Schism in Christianity

In Christianity, a schism occurs when a single religious body divides and becomes two separate religious bodies. The split can be violent or nonviolent but results in at least one of the two newly created bodies considering itself distinct from the other. This article covers schisms in Christianity.

In the early Christian church, the formation of a distinction between the concepts of "heresy" and "schism" began. In ecclesiastical usage, the term "heresy" refers to a serious confrontation based on disagreements over fundamental issues of faith or morality, while the term "schism" usually means a lesser form of disunity caused by organizational or less important ideological differences.^[1] Heresy is rejection of a doctrine that a Church considered to be essential. Schism is a rejection of communion with the authorities of a Church.

Definition of schism in Christianity

In Christian theology, the concept of the unity of the Church was developed by the Apostles, Holy Fathers and apologists. The greatest contribution to the doctrine of church unity was made by the apostles Peter and Paul, Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus of Lyons, Cyprian of Carthage, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, and John of Damascus. Christian ecclesiology insists on the statement that unity and the Church are synonymous, as John Chrysostom wrote: "the name of the Church is not one of separation but of unity and harmony".^[2]^[3]

Canon 751 of the Latin Church's 1983 Code of Canon Law, promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1983, defines schism as the following: "schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him".^[4] This definition is reused in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.^[5]

List of Christian schisms

pre-12th century Christian schisms

Since the early days of Christianity, many disputes have arisen between members of the Church.

The following instances of denominations are considered as schisms of Early Christianity by the current mainstream Christian denominations:

Name of schism	Original location of schism	Start date	Schism resolved	Original Church body	Resulting Church bodies or Schismatic bodies	Notes
Marcionian schism	Roma, Italia, Roman Empire	144	c. 10th century	Great Church	Marcionites	The schism started after the excommunication of Marcion of Sinope, who was influenced by Gnosticism and taught that the teachings of Christ is incompatible with the actions of the God of the Old Testament.^[6]
Montanian schism	Ardabau, Mysia, Asia, Roman Empire	c. 157	c. 9th century		Montanists	The schism started after the excommunication of Montanus, along with Prisca and Maximilla, who taught that the Holy Spirit enables new prophecies after Jesus Christ.^[7]
Sabellian schism	Roma, Italia, Roman Empire	220	–		Sabellians Patripassians	The schism started after Pope Callixtus I excommunicated Sabellius, who taught that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are different modes or aspects of one God, rather than three distinct persons in God Himself.^[8]
Novatian schism	Roma, Italia, Roman Empire	251	8th century		Novatianists	The schism started after Novatian was consecrated bishop by three bishops of Italy and declared himself to be the true Pope in opposition to Pope Cornelius. He held that lapsed Christians, who had not maintained their confession of faith under persecution, may not be received again into communion with the church.^[9]
Donatian schism	Carthago, Africa Proconsularis, Roman Empire	313	c. 7th century		Donatists	The schism started when a commission appointed by Pope Miltiades condemned the Donatists, who denied the validity of sacraments administered by priests and bishops who had been traditores under the Diocletianic persecution.^[10]
Arian schism	Nicaea, Asia, Roman Empire	325	7th century		Arians	^[11]
Quartodeciman schism	–	325	–		Quartodecimans	^[12]
Pneumatomachian schism	–	342	–		Pneumatomachians	^[13]
Luciferian schism	–	362	–		Luciferians	Lucifer of Cagliari might have been excommunicated, as is hinted in the writings of Ambrose of Milan and Augustine of Hippo, as well as Jerome, who refers to his followers as Luciferians.^[14]
Meletian schism	Antiochia, Syria, Roman Empire	361	415		Meletians Eustathians	The schism originated when Patriarch Meletius of Antioch was opposed by those faithful to the memory of Eustathius of Antioch, due to the unclarity of his theological position.
Collyridian schism	-	c. 376	-		Collyridians	The existence of this sect is seen as doubtful by many scholars.^[15]
Monarchian schism	–	381	–		Monarchians Adoptionists Modalistic monarchianism	Monarchianism first developed in the 2nd century, but was only considered heresy after the 4th century.^[16]
Appolinarian schism	Laodicea, Syria, Roman Empire	381	late 4th century		Appolinarians	^[17]
Nestorian schism	Ephesus, Asia, Roman Empire	431	-		Nestorians	The Church of the East, independent since 410, refused to condemn Nestorius, leading to broken communion with the Great Church.^[18]
Monophysite schism	Chalcedon, Bithynia, Roman Empire	451	–		Monophysites	^[19]
Acacian schism	–	484	519		Acacians	^[20]
Schism of the Three Chapters	Aquileia, Italia, Eastern Roman Empire	553	581 (Milan) 606 (Grado) 698 (Aquileia)		Patriarchate of Aquileia, dioceses in Liguria, Aemilia, Milan, and the Istrian peninsula	Part of the larger Three-Chapter Controversy.^[13]
Armenian schism	Dvin, Armenia, Sasanian Empire	607	-		Armenian Apostolic Church	The Armenian Church adopted Miaphysitism, and broke communion with the Georgian Church.^[21]
Monothelite schism	–	629	–		Monothelites	^[22]
First Iconoclasm	–	c. 726	13 October 787		Iconoclasts	^[23]
Second Iconoclasm	–	815	843		Iconoclasts	^[23]
East–West Schism	Kōnstăntīnoúpolĭs, Eastern Roman Empire	16 July 1054	–		Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church	The validity of the Western legates' act is doubtful because Pope Leo IX had died and Ecumenical Patriarch Michael I Cerularius' excommunication only applied to the legates personally. In 1965, Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I nullified the anathemas of 1054. The efforts of the ecumenical patriarchs towards reconciliation with the Catholic Church have often been the target of sharp internal criticism.^[23]

