History Shorts: The great church schism (1054)

The East-West schism in 1054 split the Catholic Church into Greek and Latin branches. The church broke along cultural, linguistic, geographical, political, and theological lines. The two sides did not understand one another and vied for control. The split reflected the schism that occurred five centuries earlier when Rome fell and Constantinople remained a major power. The major issues included whether leavened or unleavened bread was appropriate for the Eucharist, papal authority, and Constantinople's rights within the church. The breach remains to this day, led to each side excommunicating one another, the massacre of Latins in 1182, the Crusader sack of Constantinople in 1204, and nearly 1,000 years of mutual distrust. In the 20th century, Pope Paul IV and Pope John Paul II worked with their counterparts to heal the rifts caused in 1054.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQj0HpMdw74