Difference between revisions of "Timeline of Church History"

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Revision as of 19:54, February 8, 2008

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The History of the Church is a vital part of the Orthodox Christian faith. Orthodox Christians are defined significantly by their continuity with all those who have gone before, those who first received and preached the truth of Jesus Christ to the world, those who helped to formulate the expression and worship of our faith, and those who continue to move forward in the unchanging yet ever-dynamic Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church.

New Testament era

Apostolic era (33-100)

Ante-Nicene era (100-325)

Nicene era (325-451)

Byzantine era (451-843)

  • 451 Fourth Ecumenical Council meets at Chalcedon, attended by 630 fathers passing 30 canons, condemning Eutychianism and Monophysitism, affirming doctrine of two perfect and invisible but separate natures of Christ (see miracle of St Evphemia of Chalcedon, Nov 11); this eventually led to a schism, with the Church of Alexandria being divided into Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian factions, with a similar schism occurring in the Church of Antioch along with it; Church of Jerusalem is recognized as a patriarchate by the Council of Chalcedon.
  • 451 Battle of Chalons, the last major military operation of the Western Roman Empire, where the Christian allied forces under Roman general Aetius (“the last Roman”) defeated Attila (“the Scourge of God”) and his Hunnic host, ending Attila's campaign in Gaul and allowing western civilization and Christianity to continue to flourish.
  • 452 Proterios of Alexandria (replacement of Dioscorus), convenes synod in Alexandria to reconcile Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian groups; second finding of the Head of St. John the Forerunner.
  • 452 Attila, king of the Huns, invades northern Italy, but is convinced to withdraw from Ravenna by Pope Leo I; according to a popular account Saints Peter and Paul appeared to the King of the Huns in a vision and convinced him to turn away; Venice is founded by fugitives from Attila's army.
  • 455 Vandals under Gaiseric Sack Rome; Germanic Saxons and Angles conquer Britain, founding several independent kingdoms, including Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, and Kent.
  • 457 Victorius of Aquitania computes new tables for celebrating Easter (used in the west until they were replaced by those of Dionysios Exiguus); the coronation of Byzantine Emperor Leo I was the first known to involve the Patriarch of Constantinople.
  • 459 Death of Symeon the Stylite.
  • 461 Death of St. Leo I, 'the Great', Pope of Rome; his teaching on Christ was acclaimed by all the Orthodox at the Council of Chalcedon; death of St Patrick.
  • 462 The beginning of the the first day of the new year (of the Indiction) on the Byzantine Calendar is changed to 1 September, which to the present day is the beginning of the Church year; the Monastery of Saint John the Forerunner at Stoudios (The Studion) is founded, historically the most important monastery of Constantinople, whose laws and customs were taken as models by the monks of Mount Athos and of many other monasteries of the Orthodox world; the "sleepless" ("akoimetoi") monks of the Studion, who divided into companies, kept an unceasing round of prayer and psalm-singing day and night in their church.
  • 466 Church of Antioch elevates the bishop of Mtskheta to the rank of Catholicos of Kartli, thus rendering the Church of Georgia autocephalous.
  • 473 Death of St. Euthymius the Great.
  • 475 Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysiste christological position.
  • 476 Fall of the Western Roman Empire when Romulus Augustus, the last Emperor of the West was deposed by Germanic chieftain Odoacer; in an unstable political environment, the Church of Rome slowly developed a centralized structure, concentrating religious as well as secular authority in the office of the Pope, the bishop of Rome.
  • 477 Timothy Aelurus of Alexandria, exiles Chalcedonian bishops from Egypt; Holy 362 Martyrs of Africa, martyred by the Arians.
  • 482 Byzantine emperor Zeno I issues the Henotikon edict (Act of Union), in an attempt to reconcile the differences between the supporters of Orthodoxy and Monophysitism.
  • 484 Acacian Schism: Pope Felix III excommunicates Peter Mongus, patriarch of Alexandria, and Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople, causing a schism between eastern and western Christianity that lasted 35 years (to 519).
  • 484 Founding of the Monastery of St. Sabbas by St Sabbas of Cappadocia in the Judean wilderness near Bethlehem; Synod of Beth Lapat in Persia declared the Nestorian doctrine as the official theology of the Assyrian Church of the East, centered in Edessa, effectively separating the Assyrian Church from the Byzantine church, which had already condemned Nestorianism at the Council of Ephesus in 431.
  • 488 Death of Peter the Fuller, the non-Chalcedonian Patriarch of Antioch.
  • 489 Emperor Zeno I closed the Nestorian academy in Edessa, which was then transferred under Sassanian Persian auspices to Nisibis.
  • 490 St. Brigid founds the monastery of Kildare in Ireland.
  • 494 Pope Gelasius I delineated the relationship between church and state in his letter Duo sunt, written to Emperor Anastasius; during the Acacian schism he asserted the primacy of Rome over the entire Church, setting the model for subsequent popes’ claims of papal supremacy.
  • 496 Pope Gelasius I dedicated February 14 as Saint Valentine's Day, banning the pre-Christian Roman festival of Lupercalia (July 30 in the Orthodox Church); Saint Remigius, Bishop of Reims and Apostle of the Franks, baptized Clovis I king of the Salian Franks, together with 3000 of his men, as the Franks accepted Orthodox, rather than Arian, Christianity.
  • ca. 500 Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite writes The Mystical Theology.
  • 502 Start of Byzantine-Sassanid wars lasting until 562.
  • 506 The Armenian Church separated from the Eastern Orthodox Church after the Council of Chalcedon, rejecting its ruling on the nature of Christ.
  • 507 Clovis I defeated Alaric II King of the Visigoths at the Battle of Vouillé near Poitiers, ending their power in Gaul, for which success the Byzantine emperor Anastasius made him a consul.
  • 512 Death of St Genevieve of Paris.
  • 518 Severus Patriarch of Antioch (512-518) appointed by Emperor Anastasius, is deposed by Emperor Justin I for his Monophysitism.
  • 519 The Eastern and Western churches are reconciled with the end of the Acacian schism.
  • ca.520 Saint Elesbaan (Caleb), King of Ethiopia (Axum), invaded the Jewish Himyarite kingdom of Yemen, which was persecuting the Christians there, thus establishing Axumite control of South Arabia.
  • 521 St. Columba of Iona is born.