12th–15th century Christian schisms

Name of schism	Original location of schism	Start date	Schism resolved	Original Church body	Resulting Church bodies or Schismatic bodies	Notes
Double papal election of 1130	Roma, Papal States	14 February 1130	29 May 1138	Catholic Church	Innocent II Anacletus II	Anacletus II died in 25 January 1138 and was succeeded by Victor IV until his submission to Innocent II on 29 May 1138.
Cathar schism	–	1147	–		Cathars	–
Waldensian schism	–	1215	–		Waldensians	–
Bosnian schism	–	1252	–		Bosnian Church	–
Arsenite schism	–	May 1265	1315	Eastern Orthodox Church	Arsenites, Josephists	–
Western schism	Fondi, County of Fondi, Kingdom of Naples	20 September 1378	11 November 1417	Catholic Church	Urban VI Clement VII	^[24]
Bohemian Reformation	–	6 July 1415	–		Hussites	^[25]
Baselian schism	Basel, Prince-Bishopric of Basel, Holy Roman Empire	5 November 1439	7 April 1449		Eugene IV Felix V	–
First Moscow–Constantinople schism	Moskva, Grand Principality of Moscow	c. 1467	1560	Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople	Metropolis of Moscow and all Rus'	It started de facto in 15 December 1448 when Jonah of Moscow was elected as the metropolitan of Kyiv and all Rus', then headquartered in Moscow, without the consent of the patriarch of Constantinople. His title was then changed unilaterally to metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus'. It became de jure schism when Dionysius I of Constantinople demanded that all the hierarchs of Muscovy submit to Gregory the Bulgarian, who was recognized by both Rome and Constantinople as the metropolitan of Kyiv, but was rejected by Ivan III of Russia who declared a complete rupture of relations with Constantinople. Relations were gradually restored and in 1560, the Patriarch of Constantinople considered the metropolitan of Moscow to be his exarch.

16th–17th century Christian schisms

Name of schism	Original location of schism	Start date	Schism resolved	Original Church body	Resulting Church bodies or Schismatic bodies	Notes
Reformation in Zürich	Zürich, Republic of Zurich, Swiss Confederacy, Holy Roman Empire	1523	–	Catholic Church	Zwinglians	Initially sparked during the Affair of the Sausages by Huldrych Zwingli in 1522, his ideas gained the support of the magistrates of the city of Zürich and Katharina von Zimmern, the princess-abbes of Fraumünster. One of the earliest episodes of the Reformation in Switzerland.^[26]
Radical Reformation	Zürich, Republic of Zurich, Swiss Confederacy, Holy Roman Empire	1525	–	Zwinglians	Anabaptists	Anabaptism in Switzerland began as an offshoot of the church reforms instigated by Ulrich Zwingli.^[27]
Reformation in Geneva	Genève, Republic of Geneva, Holy Roman Empire	21 May 1536	–	Catholic Church	Calvinists	Part of the Reformation in Switzerland.
English Reformation	Westminster, Middlesex, Kingdom of England	3 November 1534	–	Catholic Church	Church of England	Originally started as an attempt by King Henry VIII of England to circumvent his inability to obtain a papal-sanctioned annulment from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. In 1531, Henry created the title Supreme Head of the Church of England for himself, which was put into law by the 1534 Act of Supremacy. The parliament of Ireland followed suit in 1537, but most of the Irish population remained Catholic. The schism was formally ended when Mary I reunited the English Church with the Roman Catholic Church, but it was reignited by the excommunication of Elizabeth I.^[28]
Schism of 1552	Mosul, Sanjak of Mosul, Baghdad Eyalet, Ottoman Empire	1552	–	Church of the East	Shemon VII Ishoyahb, Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa
Scottish Reformation	Edinburgh, Edinburghshire, Kingdom of Scotland	August 1560	–	Catholic Church	Church of Scotland	^[29]
Brownist schism	London, City of London, Kingdom of England	March 1566	–	Church of England	London underground church	The forerunners of the Pilgrims and modern Congregationalism.

