East and West

35 eventsShow on the timeline

The drifting apart of Greek and Latin Christianity and of the churches beyond the empire, from Chalcedon to the schism of 1054, the crusades, failed reunions and modern dialogue.

Differences of language, politics and theology separated the churches over many centuries. The Church of the East and the Oriental Orthodox churches parted from the imperial church in the fifth century; Rome and Constantinople broke communion in the eleventh. This thread follows the causes, the attempts at reunion, and the steps taken toward one another since 1965.

The thread from start to finish

11 May AD 330, firm date
Constantine Dedicates Constantinople
Constantine rebuilds Byzantium on the Bosphorus as a new imperial city, names it after himself and dedicates it on 11 May 330. He means it to equal Rome and calls it New Rome, and in 381 its bishop is ranked next after the bishop of Rome.
May AD 381, firm date
The First Council of Constantinople
About 150 eastern bishops, summoned by Theodosius, confirm the faith of Nicaea, condemn those who deny the full deity of the Son or of the Spirit, and rank the bishop of Constantinople next after Rome. The creed now recited in most churches bears this council’s name.
1 February AD 410, firm date
The Church of the East Organises at Seleucia-Ctesiphon
With the leave of the Persian king Yazdegerd I, forty bishops of his empire meet in the capital under Isaac, bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. They accept the creed and canons of Nicaea and set their church in order under one head, the catholicos.
June AD 431, firm date
The Council of Ephesus
A council led by Cyril of Alexandria deposes Nestorius of Constantinople and upholds the title Theotokos, God-bearer, for Mary. The bishops of Antioch dissent until 433. The council long divides the Church of the East, beyond the Roman frontier, from the churches that receive it.
August AD 449, firm date
The Second Council of Ephesus
A council under Dioscorus of Alexandria restores the monk Eutyches and deposes Flavian of Constantinople and other bishops as followers of Nestorius. The emperor confirms it; Leo of Rome rejects it as a meeting of robbers. Chalcedon overturns it two years later.
October AD 451, firm date
The Council of Chalcedon
A council called by the emperor Marcian confesses Christ as one person in two natures, divine and human, and ranks Constantinople next after Rome. The Greek and Latin churches receive it; the Coptic, Syriac Orthodox, Armenian and Ethiopian churches do not.
AD 482 to AD 519, firm date
The Henotikon and the Acacian Schism
The emperor Zeno tries to reunite the supporters and opponents of Chalcedon with a statement of faith that neither adopts nor expressly condemns the council. Rome answers by declaring Acacius of Constantinople deposed, and the two sees stay out of communion for thirty-five years.
about AD 542 to AD 578, estimated date
Jacob Baradaeus and the Syriac Orthodox Church
When the opponents of Chalcedon are short of bishops, the empress Theodora has the monk Jacob consecrated. John of Ephesus, his admirer, tells how he travelled the East for over thirty years, hunted by the emperor’s agents, ordaining clergy and bishops for a separate church.
AD 553, firm date
The Second Council of Constantinople
A council called by the emperor Justinian condemns the “Three Chapters”, writings of three theologians linked with Nestorius, and restates the faith of Chalcedon in fourteen anathemas. Pope Vigilius first refuses and then accepts; parts of the West resist for decades.
8 May AD 589, firm date
The Visigoths Turn Catholic at Toledo
At Toledo in 589 King Reccared and the Gothic bishops and nobles renounce Arianism for the Nicene faith. The king’s profession says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and the council orders the creed recited at every mass.
AD 726–730, estimated date
The Iconoclast Controversy Begins
The emperor Leo III moves against religious images, and the patriarch Germanus resigns rather than consent. John of Damascus writes in their defence from outside the empire. In 754 a council under Leo’s son condemns images as contrary to the doctrine of Christ.
25 December AD 800, firm date
Charlemagne Is Crowned Emperor
On Christmas Day 800, in St Peter’s at Rome, Pope Leo III sets a crown on the head of the Frankish king Charles and the Romans acclaim him emperor. The sources of the time disagree about who planned it and whether the king wished it.
AD 863 to AD 885, estimated date
Cyril and Methodius among the Slavs
Two brothers from Thessalonica, sent from Constantinople to Moravia, give the Slavs an alphabet, the Scriptures and the liturgy in their own language. Rome’s attitude to the Slavonic liturgy shifts from approval to prohibition and back, and ends in a ban.
AD 863 to AD 867, estimated date
The Photian Schism
Pope Nicholas I refuses to recognize Photius as patriarch of Constantinople and declares him deposed; Photius denounces Latin teaching in Bulgaria, the filioque above all, and his council condemns the pope. The breach is healed, but its arguments return.
AD 864–866, estimated date
The Baptism of Boris and the Conversion of Bulgaria
Boris, ruler of the Bulgars, accepts baptism from Constantinople and takes the name Michael. He puts down a revolt of his nobles, then asks the pope for bishops, and his country becomes a prize in the quarrel between Rome and Constantinople.
November AD 879 – March 880, firm date
The Council of Constantinople Restores Photius
A council at Constantinople, with legates of Pope John VIII, recognizes Photius as patriarch, rejects the council that had condemned him ten years earlier and forbids any change to the creed. Orthodox documents count it among the councils of universal authority.
AD 988/989, estimated date
The Baptism of Rus’
Vladimir, prince of Kyiv, accepts baptism from Constantinople and marries the emperor’s sister. The chronicle of Kyiv tells of a choice among faiths and of his people baptized in the Dnieper; Greek and Arabic writers tell of an alliance.
