The Reformation

The church grew during its first thousand years from being a small group of individuals to a major religious movement in Palestine that spread its influence through the Middle East, Western and Eastern Europe. The growth in its members grew alongside the growth of an administrative organization. There had always been variation and diversity amongst the churches from the start, and as the power structure in the western churches expanded, the differences amongst the churches of the east and west also increased. Due to the vast variations, a division was heading the way of the church, and soon in 1054AD, there was a major division between the east and west churches. The pope and the patriarch of Constantinople (present day Istanbul) excommunicated each other and the ban was not lifted until 1965. …