Part 6/10:
Further disagreements regarding ecclesiastical authority deepened the rift. The Orthodox insisted on collective decision-making through councils, while the Catholic Church increasingly emphasized papal supremacy. These doctrinal divisions sowed the seeds of profound mistrust between East and West.
The Great Schism of 1054
The culmination of these long-standing tensions led to the Great Schism of 1054. On July 16th, Pope Leo IX’s delegation excommunicated Patriarch Michael Cerularius of Constantinople, who reciprocated with an excommunication of the papal emissaries. The excommunications were intended as temporary measures to clarify disputes, but they solidified a permanent separation instead.