18th–19th century Christian schisms

Melkite–Orthodox Schism 1724
Anglican–Methodist schism (1784–)
Orthodox Reformation 19th century
Restorationist movement (c.1850–)
Bulgarian schism (23 May 1872–1945)
Old Catholic Church schism (1879–)
Holiness movement schisms (c.1890–)

20th century Christian schisms

Philippine Independent schism (1902–)
Liberal Catholic schism (1913–)
- Liberal Catholic internal schism (1916–)
Watch Tower Society schism (June 1917–)
True Orthodox movement (c.1920–)
- Old Calendarism schisms (1923–)
Fundamentalist–modernist controversy (c.1920–)
Church of the East schism (1964–)
Montaner Schism (1967–1969)
Continuing Anglican schisms (1977–)
Society of Saint Pius X schism (1988–)
Apostolic Catholic Church schism (1992–)
Second Moscow–Constantinople schism (23 February 1996–16 May 1996)

21st century Christian schisms

Anglican realignment schisms (2002–)
- The separation of the Anglican Church in North America from the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada 2009^[30]
Community of the Lady of All Peoples Quebec (April 2007–)^[31]
North American Lutheran Church, founded in 2010 by congregations that left the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
Third Moscow–Constantinople schism 2018
United Methodist-Global Methodist schism 2022
Diocese of the Southern Cross formed by Conservative Anglicans who left the Anglican Church of Australia 2022
Anglican Communion-GAFCON schism (2025–)