  • 527 Dionysius Exiguus working on the Gregorian Calendar calculated the date of birth of Jesus incorrectly; foundation of St. Catherine's Monastery on the Sinai peninsula by Emperor St. Justinian the Great.
  • ca.528 Death of Procopius of Gaza, a Christian sophist and rhetorician, one of the most important representatives of the famous school of rhetoric at Gaza.
  • 529 Pagan University of Athens closed and replaced by Christian university in Constantinople; St. Benedict of Nursia founds monastery of Monte Cassino and codifies Western monasticism; Council of Orange condemns Pelagianism; the Church of the Nativity is burnt down in the Samaritan revolt of 529; death of St Theodosius the Great, the Cenobiarch, who founded cenobitic (communal) monasticism.
  • 529 Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law) is issued from 529 to 534, a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence in four parts: the Codex Justinianus, Digesta (Pandects), Institutiones, and Novellae, serving to revive Roman law; ultimately this became the foundation of all civil law, influencing ecclesiastical law as well.
  • 530 St. Brendan the Navigator lands in Newfoundland, Canada, establishing a short-lived community of Irish monks.
  • 532 Justinian orders the building of a new cathedral, beginning of the construction of the Hagia Sophia (532-537); death of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified.
  • 533 Mercurius is elected Pope of Rome and takes the name of John II, the first pope to change his name upon election.
  • 533 Foundation of the Diocese of Selefkia in Central Africa by the Emperor Justinian.
  • 534 Final edition of the Codex Justinianus (Code of Justinian) is published, including numerous provisions securing the status of Orthodox Christianity as the state religion of the empire.
  • 534 Roman Empire destroys the Arian kingdom of the Vandals; Malta becomes a Byzantine province (534-870).
  • 536 Patriarch Mennas of Constantinople (536-552) summoned a synod in May-June 536 where Severus was anathematized; the sentence was ratified by Justinian.
  • 537 Construction of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is completed by Emperor St. Justinian the Great.
  • 539 Ravenna becomes an exarchate of the Byzantine Empire (539-751).
  • 541 Jacob Baradeus, bishop of Edessa, organizes the Non-Chalcedonian Church in western Syria (the "Jacobites"), which spreads to Armenia and Egypt.
  • 543 The doctrine of apocatastasis is condemned by the Synod of Constantinople.
  • 544 Jacob Baradeus consecrated Sergius of Tella as bishop of Antioch, opening the lasting schism between the Syrian Orthodox Church and Eastern Orthodox Church; Founding of the monastery at Clonmacnoise in Ireland by St. Ciaran.
  • 545 The Synod of Brefi is held at Llandewi Brefi in Wales to condemn the Pelagian heresy.
  • 546 St. Columba founds monastery of Derry in Ireland.
  • ca.550 St David takes Christianity to Wales.
  • 553 Fifth Ecumenical Council attended by 165 fathers is held in Constantinople in an attempt to reconcile Chalcedonians with non-Chalcedonians—the Three Chapters of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, and Ibas of Edessa are condemned for their pro-Nestorian nature, and Origen and his writings are also condemned.
  • 553 The bishops of Aquileia, Milan, Venetia and the Istrian peninsula in Italy all refused to condemn the Three Chapters causing a schism in the Westin those areas; the Ostrogoth Kingdom is conquered by the Byzantines after the Battle of Mons Lactarius and the Italian peninsula was, for a short time, reintegrated into the empire.
  • 554 The Armenian Church officially severed ties with the West in 554, during the second Council of Dvin where the dyophysite formula of the Council of Chalcedon was rejected.
  • 556 St. Columba founds monastery of Durrow in Ireland; death of Saint Romanus the Melodist (“Sweet Singer”).
  • 557 St Brendan the Navigator founds monastery at Clonfert, Ireland.
  • 563 Re-consecration of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople after its dome is rebuilt; St. Columba arrives on Iona and establishes his monastery there, founding his mission to the Picts.
  • 564 Death of St. Petroc.
  • 569 Final schism between Chalcedonians and non-Chalcedonians in Egypt; St. David holds the Synod of Victoria to re-assert the anti-pelagian decrees agreed at Brefi.
  • 570 Death of St. Gildas; Birth of Muhammad, founder of Islam.
  • 579 400 Martyrs slain by the Lombards in Sicily.
  • 580 Monte Cassino sacked by the Lombards, sending its monks fleeing to Rome; the Slavs begin to migrate into the Balkans and Greece.
  • 587 The Visigothic King Reccared renounced Arianism in favour of Orthodox Christianity.
  • 589 At Council of Toledo in Spain, the Filioque is added to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in an attempt to combat Arianism;
  • ca.590 The Parthenon in Athens is converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Theotokos.
  • 590 Irish missionary St. Columbanus founds monasteries in France (Luxeuil in Burgundy).
  • 593 Anastasius the Sinaite is restored as Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.
  • 596 St. Gregory the Dialogist sends St. Augustine along with forty other monks to southern Britain to convert the pagans.
  • 597 Death of St. Columba of Iona, Enlightener of Scotland.
  • ca. 600 The Ladder of Divine Ascent written by St. John Climacus; St. Gregory the Dialogist inspired the development of Gregorian Chant through his liturgical reforms.
  • 601 Augustine of Canterbury converts King St. Ethelbert of Kent and establishes the see of Canterbury.
  • 602 Final series of climactic wars between the Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid Empire, 602-627; St. Augustine of Canterbury meets with the Welsh Bishops, stating that they have been acting contrary to Church teachings, failing to keep Easter at the prescribed Roman time and not administering baptism according to the Roman rite; he also insists that they help in the conversion of the Saxons, and look to Canterbury as their spiritual centre.
  • 604 Mellitus becomes the first Bishop of London and founds the first St. Paul's Cathedral; death of St Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome.
  • 605 Death of Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, buried in St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury.
  • 609 The Pantheon in Rome is made a church, consecrated to the Virgin Mary and all saints (Santa Maria dei Martiri).
  • 610 Heraclius changes the official language of the Empire from Latin to Greek, already the lingua franca of the vast majority of the population.
  • 612 The Holy Sponge and the Holy Lance are brought to Constantinople from Palestine.
  • 614 Persian sack of Jerusalem under Chosroes II of Persia; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is damaged by fire, the True Cross is captured, and over 65,000 Christians in Jerusalem are massacred.
