Splitsville

I was talking to a friend about what I plan to do in Russia about Mass. I told her that I had actually found a church in Vladimir, thank you very much masstimes.com, so I should be fine for at least my Sunday and Holy Day obligations. I also made the comment that if it came to it I could attend a Russian Orthodox Mass and I would still fulfill my obligation, although I couldn't receive. So this then lead into a short discussion about why there is so much division between the many churches of the Christian world. She said how she didn't understand why we all couldn't get along and I bit my tongue cause I knew I didn't really feel like getting into a why Catholicism is the one true faith debate.

Anyways, the point is that most people don't realize that many of the splits in the Catholic Church are really over such small disagreements. One I find particularly interesting is the split of the Russian (Byzantine at the time) Church. Basically the Constantinople patriarch decided one day in 1053 to break from the church, he closed Latin Churches and declared some heresies. Basically got his bum excummunicated and with it most of the eastern churches, including the Russian Church. The Russian Church became its own entity after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. So it short this whole split came from a dispute over papal authority. You can read more about this here or in the textbook I am holding right now. Well, I not really all that insightful but at least its something to think about.