@BowsacNoodle @bobbala @c00p @STP @Twig @inscius @Bunsen Sorry in advance for what might come across like an “effortpoast” - but it’s a joy as far as I’m concerned
Many Orthodox to this day tie the falling away of Rome from the Church Universal, to the Filioque or Papal Supremacy. And while these were indeed the beginning of cracks in the Unity of Christendom, they could in theory at least be workable.
But the split was final and irrevocable by the time of the dispute between St. Gregory Palamas, and the monk Barlaam, whose impiety stemmed from his attempt to dispute Hesychasm. Because, in the process, he made an extreme Theological assertion; that is, that the Light beheld on Mt. Tabor by Sts. James, Peter, and John, was not the Uncreated Light, but rather, a mere creation.
In doing so, Barlaam cemented within the Bosom of The West a direct Theological *change* to the Faith-Once-Held-By-All. From this, the Western teaching of “Created Grace” spilled forth throughout all the land, largely unnoticed outside the Orthodox Lands, and a rift betwixt the two had been set.
It is logically impossible after that to jerry-rig the Communions back together. Flat-denying the Grace of God is an Uncreated Energy of God, represents the kind of change no hemming, hawing and handwaving can possibly fix.