Can't We All Just Get Along? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Christianity becoming the dominant religion in the Roman Empire

Emperors Constantine I and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD and thereby proclaimed religious tolerance throughout the Roman Empire. This brought to an end the Diocletianic Persecution, the last and most violent persecution Christians suffered in the empire. Christianity could now operate in the light of day without fear. This fact along with the conversion of Constantine to Christianity marked a turning point in Christianity and its role in the world. With the prominence that Christianity now enjoyed, came greater threats to its purity and doctrine. Over the next 700 years many ecumenical councils would be held to decide issues concerning the church. Of these the first seven are given special status. These were:

1. First Council of Nicaea (325 AD convoked by Constantine I)
2. First Council of Constantinople (381 AD convoked by Theodosius I)
3. First Council of Ephesus (431 AD convoked by Theodosius II)
4. Council of Chalcedon (451 AD convoked by Marcian)
5. Second Council of Constantinople (553 AD convoked by Justinian I)
6. Third Council of Constantinople (680 AD convoked by Constantine IV)
7. Second Council of Nicaea (787 AD convoked by Constantine VI and Empress Irene)

How different regions reacted to these councils and their pronouncements determined which path these churches would take and began the process of the fragmentation of Christianity.

Answer: Arianism

The 20th century belief is Aryanism, seen most prominently in the Nazis of World War II. The doctrine within the Christian church was called Arianism, so named after its author. Arius maintained that Christ the Son was subordinate to God the Father within the Trinity. He taught that Christ did not always exist but was created, and is therefore subordinate to and distinct from God the Father.

This idea was rejected at the First Council of Nicaea, which drafted the Nicene Creed. The creed holds that God the Father and God the Son are of the same substance and therefore equal within the Trinity. The First Council of Constantinople (381 AD) upheld this conclusion and branded Arius a heretic. Most Christian traditions accept the Nicene Creed and it is the basis for Trinitarianism. Notable exceptions are more modern movements like the Unitarians, Latter Day Saints, Quakers, Christadelphians and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Answer: Patriarch of Constantinople

The clue 'fatherly' in this case would refer to patriarch. Nestorius was made the Patriarch of Constantinople in 428 AD. With the consolidation of the Christian church under Constantine and the move of the capitol from Rome to Constantinople, the Patriarch of Constantinople held great power and authority. During these centuries there were five centers of power within Christianity - Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.

Nestorius held that the Divine nature and the human nature of Christ existed separately within Christ, a form of dyophysitism. Also at issue was the nature of Mary and whether or not she was the 'Mother of God'. Nestorius felt the title denied Christ's humanity. The First Council of Ephesus denounced these positions and reaffirmed the Nicene Creed.

This council caused the first major split in Christianity with the Church of the East rejecting its conclusions. Many of its followers were under the authority of the Patriarch of Alexandria and left to go to the Persian Sassanid Empire. The Church of the East embraced Nestorianism and has been called the Nestorian church by some. Between the 9th and 14th centuries its influence spread from the Mediterranean all the way to China and India. Today the Assyrian Church of the East traces its lineage back to this church.

Answer: Hypostatic union

The word all three have in common is hypostasis, a word at the root of the hypostatic union. Hypostasis actually plays a role in the understanding of the Trinity as well as the understanding of Christ's nature. It was part of the discussions that brought about the Nicene Creed. In general terms trinitarianism can be defined as "Three Hypostases in one Ousia" or three distinct essences in one being (God).

In response to Nestorianism, a new doctrine arose called monophysitism. This doctrine maintained that Christ's humanity was absorbed by His Deity so that He had only one nature, instead of two as in Nestorianism, a dyophysitism doctrine. Monophysitism was repudiated by the Council of Chalcedon and the Chalcedonian Creed, which describes the two natures of Christ existing in a hypostatic union. Basically it maintained that Christ was 100% God and 100% man existing together in the one person of Christ, much as there are three distinct essences in one being in the Trinity.

