Difference between revisions of "Timeline of Church History"

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m (Ante-Nicene era (100-325): link)
(Late Byzantine era (843-1453))
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*866 Vikings raid and capture York in England.
 
*866 Vikings raid and capture York in England.
 
*867 Council in Constantinople held, presided over by [[Photius the Great|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 news of excommunication; [[Basil the Macedonian]] has Emperor [[Michael III]] murdered and usurps the Imperial throne, reinstating Ignatius as patriarch of Constantinople.
 
*867 Council in Constantinople held, presided over by [[Photius the Great|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 news of 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 Holy Wednesday.
+
*867 Death of [[Kassiani the Hymnographer|Kassiani]], Greek-Byzantine poet and hymnographer, who composed the ''[[Hymn of Kassiani]]'', chanted during [[Holy Week]] on Holy Wednesday.
 
*869-870 [[Robber Council of 869-870]] held, deposing [[Photius the Great]] from the Constantinopolitan see and putting the rival claimant Ignatius on the throne, declaring itself to be the "Eighth Ecumenical Council."
 
*869-870 [[Robber Council of 869-870]] held, deposing [[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 [[Rastislav of Moravia]]; Malta conquered from the Byzantines by the Arabs; martyrdom of [[w:Edmund the Martyr|Edmund]], King of East Anglia.
 
*870 Conversion of Serbia; death of [[Rastislav of Moravia]]; Malta conquered from the Byzantines by the Arabs; martyrdom of [[w:Edmund the Martyr|Edmund]], King of East Anglia.

Revision as of 02:28, April 21, 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)

Late Byzantine era (843-1453)

Post-Imperial era (1453-1821)

