When Church History and Science Collide
Signs in the heavens!
I recently saw a video on TikTok from a guy who makes videos about physics and the universe in all its complex wonder, and the video that popped up was one about a supernova that happened 1000 years ago.
These things interest me in general, but this one in particular caught my eye for other reasons: it’s a pretty unique event and is known as “the supernova of 1054”.
Now for some of you reading this, that year may sound very familiar if you know your church history. This is the year of The Great Schism (also known as the East-West Schism)!
Why is this relevant, you might be asking yourself… Well, let me tell you what my thoughts are.
My thinking went immediately to the verses throughout the Bible which talk of God making the stars as signs in the heavens for important events. There’s plenty that speak about the stars in various ways and for different reasons signifying things God was doing, or events on the earth. The first main reference happens during the creation narrative:
Genesis 1:14
And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years
Then also there’s the important one signifying the birth of Christ, which the magi saw and recognised as important:
Matthew 2:1–2
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”
See also various other references to the stars as signs here: Revelation 6:12–17, Matthew 24:29–30, Isaiah 13:13, Jeremiah 10:2, Joel 2:31, Haggai 2:6, Luke 21:25–26, Ezekiel 32:7–8, Job 38:31–33, Amos 5:8, Psalm 19:1.
But what makes this supernova of 1054 even more interesting isn’t just that it happens in the same year, but the same month! The Great Schism is generally dated to 16th July 1054 as the clinching moment of the Eastern and Western church parting ways (with the excommunication of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius), and this supernova was visible in the northern sky during the day from around the 4th July for over 20 days, which would lead right up to (and slightly beyond) the 16th of July! Crazy, right?
You might call all this coincidental or circumstantial, but I just thought it was an interesting link. Maybe the events of the Church broke the universe!
What this could mean, if anything, is up for debate of course; and whether the sign in the sky was pointing to the Schism being a good or bad thing is an issue for another day. But it’s an interesting connection, nonetheless.
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
