How did the popes relate to the eastern Christian church?

Answer 1

For many centuries, the popes related very well to the rest of the Christian Church, since they were bishops, like all the other bishops of the church. This situation continued until about the 9th Century, when the popes started to gain greater wealth and political power in the West. This situation was worsened when Charlemagne was crowned as a so-called "Holy Roman Emperor" by the pope, in direct opposition to the Emperor of Constantinople, who ruled both the East and the West. This arrogant act was the start of the gradual division between the Latin West and the Orthodox East, and eventually led to the Great Schism of 1054 AD, when the Latins split from the Church, and formed what became known as the Roman Catholics. The Eastern Orthodox Church continued its beliefs unchanged, which always regarded the popes of the West as equal bishops to all the other popes and patriarchs of the East, but did not accept the Pope of Rome claiming to have special powers or "supremacy" over the whole Christian Church. No bishop, pope or patriarch in the history of the Church has ever claimed to be superior to the others, or to be "infallible" as the Latin popes have done since the 1800s. For many centuries prior to this, the Pope of Rome was always considered to be the "first bishop among equals" but not a supreme ruler or despot over the entire Church. For only an Ecumenical Council was considered to be the supreme authority in the Church from the very beginning (even among the Catholics) and this situation is what still exists today in the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church.