  • 615 Death of Columbanus in Italy.
  • 617 Persian Army conquered Chalcedon after a long siege.
  • 618 Death of St Kevin, Abbot of Glendalough, Ireland.
  • 620 The Slavs attack Thessaloniki.
  • 622 Year one of the Islamic calendar begins, during which the hejira occurs, Muhammad and his followers emigrate from Mecca to Medina.
  • 626 Akathist Hymn to the Virgin Mary written, after Constantinople was liberated from a siege of 80,000 Avars, Slavs and the Persian fleet.
  • 627 Pope St. Gregory the Dialogist sends Paulinus to found the see of York and convert King Edwin of Northumbria.
  • 627 Emperor Heraclius decisively defeats the Sassanid Persians At The Battle of Nineveh, surrounding their capital Ctesiphon, recovering the True Cross, and breaking the power of the Sassanid dynasty.
  • 628 According to the Charter of Privileges, a historic document written in Arabic and granted by Muhammad to the monks of Saint Catherine's Monastery, he gave his protection to the monastery after it had provided him sanctuary as a young man, securing to it the respect of all his followers, confirmed by Muhammed himself by impressing his extended hand, blackened with ink, upon the parchment.
  • 630 Second Elevation of the Holy Cross: Emperor Heraclius entered Jerusalem on 21 March amidst great rejoicing, transferring the Cross of Christ with great solemnity into the temple of the Resurrection together with Patriarch Zacharios (609-633).
  • 633 Death of Saint Modestus, Archbishop of Jerusalem, who set about restoring the devastated Christian shrines, among which was the Sepulchre of the Lord, and reverently buried the murdered monks from the monastery of St Sabbas the Sanctified.
  • 635 Founding of Lindisfarne Monastery by St. Aidan, a monk from Iona; Cynegils, king of Wessex, converts to Christianity.
  • 636 Capture of Jerusalem by the Muslim Arabs after the pivotal Battle of Yarmuk.
  • 638 Arabs allow Jews to return to Jerusalem.
  • 640 Muslim conquest of Syria; in Egypt the Battle of Heliopolis between Arab Muslim armies and Byzantium opened the door for the Muslim conquest of the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa.
  • 641 Capture of Alexandria by Muslim Arabs.
  • 642 Muslim conquest of Egypt; Arabs invade Christian Nubia for the first time.
  • 646 Alexandria is recaptured by Muslim Arabs after a Byzantine attempt to retake Egypt fails, ending nearly ten centuries of Greco-Roman Civilization in Egypt.
  • 648 Pope Theodore I excommunicates patriarch Paul II of Constantinople.
  • 649 Arabs invade and conquer Cyprus.
  • 650 Final defeat of Arianism as Lombards convert to Orthodox Christianity.
  • 651 End of the Persian Empire, as the last shah of Persia Yezdegherd III of the Sassanid dynasty is killed at Merv.
  • 653 Pope Martin I is arrested on orders of Byzantine Emperor Constans II.
  • 654 Invasion of Rhodes by Arabs.
  • 655 Martyrdom of St Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome.
  • 657 Founding of Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire, England.
  • 662 Death of St. Maximus the Confessor.
  • 663 Emperor Constans II is last Eastern emperor to set foot in Rome; Constans II declared the Pope of Rome to have no jurisdiction over the Archbishop of Ravenna, since that city was the seat of the exarch, his immediate representative.
  • 664 Synod of Whitby held in northern England, harmonizing Celtic and Roman liturgical practices in England; Ionian monk Wilfrid appointed as Archbishop of York; death of Saint Cedd, evangelist of the Middle Angles and East Saxons in England.
  • 668 St. Theodore of Tarsus is appointed as archbishop of Canterbury.
  • 669-78 First Arab siege of Constantinople; at the Battle of Syllaeum in 677 the Arab fleet was destroyed by the Byzantines through the use of Greek Fire, ending the immediate Arab threat to eastern Europe.
  • 670 Composition of Caedmon's Hymn by St. Caedmon of Whitby.
  • 680-681 Sixth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople, attended by 170 fathers passing 102 canons, condemning Monothelitism and affirming the Christology of St. Maximus the Confessor, affirming that Christ has both a natural (human) will and a divine will; Patriarch Sergius of Constantinople and Pope Honorius of Rome are both explicitly anathematized for their support of the Monothelite heresy.
  • 680 First Bulgarian Empire established (680-1018 AD) after a successful war with Byzantium, and the subsequent treaty signed with the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV Pogonatus.
  • 682 Foundation of monastery at Jarrow, England.
  • 685 First monastics come to Mount Athos; death of Venerable Anastasius, abbot of Mt. Sinai;
  • 685 John Maron, (who named himself for the Syrian hermit St. Maron of Syria), is elected the first Maronite Patriarch, becoming the founder of what is known today as the Maronite Catholic Church, which embraced Monothelitism, rejected the teaching of the Fifth Ecumenical Council, and separated from the Orthodox Church.
  • 687 Destruction of Whitby Abbey by Danish raiders; death of St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne.
  • 688 Emperor Justinian II and Caliph al-Malik sign a treaty neutralizing Cyprus.
  • 691 The building of the Dome of the Rock is completed in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount.
  • 692 Quinisext Council (also called the Penthekte Council or the Council in Trullo) held in Constantinople, attended by 327 fathers, issuing canons which are seen as completing the work of the Fifth and Sixth Ecumenical Councils, and declaring the Church of Jerusalem to be a patriarchate.
  • 694 The Byzantine army of Justinian II is defeated by the Maronites, which became fully independent afterwards.
  • 697 Council of Birr, where the northern part of Ireland accepts the Roman calculations for celebrating Easter; at this synod, Adamnan promulgates his Cáin Adomáin ("Law of the Innocents").
  • 698 Muslim conquest of Carthage from the Byzantine Empire; at the Synod of Aquileia, the bishops of the diocese of Aquileia decided to end the Schism of the Three Chapters and return to communion with Rome (see 553) - this extended period of independence contributed to the evolution of the independent Patriarch of Venice from the Patriarch of Aquileia.
  • ca.700 Death of Saint Isaac the Syrian, Bishop of Nineveh, ascetic writer.
  • 705 A long period of fighting begins between Trebizond in eastern Asia Minor and the Arabs.
  • 706 Use of Greek as the administrative language was abolished in Egypt, as government edicts were redacted in Arabic starting in 706; the primary spoken language remained Coptic until the tenth century, (when Arabic had replaced it, and Coptic became relegated to a liturgical language).
  • 707 The Byzantines lose the Balearic Islands to the Moors; death of John Maron, first Maronite Patriarch.
  • 710 Pope Constantine makes last papal visit to Constantinople before 1967; also the last pope to visit Greece before 2001.
