The fine strands of this thread extend to the rivalry among the Gnostic Gospels which ultimately caused the Great Schism between the Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople. The Balkan Peninsula precariously straddled this schism and almost slipped unnoticed into the gaping rift. The hitherto undelineated border between modern Croatia and Serbia was the undelineated border between the two Churches. Serbian villages celebrated Eastern Orthodox holidays; Croatian villages celebrated Roman Catholic holidays and disavowed the edicts of the Eastern Patriarchs. The theological gulf was quite vast. Eastern Patriarchs believed religious icons should be worshipped. The Popes in Rome placed their faith in the power of prayer instead of the power of seemingly fixed and artificial images of icons. Some Eastern Orthodox groups believed that as the son of God, Christ embodied divine will but not divinity in human form. The Western Church and some Eastern groups believed Christ possessed divine man and divine will. The Western Church forbade divorce. The Eastern Church tacitly recognized the fallibility of man and allowed any person three monogamous marriages. The Western Church delegated its powers and duties to the Pope in Rome. The Eastern Church adopted a less centralized structure and divided its powers and duties among its Patriarchs in Alexandria, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and later to other regional capitals. The leaders of both Churches considered political activism among their most important duties.
The most strategically bold and disastrous Papal plot meant to end the Church feuds was unveiled in 800. The Vatican hierarchy believed that if a suitable Western European prince could be found to marry the Byzantine Empress Irene, the Western and Eastern Churches would be joined through Holy Matrimony. Empress Irene skillfully instigated numerous palace coups in Constantinople. This partly explains her unmarried status at this critical juncture. The Papacy selected Charlemagne (a young prince whose father Pippin the Short ruled a portion of the Rhineland along the modern French-German border) to wed the Empress. After they chose their man, the Church created an entity for him to rule. Empress Irene was the titular leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church; Charlemagne should also be the leader of some Church. But how could Charlemagne be the nominal leader of a religious entity the Pope would not entirely surrender to him? As often happens during moments of conspiracy, scheming minds found new creativity. The Vatican told the world that the feudal lords of Europe now knelt at the altar of a new Holy Roman Empire and Emperor Charlemagne. The new Emperor was promptly dispatched to work holy miracles of romance and charm upon Empress Irene to persuade her to marry him to rejoin the Eastern and Western Churches. Bad plans yield bad results, and that particular aspect of the goals of the Holy Roman Empire were an undeniable debacle. When she deciphered his true intentions, Empress Irene rejected the marriage proposal and sent Charlemagne back to Rome. Then she focused her attention on the squabbling factions within her realm and the disunity that pervaded the Eastern Orthodox Church.
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