▪ I. schism, n.
(sɪz(ə)m, skɪz(ə)m)
Forms: 4–7 scisme, 5 cisme, cissime, 5–6 sisme, sysme, scysme, 6 scissym, sciseme, cysme, Sc. scisma, 6–7 schisme, 7 scism, shism, 7– schism.
[ME. scisme, cisme, sisme, a. OF. scisme, cisme (mod.F. schisme) = Pr. scisma, Sp. cisma, Pg. scisma (masc. schism, fem. whim), It. scisma schism, cisma discord, ill-will, ad. eccl. L. schisma neut., a. Gr. σχίσµα rent, cleft (in the N.T. applied fig. to division in the church), f. σχιδ-, σχίζειν to split, rend.
In the 16th c. the spelling was altered in Eng. (as also in Fr.) to schisme by assimilation to the late L. and Gr. form.
The pronunc. (skɪz(ə)m), though widely regarded as incorrect, is now freq. used for this word and its derivatives both in the U.K. and in North America.]
1. In the versions of the New Testament, used to represent the Gr. σχίσµα in some passages, where the sense is that of a (metaphorical) rent or cleft.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Cor. i. 10, I biseche ȝou..that ȝe alle seye the same thing, and that scismes, or dyuysiouns, dissenciouns, or discordis, be not among ȝow. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 4 Lat na scismes discord or divisioun be amangis yow. 1582 Bible (Rheims) 1 Cor. xii. 25 That there might be no schisme in the body. [So 1611.] |
2. Eccl. a. A breach of the unity of the visible Church; the division, either of the whole Church or of some portion of it, into separate and mutually hostile organizations; the condition of being so divided, or an instance of this. Also
transf. with reference to other religious communities.
According to the definition given repeatedly in various forms by Augustine and other Fathers, the term has reference to outward separation, not to inward divergence of belief. Hence a ‘schism’ does not necessarily proceed from heresy; indeed the most prominent application of the word is to separations caused by disputes on matters of discipline, the validity of an election to a bishopric or of a sentence of deprivation, or the like.
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 15 And so to speke upon this branche, Which proud Envie hath mad to springe, Of Scisme. [The reference is to the Papal schism: see b.] c 1400 Apol. Loll. (Camden) 29 þe seedis of scysmis schuld be tan a wey. 1440 in Wars Eng. in France (1864) II. 453 Goddes chirche [was] supported, and thestate and oonhede thereof observed; scismes, like elles to have growed thereinne, letted and thoo that were growen letted and ceassed. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 25 The kirk..was all..in obscuritee of scisme and of weris. 1549 Compl. Scot. xix. 160 Doutles thy abusione, and the sinister ministratione of thy office, is the special cause of the scisma and of diuers sectis that trublis al cristianite, and quhou beit that the rute of thir scismes and sectis be in germane, denmark and ingland. 1558 Q. Mary Will in J. M. Stone Mary I Engl. (1901) 508 In the tyme of the late Scisme within this Realme. a 1600 Hooker Serm. Jude i. §11 (1614) 18 If they breake the bond of vnitie, whereby the body of the Church is coupled and knit in one,..this is to separate themselues by schisme. 1630 Prynne Anti-Armin. 175 By which words he doth reiect the Scisme of the Donatists. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 231 Faustus..took up this conceit—That both the Christians and Jews..were no other than schisms or subdivided sects of paganism. 1689 Popple tr. Locke's 1st Let. Toleration 61 Schism then..is nothing else but a Separation made in the Communion of the Church, upon account of something in Divine Worship, or Ecclesiastical Discipline, that is not any necessary part of it. 1782 Burney Hist. Mus. II. 46 The schism between the Greek and Latin churches, which happened in the ninth century. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. vii, In order to compel the Patriarch to submit himself to the Pope, adopt the Latin form of the cross, and put an end to the schism. |
b. spec. A state of divided spiritual allegiance in Western Christendom (or, at an earlier period, in Christendom generally) caused by a disputed election to the Papacy;
esp. the Great (Western) Schism (1378–1417); other ‘schisms’ arose from the claims of the rivals of Alexander III (1159–1177) and of the antipope Felix V (1432–1448).
