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Schism

Schism (from the Greek rent, division) is, in the language of theology and canon law, the rupture of ecclesiastical union and unity, i. e. either the act by which one of the faithful severe as far as in him lies the ties which bind him to the social organization of the Church and make him a member of the mystical body of Christ, or the state of dissociation or separation which is the result of that act. In this etymological and full meaning the term occurs in the books of the New Testament. By this name St. Paul characterizes and condemns the parties formed in the community of Corinth (I Cor., i, 12): "I beseech you, brethren", he writes, ". . .that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect in the same mind, and in the same judgment '(ibid., i. 10).

Schism is a genus which embraces two distinct species: heretical or mixed schism and schism pure and simple. The first has its source in heresy or joined with it, the second, which most theologians designate absolutely as schism, is the rupture of the bond of subordination without an accompanying persistent error, directly opposed to a definite dogma. This distinction was drawn by St. Jerome and St. Augustine. "Between heresy and schism", explains St. Jerome, "there is this difference, that heresy perverts dogma, while schism, by rebellion against the bishop, separates from the Church. Nevertheless there is no schism which does not trump up a heresy to justify its departure from the Church ' (In Ep. ad Tit., iii, 10).

Not every disobedience is a schism; in order to possess this character it must include besides the transgression of the commands of superiors, denial of their Divine right to command. On the other hand, schism does not necessarily imply adhesion, either public or private, to a dissenting group or a distinct sect, much less the creation of such a group. Anyone becomes a schis, matic who, though desiring to remain a Christian, rebels against legitimate authority, without going as far as the rejection of Christianity as a whole, which constitutes the crime of apostasy.

In the material sense of the word there is schism, that is rupture of the social body, if there exist two or more claimants of the papacy, each of whom has on his side certain appearances of right and consequently more or less numerous partisans. But under these circumstances good faith may, at least for a time, prevent a formal schism; this begins when the legitimacy of one of the pontiffs becomes so evident as to render adhesion to a rival inexcusable. Schism is regarded by the Church as a most serious fault, and is punished with the penalties inflicted on heresy, because heresy usually accompanies it. These are: excommunication incurred ipso facto and reserved to the sovereign pontiff (cf. "Apostólica; Sedis", I, 3); this is followed by the loss of all ordinary jurisdiction and incapacity to receive any ecclesiastical benefices or dignities whatsoever.

The schisms that brought about the many sects resulted from political and doctrinal disagreements. The doctrine most commonly at issue was the nature of Christ. In 431, the Nestorians broke away because of their belief in the dual character of Christ, i.e., that he had two separate but equal natures, the human Jesus and the divine Christ. Therefore, Mary was not the mother of God but only of the man Jesus. The Council of Chalcedon, representing the mainstream of Christianity, in 451 confirmed the dual nature of Christ in one person; Mary was therefore the mother of a single person, mystically and simultaneously both human and divine. The Monophysites, another schismatic group, taught that Christ's divinity overpowered his humanity, resulting in a single divine nature. They were the precursors of the present-day Syrian and Armenian Orthodox churches. The Monothelites, precursors of the modern Maronites, tried to evolve a compromise by postulating that Christ had two natures, human and divine, but a single will.

From the beginning of the See of Constantinople to the great schism in 867 the list of temporary breaches of communion is a formidable one. There were fifty-five years of schism (341-408) during the Arian troubles, eleven because of St. John Chrysostom's deposition (404-15), thirty-five years of the Acucian schism (484-519), forty-one years of Monothelite schism (640-81), sixty-one years because of Iconoclasm. So of these 544 years (323-867) no less than 203 were spent by Constantinople in a state of schism. In every one of these quarrels Constantinople was on the wrong side; by the later consent of the Orthodox, too, Rome in all stood out for right. The influence of the emperor (who naturally always supported his court patriarch) in most cases dragged a great number of other Eastern bishops into the same schism.

