of reform to restore the reputation of the church. Pope Leo I began some of this reform by giving direction on how the church should care for the poor and needy, and Gregory I reorganize the financial aspects of the church to insure the church's money was going to support the missions of the church.

One of the biggest spiritual reforms was the development of monasteries. Before this time monasteries were a place for social revolutionaries and rejects, but St. Benedict set up a code of values for these monasteries that emphasized such values as prayer, poverty, obedience and chastity. Therefore, monasteries became an acceptable way to show devotion to God and the church.

One of the best political reforms the church focused on was missionary work and conversion of key leaders such as Clovis. By converting these key leaders the church was able to up the membership by enormous numbers because when a leader is converted so are that leader's followers or people.

As all these reforms and disagreements continued the major controversy of power was mounting. The Eastern and Western Popes were competing for respect, and as a result, they excommunicated each other in 1054. This is referred to as the schism, or separation, and the official beginning of the Eastern Orthodox church as a separate religion from the Roman Catholic church.