  • 711 Umayyad Islamic invasion of Spain.
  • 712 Death of St. Andrew, Archbishop of Crete (712-726).
  • ca. 715 Lindisfarne Gospels produced in Northumbria (Northern England).
  • 715 The Grand Mosque of Damascus, is built over the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist; the Al-Aqsa Mosque is constructed over the site of the Church of St. Mary of Justinian; Pictish King Nechtan invites the Northumbrian clergy to establish Christianity amongst the Picts.
  • 716 Monastery at Iona conforms to Roman liturgical usage; St. Boniface's first missionary journey to Frisia.
  • 717 The Pictish king Nechtan expels the monks from the island of Iona.
  • 717-18 Second Arab siege of Constantinople.
  • 719 Nubian Christians transferred their allegiance from the Greek Orthodox Church to the Coptic Church, according to an entry in the chronicle of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria Eutychius (932-940).
  • 723 Saint Boniface fells Thor's Oak near Fritzlar, marking the decisive event in the Christianization of the northern Germanic tribes.
  • 726 Iconoclast Emperor Leo the Isaurian starts campaign against the icons (Iconoclastic controversy from 726-787 and 813-843).
  • 730 Emperor Leo III orders the destruction of all icons, beginning the First Iconoclastic Period.
  • 731 Venerable Bede completes Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
  • 732 Muslim invasion of Europe is stopped by the Franks at the Battle of Tours, establishing a balance of power between Western Europe, Islam and the Byzantine Empire.
  • 733 Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian withdraws the Balkans, Sicily and Calabria from the jurisdiction of the Pope in response to Gregory III's support of a revolt in Italy against iconoclasm.
  • 734 Egbert becomes bishop of York, founding a library and making the city a renowned centre of learning.
  • 735 Death of the Venerable Bede; the See of York achieves archepiscopal status.
  • 739 Emperor Leo III (717-41) publishes his Ecloga Law Code, designed to introduce Christian principle into law; Battle of Akroinon where Byzantine forces defeat an Umayyad invasion of Asia Minor; death of Willibrord (658-739), Archbishop of Utrecht and Enlightener of the Netherlands.
  • 740 The Khazars, a nation of the Black Sea steppe, though not ethnically Jewish, voluntarily convert to Judaism.
  • 742 After a forty-year vacancy, Stephen IV (742-748) becomes Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, at the suggestion of Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik.
  • 746 Byzantine forces regain Cyprus from the Arabs.
  • 749 Death of John of Damascus.
  • 750 Donation of Constantine accepted as a legitimate document, used by Pope Stephen II to prove territorial and jurisdictional claims.
  • 751 The Lombard king Aistulf captures Ravenna and the Romagna, ending the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna.
  • 752 Death of St Zacharias, Pope of Rome, a Greek and the last Orthodox saint in this See, he opposed iconoclasm, adorned churches with frescos, and did much for missionary work and peace all over western Europe.
  • 754 Iconoclastic Council held in Constantinople under the authority of Emperor Constantine V Copronymus, condemning icons and declaring itself to be the Seventh Ecumenical Council; Constantine begins the dissolution of the monasteries.
  • 754 Death of St. Boniface, Apostle of Germany.
  • 756 The Donation of Pepin is a cession of lands including Ravenna that became the basis of the Papal States.
  • 768 The Church of Wales adopts the Orthodox calculation of Pascha, at the teaching of Elbodugus.
  • 769 Pope Stephen III holds a council at which papal election procedure is changed and the devotion to icons is confirmed.
  • 772 Charlemagne starts fighting the Saxons and the Frisians; Saxony is subdued and converted to Christianity.
  • 781 King Charlemagne of the Franks summons the monk and scholar Alcuin of York to head the palace school at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) to inspire the revival of education in Europe.
  • 786 Beatus of Liébana, Spanish monk, publishes his Commentary on the Apocalypse.
  • 787 Seventh Ecumenical Council is held in Nicea, attended by 367 fathers passing 22 canons, condemning iconoclasm and affirming the veneration of icons, declaring that worship is due to God alone, and that the honor paid to icons passes to its prototype; two Church Councils are held in England, one in the north at Pincanhale, and the other in the south at Chelsea, reaffirming the Faith of the first Six Ecumenical Councils (the decrees of the Seventh having not yet been received), and establishing a third archbishopric (after Canterbury and York) at Lichfield.
  • 793 Sack of Lindisfarne Priory, beginning Viking attacks on England.
  • 794 Charlemagne convenes a council in Frankfurt-in-Main, attended by clergy from Britain and envoys of Pope Hadrian; this council marks the beginning of the alienation of Frankish Christianity from the Apostolic and Patristic Tradition of Orthodox Christianity, by rejecting the decrees of the Seventh Ecumenical Council and inserting the Filioque into the Symbol of Faith.
  • 796 The Yorkist Scholar, Alcuin, is made Abbot of Saint-Martin in Tours by King Charlemagne of the Franks.
  • 800 Charlemagne is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor by Leo III of Rome on Christmas day, marking the break of Frankish civilisation away from the Orthodox Christian Roman Empire; Book of Kells produced in Ireland.
  • 800 Ambassadors of Caliph Harunu al-Rashid give keys to the Holy Sepulchre to the Frankish king Charlemagne, acknowledging some Frankish control over the interests of Christians in Jerusalem.
  • 803 The Council of Clovesho abolishes the archbishopric of Lichfield, restoring the pattern of the two metropolitan archbishoprics (Canterbury and York) which had prevailed before 787.
  • 814 The Bulgarians lay siege before Constantinople; conflict erupts between Emperor Leo V and Patriarch Nicephorus on the subject of iconoclasm; Leo deposes Nicephorus, Nicephorus excommunicates Leo.
  • 824 Byzantine Crete falls to Arab insurgents fleeing from the Umayyad Emir of Cordoba Al-Hakam I, establishing an emirate on the island until the Byzantine reconquest in 960.
  • 826 St. Ansgar arrives in Denmark and begins preaching; King Harald Klak of Denmark converts to Christianity.
  • 828 Death of St. Nicephorus the Confessor, patriarch of Constantinople.
  • ca. 829-842 Icon of the Panagia Portaitissa appears on Mount Athos near Iviron Monastery.
  • 836 Death of St. Theodore the Studite.
  • 838 Caliph al-Mu'tasim captures and destroys Ammoria in Anatolia.
  • ca.839 First Rus'-Byzantine War, where the Rus attacked Propontis (probably aiming for Constantinople) before turning east and raiding Paphlagonia.
  • 843 Triumph of Orthodoxy occurs on first Sunday of Great Lent, restoring icons to churches.

