The Split between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church Research Paper

The Split between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church - Research Paper Example It continually gained a significant number of converts and eventually became one of the world’s strongest religions. During the postclassical civilization, Christianity took the centre stage as it played a vital role both in Western and Eastern parts of Europe. Christianity is believed to have begun as part of Jewish reform movement. Even before the birth of Jesus, some Jews had begun to preach about the coming messiah. The Jews had the belief that the birth of Jesus would bring salvation to mankind, and judgement as well to those who failed to honour salvation. Christianity transformed from the persecuted group of believers over a long period of time, alongside the harsh and vastly changing political environment in Europe. During the fourth and the fifth century, the Roman Empire collapsed. This enhanced the growth of a very powerful church that remained on course for a very long time. All this collapse resulted in subjugation of the church. The early followers of Christ began to spread the gospel throughout the Roman Empire. It began with one the earliest converts like Saul, who was converted to Paul, and his major task was an assignment to take the Christ’s message around the Mediterranean region. Wherever he went, he created churches and constantly wrote letters to them. The early churches shared their common belief in Christ and were united in their worship; they usually met together, shared the scriptures and listened to one another. They were very caring and were usually bonded together. However, as time went by â€Å"Christians began to disagree as to who should lead the groups, the form the worship should take, and how Christian beliefs should be understood. This led to splits within the Christian church† (Jordan 5). It has been observed that the early churches enhanced their unity through faith. They had unity of the doctrine and the traditions that existed in the churches, and this led to