How did the rise of Islam contribute to the separation of Rome and Constantinople?

The rise of Islam contributed to the separation of Rome and Constantinople primarily by altering the geopolitical and religious landscape of the Mediterranean, which exacerbated existing tensions between the Eastern and Western churches.12

In the 7th century, the rapid expansion of Arab Muslim conquests resulted in the loss of major Byzantine provinces, including Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. This territorial contraction significantly reduced the influence of the Eastern church in those regions and left Constantinople increasingly isolated from the West. Furthermore, the loss of these provinces meant that the Byzantine Empire no longer needed to placate the miaphysite populations of the East, which had previously been a source of doctrinal friction with Rome.13

While the rise of Islam created external pressures, the formal schism of 1054 was also driven by deep-seated cultural, linguistic, and political differences, as well as conflicting views on papal authority. The subsequent centuries saw further alienation, culminating in the 1204 sack of Constantinople by Western Christians and the eventual fall of the city to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, which finalized the end of the Byzantine Empire.423