Great Schism of 1615

Great Schism of 1615

Duration	1615-2017; 401 years
Also known as	Great Schism
Type	Christian Schism
Cause	Ecclesiastical differences; Theological and Liturgical disputes

The Great Schism of 1615, also known as the Great Schism, the Caphiric Schism, and the Great Occidental Schism, was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1615 to 2017 in which the Caphiric Catholic Church broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church. The schism was the culmination of theological and political differences developed during the preceding centuries between the wider Catholic community and Caphiria and the Imperators who sought to take advantage of the emerging Protestant Revolt in the early 16th century. These events were part of the wider Occidental Reformation, a religious and political movement that affected the practice of Christianity in the Occidental world.

During the late 15th century, the relationship between the Imperators of Caphiria and the Pope began to decline. The Church became dependent on the tithes and prestige of the Caphiric Church due to the ongoing economic and demographic turmoil in Levantia. The power dynamic began to shift in Caphiria's favor, who took advantage of ecclesiastical division and the Pope's focus on crushing Protestantism to increase imperial authority. On 11 December 1615, Pius XII took the title pontifex maximus by acclimation of Caphirian bishops and formally broke communion with the Catholic Church.

This schism would last over 400 years until 2017, when the Eight Points Agreement was signed by the Imperator and Pope, facilitating the restoration of full communion and the preservation of the Caphiric church's autonomy and spiritual patrimony. The Agreement also formally erected the Caphiric Church as a particular church within Catholicism with its own canon law set and unique liturgical rite.

Background

The Great Schism of 1615 occurred within the context of the rise of the Third Imperium. Unlike its two classical predecessors, the Third Imperium established towards the end of the Medieval period saw a significant consolidation of power within the person of the Imperator. Various republican institutions and cultural expectations which curtailed the rise of Imperial authority no longer existed following the collapse of the Second Imperium. Within this new system, the Imperators began to seek influence over the Catholic Church in Caphiria, the predominant social and moral institution of its day and the only part of Caphiric society beyond the control of the government. The rulers of the Third Imperium began to find the political confidence to demand increased autonomy beginning in the mid-1400s, and soon the Protestant Reformation and the disastrous effects it would have on Levantia provided the Imperium with opportunities to pursue greater control.

Oath of Allegiance

With the Great Confessional War in Levantia intensifying, the sitting Imperator, XXX, began to leverage Caphiria's increasingly important position in the Church for additional concessions. The Imperator again petitioned the Pope - now temporarily displaced from Urceopolis - for the right of lay investiture, stating that "in this time of heresy and war...the allegiance of the clerics of the republic to the authority of the state...is absolutely vital." Pope Paul IV sent a diplomatic but forceful rejection of this request in 1557, leading to a flurry of letters between the Curia and Patriarch of Venceia which set the Church on the verge of schism. In 1559, Paul IV died and was replaced by Pope Pius IV, an experienced diplomat. While the Levantine war raged, Pius viewed religious unity in Sarpedon as his top diplomatic priority, and in early 1560 he proposed a compromise option which would require all clerics in Caphiria to swear an oath of allegiance to the Imperator. This compromise suited both parties and was formally issued at the end of summer, 1560. While the compromise had the short-term effect of retaining Caphiria within the Catholic Church at a moment of significant weakness for the Papacy, it had the long-term effect of entrenching the Imperator at the top of the moral hierarchy within the country. Scholars are divided on its lasting impact on the coming Great Schism, with the traditional position being that priests were already more loyal to Venceia than Urceopolis by 1615. Modern scholarship has suggested that the oath of allegiance had no practical effect on the decision of individual priests and bishops to follow Venceia or Urceopolis following the schism, with underlying political and social concerns for each individual man playing a greater role according to their own letters and journals.

Aftermath

Although the Church of Venceia was formally in schism from the Catholic Church, the Church remained largely unchanged for the next decade. Most of the existing clergy in place in Caphiria from 1615 through 1627 remained loyal to their immediate superior, with the Imperator taking the place of the Pope. The recently instituted Mass remained in place and continued to be said in the same style as the global Church. All monasteries continued to function as they had before, and most of the cultural hallmarks of the Counter Reformation proceeded apace for the next decade.

Only with the Reformations of 1627 did the Caphiric Church begin to diverge from the global Catholic Church both in terms of theology and culture. Accordingly, many scholars and religious writers point to 1627, rather than 1615, as the true date of divergence between the Catholic and Caphiric Churches. Nearly every aspect of Christian worship and practice were changed in the Reformations, such that even when the Schism ended, most of the stylistic and cultural aspects of the Reformations remained.

Reconciliation efforts

Urlazio Synod

In the wake of the end of the Second Great War and rise of the League of Nations, leaders in the Catholic Church were confident that the new global era of peace was an opportunity for rapprochement and possible reunion with the Imperial Church. Low-level negotiations between the Church directly and the government of Caphiria lead to an agreement to hold a synod on the issue between Catholic and Caphirian bishops in Urlazio in early 1956. Though many historians present the synod as if it were guaranteed to end the schism, it was proposed as an initial meeting between the two sides of the schism for discussion and further action. Despite the agreement and public approval by the Caphirian government, both Caphiria and Urcea secretly colaborated to scuttle the synod. For the Commonwealth Union controlled Government of Urcea, there was a concern that ending the schism would allow Caphiria to make further inroads into Levantia and end its relative isolation from the Catholic world. For the Government of Caphiria, the notion of being ruled from Urceopolis in any way was not only antithetical to the Caphirian identity, it was outright dangerous in the context of the early Occidental Cold War. Consequently, Urcea issued a travel warning forbidding any Urcean bishops from traveling to Urlazio, which gave the Government of Caphiria the ability to claim the Catholic Church was not working in good faith. The Caphirian Bishops then refused to meet with any Catholic representatives and the synod was officially canceled.

Patrick IV, the Apostolic King of Urcea at the time, was unaware of his government's responsibility until 1965. The King fully released the details of the efforts of his government to sabotage Urlazio Synod in his last will and testament in 1967. The revelation was such a scandal that it collapsed the Commonwealth Union's majority government in the Conshilía Daoni and inaugurated the 1967 Urcean political crisis. The National Pact won a massive landslide in the subsequent 1970 election.

Eight Points Agreement

Main article: Eight Points Agreement