References

^ McGuckin 2014, p. 7.
^ In 1 Cor 1.1 as quoted in Thomas P Halton, The Church, (Wilmington, Del.: M. Glazier, 1985), 56
^ Hovorun 2014, p. 77.
^ "Code of Canon Law – Book III – The teaching function of the Church (Cann. 747-755)". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
^ "CCC, 2089". Vatican.va.
^ Sider, Robert D.; Tertullian; Evans, Ernest (1973). "Tertullian. Adversus Marcionem". The Classical World. 66 (8): 493. doi:10.2307/4347925. ISSN 0009-8418. JSTOR 4347925.
^ "La Théophilanthropie et le Culte Décadaire, 1796–1801: Essai sur l'Histoire Religieuse de la Révolution. Par Albert Mathiez. [Bibliothèque de la Fondation Thiers, IV.] (Paris: Félix Alcan. 1904. Pp. 753.)". The American Historical Review. October 1904. doi:10.1086/ahr/10.1.189. ISSN 1937-5239.
^ Latourette, Kenneth Scott (1975). A history of Christianity. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060649526. OCLC 1824537.
^ "Novatian". earlychristianwritings.com. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
^ "Meanness Exemplified". Scientific American. 3 (7): 51. 6 November 1847. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican11061847-51f. ISSN 0036-8733.
^ Ferguson, Everett (26 November 2013). Church history the rise and growth of the church in its cultural, intellectual, and political context (Second ed.). Grand Rapids. ISBN 9780310516576. OCLC 1085698140.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ "Fallow". Encyclopedia of entomology: P-Z. Encyclopedia of Entomology. Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2004. p. 828. doi:10.1007/0-306-48380-7_1566. ISBN 0792386701.
^ ^a ^b Howland, A.C. (March 1913). "The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vols. XIII (pp. xv, 800) and XIV (pp. xv, 800). Price, $6.00 each. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 46 (1): 206–208. doi:10.1177/000271621304600140. ISSN 0002-7162. S2CID 144983838.
^ Cross, F. L.; Livingstone, E. A., eds. (1 January 2005). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. doi:10.1093/acref/9780192802903.001.0001. ISBN 9780192802903.
^ Block, Corrie (2013). The Qur'an in Christian-Muslim Dialogue : Historical and Modern Interpretations. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 9781135014056. OCLC 860626008.
^ "Monarchianism | Christianity". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
^ Kubiński, Tadeusz (December 1975). "Mcinerny R. M.. Language. New Catholic encyclopedia, prepared by an editorial staff at the Catholic University of America, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York etc. 1967, vol. 8, pp. 365–376. Hirschberger J.. Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von. New Catholic encyclopedia, prepared by an editorial staff at the Catholic University of America, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York etc. 1967, vol. 8, pp. 620–621. Carlo W. E.. Methodology (physical sciences). New Catholic encyclopedia, prepared by an editorial staff at the Catholic University of America, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York etc. 1967, vol. 9, pp. 747–750. Maziarz E. A.. Number. New Catholic encyclopedia, prepared by an editorial staff at the Catholic University of America, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York etc. 1967, vol. 10, pp. 561–566. Ladrière J. A.. Verification. New Catholic encyclopedia, prepared by an editorial staff at the Catholic University of America, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York etc. 1967, vol. 14, pp. 615–616. Stokes W. E.. Whitehead, Alfred North. New Catholic encyclopedia, prepared by an editorial staff at the Catholic University of America, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York etc. 1967, vol. 14, pp. 896–897. McGuinness B. F.. Wittgenstein, Ludwig. New Catholic encyclopedia, prepared by an editorial staff at the Catholic University of America, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York etc. 1967, vol. 14, pp. 983–984. Stahl G.. Un développement de la logique des questions. Revue philosophique de la France et de l'Etranger, vol. 153 (1963), pp. 293–301". The Journal of Symbolic Logic. 40 (4): 599–600. doi:10.2307/2271807. ISSN 0022-4812. JSTOR 2271807.
^ Strayer, Joseph R., ed. (1982). Dictionary of the Middle Ages. New York: Scribner. ISBN 0684190737. OCLC 8474388.
^ "Chalcedon, Council of". doi:10.1163/2211-2685_eco_c358. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ Meyendorff, A. (June 1925). "Notes on Marx's Predecessors". Economica (14): 202–203. doi:10.2307/2548079. ISSN 0013-0427. JSTOR 2548079.
^ "Armenian Apostolic Church". doi:10.1163/2211-2685_eco_a599. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ Bury, Tracy (May 1995). "The Development of the CSP Research Strategy". Physiotherapy. 81 (5): 251–252. doi:10.1016/s0031-9406(05)66817-4. ISSN 0031-9406.
^ ^a ^b ^c Reese, Alan W. (August 2000). "A History of the Byzantine State and Society, by Warren Treadgold. A History of the Byzantine State and Society, by Warren Treadgold. Stanford California, Stanford University Press, 1997. xxiii, 1019 pp. $79.50 U.S. (cloth), $34.95 U.S. (paper)". Canadian Journal of History. 35 (2): 300–301. doi:10.3138/cjh.35.2.300. ISSN 0008-4107.
^ "Schism - Western Schism". doi:10.1163/2468-483x_smuo_com_003974. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ Antwood, Crag D. "Czech Reformation and Hussite Revolution". Oxford bibliographies.
^ Janz, Denis, ed. (2008). A Reformation reader : primary texts with introductions (2nd ed.). Minneapolis: Fortress Press. ISBN 9780800663100. OCLC 226291754.
^ Dyck, J. W.; Fanger, Donald (1967). "Dostoevsky and Romantic Realism". Books Abroad. 41 (1): 86. doi:10.2307/40121427. ISSN 0006-7431. JSTOR 40121427.
^ Brian Chalkley; Martin J Haigh; David Higgitt, eds. (2009). Education for sustainable development : papers in honour of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014). Routledge. ISBN 9780415460057. OCLC 475732590.
^ Gray, Thomas (1935), Toynbee, Paget; Whibley, Leonard (eds.), "140. Gray to Walpole", Correspondence of Thomas Gray, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/oseo/instance.00218602, ISBN 9780198794493 {{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^ Padley, Kenneth (February 2009). "Early Anglican Ecclesiology and Contemporary Ecumenism". International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church. 9 (1): 3–16. doi:10.1080/14742250802562780. ISSN 1474-225X. S2CID 143958364.
^ "Home". communaute-dame.qc.ca (in French).

Sources

Hovorun, Cyril (2014). "Ecclesiological foundations for Ecumenism". Orthodox Handbook on Ecumenism. Pantelis Kalaitzidis, Thomas Fitzgerald, Cyril Hovorun, Aikaterini Pekridou, Nikolaos Asproulis, Guy Liagre, Dietrich Werner (1st ed.). Oxford: Regnum book international. pp. 77–85. ISBN 978-1-908355-44-7.
McGuckin, Fr. John (2014). "The Role of Orthodoxy in World Christianity Today – Historical, Demographic and Theological Perspectives – An Introduction". Orthodox Handbook on Ecumenism. Pantelis Kalaitzidis, Thomas Fitzgerald, Cyril Hovorun, Aikaterini Pekridou, Nikolaos Asproulis, Guy Liagre, Dietrich Werner (1st ed.). Oxford: Regnum book international. pp. 3–9. ISBN 978-1-908355-44-7.