Late Byzantine era (843-1453)

  • 845 The The 42 Martyrs of Ammoria in Phrygia, taken as hostages from Ammoria to Samarra (in Iraq) and executed there.
  • 846 Muslim raid of Rome.
  • 850 Third Finding of the Honourable Head of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John.
  • 852 St. Ansgar founds the churches at Hedeby and Ribe in Denmark.
  • 858 St. Photius the Great becomes patriarch of Constantinople.
  • 860 Second Rus-Byzantine War, a naval raid and the first siege of Constantinople by the Rus.
  • ca.860 Christianization of the Rus' Khaganate was supposed to have happened around this time, but it seems to have been forgotten by the time of Vladimir's Baptism of Kiev in the 980s.
  • 861 Ss. Cyril and Methodius depart from Constantinople to missionize the Slavs; Council of Constantinople attended by 318 fathers and presided over by papal legates confirms St. Photius the Great as patriarch and passes 17 canons.
  • 862 Ratislav of Moravia converts to Christianity.
  • 863 First translations of Biblical and liturgical texts into Church Slavonic by Ss. Cyril and Methodius.
  • 863 The Venetians steal relics of St Mark from Alexandria.
  • 864 Prince Boris of Bulgaria is baptized an Orthodox Christian; Synaxis of the Most Holy Birth-Giver of God in Miasena in memory of the return of her Icon.
  • 865 Bulgaria under Khan Boris I converts to Orthodox Christianity.
  • 866 Vikings raid and capture York in England.
  • 867 Council in Constantinople held, presided over by Photius, which anathematizes Pope Nicholas I of Rome for his attacks on the work of Greek missionaries in Bulgaria and the use by papal missionaries of the heretical Filioque; Pope Nicholas dies before hearing the news of his excommunication; Basil the Macedonian has Emperor Michael III murdered and usurps the Imperial throne, reinstating Ignatius as patriarch of Constantinople.
  • 867 Death of Kassiani, Greek-Byzantine poet and hymnographer, who composed the Hymn of Kassiani, chanted during Holy Week on Great and Holy Wednesday.
  • 869-870 The Robber Council of 869-870 is held, deposing St. Photius the Great from the Constantinopolitan see and putting the rival claimant Ignatius on the throne, declaring itself to be the "Eighth Ecumenical Council."
  • 870 Conversion of Serbia; death of saint and confessor Rastislav of Moravia; Malta is conquered from the Byzantines by the Arabs; Martyrdom of St Edmund, King of East Anglia.
  • 874 Translation of the relics of Nicephorus the Confessor, interred in the Church of the Holy Apostles, Constantinople.
  • 877 Death of St. Ignatius I of Constantinople, who appoints St. Photius to succeed him.
  • 877 Arab Muslims conquer all of Sicily from Byzantium and make Palermo their capital.
  • 878 King Alfred the Great of Wessex defeats the Vikings; the Treaty of Wedmore divides England between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes (the Danelaw).
  • 879-880 Eighth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople attended by 383 fathers passing 3 canons, confirms Photius as Patriarch of Constantinople, anathematizes additions to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, and declares that the prerogatives and jurisdiction of the Roman pope and the Constantinopolitan patriarch are essentially equal; the council is reluctantly accepted by Pope John VIII of Rome.
  • 883 Muslims burn the monastery of Monte Cassino.
  • 885 Mount Athos gains political autonomy.
  • 885 Death of St. Methodius, apostle to the Slavs.
  • 886 The Glagolitic alphabet, (now called Old Church Slavonic), devised by missionaries Ss. Cyril and Methodius in 862-63, is adopted in the Bulgarian Empire, subsequently spreading to Croatia, Serbia, Bohemia, Lesser Poland, and the Russian principalities; its use in Great Moravia had been prohibited by the Pope in 885 in favour of Latin; St Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, captures London from the Danes.
  • 902 Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, is captured by the Aghlabid Arabs.
  • 904 Thessalonika is sacked and pillaged by Saracen pirates under Leo of Tripoli, a Greek pirate serving Saracen interests.
  • 907 Third Rus-Byzantine War, a naval raid of Constantinople (or Tsargrad in Old Slavonic) led by Varangian Prince Oleg of Novgorod, which was relieved by peace negotiations.
  • 899 Death of King and Saint Alfred the Great of Wessex & All England
  • 911 Holy Protection of the Virgin-Mary: Vision of the Theotokos to St. Andrew the Fool-for-Christ protecting Constantinople from an invasion of Slavs.
  • 911 Russian envoys visit Constantinople to ratify a treaty, sent by Oleg, Grand Prince of Rus'.
  • 912 Normans become Christian; Nicholas I Mysticus becomes Patriarch of Constantinople (901-907, 912-925).
  • 927 The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is recognised as autocephalous by the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
  • 931 Abbott Odo of Cluny Abbey reformed the monasteries in Aquitaine, northern France, and Italy, starting the Cluniac Reform movement within the Benedictine order, focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art and caring for the poor; at its height (c. 950–c.1130) it was one of the largest religious forces in western Europe.
  • 933 Death of St. Tryphon, patriarch of Constantinople.
  • 935 Martyrdom of Blessed Wenceslaus, prince of the Czechs.
  • 941 Fourth Rus-Byzanatine War, a campaign that was instigated by the Khazars, who wished revenge on the Byzantines after the persecutions of the Jews undertaken by Emperor Romanus I Lecapenus; ended in a Byzantine victory over the Rus.
  • 944 City of Edessa recovered by the Byzantine army, including Icon Not Made By Hands.
  • 945 St. Dunstan becomes Abbot of Glastonbury.
  • 948 Holy Roman Emperor Otto I the Great founds the missionary dioceses of Brandenburg, Havelburg, Ribe, Aarhus, and Schleswig.
  • ca. 950 Monastery of Hosios Loukas founded near Stiris in Greece.
  • 957 St. Olga baptized in Constantinople.
  • 960 Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas re-captures Crete for the Byzantines; St. Dunstan becomes Archbishop of Canterbury, reforming the monasteries and enforcing the rule of St Benedict: Poverty, Chastity and Obedience for monks.
  • 962 Denmark becomes a Christian nation with the baptism of King Harald Blaatand ("Bluetooth"); the Holy Roman Empire is formed, with Pope John XII crowning Otto I the Great Holy Roman Emperor; the Diploma Ottonianum is co-signed between Pope John XII and Otto, confirming the earlier Donation of Pepin, granting control of the Papal States to the Popes, regularizing Papal elections, and clarifying the relationship between the Popes and the Holy Roman Emperors.
  • 963 St. Athanasius of Athos establishes the first major monastery on Mount Athos, the Great Lavra.
  • 965 Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas gained Cyprus completely for the Byzantines; Sviatoslav of Kiev destroyed Khazar imperial power, as the Khazar fortresses of Sarkel and Tamatarkha fell to the Rus, then the capital city of Atil circa 967.
  • 968 Rila Monastery founded; Sviatoslav of Kiev defeats the Bulgarians at the Battle of Silistra, precipitating the collapse of the First Bulgarian Empire, which along with Khazaria, had been the two great powers of Eastern Europe.
  • 968-71 Fifth Rus-Byzantine War, resulting in a Byzantine victory over the coalition of Rus', Pechenegs, Magyars, and Bulgarians in the Battle of Arcadiopolis, and the defeat of Sviatoslav of Kiev by John I Tzimiskes.
  • 969 Death of St Olga the Princess of Russia, Equal-to-the-Apostles, who is considered with her grandson St. Vladimir of Kiev, as having brought Orthodoxy to Russia; Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas captures Antioch and Aleppo from the Arabs.
