De Voltooiing Van Het Schisma Constantinopel En Het Westen In De 17e Eeuw

Abstract

The Completion of the Schism of 1054 When the stmggle between Pro-Roman and Pro-Calvinist elements, which divided the church of Constantinople during the first half of the seventeenth century, had ended in a defeat of both parties, there remained a bankrupt Patriarchate. The bad ha,bitudes of venality of office, that had been stimulated by the struggle, continued in the following years and caused until the end of the century a permanent instability of the Patriarchate, which was governed in this period by a group consisting of the metropolites who had not explicitly taken sides in the previous periods and the increasingly powerful Greek aristocracy of Constantinople. In reaction to previous Calvinistic influences this group stood doctrinally rather close to Rome. But as different conflicts of interests between Constantinople and Rome arose, a need emerged for a clear definition of the theological difference, not only with Calvinism, but also with Rome. Because of the continuing insta,bility in Constantinople this definition was made under auspices of the patriarch of Jerusalem. Only when stability at Constan tinople was reestaiblished towards the end of the seventeenth century, the patriarohate could make its definitive stand in face of the Western churches, the completion of the schism of 1054.