CHAPTER III
THE FAITH AND RITES OF THE BYZANTINE CHURCH BEFORE THE SCHISM
To complete our picture of the first period we may in this chapter add some notes about the beliefs, rites, and customs of the other half of Christendom during the eight centuries in which they still formed one Church with our fathers. Eastern people are notoriously the most conservative of all, and so, except for the differences brought about by the schism, nearly all these things, even unimportant customs, have remained unchanged till to-day. It will be convenient to describe their liturgy more exactly when we come to our account of their present state. In this chapter a few general observations will be enough.
1. The Faith of the Byzantine Church.
We have already considered the great question—their belief in the Roman Primacy. Other points are much less in dispute and may be passed over more quickly. In the first place, inter-communion has always meant agreement in faith. The immediate result of a heresy being officially condemned was that every Catholic was bound to condemn it too; those who would not do so, heretics, at once broke off all relations with the Orthodox. So from the fact that there was communion between the Churches, that each in its liturgy prayed for the chief bishops of the others, we may certainly conclude that they agreed in faith.
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