Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I, born Aristocles Matthaiou Spyrou, was the 268th Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from November 1948, until his death in July 1972, serving as the primus inter
Patriarch Athenagoras in 1936
Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I in 1967
Statue of the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople in Chania (Crete)
East–West Schism
Videos
The East–West Schism, also known as the Great Schism or the Schism of 1054, is the break of communion between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church since 1054. A series of ecclesiastical
Athenagoras I of Constantinople
…Istanbul. Athenagoras I's meeting with Pope Paul VI in 1964 in Jerusalem led to rescinding the excommunications of 1054 which historically mark the Great Schism, the schism between the churches of the East and West. This was a significant step towards restoring relations between Rome, Constantinople, and the…
Hagia Sophia, the cathedral of Constantinople at the time of the schism
Icon depicting the Emperor Constantine (centre) and the bishops of the First Council of Nicaea (325) holding the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381
The division between the Eastern and Western Churches
Commemorative tablet of Catholic-Orthodox prayer at Saint Peter's Basilica, commemorating the meetings held between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras in 1967, and between Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Demetrios I of Constantinople in 1987.