  1. There were "schisms" of the nascent Church of Corinth, when it was said among its members: "I indeed am of Paul; and I am of Apollo; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ." To them St. Paul's energetic intervention put an end.
  2. According to Hegesippus, the most advanced section of the Judaizers or Ebionites at Jerusalem followed the bishop Thebutis as against St. Simeon, and after the death of St. James, A. D. 63, separated from the Church.
  3. There were numerous local schisms in the third and fourth centuries. At Rome Pope Callistus (217-22) was opposed by a party who took exception to the mildness with which he applied the penitential discipline. Hippolytus placed himself as bishop at the head of these malcontents and the schism was prolonged under the two successors of Callistus, Urban I (222-30) and Pontianus (230-35). There is no doubt that Hippolytus himself returned to the pale of the Church.
  4. In 251 when Cornelius was elected to the See of Rome a minority set up Novatian as an antipope, the pretext again being the pardon which Cornelius promised to those who after apostatizing should repent. Through a spirit of contradiction Novatian went so far as to refuse forgiveness even to the dying and the severity was extended to other categories of grave sins. The Novatians sought to form a Church of saints. In the East they called themselves "pure." Largely under the influence of this idea they administered a second baptism to those who deserted Catholicism to join their ranks. The sect developed greatly in the Eastern countries, where it subsisted until about the seventh century, being recruited not only by the defection of Catholics, but also by the accession of Montanists.
  5. During the same period the Church of Carthage was also a prey to intestinal divisions. St. Cyprian upheld in reasonable measure the traditional principles regarding penance and did not accord to the letters of confessors called libelli pads the importance desired by some. One of the principal adversaries was the priest Donatus Fortunatue became the bishop of the party, but the schism, which was of short duration, took the name of the deacon Felicissimus who played an important part in it.
  6. With the dawn of the fourth century Egypt was the scene of the schism of Meletius, Bishop of Lycopolis, in the Thebaid. Its causes are not known with certainty; some ancient authors ascribe it to rigorist tendencies regarding penance, while others say it was occasioned by usurpation of power on the part of Meletius, notably the conferring of ordinations outside his diocese. The Council of Nicea dealt with this schism, but did not succeed in completely eradicating it; there were still vestiges of it in the fifth century.
  7. Somewhat later the schism of Antioch, originating in the troubles due to Arianism, presents peculiar complications. When the bishop, Eustathius, was deposed in 330 a small section of his flock remained faithful to him, but the majority followed the Arians. The first bishop created by them was succeeded (361) by Meletius of Sebaste in Armenia, who by force of circumstances became the leader of a second orthodox party. In fact Meletius did not fundamentally depart from the Faith of Nicsea, and he was soon rejected by the Arians: on the other hand he was not recognized by the Eustathians, who saw in him the choice of the heretics and also took him to task for some merely terminological differences. The schism lasted until about 415. Paulinus (d. 388) and Evagrius (d. 392), Eustathian bishops, were recognized in the West as the true pastors, while in the East the Melctian bishops were regarded as legitimate.
  8. After the banishment of Pope Liberius in 355, the deacon Felix was chosen to replace him and he had adherents even after the return of the legitimate pope. The schism, quenched for a time by the death of Felix, was revived at the death of Liberius and the rivalry brought about bloody encounters. It was several years after the victory of Damasus before peace was completely restored.
  9. The same period witnessed the schism of the Luciferians. Lucifer, Bishop of Calaris, or Cagliari, was displeased with Athanasius and his friends who at the Synod of Alexandria (362) had pardoned the repentant Semi-Arians. He himself had been blamed by Eusebius of Vcrcelli because of his haste in ordaining Paulinus, Bishop of the Eustathians, at Antioch. For these two reasons he separated from the communion of the Catholic bishops. For some time the schism won adherents in Sardinia, where it had originated, and in Spain, where Gregory, Bishop of Elvira, was its chief abettor.
  10. The most important of the fourth-century schisms was that of the Donatists. These sectaries were as noted for their obstinacy and fanaticism as for the efforts and the writings rather uselessly multiplied against them by St. Augustine and St. Optatus of Milevis.
  11. The schism of Acacius belongs to the end of the fifth century. It is connected with the promulgation by the emperor Zeno of the edict known as the Henoticon. Issued with the intention of putting an end to the Christological disputes, this document did not satisfy either Catholics or Monophysites. Pope Felix II excommunicated its two real authors, Peter Mongus, Bishop of Alexandria, and Acacius of Constantinople. A break between the East and the West followed which lasted thirty-five years. At the instance of the general Vitalian, protector of the orthodox, Zeno's successor Anastasius promised satisfaction to the adherents of the Council of Chalcedon and the convocation of a general council, but he showed so little good will in the matter that union was only restored by Justin I in 519. The reconciliation received official sanction m a profession of Faith to which the Greek bishops subscribed, and which, as it was sent by Pope Hormisdas, is known in history as the Formula of Hormisdas.
