Християнската църква и държавата до Великата схизма
The Christian Church and the State Before the Great Schism

Author(s): Todor Bikov
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Canon Law / Church Law
Published by: Пловдивски университет »Паисий Хилендарски«
Keywords: christian church; state; great schism
Summary/Abstract: Christianity emerges as a new religious doctrine and new religious practice during the time of the Roman Emperors Augustus (27 BC- 14 AD) when in Judea Jesus Christ was born, and Tiberius (14 AD-37 AD), when the Messiah, the very founder of the Christian Church, was crucified and subsequently died 34 AD. According to the dogmatic definition the Church of Christ is the natural unity of God and people, believing in Jesus Christ and seeking salvation from the sin and death, and eternal life within Him and through Him. The symbol of faith adds to this definition that the Church is unified, holy, convocational, universal and apostolic. Until the Great Schism in 1054 the Church is undivided but then it split into Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church. The Church itself has rich and dramatic history full of persecution, torture and death. The end of the persecutions was in 313 when Emperors Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, which proclaimed all religions in the Roman Empire equal. The very essence of the Edict of Milan, 313 is a crucial moment in the history of Christianity. Christian religion which had been persecuted during so many centuries was finally proclaimed legal. Several years later when the tetrarchy was eliminated and Constantine became the only ruler of the Roman Empire, Christian religion and the Church started to play a crucial part both in the religious and social life of the Roman Empire. A new age had come in the relationship between religion and state - with the official proclamation of the Christian Church, the state recognized the freedom of thought and religious rights of all people and organizations. New, complex and intertwining relations were formed between the Church and the state which led to caesaropapism in the Eastern Roman Empire and to papocaesarism in the Western Roman Empire.Schism had taken place in 1054 and lasts until the present day. The breakup was absolute: a breakup between two religions, two state systems and between two different cultures even though the very beginning was the same.

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