Moving Toward A Schism Trivia Quiz

Answer: Divided the Roman Empire into two parts

It is true that Diocletian did all of these things during his reign, but dividing the Roman Empire into two parts is what set the stage for the Great Schism. He decided that the empire was too large for one person to rule effectively, so he set up two governments - one in the west, and one in the east, which became known as the Byzantine Empire. Diocletian established a system where there would be two emperors, each with the title of Augustus, and an emperor in training called a Caesar. After twenty years the Augustus was to step down and allow his Caesar to rule.

The understanding was that each Augustus would rule his part, but that all laws that were passed were to be administered uniformly through the empire. This political division would eventually lead to the forming of two sides in the religious controversy that was to follow.

Answer: Greek

When Diocletian divided the Roman Empire between two rulers, the division was really made according to cultural differences. While the western empire was more Latin in its culture, the eastern empire was more Greek and Middle Eastern. Of course, the difference in culture made communication difficult at times, but it also presented a different way of looking at issues from time to time.

In addition, there was competition between the Latin and Greek missionaries over who would win the most converts and what the jurisdiction was for each.

Although the Eastern Orthodox Church is also called the Greek Orthodox Church today, services were performed in the language of the people of each particular region, hence the existence of the Russian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Church, and so on.

The Roman Catholic Church continued to conduct services in Latin until 1964.

Answer: Arianism

From Alexandria, Egypt, Arius was a priest and leader of a local congregation. After Constantine legalized Christianity, some questions began to arise regarding Church belief and teachings. What exactly was the relationship between Jesus and God? Arius believed that Jesus could not be equal to God because God existed first, and this issue became a topic of much debate in Alexandria.

Although this belief bears his name, this debate had been taking place among Christians before Arius brought it to the forefront; eventually it was recognized that the controversy was more widespread than just the Diocese in Alexandria.

Answer: Nicea

Constantine invited 1800 bishops from all over the Roman Empire to attend the Council of Nicea in Asia Minor, although those who attended estimated that there were somewhere between around 250 to over 300 in attendance. The meeting was held in much the same way the meetings of the Roman Senate were held; Constantine was in charge, but did not cast a vote. While it was written than 22 of the delegates were professed followers of Arianism, it appears that shortly after the meeting began most of the delegates condemned Arianism as heretical and eventually wrote the statement called "The Nicene Creed". It began:

"We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father [the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God,] Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father....and the Holy Ghost. "

Answer: False

This is false on two counts. Even though Constantine decreed that all of the writings of Arius should be destroyed and that he should be exiled, his beliefs were spread by missionaries. Many Germanic tribes that would later invade the western Roman Empire had been converted to Arianism, and later Frankish rulers would have to deal with the heresy again.

Secondly, after much deliberation, another council was held in 381 in Constantinople to fine tune the wording. There, it was specified that God, the Father Almighty was the Maker "of heaven and earth" and that Jesus Christ was the "only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds....". There was also deliberation regarding the statement about the Holy Ghost, which became "And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets". The creed was officially amended once more in 475 by the Third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus with the understanding that no more amendments would be allowed. The Roman church, however, rewrote the statement to say, "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son", which raised another disagreement in the Eastern Church.

Answer: John Chrysostom

John Chrysostom was such a popular deacon in his home town of Antioch that he had to secretly leave after being appointed Patriarch of Constantinople. Once there, however, he found that his appointment was opposed by the Byzantine Emperor Arcadius, even though it was accepted in Rome.

Some believe that the simple life that he led caused John to become unpopular with the wealthy; indeed, the wife of Arcadius, Aelia Eudoxia, who had become an important patron of the Church, believed that his sermons were directed toward her extravagances, and ordered a council which ultimately expelled John from the city.

He was quickly reinstated when the people threatened to burn the royal palace; however, continued difficulties led to his second banishment.

At that time he appealed to three western leaders of the Church, including the Roman Pope Innocent I, who attempted to intervene on his behalf, but with no success. John Chrysostom died shortly after.

Answer: Caesaropapism

Justinian's motto was "One empire, one church, one law". His attempts to reunite the Roman Empire were marginally successful; he did rule the Byzantine Empire in its largest extent and ruled some territory that had belonged to the Roman Empire in the west.

His military campaigns, however, were costly and somewhat unpopular. His codification of laws, "Body of Civil Law", became the basis for many legal systems in Europe today. It was his view of his role as head of the Eastern Church that eventually helped to lead to the Great Schism.

He oversaw the election of the patriarch and was actively involved in Church affairs, creating a tradition of like behavior in future Byzantine emperors.

Answer: Patriarch of Rome

The fifth patriarch, a title that was first used by Justinian, was located in Constantinople. Organized in a similar way to the Roman Empire, there were five sees, or dioceses, that were led by the Bishop, or Patriarch. All of the sees were located in important Christian centers at the time and were said to have equal authority over the business of the Church.

The problem was that the Patriarch of Rome believed that he was "first among equals", because Peter had gone to Rome and because it was believed that was where Christ had wanted his Church to be established.

While the other patriarchs agreed that the Patriarch of Rome was due a higher respect than the others, they did not agree that he should have more authority. This led to constant quarreling between the patriarchs, and especially the Patriarch of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople after the others fell into obscurity.

Answer: His wife, Theodora, was involved in the controversy and influenced his beliefs.

Honestly, sources disagree about what the exact controversy was. Some called it monophysitism, which is the belief that Jesus was either divine or human, but not both; others call the controversy miaphysitism, which is the belief that the divine and human nature of Christ are united without separation.

The Council of Chalcedon, held in 451, had already settled the controversy, condemning the belief as heresy, and adopting the belief of dyophysitism, meaning that there are two natures, both divine and human, in Christ. Sources do agree that the Empress Theodora practiced a belief that was contrary to what was accepted by the Church at the time. Whatever the exact controversy was, Empress Theodora, who ruled jointly with her husband, practiced and promoted a heretical belief and it appears that Justinian accepted the belief as well.

Answer: Icons

Icons are religious works of art that typically picture the Virgin Mary, Jesus, the saints, and angels. They were very important to the common people, who sometimes saw them as something that should be worshiped; they would pray to the icons or burn incense.

Many leaders in both the East and West became concerned as this appeared to be a form of idolatry. When the Byzantine Emperor Leo III forbade the use of icons in worship and ordered their removal from worship, riots broke out. The Patriarch of Rome, however, became involved and stated that icons could be used to help common people understand their faith, but could not be worshiped. Of course, this created a strain in the relationship between the two sides of the empire, which had previously managed to stay united on religious affairs.