This council caused a further split within Christianity as it was rejected by Oriental Orthodoxy. There are six groups within Oriental Orthodoxy:
1) Coptic Orthodox (Egypt)
2) Ethiopian Orthodox
3) Eritrean Orthodox
4) Syriac Orthodox (Eastern Mediterranean)
5) Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (India) and
6) Armenian Apostolic churches.
Oriental Orthodoxy accepted the first three councils but rejected the fourth. For its part, it considers itself to believe in miaphysitism. According to "The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity", "Miaphysitism holds that in the one person of Jesus Christ, Divinity and Humanity are united in one or single nature ("physis"), the two being united without separation, without confusion, and without alteration." Although there seems to be little practical distinction between this and the Chalcedonian Creed, both sides maintained there was a distinction. Oriental Orthodoxy was not willing to accept the rigidity of the creed and opted to follow its own path.

Answer: Monophysitism

The clue 'singular' in this case refers to 'mono'. Monophysitism maintained that Christ's humanity was absorbed by His Deity so that He had only one nature, instead of two as in Nestorianism, a dyophysitistic doctrine. The Chalcedonian Creed refuted monophysitism but it still held sway in some corners.

Although the Council of Chalcedon attempted to settle the issue of Christ's human and divine natures, the issue still was unsettled in the East. Both the miaphysitism of the Oriental Orthodox faction and the monophysitism of Eutyches were prevalent.

As time went on, monophysitism gained more pull in Constantinople. Finally after 35 years the two sides made peace when a new Byzantine Emperor, Justin I, and a new Patriarch of Constantinople, John II, accepted the Chalcedonian Creed.

Answer: Bulgaria

Although cloaked as a doctrinal dispute, the Photian Schism was far more political than anything else. In this aspect it mirrored what would happen in the Great Schism more than any previous schism. Pope Nicholas I opposed the appointment by Byzantine Emperor Michael III of Photios I as Patriarch of Constantinople in 858 AD. Michael III had deposed Patriarch Ignatios in favor of Photios I but Pope Nicholas I still supported Ignatios. In 863, Pope Nicholas I had Photios I deposed by a synod in Rome and Ignatios reappointed. It took two councils in 869-870, the one deposing Photios, and in 879-880, the one after Photios was reinstated, to resolve the dispute.

During all of this, the disputed jurisdiction over Bulgaria got thrown in the mix. Boris I played both sides against each other in seeking the best deal he could get for the First Bulgarian Empire. Boris I ended up securing for his country an autocephalous (self-governing) Bulgarian Church. The church would be headed by its own archbishop under the Patriarch of Constantinople, as decided by the Fourth Council of Constantinople in 870 AD. He furthered strengthened his church by developing a Slavic liturgy using the Slavic language.

Answer: The Crusades

The Crusades did not start until 1096 AD. The roots of the Great Schism can actually be traced back to Diocletian. His splitting of the empire between East and West and his use of religion rather than military acclamation elevated his claims to being emperor but also brought religion into the realm of politics. The Tetrarchy further solidified the beginning fragmentation of the Roman Empire. Although Constantine I reunited the empire, his establishment of Constantinople as his capitol actually solidified the divide between East and West. With his recognition of Christianity, Constantine brought this natural divide into the church and again interjected religion into politics. It was only natural that the church in Constantinople would become important, just as the church in Rome had become important because Rome had been the capitol. A natural rivalry developed between Constantinople and Rome that was only magnified by cultural and language differences. The church in Rome used Latin while the church in Constantinople used Greek. With the Fall of Rome in 476 AD, the divide between East and West grew even more stark. The language differences blossomed into cultural and liturgical differences so that by the time of the 11th century, two distinct churches existed.

Not only did secular politics play a role in the schism, but more importantly ecclesiastical politics. The five centers of Christendom had been Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. These had been recognized since the time of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD and had developed into the Pentarchy under Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (527-565). But Rome had always held that it had control over the others, even though they did not agree. This tension over ecclesiastical authority grew stronger over the centuries. The final straw came when Rome added the Filioque clause into the Nicene Creed without an ecumenical council. In 1054 AD, the sides mutually ex-communicated each other and the church broke into two - Roman Catholicism in the West and Eastern Orthodoxy in the East.