  • 972 Emperor John I Tzimiskes (969-976) granted Mount Athos its first charter (Typikon).
  • 973 Moravia assigned to the Diocese of Prague, putting the West Slavic tribes under jurisdiction of German church.
  • 975 Emperor John I Tzimiskes in a Syrian campaign took Emesa, Baalbek, Damascus, Tiberias, Nazareth, Caesarea, Sidon, Beirut, Byblos and Tripoli, but failed to take Jerusalem.
  • 978 Death of King Edward the Martyr.
  • 980 Revelation of the "Axion Estin" (the hymn “It Is Truly Meet”), with the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel to a monk on Mt. Athos, celebrated on June 11; the icon itself, before which this hymn was first chanted, is called the "icon of the Axion Estin" ("It is truly meet"), kept in the sanctuary of the Church of the Protaton on the Holy Mountain.
  • 983 Martyrdom of Theodore the Varangian and his son John of Kiev.
  • 987 Sixth Rus-Byzantine War, where Vladimir I of Kiev the Great dispatched troops to the Byzantine Empire to assist Emperor Basil II with an internol revolt; he agreed to accept Orthodox Christianity as his religion and bring his people to the new faith.
  • 988 Baptism of Rus' begins with the conversion of St. Vladimir of Kiev who is baptized at Chersonesos, the birthplace of the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches; Vladimir marries Anna, sister of Byzantine emperor Basil II.
  • 992 Death of St. Michael, the first Metropolitan of Kiev.
  • 995 St. Olaf of Norway proclaims Norway to be a Christian kingdom; the relics of St Cuthbert are transferred with his community to Durham.
  • 1000 Christianization of Greenland and Iceland.
  • 1008 Conversion of Sweden.
  • 1009 Patriarch Sergius II of Constantinople removes the name of Pope Sergius IV of Rome from the diptychs of the Church of Constantinople, because the pope had written a letter to the patriarch including the Filioque.
  • 1009 Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem destroyed by the "mad" Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, founder of the Druze.
  • 1012 Death of Hieromartyr Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury.
  • 1013 The Jews are expelled from the caliphate of Córdoba.
  • 1014 Filioque used for the first time in Rome by Pope Benedict VIII at the coronation of Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor.
  • 1015 Death of St. Vladimir of Kiev.
  • 1017 Danish king Canute converts to Christianity.
  • 1022 Death of St. Simeon the New Theologian.
  • 1024 Seventh Rus-Byzantine War, Byzantine naval victory.
  • 1027 Frankish protectorate over Christian interests in Jerusalem is replaced by a Byzantine protectorate, which begin reconstruction of Holy Sepulchre.
  • 1036 Byzantine Emperor Michael IV makes a truce with the Caliph of Egypt to allow rebuilding of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by Byzantine masons; Varangian Guard of the Byzantine Emperor (Eastern Vikings/Rus) sent to protect pilgrims.
  • 1045-50 The Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Novgorod is built, the oldest Orthodox church building in Russia, executed in an architectural style more austere than the Byzantine, reminicent of the Romanesque.
  • 1043 Eighth and last Rus'-Byzantine War, an unsuccessful naval raid against Constantinople; Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England at Winchester Cathedral.
  • 1048 Re-consecration of Holy Sepulchre.
  • 1051 Monastery of the Kiev Caves founded.
  • 1052 Edward the Confessor founds Westminster Abbey, near London.
  • 1053 Death of Saint Lazarus the Wonder-worker of Mount Galesius near Ephesus.
  • 1054 Cardinal Humbert excommunicates Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople, a major centerpoint in the formation of the Great Schism between East and West.
  • 1059 Errors of Berengar of Tours condemned in Rome; the term transubstantiation begins to come in to use, ascribed to Peter Damian.
  • 1066 Normans invade England flying the banner of the Pope of Rome, defeating King Harold of England at the Battle of Hastings, beginning the reformation of the church and society there to align with Latin continental ecclesiology and politics.
  • 1071 Seljuk Turks capture Jerusalem and defeat Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert, beginning Islamification of Asia Minor.
  • 1071 Norman princes led by Robert Guiscard capture Bari, the last Byzantine stronghold in Italy, bringing to an end over five centuries of Byzantine rule in the south.
  • ca.1071-1176 Byzantine epic poem Digenes Akrites is written, set in the ninth and tenth centuries, inspired by the almost continuous state of warfare with the Arabs in eastern Asia Minor, presenting a comprehensive picture of the intense frontier life of the Akrites, the border guards of the Byzantine Empire.
  • 1073 Hildebrand becomes Pope Gregory VII and launches the Gregorian reforms (celibacy of the clergy, primacy of the papacy over the empire, right of the Pope to depose emperors).
  • 1074 Death of St Theodosius, Abbot of the Kiev Caves Monastery and Founder of Coenobitic Monasticism in Russia.
  • 1075 Dictatus Papae document advances Papal supremacy.
  • 1087 Translation of the relics of St Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra to Bari.
  • 1088 Founding of monastery of St. John the Theologian on Patmos.
  • 1095 Launching of the First Crusade.
  • 1096 Persecution of Jews by Crusaders.
  • 1098 Anselm of Canterbury completes his Cur Deus homo, marking a radical divergence of Western theology of the atonement from that of the East.
  • 1098 Crusaders capture Antioch.
  • 1099 Crusaders capture Jerusalem founding the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and other crusader states known collectively as Outremer.
  • 1108 Death of St Nicetas of the Kiev Caves, Bishop of Novgorod.
  • 1119 Order of Knights Templar founded.
  • ca.1131-45 Coptic Pope of Alexandria Gabriel II initiates the acceptance of Arabic as a liturgical language (in addition to the Coptic), with his Arabic translation of the Liturgy.
  • 1144 Bernard of Clairvaux calls for a Second Crusade to rescue the besieged Latin kingdom of Jerusalem; Kings Louis VII of France and Konrad III of Germany "take the cross", joining the Crusaders, but are defeated by Muslims; Muslims take Christian stronghold of Edessa.
  • 1147 Moscow was founded by Prince Yuri Dolgoruki, a ruler of the northeastern Rus, who built the first fortress, or Kremlin, along the Moscow River.
  • 1149 Building on the work of Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX in 1048, the crusaders began to renovate the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in a Romanesque style, adding a bell tower.
  • 1164 Uncovering of the relics of St Leontius (+1073), Bishop and Wonderworker of Rostov.
  • 1170 Miracle of the weeping icon of the Theotokos "of the Sign" at Novgorod; Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, the city of Dublin is captured by the (Latin) Normans.
  • 1177 Latin King Baldwin of Jerusalem and his knights, with the Templars, defeated the Muslim army of Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard.
  • 1179 Death of Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), Benedictine Abbess, medieval mystic, and polymath.
  • 1180 Last formal, canonical acceptance of Latins to communion at an Orthodox altar in Antioch.
  • 1187 Saladin retakes Jerusalem after destroying crusader army at the Battle of Hattin, and returns Christian holy places to the Orthodox Church.
  • 1189 Third Crusade led by King Richard the Lion-Hearted of England, King Philip Augustus II of France, and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