| 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 88 In his tyme was a scisme betwix him [Symmachus] and on Laurens. c 1460 Brut 507 This yere þe general Counsel of Basile deposed Pope Eugeny; & þei chese Felix..; & þan began þe Scisme which endured vnto þe yere of oure Lord Ihesu Crist M1 iiij{supc} xlviij. a 1513 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxxvi. 273 The sisme, y{supt} after fell amongis the cardynallys, for eleccion of the pope Alexander the .iii.: which sysme, by mean of the first Frederike than emperoure, endured almooste .xx. yeres. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. V, 34 The long scisme and devision sprong & continued in the catholike church. 1651 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. vi. (1739) 34 The Popedom was now under a Schism between two Popes, Clement and Urban. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. I. viii. 167 The schism of the Papacy between Alexander and Victor. 1845 Encycl. Metrop. XII. 182/1 The death of Gregory was followed by serious difficulty respecting the choice of his successor, which gave rise to the long-continued dissension in the Church, commonly called the Great Western Schism. 1885 Mullinger in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 502/1 The outbreak of the great schism struck no less deeply at those sentiments of veneration and deference which had been wont to gather round the pontiff's chair. |
c. The offence of promoting the formation or contributing to the permanence of ‘schisms’ or divisions in the Church or a portion of it; the state of being culpably separated from the Church. Phrase,
in schism.
| 1402 Repl. Friar Topias in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 41 Now is that seed of cisme sowen in the chirche; the whete fadith with the floure, oure fode is for to feche. 1551 Crowley Pleasure & P. 359 You layde to theyr charge herecie, Sisme, and Sedicion also. 1557 Card. Pole in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) III. App. lxviii. 254 And for theyr remayninge in Schisme, great Plages of God remayninge styll upon them. 1567 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. III. 324 That doth not comply with the orders of the Church, lately purged or clensed from Sisme and Idolatry. 1571 Campion Hist. Irel. xii. (1633) 36 That the onely report of his holynesse and cunning, excited the Scotts (late christened, but abiding in scisme). 1662 Bk. Com. Prayer, Litany, From all false doctrine, heresy, and schism. 1670 Walton Lives i. 13 There could be no such sin as Schism, if an adherence to some visible Church were not necessary. 1689 Popple tr. Locke's 1st Let. Toleration 61 Use, which is the Supream Law in matter of Language, has determined that Heresy relates to Errors in Faith, and Schism to those in Worship or Discipline. 1704 Nelson Fest. & Fasts ii. x. (1705) 512 Till our refractoriness degenerates into the grievious Sin of Schism. 1769 Blackstone Comm. iv. iv. 52 The sin of schism..is by no means the object of temporal coercion and punishment. 1819 Shelley Peter Bell Prol. 11 Shielding from the guilt of schism The orthodoxal syllogism. 1842 Tennyson Epic 16, I heard The parson..Now harping on the church-commissioners, Now hawking at Geology and schism. 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 113 And then, despite all heresy and schism, theocracy will flourish. |
d. A sect or body formed by division within the Church; a body which, either in Christendom generally or in some portion of it, maintains an ecclesiastical organization distinct from that of the Catholic Church; a schismatic sect.
| c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) 290 They doo therfore with a more constante mynde perseuer in theyr fyrst fayth..than doo manye of vs beinge diuided into scismes and sectes whiche thynge neuer chaunceth amonge them. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades iii. vi. 366 Neither Christ nor our saluation is to bee found without the church, in the sects or schismes of wicked heretikes. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 9 Hence comes it that the earth is rent into so many religions, and those religions torn into so many schismes, and various forms of devotion. 1649 Milton Eikon. xxvii. 215 That Church that from the name of a distinct place takes its autority to set up a distinct Faith or Government, is a Scism and Faction, not a Church. 1840 Macaulay Ess., Ranke (1850) II. 143 If a noble lady is moved..she will end by giving her name to a new schism. 1884 Tennyson Becket i. iii, And that I cannot sign: for that would make Our island-Church a schism from Christendom. |
| fig. 1640 Habington Q. Arragon iv. i, If your designe Be to convert me; for I know you hold All Ladies in a Schisme, who are young and proud. |
† e. ? A schismatical opinion.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 55 Not to count him fit to print his mind without a tutor and examiner, lest he should drop a scism, or something of corruption. |
3. a. gen. In early use, a state of disunion, dissension, or mutual hostility. Now with more restricted meaning (influenced by sense 2 and the
Gr. etymology), a division into mutually opposing parties of a body of persons that have previously acted in concert. Also, in recent use, a severance of unity, a discord, breach (between persons or things).
