church is no longer universal. 200 years after the historic alliance between charlemagne and pope leo iii, pope urban ii rules the second empire from rome. and the patriarch reigns over the east from constantinople. until constantinople finds itself facing a threat. islam is the super power of medieval period. if i was betting at the time, i would have bet that islam and the islamic empires were the wave of the future. muslim armies had been making their way through the arabian peninsula, conquering new lands and uniting them under islam. they had long since conquered jerusalem and were headed for the next christian stronghold. muslims had swept through
was now the only legitimate christian emperor left. as he grew in power, developed a stand-offish relationship with the ruler of constantinople. that really is the start of the schism between the orthodox church and the catholic church. in the two centuries after charlemagne and pope leo iii unite western europe under the papacy of rome, the eastern part of the empire breaks off and begins to call itself the greek orthodox church under the patriarch of constantinople. the word catholic meant universal. until the 11th century, there was just the one church. it wasn t until the church in consta constantinople broke off that we saw references to the roman catholic church, meaning the
fight his competition. constantine, the pagan commander of rome s western army, declares war on the commander of the east to decide who will be sole emperor of rome. on the day before the battle, he has a startling vision. he looks up and he sees the sign of the cross. and he thought it was a promise from jesus that he would win the battle. constantine does win the battle, and the new emperor is forever changed by his vision. he decides to be a christian. one of his first official acts as the first christian emperor of rome is to issue the edict of milan. this not only makes christianity legal, but favored.
the council of nicea is the first time you bring all of the bishops together to have them start to talk to each other. council marks the first meeting of senior church leaders, the foundation of the pope s college of cardinals today. the bishops were commissioned to write what a christian should believe. constantine gets the bishop to agree on one statement of faith, still used to unify christians today. the creed says we believe in jesus christ, maker of heaven and earth, and the counsel decides that jesus is fully human and divine. if you sign it, you re a christian and part of it. if you don t, you re ex-communicated, you re out and will probably go to hell. so this became the battle cry for catholics throughout the world.
jerusalem, some of his people suggest he should destroy the holy sepulcher. it is christ s tomb. and he says, no, let s let it survive. saladin is a man very much aware of the power of mercy. his rule was very different from that of the crusaders. saladin was motivated by the belief that christians, muslims and jews should be able to live together peacefully. he entrusts the key of the church to the holy sepulchre to a muslim family. even today it s a muslim s responsibility to let christian worshipers in and out of the holiest church in christendom. pope urban iii is forced to surrender the notion that christianity must rule the world and negotiate new relationships with other faiths. the recognition that it s a christian space that has to be protected by its muslim rulers not in the sense of actually preventing people from coming