Answer: Avignon

With the rise in prominence of the Franks under Charlemagne in 768 AD and his crowning as Roman Emperor in 800 AD, the role of Frankish clergy gained strength. By the beginning of the 14th century, conflicts between the Pope and the French crown had reached a tipping point. In 1309, Clement V, a Frenchman, became Pope and refused to go to Rome. He established his papal enclave at Avignon France. A series of seven French Popes resided in Avignon from 1309 to 1376:
Pope Clement V: 1305-1314
Pope John XXII: 1316-1334
Pope Benedict XII: 1334-1342
Pope Clement VI: 1342-1352
Pope Innocent VI: 1352-1362
Pope Urban V: 1362-1370
Pope Gregory XI: 1370-1378
In 1377, Pope Gregory XI returned the papacy to Rome. He died shortly thereafter. As the College of Cardinals met in 1378 to elect a new Pope, a Roman mob burst in and forced them to elect an Italian Pope, Urban VI. Urban VI quickly alienated the cardinals who then returned to Avignon and elected a French Pope, Clement VII. With this the Western Schism began. The ecclesiastical division quickly developed into a secular problem as each secular ruler had to pick which Pope to recognize. Avignon was supported by France, Aragon, Castile and León, Cyprus, Burgundy, Savoy, Naples, and Scotland. Rome was supported by Denmark, England, Flanders, the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, northern Italy, Ireland (English Dominion), Norway, Poland, and Sweden. The Schism was not resolved until the Council of Constance (1414-1418) when the three current claimants to the office of Pope - Gregory XII at Rome, Benedict XIII at Avignon and John XXIII were forced to abdicate and a new united Pope elected. This Pope was Martin V.

Answer: True

At the time of the Great Schism not all Eastern churches sided with Constantinople and left Rome. Three specific churches never broke communion with Rome. These were the Maronite Church (Lebanon), the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church (an Italo-Greek church), and the Syro-Malabar Church (India).

These churches formed the Eastern Catholic Churches. As the centuries passed, other churches sought to regain full communion with Rome so that there are now a total of 22 Eastern Catholic Churches (divided among five Eastern rites) and one Western Church (the Latin rite). Each church is self-governing and autonomous but in full communion with Rome. One of the most striking examples of this self-governance is the fact that Eastern Catholic Churches can ordain married men as priests, unheard of in the Western Catholic Church.

Answer: Latin and Byzantine

The Latin Rite which grew from Rome and the Byzantine Rite which grew from Constantinople are the two largest rites within Roman Catholicism. The 23 autonomous particular churches in Roman Catholicism each has its own liturgical rite but all fall into one of the six, many of which reflect Eastern Orthodox traditions. They break down in this manner:
Latin Rite -
Latin Church (Western Church)
Byzantine Rite -
Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church
Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church
Croatian Greek Catholic Church
Greek Byzantine Catholic Church
Hungarian Greek Catholic Church
Italo-Albanian Catholic Church
Macedonian Greek Catholic Church
Romanian Church United with Rome
Greek-Catholic Russian Byzantine Catholic Church
Ruthenian Catholic Church
Slovak Greek Catholic Church
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Russian Catholic Church
Alexandrian Rite -
Coptic Catholic Church
Ethiopic Catholic Church
Antiochene Rite -
Maronite Church
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Syriac Catholic Church
Armenian Rite -
Armenian Catholic Church
East Syrian Rite -
Chaldean Catholic Church
Syro-Malabar Church
The Western Church (Latin Rite) is by far the largest with well over one billion adherents. The Eastern Catholic Churches only have a little over 17 million adherents according to 2010 statistics from Catholic Near East Welfare Association as found in an "Annuario Pontificio" article "The Eastern Catholic Churches 2010".