  • ca.1189 In response to the capture of old Jerusalem by Muslims in 1187, Ethiopian Emperor Gebre Mesqel Lalibela (1189-1229) ordered the construction of a holy city hewn from rock as a New Jerusalem, thus building the twelve monolithic rock-cut churches in Lalibela, one of Ethiopia's holiest cities, second only to Axum, and a center of pilgrimage.
  • 1191 Cyprus taken from the Byzantines by English King Richard I "Lion Heart."
  • 1198 Cyprus sold by England to Frankish crusaders.
  • 1204 Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade sack Constantinople, laying waste to the city and stealing many holy relics and other items; Great Schism generally regarded as having been completed by this act.
  • ca.1204-61 Monks of Iveron monastery on Mount Athos martyred by the Latins in the 13th century, observed on May 13.
  • 1211 Venetian crusaders conquer Byzantine Crete, retaining it until ousted by the Ottoman Turks in 1669.
  • 1212 The Children's Crusade, led by 12-year-old Stephen of Cloyes, sets out for the Holy Land from France.
  • 1213 Death of Blessed Tamara the Great, Queen of Georgia.
  • 1217-21 Fifth Crusade.
  • 1228 Sixth Crusade resulted in a 10-year treaty starting in 1229 between the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and the Egyptian sultan; Jerusalem was ceded to the Franks, along with a narrow corridor to the coast, as well as Nazareth, Sidon, Jaffa and Bethlehem.
  • 1235 Death of St. Sava of Serbia.
  • 1237 Golden Horde (Mongols) begin subjugation of Russia.
  • 1240 Mongols sack Kiev; Prince Alexander Nevsky defeats Swedish army at Battle of the Neva.
  • 1242 Alexander Nevsky's Novgorodian force defeats Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Lake Peipus, a major defeat for the Catholic crusaders.
  • 1244 Jerusalem is conquered and completely razed by Khwarezmian mercenaries (Oghuz Turks) serving under the Ayyubid ruler of Egypt Salih Ayyub, triggering the Seventh Crusade.
  • 1245 The First Council of Lyon in the Roman Catholic Church mandated the red hat for cardinals, and a levy for the Holy Land.
  • 1247 Ayyubids conquer Jerusalem, driving out the Khwarezmian Turks.
  • 1248-54 Seventh Crusade.
  • 1258 Michael VIII Palaiologos seizes the throne of the Nicaean Empire, founding the last Roman (Byzantine) dynasty, beginning reconquest of the Greek peninsula from Latins.
  • 1259 Byzantines defeat Latin Principality of Achaea at the Battle of Pelagonia, marking the beginning of the Byzantine recovery of Greece.
  • 1261 End of Latin occupation of Constantinople and restoration of Orthodox patriarchs.
  • 1261 Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos makes Mystras seat of the new Despotate of Morea, where a Byzantine renaissance occurred.
  • 1268 Egyptian Mamelukes capture Antioch.
  • 1270 The Eighth Crusade is launched by Louis IX, King of France.
  • 1271-72 The Ninth Crusade led by Prince Edward of England to Acre, is considered to be the last of the medieval Crusades to the Holy Land.
  • 1274 Second Council of Lyon held, proclaiming union between the Orthodox East and the Roman Catholic West, but generally unaccepted in the East.
  • 1275 Unionist Patriarch of Constantinople John XI Beccus elected to replace Patriarch Joseph I Galesiotes, who opposed the Council of Lyons; 26 martyrs of Zographou monastery on Mt. Athos, martyred by the Latins.
  • ca. 1280 Kebra Nagast ("Book of the Glory of Kings") compiled, a repository of Ethiopian national and religious feelings.
  • 1281 Pope Martin IV authorizes a Crusade against the newly re-established Byzantine Empire in Constantinople, excommunicating Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and the Greeks and renouncing the union of 1274; French and Venetian expeditions set out toward Constantinople but are forced to turn back in the following year.
  • 1291 Fall of Acre; end of crusading in Holy Land.
  • 1302 Papal Bull Unam Sanctum issued by Pope Boniface VIII proclaims Papal supremacy.
  • 1326 Moscow became the seat of the Russian Orthodox Metropolitanate, as Metropolitan Peter moved his see from Kiev to Vladimir and then to Moscow.
  • 1309 The island of Rhodes falls to the Knights of St. John, who establish their headquarters there, renaming themselves the Knights of Rhodes (1309-1522).
  • 1311-12 The Council of Vienne in the Roman Catholic Church disbanded the Knights Templar.
  • 1336 Meteora in Greece is established as a center of Orthodox monasticism.
  • 1338 Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) writes Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, defending the Orthodox practice of hesychast spirituality and the use of the Jesus Prayer.
  • 1341-47 Byzantine civil war between John VI Cantacuzenus (1347–54) and John V Palaeologus (1341–91).
  • 1341-51 Three sessions of the Ninth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople, affirming hesychastic theology of St. Gregory Palamas and condemning rationalistic philosophy of Barlaam of Calabria.
  • 1344 Death of Amda Syon, Emperor of Ethiopia.
  • 1349 Prince Stephen Dushan of Serbia assumes the title of Tsar (Caesar).
  • 1353 Death of Saints Sergius and Herman, Abbots and Wonder-workers of Valaam.
  • 1354 Ottoman Turks make first settlement in Europe, at Gallipoli.
  • 1359 Death of St. Gregory Palamas.
  • 1360 Death of St John Koukouzelis, the Hymnographer of the Great Lavra on Mount Athos, maistor (master of music), theorist and composer, who codified the second major form of Byzantine Chant known as kalophonic, being highly melismatic, protracted, embellished and grandiose.
  • 1365 Crusaders under Latin King Peter I of Cyprus sacked Alexandria, Egypt.
  • 1378 Death of St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Kiev and Wonderworker.
  • 1379 Western Great Schism ensues, including simultaneous reign of three Popes of Rome.
  • ca.1380 English Church reformer John Wyclif writes that the true faith is preserved only in the East, "among the Greeks."
  • 1382-95 First English Bible translated by John Wyclif.
  • 1383 St. Stephen of Perm, missionary to the Zyrians, consecrated bishop; appearance of the Tikhvin Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.
  • 1389 Serbs defeated by Ottoman Turks of Sultan Murad I at the battle of Kosovo Polje; death of Great-martyr Lazarus (Lazar), prince of Serbia.
  • 1391-98 Ottoman Turks unsuccessfully besiege Constantinople for the first time.
  • 1410 Iconographer Andrei Rublev paints his most famous icon depicting the three angels who appeared to Abraham and Sarah, the angels being considered a type of the Holy Trinity.
  • 1414-18 The Council of Constance in the Roman Catholic Church represented a high point for the movement that promoted the authority of councils over the authority of the pope, but in the end the pope's authority was re-affirmed.
  • 1417 End of Western Great Schism at the Council of Constance.
  • 1422 Second unsuccessful Ottoman siege of Constantinople.
  • 1423-24 The Council of Siena in the Roman Catholic Church was the high point of conciliarism, emphasizing the leadership of the bishops gathered in council, but the conciliarism expressed there was later branded as a heresy.
  • 1439 Ecclesiastical reunion with the West attempted at the Council of Florence, where only St. Mark of Ephesus refuses to capitulate to the demands of the delegates from Rome.
  • 1444 Donation of Constantine proved forgery.
  • 1448 Church of Russia unilaterally declares its independence from the Church of Constantinople.
  • 1452 Unification of Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches in Hagia Sophia on West's terms, when Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, under pressure from Rome, allowed the union to be proclaimed.
  • 1453 Constantinople falls to invasion of the Ottoman Turks, ending the Roman Empire; Hagia Sophia turned into a mosque; martyrdom of Constantine XI Palaiologos, last of the Byzantine Emperors, martyred by the Ottoman Turks.

