08 — East and West
Gregory is one of the great test-cases of the relationship between the Christian East and West before the Schism, and his pontificate furnishes both the most-cited Orthodox argument against later papal claims and the clearest example of a Roman pope received without reservation by the East. The argument is his dispute with the patriarch of Constantinople over the title “Ecumenical Patriarch,” which Gregory denounced as proud and unfitting for any bishop — words the Orthodox cite against the later papal title of universal jurisdiction. The reception is his veneration in Orthodoxy as a Great Hierarch, St. Gregory the Dialogist, kept on 12 March, the very Latin pope the East holds as its own. These files treat the dispute and the veneration.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (pre-Schism; Pope of Rome; Great Hierarch)
These two files form the ecclesiological core of the collection’s East–West reckoning. The “Ecumenical Patriarch” dispute is presented both ways: as the Orthodox read it (Gregory’s repudiation of any universal-bishop title, applied by them to Rome’s own later claims) and as Roman Catholic apologists read it (Gregory upholding, even in his protest, a Petrine primacy of Rome). The veneration file then shows the remarkable fact that frames the whole guide: that the East venerates as a saint and Great Hierarch the same Roman pope whose office became the chief point of division — and how the East distinguishes the pre-Schism Gregory from the later papacy. Both follow METHODOLOGY §4: both-sides sourcing, no polemic, dogma and opinion kept distinct.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Ecumenical Patriarch Dispute | Gregory’s objection to the title “Ecumenical Patriarch” used by John IV the Faster of Constantinople; his calling any such universal-bishop title proud and a mark of Antichrist; his own counter-title “servant of the servants of God”; and the both-sides reading — Orthodox and Roman Catholic — of what the episode shows about primacy. |
| Veneration as a Great Hierarch | Gregory’s standing in Orthodoxy as St. Gregory the Dialogist, a Great Hierarch venerated across the Orthodox world; his feast on 12 March; the Western “Gregory the Great,” Doctor of the Church; and how the East receives a pre-Schism Roman pope while distinguishing him from the later papacy. |
See Also
- The Papal Envoy to the East — Gregory’s earlier, intimate dealings with Constantinople
- Servus Servorum Dei — the title of service Gregory set against titles of mastery
- Purgation, Penance, and the East — another point of East–West reckoning
- Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism — the primacy question at the heart of the dispute
- The Pre-Schism Church — the undivided Church to which Gregory belonged
References
- Gregory the Great. The Letters of Gregory the Great (Register), esp. Books 5, 7, 8, 9. Trans. John R. C. Martyn. 3 vols. Toronto: PIMS, 2004.
- Markus, R. A. Gregory the Great and His World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
- Meyendorff, John. Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions: The Church 450–680 A.D. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1989.
- Ware, Timothy (Kallistos). The Orthodox Church. Rev. ed. London: Penguin, 1993.