  12. In the sixth century the schism of Aquilea was caused by the consent of Pope Vigilius to the condemnation of the Three Chapters (553). The ecclesiastical provinces of Milan and Aquilea refused to accept this condemnation as valid and separated for a time from the Apostolic See. The Lombard invasion of Italy (568) favoured the resistance, but from 570 the Milanese returned by degrees to the communion of Rome; the portion of Aquilea subject to the Byzantines returned in 607, after which date the schism had but a few churches. It died out completely under Sergius I, about the end of the eighth century.
  13. The ninth century brought the schism of Photius, which, though it was transitory, prepared the way by nourishing a spirit of defiance towards Rome for the final defection of Constantinople.
  14. Michael Cerularius at one stroke (1053) closed all the churches of the Latins at Constantinople and confiscated their convents. The Greek schism, which still subsists, and is itself divided into several communions, was thus consummated by 1054. As a distinction between the Eastern and Western Roman Empires developed, there also grew up a distinction between the Eastern and Western Churches, appearing both in their ritual and in their doctrinal position. Toward the ninth century this became still more evident, and culminated in 1054 in complete separation between the patriarch or bishop of Rome and the four Eastern patriarchs. The Eastern Church at that time included 4 ecclesiastical divisions, the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria, coordinate in authority, though honorary precedence was accorded to the patriarch of Constantinople. At the head of all Eastern liturgies, foundations of two great classes, are the Liturgies of Alexandria and Antioch. They are not only different rites, their difference underlies the fundamental distinction which divide all others into two main groups; and both are Greek. And the same Byzantine Liturgy is used unchanged in about fourteen different languages. The two agreements of reunion concluded at the Second Council of Lyons in 1274, and at that of Florence in 1439, unfortunately had no lasting results; they could not have had them, because on the part of the Greeks at least they were inspired by interested motives.
  15. The schism of Anacletus in the twelfth century, like that of Felix V in the fifteenth, was due to the existence of an antipope side by side with the legitimate pontiff. At the death of Honorius II (1130) Innocent II had been regularly elected, but a numerous and powerful faction set up in opposition to him Cardinal Peter of the Pierleoni family. Innocent was compelled to flee, leaving Rome in the hands of his adversaries. He found refuge in France. St. Bernard ardently defended his cause as did also St. Norbert. Within a year nearly all Europe had declared in his favour, only Scotland, Southern Italy, and Sicily constituting the other party. The emperor Lothaire brought Innocent II back to Rome, but, supported by Roger of Sicily, the antipope retained possession of the Leonine City, where he died in 1138. His successor Victor IV two months after his election, sought and obtained pardon and reconciliation from the legitimate pontiff. The case of Felix V was more simple. Felix V was the name taken by Amadeus of Savoy, elected by the Council of Basle, when it went into open revolt against Eugenius IV, refused to disband and thus incurred excommunication (1439). The antipope was not accepted save in Savoy and Switzerland. He lasted for a short time with the pseudo-council which had created him. Both submitted in 1449 to Nicholas V, who had succeeded Eugenius IV.
  16. The Great Schism of the West.
  17. The schism of Henry VIII was the prelude to the introduction of Protestantism into England. The voluptuous monarch was opposed by the pope in his projects for divorce and remarriage, and he separated from the pope. He succeeded so well that in 1531 the general assembly of the clergy and the Parliament proclaimed him head of the national Church. Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, had at first caused the adoption of a restrictive clause: "as far as Divine law permits". But this important reservation was not respected, for the rupture with the Roman Court followed almost immediately. In 1534 the Act of Supremacy was voted according to the terms of which the king became the sole head of the Church of England and was to enjoy all the prerogatives which had hitherto belonged to the pope. Refusal to recognize the new organization was punished with death. Various changes followed: suppression of convents, destruction of relics and of numerous pictures and statues. But dogma was not again attacked under Henry VIII, who pursued with equal severity both attachment to the pope and the doctrines of the Reformers.
  18. The Jansenist schism of Utrecht never spread beyond a handful of fanatics. Subsequent schisms belong to the end of the eighteenth and the nineteenth century.
  19. The first was caused in France by the Civil Constitution of the clergy of 1790. By this law the national Constituent Assembly aimed at imposing on the Church a new organization which essentially modified its condition as regulated by public ecclesiastical law. The 134 bishops of the kingdom were reduced to 83, according to the territorial division into departments; the choice of curés fell to electors appointed by members of district assemblies; that of bishops to electors named by the assemblies of departments; and canonical institution devolved upon the metropolitan and the bishops of the province. All benefices without cure of souls were suppressed. A later ordinance made obedience to these articles a condition of admission to any ecclesiastical office. A large number of bishops and priests, in all, according to some sources, about a sixth of the clergy, and according to other documents nearly a third, were weak enough to take the oath. Thenceforth the French clergy was divided into two factions, the jurors and the non-jurors, and the schism was carried to the utmost extreme when intruders under the name of bishops claimed to occupy the departmental sees, during the lifetime and even in defiance of the rights of the real titulars. The condemnation of the Civil Constitution by Pius VI in 1791 opened the eyes of some, but others persisted until their "Constitutional Church" declined shamefully and disappeared irrevocably in the Revolutionary turmoil.
