Philippine E-Journals

Gregorio Aglipay and the Nationalist Movement in the Philippines

Atty. Jose Nava

Discipline: History

 

Abstract:

In the language of theology and canon law, Schism means “the rupture of ecclesiastical union and unity the act by which one of the faithful severs, as far as in him lies, the ties which bind him to the social organization of the Church and make him a member of the Mystical Body of Christ, or the state of disassociation or separation which is the result of that act."Mystical Body of Christ" is synonymous to the word “Church" meaning the "Visible Society of the Baptized with Christ as its Head.'' The first schism registered in the annals of the Church was that which we may call the separation or disassociation of the patriarchate of Rome from the Patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and Jerusalem, the former known as the Western or Catholic Church, and the latter as the Eastern or Orthodox Church. There have been continual schisms in both Eastern and Western churches, especially in the Orthodox church the most important of which are those caused by patriotism or nationalistic desire as the Russian Orthodox Church in the East and the Episcopal or Anglican Church in the West.