East–West Schism
East and West since 1054

There was no single event that marked the breakdown. Rather, the two churches slid into and out of schism over a period of several centuries, punctuated with temporary reconciliations. Efforts were made in subsequent centuries by emperors, popes and patriarchs to heal the rift between the churches. However, a number of factors and historical events worked to widen the separation over time. It is estimated that in 1054, a slim majority of Christians worldwide were Eastern Christians; most of the rest were Western Christians. Few of these would have noticed any difference as noted by Timothy Ware: "Even after 1054 friendly relations between East and West continued. The two parts of Christendom were not yet conscious of a great gulf of separation between them.... The dispute remained something of which ordinary Christians in East and West were largely unaware".

At the time of the excommunications, many contemporary historians, including Byzantine chroniclers, did not consider the event significant. Relations continued as usual, for instance endownments made towards churches in the East such as the Holy Sepulchre were kept in place and Pope Gregory VII confirmed the proprietorship of the Patriarch of Jerusalem over a church in Le Marche in the Pyrenees.

When Emperor Alexios Komnenos asked in the 1080s whether a canonical decision had been made to break relations with Rome, the participants of the synod of Constantinople said no. Interactions in the 12th century between the Latin crusaders and the indigenous population show that rather than the former considering the latter as heretics or schismatics, they incorporated local hierarchies into their own.
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