During the last year of Constantine's reign a serious dispute arose between Pope Leo IX and the patriarch Michael Cerularius. The dispute reached its climax in Haghia Sophia during an afternoon service on Saturday 16 July 1054, when Cardinal Humbert, one of three papal legates, strode down the main aisle and placed a scroll on the high altar, a formal bull of excommunication against Cerularius and his supporters. Soon afterwards Cerularius convened a synod which excommunicated the three papal legates, causing a schism between the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches that continues to the
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