16 July 1054, firm date
The Schism of 1054
Legates of the Roman see excommunicate the patriarch of Constantinople in Hagia Sophia, and his synod anathematizes them in return. The sentences name persons, not churches, but later ages take the day as the breach between East and West.
1095 to 1099, firm date
The First Crusade
In 1095 Pope Urban II calls the knights of the West to go east in arms for the remission of their sins. Four years later the armies storm Jerusalem and massacre its defenders and inhabitants, as their own writers report.
April 1204, firm date
The Fourth Crusade Sacks Constantinople
A crusading army, carried by a Venetian fleet it cannot pay for, turns on Constantinople, storms it and plunders its churches. Pope Innocent III condemns the sack, but a Latin emperor is installed and the conquest stands.
May 1274, firm date
The Second Council of Lyon
Gregory X holds a general council at Lyon, where envoys of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII accept the Roman faith and primacy. The council also fixes the rules of the papal conclave. After the emperor’s death the Greek church repudiates the union.
1287 to 1288, firm date
Rabban Sauma, a Monk from Beijing, Visits Rome and Paris
Rabban Sauma, a monk of the Church of the East born in Khanbaliq, comes west as envoy of the Mongol king Arghun. He recites his creed to the cardinals in Rome, meets the kings of France and England, and in 1288 receives communion from Pope Nicholas IV.
1341 to 1351, firm date
Gregory Palamas and the Hesychast Councils
Councils at Constantinople in 1341 and 1351 uphold the monk Gregory Palamas against Barlaam. God’s essence is beyond reach, they teach, but his uncreated energies, seen as the light of Tabor, are shared by the saints. The Orthodox Church holds this teaching as its own.
6 July 1439, firm date
The Council of Florence Proclaims Reunion
Pope Eugene IV and the Byzantine emperor John VIII proclaim the reunion of the Latin and Greek churches at Florence on 6 July 1439, in a decree affirming the Filioque and papal primacy. Mark of Ephesus refuses to sign, and the union finds little acceptance in Constantinople.
29 May 1453, firm date
The Fall of Constantinople
After a siege of some eight weeks the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II takes Constantinople on 29 May 1453. The last emperor, Constantine XI, dies in the fighting, Hagia Sophia becomes a mosque, and the sultan makes the anti-unionist monk Gennadius patriarch.
26 January 1589, firm date
Moscow Becomes a Patriarchate
In January 1589 Jeremias II of Constantinople, visiting Russia, installs Metropolitan Job as the first patriarch of Moscow. A council at Constantinople confirms it in 1590 and ranks Moscow fifth. The tsar’s charter calls the Russian realm the Third Rome.
October 1596, firm date
The Union of Brest
In 1595 the metropolitan of Kiev and most of his bishops, Orthodox subjects of the Polish king, offer union with Rome on thirty-three conditions. Clement VIII receives them, and the union is proclaimed at Brest in 1596. Other bishops and Prince Ostrogski stay outside it.
1599 to 1653, firm date
The Synod of Diamper and the Coonan Cross Oath
In June 1599 the archbishop of Goa holds a synod at Diamper that binds the Thomas Christians of Malabar to Rome and cuts their tie to the patriarch of Babylon. In 1653 many of them swear to obey their Jesuit archbishop no longer, and the community divides.
1622 to 1632, firm date
Susenyos, the Jesuits and the Ethiopian Church
Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia professes the Roman faith under Jesuit guidance and in 1626 swears obedience to the pope. After years of revolt he restores the faith of Alexandria in 1632, and under his son Fasilides the Jesuits are sent out of the country.
16 March 1672, firm date
The Synod of Jerusalem and the Confession of Dositheus
Gathered for the dedication of the rebuilt church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, a synod under Patriarch Dositheus of Jerusalem rejects a confession with Reformed teaching printed under the name of Cyril Lucaris and sets out Orthodox doctrine in eighteen decrees.
7 December 1965, firm date
Rome and Constantinople Lift the Anathemas of 1054
On 7 December 1965 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I declare together that they regret the excommunications exchanged in 1054 and remove them from the memory of the church. The act does not restore communion between the two churches.
1973 to 1994, firm date
Ancient Christological Divisions Are Addressed
Between 1973 and 1994 Rome signs common statements of faith in Christ with the Coptic pope and with the patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, and Eastern and Oriental Orthodox delegates agree two statements of their own. None of them restores communion.
June 2016, firm date
The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church
After decades of preparation a council of the Orthodox churches meets on Crete under the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Ten of the fourteen autocephalous churches take part; Antioch, Bulgaria, Georgia and Russia stay away, having asked for it to be postponed.
6 January 2019, firm date
Constantinople Grants Autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew hands Metropolitan Epiphanius a tomos declaring the Orthodox Church in Ukraine autocephalous. The Moscow Patriarchate, which counts Ukraine as its own canonical territory, has already broken communion with Constantinople over the decision.
28 November 2025, firm date
The Churches Mark 1,700 Years since Nicaea
Pope Leo XIV, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and leaders of other churches pray together at İznik, the ancient Nicaea, and profess the creed. The next day pope and patriarch sign a declaration naming the faith of Nicaea as what binds Christians together.