Theological Debates with the West, 1054–1300

Kolbaba, Tia M.

doi:10.1017/9781107300859.029

Cited by 14 publications

References 379 publications

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Beards, Azymes, and Purgatory

Siecienski

2022

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Although the Filioque and the papacy are usually regarded as the questions that have caused the schism between Christian East and West, there were other issues (like the use of azymes, or unleavened bread, for the mass) that have greater claim to be the source of the division. For example, the fact that Latin priests were beardless was cited as one of the reasons for the excommunications of 1054, and the Western belief in Purgatory was the very first issue discussed at the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1438, the last real attempt to heal the schism before the twentieth century. Thus, if one wants to understand the schism between East and West, one is forced to deal not only with the reasons it remains, but also with the reasons it began. These disagreements about beards, bread, and the state of souls after death may not appear to be church-dividing issues today, but they are nevertheless the reasons why the church is divided. This book examines these three debates—beards, azymes, and Purgatory—from the biblical and patristic period to the modern day. It is an amazing story, filled with beardless (and bearded) holy men debating the nature of masculinity, the Eucharist, and the world to come in an atmosphere that was often as contentious as any dispute about the Spirit’s procession. While these issues may not now generate the same heat, they still have much to offer anyone wishing to understand the ongoing rift between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

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