Schism
A schism (/ˈsɪzəm, ˈskɪz-/ SIZ-əm, SKIZ-, or (less commonly) /ˈʃɪzəm/ SHIZ-əm)[1] is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, such as the East–West Schism in Christianity or the Sunni–Shia divide in Islam. It is also used of a split within a non-religious organization or movement or, more broadly, of a separation between two or more people, be it brothers, friends, lovers, etc.
A schismatic is a legalistic, often pejorative term for person who creates or incites schism in an organization or who is a member of a splinter group. People and groups declared schismatic often reject the label. As an adjective, schismatic means pertaining to a schism or schisms, or to those ideas, policies, etc. that are thought to lead towards or promote schism. While the concept of schism exists across a wide number of faiths, the specific term, implications, and jurisprudence around schism very widely across religions traditions and denominations. In academic scholarship on schisms, a different gloss, or the underlying term untranslated, is sometimes used to reflect distinctions of that religion's conception of schism.
In some religions, such as Buddhism and much of Christianity, the charge of schism is distinguished from that of heresy, since the offence of schism concerns not differences of belief or doctrine but promotion of, or the state of division,[2] especially among groups with differing pastoral jurisdictions and authority. However, schisms frequently involve mutual accusations of heresy. Other faiths view heresy and schism as inexorably linked, and even within a faith this can change depending on context. In Roman Catholicism, every heresy is a schism, though not every schism is a heresy.[3] This is further complicated by mutual charges of heresy between schismatic groups and the institutions they split from, with schismatics often declaring themselves as staying true to a religion's teachings and the main body heretically deviant, as with the 2026 schism between Roman Catholicism and the Society of Saint Pius X.[4] Whether something is schismatic, heretical, or both, is an issue of ideological perception when both groups claim legitimacy.
Buddhism
[edit]In Buddhism, schism (Sanskrit: saṁghabheda, Pali: saṅghabheda), is a strict legal term and is not defined by doctrinal differences, but rather differences in interpretation of monastic rule within a single monastic community.[5] Schism is considered one of the five Ānantarya karma, resulting in immediate and overwhelming karmic consequences. According to Buddhist tradition, the first schism was set up by Devadatta, during Buddha's life.[6]
The Theravada canon strictly defines schism as nine or more monks separating and performing their own ecclesiastical services.[7] Mahayana and Vajrayana schools rely on different vinaya traditions (Dharmaguptaka in schools descended from Chinese Buddhism and Mulasarvastivada in Tibetan Buddhism) and have slight differences in the number of monks to be considered schismatic, but retain the essential definition of "schism" as a strict legal term, and are recognized as valid by monastics ordained under a different Vinaya.[8] Though frequently discussed as such, Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism are not considered schismatic by each other.[9] The frequent English use of schism is typically adopted due to a lack of precise language to describe the Buddhist process of inter-sangha disagreement.[10]
Christianity
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- (Not shown are ante-Nicene, nontrinitarian, and restorationist denominations.)
The words schism and schismatic are used to denote splits within a church, denomination or religious body. In this context, "schismatic", as a noun, denotes a person who creates or incites schism in a church or a person who is a member of a splinter Church; as an adjective, "schismatic" refers to ideas and activities that are thought to lead to or constitute schism, and ultimately to departure from what the user of the word considers to be the true Christian Church. These words have been used to denote both the phenomenon of Christian group-splintering in general, and certain significant historical splits in particular.
One can make a distinction[11] between heresy and schism. Heresy is rejection of a doctrine that a Church considered to be essential. Schism is a rejection of communion with the authorities of a Church, and not every break of communion is necessarily about doctrine, as is clear from examples such as the Western Schism and the breaking of the communion that existed between Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople and Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens in 2004.[12] However, when for any reason people withdraw from communion, two distinct ecclesiastical entities may result, each of which, or at least some members thereof, may then accuse the other(s) of heresy.
In Roman Catholic Church canon law, an act of schism, like an act of apostasy or heresy, automatically brings the penalty of excommunication on the individual who commits it.[13] As stated in canon 1312 §1 1° of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, this penalty is intended to be medicinal, so as to lead to restoration of unity. Roman Catholic theology considers formal schismatics to be outside the Church, understanding by "formal schismatics" "persons who, knowing the true nature of the Church, have personally and deliberately committed the sin of schism".[14] The situation, for instance, of those who have been brought up from childhood within a group not in full communion with Rome, but who have orthodox faith, is different: these are considered to be imperfectly, though not fully, related to the Church.[14] This nuanced view applies especially to the Churches of Eastern Christianity, more particularly still to the Eastern Orthodox Church.[14] While they don't possess "full communion" (communio in sacris) with the Catholic Church, they are still considered much more linked to it than the Protestant ecclesial communities, which have markedly different theological beliefs and rejected the concept of apostolic succession (with the exception of the Anglicans, which, however, are viewed by the Catholic Church as not having a valid priesthood).
The First Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) distinguished between schism and heresy. It declared Arian and non-Trinitarian teachings to be heretical and excluded their adherents from the Church. It also addressed the schism between