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Why did The Byzantine Empire come into conflict with the Roman Catholic
Church?

1 Answer

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Answer:

In Rome, Roman Church leaders were angry because Leo's order applied to parts of Italy that were under Byzantine control. Pope Gregory III even excommunicated the emperor. The Byzantine Empire lifted its ban on icons in 843. But the dispute over iconoclasm had caused a major split between the east and west.

Step-by-step explanation:

The major theological differences between the pope and the Byzantine emperor centered on the "filioque," a Latin phrase that the pope and the western church inserted into the Nicene Creed, altering its meaning. The phrase, meaning "and from the son," changes the Creed to state that the Holy Ghost originates not just from the father but also from the son, putting the father and the son on equal footing, something the Byzantine emperors in the East could not agree to.

The issue of the filioque, however, is just a small doctrinal issue that masks the greater conflict over political supremacy. The Byzantine emperors in Constantinople viewed the popes as simply the bishops of Rome, and saw that city as being on equal footing in terms of spiritual authority with Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, a system known as the Pentarchy. The popes, however, rejected the Pentarchy, and saw themselves as having spiritual supremacy over the other four major centers of Christianity.

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