  • 1455 Gutenberg makes first printed Bible.
  • 1455-56 The Confession of Faith by Gennadius, Patriarch of Constantinople.
  • 1461 Death of St Jonah, Metropolitan of Moscow; commemoration of the Apparition of the Pillar with the Robe of the Lord under it at Mtskhet in Georgia, October 1.
  • 1462 Wonderworking icon of the Archangel Michael of Mantamados is created after the Byzantine monastery of the Taxiarchis (Archangel) Michael is destroyed by invading Ottoman Turks and all the monks are slaughtered; the sole surviving novice-monk credited his salvation to a miracle of the Archangel and made the icon, in relief, using clay earth mixed with in with the blood of his slain brothers.
  • 1480 Spanish Inquisition; meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in memory of saving Moscow from the invasion of Khan Ahmed, observed on June 23.
  • 1492 Millennialist movements in Moscow, due to end of church calendar.
  • 1497 Hieromartyr Macarius, Metropolitan of Kyiv, martyred by invading Tatars.
  • 1503 Possessor and Non-Possessor controversy.
  • 1516 Desiderius Erasmus published the "Textus Receptus" (received text) of the New Testament, on the basis of some six late manuscripts of the Byzantine text-type.
  • 1517 Maximus the Greek invited to Russia to translate Greek service books and correct Russian ones; Martin Luther nails his Ninety-Five Theses to the door at Wittenburg, sparking Protestant Reformation; Ottomans conquer Jerusalem, Antioch and Alexandria.
  • 1522 Martin Luther's translates New Testament in German and principle of Sola Scriptura becomes formal principle of Protestant Reformation.
  • 1526 Non-Possessors attack Tsar Vassily (Basil) III for divorcing his wife, and are driven underground.
  • 1529 First Ottoman Siege of Vienna, marking the Ottoman Empire's apex and the end of Ottoman expansion in central Europe.
  • 1534 King Henry VIII declares himself supreme head of the Church of England.
  • 1536 Publication of John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion.
  • 1536-41 Dissolution of the Monasteries in England, Wales and Ireland, with over 800 religious houses dissolved during the English Reformation.
  • 1540 Death of Emperor Lebna Dengel of Ethiopia; formal founding of the Jesuits.
  • 1541 Portuguese expeditionary force arrives in Ethiopia.
  • 1542 Ethiopians and Portuguese defeat Ahmad ibn Ibrahim Gran of Adal, neutralizing Adal threat to Ethiopia.
  • 1545-63 Council of Trent held to answer the Protestant Reformation.
  • 1551 Council of the Hundred Chapters in Russia.
  • 1552 Death of St. Basil the Blessed, Fool for Christ.
  • 1555 Archbishop Gurian missionary in Kazan (until 1564).
  • 1563 Anglican Church's Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion were established, the historic defining statements of Anglican doctrine.
  • 1564 Jesuits arrive in Poland.
  • 1569 Martyrdom of St. Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow, at the hands of Ivan IV Grozny.
  • 1569 Union of Lublin united the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into a single state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, placing the Ruthenian Orthodox lands of Belarus, and modern Ukraine under a direct Roman Catholic sphere of influence.
  • 1573 Pope Gregory XIII established the Congregation for the Greeks, a committee of cardinals who addressed issues relating to the Greeks in southern Italy and Sicily in the hope of resolving tensions between Greeks and Latins.
  • 1573-81 The Replies of Jeremias the Second to the Lutherans.
  • 1575 Church of Constantinople grants autonomy to Church of Sinai.
  • 1576 Pope Gregory XIII established the Pontifical Greek College of St. Athanasius (popularly known as the 'Greek College') in Rome, which he charged with educating Italo-Byzantine clerics.
  • 1579 Death of Gerasimos, the New Ascetic of Cephalonia, Greece, who was given the gift of healing and of casting out evil spirits.
  • 1581 Ostrozhsky Bible printed by Prince Kurbsky and Ivan Fedorov.
  • 1582 Institution of the Gregorian Calendar by Pope Gregory XIII; death of Teresa of Ávila, prominent Spanish mystic.
  • 1583 The Sigillion of 1583 was issued against the Calendar of Pope Gregory XIII of Rome by a council convened in Constantinople.
  • 1589 Autocephaly of the Church of Russia recognized, as Patriarch Jeremias II of Constantinople raises Metropolitan Job of Moscow to the rank of Patriarch of Moscow and of All Russia.
  • 1596 Union of Brest-Litovsk, several million Ukrainian and Byelorussian Orthodox Christians, living under Polish rule, leave the Church of Constantinople and recognize the Pope of Rome, without giving up their Byzantine liturgy and customs, creating the Uniate church.
  • 1604 Death of the Righteous Juliana of Lazarevo.
  • 1607 Death of St Job, First Patriarch of Moscow.
  • 1609-10 The Douay-Rheims Bible (D-R) is printed, the first complete English Roman Catholic Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate.
  • 1611 The Authorized King James Version of the Bible (KJV-AV) is printed, including all of the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books (officially removed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1885).
  • 1612 Death of Hieromartyr Hermogenes, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; the Kazan Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, commemorating the deliverance from the Poles, October 22.
  • 1625 The Confession of Faith by Metrophanes Kritopoulos.
  • 1627 Pope Cyril Lukaris of Alexandria presents the famous Codex Alexandrinus to King Charles I of England for "safe keeping."
  • 1633 Ethiopian emperor Fasilides expels Jesuits and other Roman Catholic missionaries from Ethiopia.
  • 1642 Council of Jassy (Iaşi) revises Peter Mogila's confession to remove overtly Roman Catholic theology and confirms canonicity of certain deuterocanonical books.
  • 1645-69 Cretan War between the Ottoman Empire and Venice.
  • 1646 At the Union of Uzhhorod 63 Ruthenian Orthodox priests from the Carpathian Mountains, then within the Kingdom of Hungary, joined the Roman Catholic Church on terms similar to the Union of Brest from 1596.
