Missionary politics

Both Byzantium and the West (chiefly the Germans) were at this time launching missionary ventures[41]among the Slavs. The two lines of missionary advance, one from the East and one from the West, soon met in Bulgaria.

Both Rome and Constantinople wanted to add Bulgaria to their spheres. The Bulgarian khan,[42] Boris, was at first inclined to ask the German, i.e. Catholic, missionaries for baptism. But when threatened with a Byzantine invasion, he changed his mind, and around 865 accepted baptism from Greek clergy.

Still, Boris wanted independence for the Bulgarian church, so he asked Constantinople to give the Bulgarian church the same autonomy enjoyed by the other patriarchates (Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem). Constantinople refused.

So Boris turned again to the West in hopes of better terms. He gave the Latins a free hand[43]in Bulgaria, and Latin missionaries soon started to criticize the Greeks, pointing out where Byzantine practice differed from their own: married clergy, rules of fasting, and above all the filioque.

This last dispute involved the words about the Holy Spirit in the Nicene Creed.[44] Originally the phrase read: "I believe … in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father . …" This original form is still recited unchanged by the East to this day. But the West gradually had inserted an extra phrase "and from the Son" (in Latin, filioque), so that in the West, the Creed read " … who proceeds from the Father and the Son."

The addition was made in Spain in the sixth century as a safeguard[45]against Arianism;[46] it stressed the full divinity of Jesus. The addition spread to France and Germany, where it was welcomed by Charlemagne and adopted at the Council of Frankfurt (794).

Rome did not use the filioque until the start of the eleventh century. In 808 Pope Leo III wrote Charlemagne that, although he himself believed the filioque to be doctrinally sound,[47] he considered it a mistake to alter the wording of the Creed.

The Empire Shrinks[48] Back

Until the ninth century the Greeks did not pay much attention to the filioque, but once they did, they reacted strongly. The Orthodox objected[49](and still object) to this addition for two reasons. First, the Creed is the common possession[50] of the whole church; if any change is to be made in it, it must be made by the whole church at an ecumenical[51]council. The West, that altered the Creed without consulting the East, is guilty (as one Orthodox writer put it) of "moral fratricide,"[52] of a sin against the unity of the church.

Second, most Orthodox believe the filioque to be theologically mistaken. Some say it's a heresy because it changes the delicate balance in the doctrine of the Trinity.

Though the filioque was still used at Rome in the ninth century, Nicholas supported the Germans when they insisted upon using it in Bulgaria.

Photius was alarmed at this development on the very borders of the Byzantine Empire. In 867 he wrote a letter to the other Eastern patriarchs; he denounced[53]the filioque and charged those who used it with heresy. Photius then summoned a council at Constantinople, which declared Pope Nicholas excommunicated, calling him "a heretic[54]who ravages[55]the vineyard of the Lord." Christendom was on the verge of schism.

Then the situation suddenly changed. This same year, 867, the Byzantine emperor was murdered, and the usurper deposed Photius and gave the patriarchate back to Ignatius – the man whose exile and resignation began the controversy.[56] About the same time, Pope Nicholas died, and Hadrian II became pope, followed by John VIII. Thus a whole new set of rivalries[57]and alliances,[58] too complex to describe here, came into play.

Another council at Constantinople, known as the Anti-Photian Council, condemned[59]Photius, reversing[60] the decisions of 867. The council decided the Bulgarian church belonged to the patriarchate of Constantinople. Realizing Rome would give him less independence than Byzantium, Boris accepted this decision. In 870 Western missionaries[61]were expelled,[62] and the filioque was heard no more in Bulgaria.

And this was not the end of the story. At Constantinople, Ignatius and Photius were reconciled,[63] and when Ignatius died in 877, Photius once more succeeded him as patriarch. In 879 yet another council was held in Constantinople. The previous council was anathematized and all condemnations of Photius were withdrawn! Rome did not press the question of the filioque nor attempt to enforce the papal claims in the East.

Thus the schism was outwardly healed, temporarily.

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