"Greek East" and "Latin West" are terms used also to divide
Chalcedonian Christianity into the
Greek-speaking,
Eastern Orthodox peoples of the Eastern
Mediterranean Basin, centered on the
Byzantine Empire, and the
Latin-speaking
Roman Catholic peoples of
Western Europe. Here,
Latin West applies to regions that were formerly part of the Western Roman Empire, specifically
Italia,
Gallia (Gaul),
Hispania,
Dalmatia,
Northwest Africa, and
Britannia, but also to areas that had never been part of the Empire but which later came under the culture sphere of the Latin West, such as
Magna Germania,
Hibernia (Ireland),
Caledonia (Scotland). In this sense, the term "Latin" came to refer to the liturgical and scholarly language of Western Europe, since many of these countries did not actually speak Latin. Modern scholars agree that by the 12th century, theological debate (or
disputatio) between Christians of the Greek East and Latin West was focused on three Christian doctrines: 'the so-called
filioque controversy regarding the
procession of the Holy Spirit, leavened or
unleavened bread in the
Eucharist, and the
primacy of the pope.' However, it is not known when or how this began. British philosopher
Philip Sherrard (1959) claimed that the cause of
Christendom's split into a Greek East and a Latin West was differing conceptions of
sacerdotium and
regnum, leading the Orthodox Patriarchate in Constantinople to never lay claim to secular power, but submit to the Byzantine emperor and later the Ottoman sultan (supposedly the reason for the 'eastern submission to autocracy'), while the Catholic Papacy persistently laid claim to have authority over the secular princes of Western Europe (allegedly 'the roots of modern democracy'). E. Evans (1960) panned Sherrard's book, writing: '...it must be said that unless the obscurity of the writer's language has dulled the reader's intelligence, neither the
Filioque clause nor the developments of modern international politics are really shown to depend on the western as opposed to the eastern, the Latin as opposed to the Greek, doctrine of God and of creation: the argument, if there is one, is
per saltum, and need amount to no more than an
a posteriori interpretation of historical facts in the light of preconceived ideas.' These included observations that the Byzantine church-state dualism remained intact after the Western Roman Empire's collapse, while bishops and eventually the pope in the West sometimes wielded secular power, but the
Carolingian monarchs' renovatio also promoted theological thought at a time when the pope was embroiled in worldly affairs (8th–9th century), that the
Byzantine Iconoclasm controversy caused 'the first rift between Rome and Constantinople', and that the simultaneous
missionary efforts to convert the Slavs led to a 'second point of contention between Rome and Constantinople', especially
in Bulgaria (9th–10th century). Depending on the author it may also be applied to: • Areas where the Greek language was the common scholarly and religious language during classical Roman times and the early Middle Ages, including Syria, Egypt, Palestine, etc. • Areas that have historically been in communion with the (formerly Byzantine)
Eastern Orthodox Church, which includes
Russia and much of Eastern Europe, but largely excludes Eastern Christian communities using languages such as
Syriac,
Coptic,
Geʽez, &
Armenian which largely opposed the influence of
Constantinople having formed what are now called the
Church of the East and
Oriental Orthodox Churches. The Romanians speak a Romance language but follow the (formerly Byzantine) Eastern Church. • Areas that were heavily culturally influenced by the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire, directly or indirectly, during the Middle Ages, including Eastern Europe and the
Islamic Empires • note: among
Muslim historians, "Greek" and "Roman" are often categories specifically associated with
Christians. Though the
Sultanate of Rome and, later, the
Ottoman Empire would adopt Roman titles and describe themselves as rulers of "Rome," this was a geographic designation, much in the same way that the
Ghaznavids or
Delhi Sultans would be known as rulers of "
Hindustan." The term "Latin" has survived much longer as a unifying term for the West because the Latin language survived until relatively recently as a scholarly and liturgical language despite the fragmentation and religious changes in Western Europe. The Greek language, by contrast, died out somewhat quickly in the Arab lands, and the Orthodox Slavic nations never fully embraced the language despite their long religious affiliation with the Eastern Romans/Byzantines. ==Greek among Roman Emperors==