Page:The Greek and Eastern churches.djvu/256

230 the Western Church stands for orthodoxy in its proud claim to infallibility, and the Eastern is equally intolerant of heresy, schism, or insubordination. The division followed centuries of close mutual communication, and it was so gradual that much of the common thought and life of the patristic trunk from which they spring is to be found in each of these great branches. As we contemplate them in their stubborn separation we may be reminded of Coleridge's famous metaphor in Christobel—

In tracing the causes of this tremendous cleavage of Christendom we may be surprised to see how insignificant and unimportant some of them were. A personal quarrel between two patriarchs, a slight step of advance in the implied claims of a title, and last of all, a subtle point in the definition of the Trinity—these are among the influences that in course of time by their cumulative effect scooped out the great chasm, like the water brooks that running for past ages have at length separated whole mountains. Nevertheless, we must not set down the final result to a mere chapter of accidents. The occurrence of various incidents—each in itself apparently so unimportant—in a series coming down several centuries points to the existence of persistent causes lurking beneath. Deep lying, slow moving, gigantic forces, operating through centuries, worked with the inevitability of fate.

1. First among these causes we must place the racial. It is true that the Greek and Latin races were near akin, members of the common Aryan stock which has peopled India, Persia, and Europe. But historically, in the period with which we are concerned, neither of these races was self-contained or unmixed with alien elements. The Latins were invigorated and transformed by an infusion of German blood resulting from successive Gothic invasions. The Greeks, on the other hand, were mingled with a host of