Post-Imperial era (1453-1821)

Modern era (1821-1917)

Communist era (1917-1991)

Post-Communist era (1991-Present)


Notes

  • Some of these dates are necessarily a bit vague, as records for some periods are particularly difficult to piece together accurately.
  • The division of Church History into separate eras as we do here will always be to some extent arbitrary, though we have tried to group periods according to major watershed events.
  • This timeline is necessarily biased toward the history of the Orthodox Church, though a number of non-Orthodox events are mentioned for their importance in history related to Orthodoxy.

See also

Published works

The following are published writings that provide an overview of Church history:

From an Orthodox perspective

From a Heterodox perspective

  • Boer, Harry R. A Short History of the Early Church. (ISBN 0802813399)
  • Cairns, Earle E. Christianity Through the Centuries: A History of the Christian Church. (ISBN 0310208122)
  • Chadwick, Henry. The Early Church. (ISBN 0140231994)
  • Collins, Michael, ed.; Price, Matthew Arlen. Story of Christianity: A Celebration of 2000 Years of Faith. (ISBN 0789446057)
  • Eusebius Pamphilus; Cruse, C.F. (translator). Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History. (ISBN 1565633717)
  • Gonzalez, Justo L. A History of Christian Thought, Volume 1: From the Beginnings to the Council of Chalcedon. (ISBN 0687171822)
  • Gonzalez, Justo L. A History of Christian Thought, Volume 2: From Augustine to the Eve of the Reformation. (ISBN 0687171830)
  • Gonzalez, Justo L. A History of Christian Thought, Volume 3: From the Protestant Reformation to the Twentieth Century. (ISBN 0687171849)
  • Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume 1: The Early Church to the Reformation. (ISBN 0060633158)
  • Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume 2: Reformation to the Present Day. (ISBN 0060633166)
  • Hall, Stuart G. Doctrine and Practice in the Early Church. (ISBN 0802806295)
  • Hastings, Adrian, ed. A World History of Christianity. (ISBN 0802848753)
  • Hussey, J. M. The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire: Oxford History of the Christian Church. (ISBN 0198264569)
  • Jones, Timothy P. Christian History Made Easy. (ISBN 1890947105)
  • Noll, Mark A. Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity. (ISBN 080106211X)
  • Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600). (ISBN 0226653714)
  • Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 2: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600-1700). (ISBN 0226653730)
  • Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 3: The Growth of Medieval Theology (600-1300). (ISBN 0226653749)
  • Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 4: Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700). (ISBN 0226653773)
  • Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 5: Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture (since 1700). (ISBN 0226653803)
  • Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church. (ISBN 156563196X)
  • Wace, Henry; Piercy, William C., ed. A Dictionary of Christian Biography: Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D. With an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies. (ISBN 1565630572)
  • Walton, Robert C. Chronological and Background Charts of Church History. (ISBN 0310362814)

External links

  • History of Orthodox Christianity (QuickTime movies)
    • Part 1: Beginnings - Journey begins with the founding of the Church, the spread of Christianity to "nations" by the Apostles, the Gospel and the institution of Sacraments
    • Part 2: Byzantium - After the stabilization of the Church, the journey continues through the period of the Nicene Creed, Patristic Scriptures, Divine Liturgy and Icons. During this same period, however, the official division of East and West is witnessed and concludes with a gradual rift in matters of faith, dogma, church customs, politics and culture
    • Part 3: A Hidden Treasure - The Church becomes the only institution perceived by Greeks as the preserver of their national identity during 400 years of Turkish rule. By the end of the 19th century, a worldwide Orthodox community is born and the Church expands its influence to major social and philanthropic concerns