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Schism of East and West

(Encyclopedia)Schism of East and West, division between the Orthodox Eastern Church and the Roman Catholic Church. See Christianity; Ferrara-Florence, Council of; Leo IX, Saint; Lyons, Second Council of; papacy; Ph...

anointing of the sick

(Encyclopedia)anointing of the sick, sacrament of the Orthodox Eastern Church and the Roman Catholic Church, formerly known as extreme unction. In it a sick or dying person is anointed on eyes, ears, nostrils, lips...

ecumenical movement

(Encyclopedia)ecumenical movement ĕkˌyo͞omĕnˈĭkəl, ĕkˌyə– [key], name given to the movement aimed at the unification of the Protestant churches of the world and ultimately of all Christians. During and ...

Roman Catholic Church

(Encyclopedia)Roman Catholic Church, Christian church headed by the pope, the bishop of Rome (see papacy and Peter, Saint). Its commonest title in official use is Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. “Roman Cathol...

Komi

(Encyclopedia)Komi kōˈmē, kôˈ– [key], Finnic people of the northeastern part of European Russia. There are two traditional branches of the Komi—Zyrians and Permyaks. The Zyrians are now officially called K...

Manzikert

(Encyclopedia)Manzikert mănˈzĭkərt [key], Turk. Malazgirt, village, E Turkey, SE of Erzurum. It was an important town of ancient Armenia. A council held there in a.d. 726 reasserted the independence of the Arme...

Saint Mark's Church

(Encyclopedia)Saint Mark's Church, Venice, named after the tutelary saint of Venice. The original Romanesque basilical church, built in the 9th cent. as a shrine for the saint's bones, was destroyed by fire in 967....

Melchites

(Encyclopedia)Melchites or Melkites both: mĕlˈkīts [key], members of a Christian community in the Levant and the Americas, mainly Arabic-speaking and numbering about 250,000. They are in communion with the pope ...

Gemistus Pletho, Georgius

(Encyclopedia)Gemistus Pletho, Georgius jôrˈjəs jĭmĭsˈtəs plēˈthō [key], c.1355–1452, Byzantine scholar and philosopher, b. Constantinople. He represented the Orthodox Eastern Church at the Council of F...

Fathers of the Church

(Encyclopedia)Fathers of the Church, collective name for the Christian writers of early times whose work is considered generally orthodox. A convenient definition includes all such writers up to and including St. G...