  • 1647 Orthodox church erected in Tunisia.
  • 1649 Martyrdom of Saint Athanasius, Abbot of Brest, by the Latins.
  • 1652 School and hospital established in Old Cairo by Patriarch Joannikios.
  • 1652-1658 Patriarch Nikon of Moscow revises liturgical books to bring them into conformity with the Greek liturgical customs, leading to excommunication of dissenters, who become known as the Old Believers.
  • 1654 Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of the Kievan Brotherhood.
  • 1656 The New Jerusalem Monastery, also known as the Voskresensky Monastery is founded by Patriarch Nikon at Istra near Moscow, intended to represent the Heavenly Jerusalem.
  • 1665 The Greek Jewish kabbalist Sabbatai Sevi (Shabbatai Zvi) is hailed by the Jews of Palestine as the Messiah, on Jewish New Year 1665, but then accepts conversion to Islam before the Ottoman Sultan to save his life.
  • 1669 Greek island of Crete taken by Turkish Muslim Ottoman Empire from the Roman Catholic Latin Venetians.
  • 1672 Synod of Jerusalem is convened by Patriarch Dositheos Notaras, refuting article by article the Calvanistic confession of Cyril Lucaris, defining Orthodoxy relative to Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, and defining the Greek Orthodox Biblical canon; the acts of this council are later signed by all five patriarchates (including Russia); the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica called the Synod of Jerusalem "the most vital statement of faith made in the Greek Church during the past thousand years."
  • 1675 Icon of the Theotokos of God of Pochaiv, commemorating her Miraculous Appearance at Pochaiv, which saved the monastery from the assault of the Tartars and Turks, celebrated on July 23.
  • 1683 Second Ottoman Siege of Vienna, capital of the Holy Roman Empire.
  • 1685 Orthodoxy introduced in Beijing, China by the Church of Russia.
  • 1688 Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "The Joy of All Who Sorrow", October 24.
  • 1700-02 Submission of the the dioceses of Lemberg (Lviv) and Luzk (Lutsk) in the Galician area of Ukraine to the Roman Catholic Church completes the Union of Brest-Litovsk, so that two-thirds of the Orthodox in western Ukraine had become Greek Catholic.
  • 1707-20 Grabbe's edition of the Septuagint was published at Oxford, reproducing (imperfectly) the "Codex Alexandrinus" of London.
  • 1715 Metropolitan Arsenios of Thebaid sent to England by Pope Samuel of Alexandria to negotiate with Non-Juror Anglican bishops.
  • 1718 The Answers of the Orthodox Patriarchs to the Non-Jurors (1718, 1723).
  • 1721 Czar Peter I replaces Russian patriarchate with a ruling holy synod.
  • 1724 Melkite schism, in which many faithful from the Church of Antioch become Uniates.
  • 1731 Death of St. Innocent, first bishop of Irkutsk.
  • 1754 The Hesychast Renaissance begins with the Kollyvades Fathers of Mount Athos led by saints Makarios Notaras, Nicodemus the Athonite, and Athanasios of Paros, which over the next half century stressed the study of the church fathers, Orthodox liturgical life, and frequent communion, also representing a movement against the influence of the Western Enlightenment in Greece.
  • 1755 Synod of Constantinople where the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, and Jerusalem declared Roman Catholic baptism invalid, and ordered the rebaptism of converts.
  • 1756 The Sigillion of 1756 was issued against the New Calendar by Ecumenical Patriarch Cyril V of Constantinople.
  • 1760 Holy Trinity St. Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent founded in Russia.
  • 1767 Community of Orthodox Greeks establishes itself in New Smyrna, Florida; Ottoman Empire legally divides Church of the Holy Sepulchre among claimants.
  • 1767-1815 Suppression of the Jesuits in Roman Catholic countries, subsequently finding refuge in Orthodox nations, particularly in Russia.
  • 1768 Jews are massacred during riots in Russia-occupied Poland.
  • ca.1770 As a result of increasing Russian presence in Ukraine, some 1,200 Kiev region Uniate churches returned to Orthodoxy.
  • 1774 Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed the treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji, bringing Russia for the first time into the Mediterranean as the acknowledged protector of Orthodox Christians.
  • 1779 Death of St. Kosmas Aitolos, who founded 200 elemenatry schools and 10 higher schools in different parts of Greece.
  • 1782 First publication of the Philokalia; autonomy of Church of Sinai confirmed by Church of Constantinople.
  • 1793-95 Under Catherine the Great over 2,300 Uniate churches became Orthodox.
  • 1794 Missionaries, including St. Herman of Alaska, arrive at Kodiak Island, bringing Orthodoxy to Russian Alaska; death of St. Paisius Velichkovsky of Moldova and Mt. Athos.
  • 1796 Nicodemus the Hagiorite published the “Unseen Warfare” in Venice, revising Venetian priest Lorenzo Scupoli's two works the “Spiritual Combat” (1599 ed.) and “Path to Paradise” (1600), to remove Latinisms and give a fuller expression to the Patristic doctrine of pure prayer.
  • 1800 The Rudder published and printed in Athens.
  • 1803 Death of St Xenia of Petersburg, Fool-for-Christ.
  • 1804 The British and Foreign Bible Society founded.
  • 1805 Death of St. Makarios of Corinth (1731-1805), a central figure in the Kollvades movement.
  • 1808 Death of Hieromartyr Nikita the Slav, of Mount Athos.
  • 1809-10 Rotunda and edicule exterior of Church of the Holy Sepulchre rebuilt after fire in Ottoman Baroque style.
  • 1811 Autocephaly of the Church of Georgia revoked by the Russian imperial state after Georgia's annexation, making it subject to the Church of Russia.
  • 1814 New-Martyrs Euthymius, Ignatius, and Acacius (1816) of Mount Athos.
  • 1815 Peter the Aleut tortured and martyred in Roman Catholic San Francisco, California.
  • 1816 The American Bible Society founded.
  • 1819 A council at Constantinople endorsed the standpoint of the Kollyvades fathers.

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