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 papal authority began to decline. The Church became dependent on the tithes and prestige of the Caphiric Church, mainly as it dealt with The Anarchy. 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.

Timeline

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 practical effect of retaining Caphiria within the Catholic Church at a moment of significant weakness for the Papacy, it had the practical 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.

Reconciliation efforts

Urlazio Synod

In the wake of the end of the Great War and rise of the League of Nations, leaders in the Levantine 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 National Democratic Party 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 National Democratic Party's majority government in the Concilium Daoni the same year. The National Pact won a massive landslide in the subsequent 1970 election.

Eight Points Agreement

Main Article: Eight Points Agreement

The Occidental Cold War came to a definitive end in 2034 with the Assumption Accords, leading to a period of increasing friendship between Caphiria and Urcea among other Levantine powers. While the Assumption Accords provided for religious dialogue and negotiations on some collaborative efforts between the Imperial and Levantine Catholic Churches, it also created something of a social identity crisis in Caphiria. The growing ecclesiastical cooperation on matters of faith and charity combined with the reduced enmity and fears of Levantine Creep began to undermine much of the raison d'être for the existence of the Imperial Church, which the Government of Caphiria continued to maintain at great financial cost while also causing some diplomatic and cultural isolation. While such calculations were discussed within the Caphirian government, a sense of fraternity between the average Imperial and Levantine Catholic lead to pressure for increased unity by the Caphirian public. These calculations lead to the beginning of negotiations between the Government of Caphiria and the Ministry for the Church in Urcea for greater dialogue and inter-church cooperation in 2036.

Negotiations between the Ministry for the Church in Urcea and Government of Caphiria were concluded with recommendations referred to the Levantine Catholic Church itself, which opened direct negotiations with the Government of Caphiria. The Eight Points Agreement came about as a series of points solidifying the prestige of Caphiria within the Church while restoring unity and ensuring sacramental validity. By February 2037, it became public that the end of the schism was imminent, to the surprise of not only the general public but many of the negotiators themselves. The rapidity with which the reunion proceeded is credited as a major reason an organized opposition within Caphiria could not be organized before the Eight Points Agreement was officially signed on 1 March 2037. The Concordat became effective on 5 April 2037 - Easter Sunday - officially concluding the 422-year old schism.