A History of Schism

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History of Schism

Schism is a term that refers to the two key events that took place in the history of Christianity and these events are the division or the separation between the western churches (Roman ) and the Eastern (Orthodox ) Secondly the term is used to refer to the period from 1378 to 1417 when the western churches adopted two lines of pope and later they came to be three . In other words , schism was the departure of the Christian 's authority and structure

from the false doctrine that was known as heresy to what was referred to as appropriate form of religion Schism is also used to designate the rejection of communion by the church authorities . How was the group formed ? What was its origin and who were its founder members ? What was its motive and how did the group affected the church ? These are the questions that this research will try to answer

Schismism could be termed as a belief in schism and was started by individuals like Donatus C314 . It caused division between the church groups for example it led to the emergence of what is known as the great schism or the separation between the west and the east churches . It also led to emergence of hatred between the two each side considering the other as heretic . The difference between heresy and schism was distinguished for the first time by the first council of Nicea when it declared that non Trinitarian and Arian teachings were heretical and it excluded its followers from the church . At around 325 AD , the council also clarified the quarrel between the Meletius of Lycopolis and Peter of Alexandria not to be as a matter of faith but on discipline . The second instance of schism was in 381 AD when the Constantinople 's first council on Alexander 's belief of the trinity was rejected by Arias . In the light of the above , the council of Chalcedon and Ephesus termed the division of the church as heresy and not schism although the Easterners and the Westerners referred to each as heretics

There was the case of Pelagius who came to refute the claim that there was the original sin . This made him to be referred by the Roman Catholic Church as Heretic . He was the one who came up with the doctrine of free will that later came to be referred as Pelagianism . There was also what was known as Nestorianism . This was a doctrine that was propagated by Nestorian who believed that , Mary was mother only of the human Jesus not the divine Logos and in the Antiochine "two-nature " Christology There were some bishops who believed him and went ahead to establish churches in Iran in accordance with his teachings

The separation between the Eastern and the Western churches is not something that happened overnight . The truth is that originally the two shared one faith but in the787 CE , they somehow separated as some disagreements arose...