  20. A schism of another nature and of less importance was that of the so-called Petite Eglise ?? the Incommunicants, formed at the beginning of the nineteenth century by groups who were dissatisfied with the Concordat and the concordatory clergy. In the provinces of the west of France the party acquired a certain stability from 1801 to 1815; at the latter date it had become a distinct sect. It languished on till about 1830, and eventually became extinct for lack of priests to perpetuate it. In Belgium some of its members call themselves Stevenists, thus abusing the name of a reputable ecclesiastic, Corneille Stevens, who was capitular vicar-general of the Diocese of Namur until 1802, who afterwards wrote against the Organic Articles, but accepted the Concordat and died in 1828, as he had lived, in submission to the Holy See.
  21. In 1831 the Abbe Chatel founded the French Catholic Church, a small group which never acquired importance. The founder, who at first claimed to retain all the dogmas, had himself consecrated bishop by Fabre Palaprat, another self-styled bishop of the "Constitutional" type; he soon rejected the infallibility of the teaching Church, celibacy of priests, and abstinence. He recognized no rule of faith except individual evidence and he officiated in French. The sect was already on the point of being slain by ridicule when its meeting-places were closed by the Government in 1842.
  22. About the same time Germany was the scene of a somewhat similar schism. When in 1844 the Holy Coat was exposed at Trier for the veneration of the faithful, a suspended priest, Johannes Ronge, seized the occasion to publish a violent pamphlet against Arnoldi, Bishop of Trier. Some malcontents ranged themselves on his side. Almost simultaneously John Czerski, a dismissed vicar, founded in the Province of Posen, a "Christian Catholic community". He had imitators. In 1845 the "German Catholics ", as these schismatics called themselves, held a synod at Leipzig at which they rejected among other things the primacy of the pope, auricular confession, ecclesiastical celibacy, the veneration of the saints, and suppressed the Canon in their Eucharistie Liturgy which they called the "German liturgy". They gained recruits in small numbers until 1848, but after that date they declined, being on bad terms with the Governments which had at first encouraged them, but which bore them ill-will because of their political agitations.
  23. While this sect was declining another sprang up in antagonism to the Vatican Council. The opponents of the recently-defined doctrine of infallibility, the Old Catholics, at first contented themselves with a simple protest; at the Congress of Munich in 1871 they resolved to constitute a separate Church. Two years later they chose as bishop the Professor Reinkens of Breslau, who was recognized as bishop by Prussia, Baden, and Hesse. The principles of the Old Catholic movement were proclaimed in the Congress of Munich (1871), Cologne (1872), Constance (1873), Freiburg (1874), and afterwards at Breslau (1876), and Baden (1880). At first they proclaimed the rejection only of the Vatican decrees, but they soon after proceeded to a more radical reformation in Church matters : the rejection of the Immaculate Conception, the introduction of the language of the country for worship, the election of the clergy by the people, the reception under both kinds, and other improvements. Some of them desired at once to do away with the compulsory celibacy of the clergy, but the definition of that point was deferred. In 1873, Reinkens was consecrated the first bishop of the Old Catholics by the Bishop of the Jansenists, at Utrecht, in Holland. They at once established their theological school. The theologians at the head of this movement were, Germans, Dollinger, Reinkens, Von Schulte, Michelis, Friedrich, Anton; French, Hyacinthe and Michaud. Thanks to official assistance the rebels succeeded in gaining possession of a number of Catholic churches and soon, like the German Catholics and schismatics in general, they introduced disciplinary and doctrinal novelties, they successively abandoned the precept of confession (1874), ecclesiastical celibacy (1878), the Roman liturgy, which was replaced (1880) by a German liturgy, etc. In Switzerland also the opposition to the Vatican council resulted in the creation of a separate community, which also enjoyed governmental favor. An Old Catholic faculty was founded at Berne for the teaching of theology, and E. Herzog, a professor of this faculty, was elected bishop of the party in 1876. A congress assembled in 1890, at which most of the dissident groups, Janséniste, Old Catholics, etc., had representatives, resolved to unite all these diverse elements in the foundation of one Church. As a matter of fact, they were all on the road to free-thinking and Rationalism. In England an attempt at schism under the leadership of Herbert Beale and Arthur Howarth, two Nottingham priests, and Arnold Mathew, failed to assume proportions worthy of serious notice.



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