Alabama Social Studies SS24.8.2a
The Standard
- SS24.8.2
- Describe the Byzantine Empire, its institutions, and its legacy.
Identify factors leading to the separation of Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Christianity and explain how the Orthodox Church influenced society and culture in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain why Christians in Rome and Constantinople disagreed over church leadership and worship. They show how the Orthodox Church shaped art, writing, and community life in Eastern Europe and parts of Central Asia.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students explain how disputes over the pope's authority and differences in worship helped split the churches. They connect Orthodox missionaries to Slavic writing in Eastern Europe. They describe how later Russian settlement brought Orthodox churches to parts of Central Asia.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think the churches split as soon as Rome fell, rather than after centuries of disagreement. They may assume everyone in Eastern Europe and Central Asia became Orthodox.
How to Assess It
- Ask students to write four lines: two reasons the churches split, one Orthodox cultural effect in Eastern Europe, and one in Central Asia.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a map to label Rome, Constantinople, Bulgaria, Russia, and Kazakhstan, then mark the split and later Orthodox spread in different colors.
Ask: Why might a church leader in Constantinople reject the pope's authority over his church?
Run a card race using 'pope's authority,' 'Greek worship,' 'Slavic books,' and 'Kazakhstan churches'; students sort causes from effects.
Show photos of Orthodox churches in Bulgaria and Kazakhstan; ask students to circle crosses and domes, then find both countries on a map.
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Printable SS24.8.2a Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.7.16c
Summarize the economic, political, and social factors that led to the split and eventual fall of the Western Roman Empire.
- SS24.8.2b
Evaluate the cultural contributions of the Byzantines to art, religion, and architecture.
- SS24.8.10
Analyze the factors that contributed to the Reformation and explain how it affected the religious and political unity of Europe.
- SS24.HG.7
Describe ways religion influences cultures, citing examples from around the globe.
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