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The '''East-West Schism''', or the '''Great Schism''', is the historic sundering of eucharistic relations between the [[Church of Rome|See of Rome]] (now the [[Roman Catholic Church]]) and the sees of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem (now the Orthodox Church). It divided medieval [[Mediterranean]] [[Christendom]] into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] and the [[Roman Catholic Church]], respectively. Relations between East and West had long been embittered by political and ecclesiastical differences and theological disputes.<ref name="Cross">Cross, F. L., ed. ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church''. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005, s.v. "Great Schism"</ref> Pope [[Leo IX]] and [[Patriarch of Constantinople]] [[Michael Cerularius]] heightened the conflict by suppressing Greek and Latin in their respective domains. In 1054, Roman legates traveled to Cerularius to deny him the title [[Ecumenical Patriarch]] and to insist that he recognize the Church of Rome's claim to be the head and mother of the churches.<ref name="Cross"/> Cerularius refused. The leader of the Latin contingent [[Excommunication|excommunicated]] Cerularius, while Cerularius in return excommunicated the legates.<ref name="Cross"/>

The Western legate's acts are of doubtful validity because Leo had died, while Cerularius's excommunication applied only to the legates personally.<ref name="Cross"/> Still, the Church split along [[doctrine|doctrinal]], [[theology|theological]], [[linguistics|linguistic]], [[politics|political]], and [[geography|geographical]] lines, and the fundamental breach has never been healed. Western cruelty during the [[Crusades]], the capture and [[sack of Constantinople]] in 1204, and the imposition of Latin Patriarchs made reconciliation more difficult.<ref name="Cross"/>This included the taking of many precious religious artifacts and the destruction of the [[Library of Constantinople]]. On paper, the two churches actually reunited in 1274 (by the [[Second Council of Lyon]]) and in 1439 (by the [[Council of Florence]]), but in each case the councils were repudiated by the Orthodox as a whole, on the grounds that the hierarchs had overstepped their authority in consenting to reunification. In 1484, 31 years after the [[Fall of Constantinople]] to the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]], a Synod of Constantinople repudiated the [[Eastern_Catholic_Churches#Historical_background|Union of Florence]], making the breach between the Patriarchate of the West and the Patriarchate of Constantinople final.<ref name="Cross"/> In 1965, the Pope of Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople nullified the anathemas of 1054.<ref name="Cross"/> Further attempts to reconcile the two bodies are ongoing.