The separation of Christians in the East and West crystallized with the schism of 1054, when Patriarch Michael Cerularius of the church of Constantinople and an equally uncompromising Pope Leo IX of the church of Rome excommunicated each other. While 1054 is the symbolic date of the separation, the division was six centuries in the making and led to the infamous sacking of Constantinople by Western Crusaders in 1204.

The division of the churches is rooted in cultural and geopolitical as well as theological differences. Culturally, the split between Western Christianity (Roman Catholicism and Protestantism) and Eastern Orthodoxy perpetuates the Roman Empire's division into a Western half, in which Latin was the dominant language, and an Eastern half, in which Greek was dominant among literate people.

In the West theology became largely the province of priests. In the East a tradition of lay theologians continued. Romans emphasized redemption of sinners; Greeks emphasized deification of humanity. The two factions disagreed about the wording and intent of the Nicene Creed.

Today the beauty and richness of its ceremonial worship is a striking characteristic of Eastern Orthodoxy. In Orthodoxy, images, rather than text, express theological ideas. Aesthetics–the priest's chant, gilded icons, the aroma of incense–are extremely important.

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