The Great Schism
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain why the Christian Church split in two in 1054.
Key learning points
- Some of the disputes resulted in the location and relative isolation of the two centres of Christianity.
- There were liturgical disputes between different members of the Church.
- One dispute concerned the nature of the Holy Spirit.
- These disputes resulted in the Church splitting into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
- The 1054 Schism could be regarded as a transformational change.
Keywords
Church - the Church is the organisation of the Christian religion
Holy Spirit - in Christianity, the Holy Spirit is the manifestation of God in the world
Liturgy - liturgy means the form in which worship is conducted
Schism - a schism is a split between strongly opposed parties
Common misconception
Christianity is a single religion.
There are more than 45 000 different Christian denominations around the world today: although most of them believe the same fundamental things, there are stark differences between many of them.
Teacher tip
At the beginning of the lesson, shows students images of videos of Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church services and ask them to record similarities and differences in order to gain an appreciation of the two denominations.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.During which Roman Emperor's reign was the persecution of Christians ended?
Q2.Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire eastwards to the city of , which he renamed Constantinople.
Q3.The name for the organisation that oversaw the Christian religion is the ...
Q4.The Bishop of Rome is also called the ...
Q5.Which statement best describes Christianity in Western and Eastern Europe during the Early Middle Ages?
Q6.The Byzantine Empire considered themselves to be ...
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.In Western Europe the most important bishop was the Bishop of ...
Q2.In the east, important bishops were known as ...
Q3.Which of these best describes the way the Church was led?
Q4.In the 7th century only the Patriarch of __________ was left.
Q5.Which of these statements is correct?
Q6.The formal splitting of the two Churches was known as the 'Great '.
To help you plan your 7 history lesson on: The Great Schism, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 7 history lesson on: The Great Schism, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 history lessons from the The Christian Church: how completely did the Great Schism transform Christendom? unit, dive into the full secondary history curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.