122 THE BYZANTINE CHURCH
Illyricum or the coronation of the usurper Charlemagne
separated the two Churches from each other. Nicholas, as
we have seen, taking advantage of the delicate position in
which Photius was placed, thought that he could extort from
the Patriarch the restitution of Illyricum. But that was to go
against a fait accompli in the political sphere, and on this
point St. Ignatius himself was just as obstinate or as power-
less as was Photius. Nicholas, in his attack upon Photius and
his Bulgarian mission and in general upon the distinctive
practices of the Greek Church, showed a singular impru-
dence. Photius by his attack on the celibacy of priests and
on the addition of the Filioque to the creed had no difficulty in
proving to the Pope that alike in discipline and dogma it was
the older Rome which was responsible for innovations: a
great scandal would immediately be disclosed if only one
should cease to keep the eyes shut in economic charity. We
have seen how an intelligent Pope, John VIII, by recognizing
Photius at the time of his second patriarchate allayed all
these differences between Rome and Byzantium. It was
agreed that the addition of the Filioque to the creed had been
and should remain entirely unofficial, and the Papacy itself
would see that the genuine text should be preserved. As is
well known, to-day Rome on this point as on many others
has returned to wisdom and truth, since it has authorized the
Uniates to recite the creed without the Filioque. Charity on
both sides could after all pass over minor differences: many
of these had been charged against the Romans and denounced
with great bitterness by the Byzantine Council in Trullo
(691) and yet no breach between the Churches had ensued.
But all the same the schism did come and persisted, like the
Erinyes, as Aeschylus portrayed them, installing themselves
in the house and refusing to be ejected. Why was there this
schism?
We must reject completely the idea of those who seek to
prove the existence of a schism already latent and to deter-
mine its 'terrain'; at the beginning of the eleventh century,
it is urged, under Sergius II, great-nephew of Photius, it did
but come once more to the surface: the Patriarch affirmed
against Rome the sanctity of his great-uncle and re-edited
the latter's encyclical addressed to the Eastern patriarchates