| c 1425 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 411 The goddys remembryd the scisme odyous Among the three goddesses that she [Discord] had wrought At the fest of Peleus. c 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. ii. 454 (MS. Arund.), ‘It is ful perillous, he seyde, ‘to be a mayde And eke a qveen; ȝe may be ful sone afrayde If ony rysynge or ony sisme [MS. Rawl. scisme] be sterde.’ c 1440 Gesta Rom. xxviii. 196 (Add. MS.) Where that was cissime and debate amonge any, he labored for to make accorde, that good accorde shold be had. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 36 But whan that cyte [Antioch] wyth scysme was ner nowt Oon Austyn to Tuskayne from thens me [St. Margaret] browt. 1477 Coventry Leet Bk. 420 Eny persone..that haue eny seducious langage, which myght sowe eny sysme betwixt the kynges goode grace and eny his lordez. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. x. §110 But this Schisme carried all the Reputation and Authority to the Army, and left none to the Parliament. 1783 Burke Indian Committee Wks. II. 216 An open schism instantly divided the Council. 1834 Macaulay Ess., Pitt ¶10 The schism which had divided the Whig party was now completely healed. 1839 Blackw. Mag. XLV. 460 The eternal and inevitable schism between the Romanticists and the Classicists. 1851 M. Hopkins Strength & Beauty xiv. 261 (Funk) It is a prejudice, as disastrous as it is unfounded, that there can be a schism between the heart and the intellect to the advantage of either. 1852 T. Parker Ten Serm. Relig. iii. (1863) 42 Attraction is the most general law in the material world, and prevents a schism in the universe. 1872 H. T. Buckle Misc. Wks. I. 252 The schism between literature and the government was aided by another schism between literature and religion. |
b. nonce-uses. A faction, party; a set or class of people.
| 1819 Shelley Peter Bell ii. v, He had on an upper Benjamin (For he was of the driving schism). 1820 ― Witch of Atlas lxxv, In a band The gaolers sent those of the liberal schism Free through the streets of Memphis. |
† 4. Mus. = schisma.
Obs. rare.
| 1653 Ld. Brouncker tr. Des Cartes' Compend. Mus. 30 A certaine Fraction, which may be the difference betwixt a Tone major and a Tone minor, which we nominate a Schism [orig. quam schisma nominamus]. 1694 W. Holder Harmony 86, Note, whenever I mention Diesis without Distinction; I mean Diesis Minor, or Enharmonic: and when I so mention Comma; I mean Comma Majus, or Schism. |
¶ 5. Used
jocularly in the etymological sense: A rent or tear (in a garment).
| 1767 Sterne Tr. Shandy IX. xxiv, My shirts! see what a deadly schism has happen'd amongst 'em. 1772 R. Graves Spir. Quixote (1783) II. 140 He..levelled his needle at the schism in his Master's trousers. |
6. attrib. and
Comb., as
schism-sower,
schism time;
Schism Act, the statute 13 Anne c. 7 (1714; repealed in 1719 by 5
Geo. I, c. 4), requiring all teachers to conform to the Established Church; so
Schism Bill;
schism-house,
-shop, a contemptuous term for a nonconformist place of worship (occasionally also applied to a proprietary chapel licensed for Church of England services).
| 1733 Free-Briton No. 200 ¶6 This was the Act which repealed the *Schism-Act. |
| Ibid. ¶1 The *Schism-Bill. 1814 W. Wilson Dissent. Ch. Lond. IV. 533 The schism bill received the royal assent June 25, 1714. |
| 1843 Miall in Nonconf. III. 607 What the vicar calls ‘*schism-houses’. 1893 Church Times 21 July 757/4 In Romish schism-houses in this country. |
| 1801 G. Hanger in Life II. 404 You might travel 60 or 70 miles and not see a church, or even a *schism-shop. 1823 Southey Let. to Mrs. Southey 30 Dec. in Life (1850) V. 154, I recollected that in most schism shops the sermon is looked upon as the main thing for which the congregation assemble. |
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. ii. 139 Therfore the aȝenseiers her of ben to be reiated and rebukid as..*scisme sowers and disturblers of the peple. 1589 Nashe Martins Months Mind Ep. to Rdr. D 1, Al such vntractable and seditious scisme sowers. |
| 1539 Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 107 The great studie and stedfastness that he had taken and contynued in all the *scysme and division tyme. |
▪ II. † schism, v. Obs. rare.
[f. schism n.] intr. To separate schismatically.
| 1604 H. Jacob Reasons taken out 77 He that differeth from the Gospell ioyneth not to the Church, but schismeth from it. 1610 J. Robinson Justif. Separation Wks. 1851 II. 293 It is necessary that he which thinks it a true church return unto it, from which he hath wickedly schismed. 1645 Kiffen in R. Baillie Anabaptism (1647) 69 The notorious guilt of schisming from Rome. |