Timeline of Orthodoxy in Greece

This is a timeline regarding the presence of Orthodoxy in Greece.

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Apostolic era (100-325)

• c.47-48 Apostle Paul's mission to Cyprus.
• c.49 Paul's mission to Philippi, Thessaloniki and Veria.
• 49 Paul's mission to Athens.
• c.51-52 Metropolis of Korinthos founded in its Apostolic form (Paul's first mission to Corinth); Paul writes his two Epistles to the Thessalonians are written in
• c.54 Paul writes his First Epistle to the Corinthians.
• c.55 Paul revisits Corinth.
• c.56 Paul revisits Macedonia; he writes his Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
• c.61 Paul shipwrecked in Crete.
• c.95 Apocalypse of John written on the island of Patmos.
• c.96 Dionysius the Areopagite, of the Seventy, martyred.
• 124 Apostles Quadratus and Aristides present Christian apologies to Emperor Hadrian at Athens.
• c.130 Apostle Quadratus, of the Seventy, reposes.

Under Patriarch of Constantinople Era (100-1850)

• c. 251 Martyric death of Isidore of Chios under the persecutions of Decius.
• 306 Martyric death of Demetrios in Thessaloniki.

Byzantine era (451-843)

• ca. 431 Church of Cyprus autocephalous.
• ca. 330-337 Church of Panagia Ekatontapyliani - Hundred Doors (Paros) (literally: "church of the hundred doors") founded by St. Helen, during her pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
• ca. 590 Parthenon in Athens converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Theotokos.
• 780 Metropolitan Gregory I
• 803 Death of Irene of Athens, wife of Byzantine Emperor Leo IV.

Late Byzantine era (843-1453)

• 860 Cyril and Methodius of Thessaloniki mission to the Slavs.
• 885 Mount Athos gains political autonomy.
• 904 Thessaloniki sacked and pillaged by Saracen pirates under Leo of Tripoli, a Greek pirate serving Saracen interests.
• 925 Death of Peter of Argos.
• c. 950 Monastery of Hosios Loukas founded near Stiris in Greece.
• 960 Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas re-captures Crete for the Byzantines.
• 963 Athanasius of Athos establishes first major monastery on Mount Athos, the Great Lavra.
• 965 Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas gains Cyprus completely for the Byzantines.
• 980 Revelation of the Axion Estin (the hymn "It Is Truly Meet"), with the appearance of the [[Archangel Gabriel to a monk on Mount Athos.
• 1083 Metropolis of Paronaxia separates from the Metropolis of Rhodes.
• 1088 Founding of monastery of John the Theologian on Patmos.

Latin Occupation (1204-1456)

• 1204 Latin Occupation
• 1275 26 martyrs of Zographou monastery on Mt. Athos, martyred by the Latins.
• 1309 Rhodes falls to the Knights of St. John, who establish their headquarters there, renaming themselves the "Knights of Rhodes".
• 1336 Meteora in Greece are established as a center of Orthodox monasticism.
• 1338 Gregory Palamas writes Triads in defense of the Holy Hesychasts, defending the Orthodox practice of hesychast spirituality and the use of the Jesus Prayer.
• 1359 Death of Gregory Palamas.
• 1360 Death of John Koukouzelis the Hymnographer.
• 1430 The monks of Mount Athos submit to Sultan Murad II and keep their autonomy.
• 1453 Fall of Constantinople to invasion of the Ottoman Turks, ending the Roman Empire; Death of [[Constantine XI Palaiologos, last of the Byzantine Emperors, martyred by the Ottoman Turks.

Post-Imperial era (1453-1821)

Turkish Occupation (1456-1822)

• 1456 Turkish Occupation of Greece.
• 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; Matrona of Chios reposes October 22.
• 1463 Martyric death of Raphael, Nicholas and Irene.
• 1589 Martyric death of Philothei of Athens.
• 1622 Death of Dionysius of Zakynthos December 17.
• 1677 Bishop Henry Compton of London builds church for the Greeks in London.
• 1682 Greek church in London closed.
• 1720 Monastery of the Life-Giving Spring (Poros) founded.
• 1753 School founded on Mount Athos.
• 1759 School on Mount Athos forced to close down.
• 1809 Death of Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain the "Hagiorite".

Greek War of Independence (1821-1829)

• 1821 Greek War of Independance begins; martyrdom of Patriarch Gregory V.

Modern Era (1821-1850)

• 1828 Greek church opened in Londing (second time).

First Hellenic republic (1829-1832)

• 1829 First Hellenic republic (1829-1832)

Kingdom of Greece (1833-1924)

• 1833 The National Assembly at Nauplio declares the Church of Greece as independant from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
• 1834 Suppression of many monasteries in this new era.

Autocephalous Era (1850-Present)

Modern Era (1850-1917)

• 1850 autocephaly of the Church of Greece recognised by Patriarch Anthimos IV of Constantinople; certain conditions issued in "Tomos" decree; as a result the Greek National Church must maintain special links to the "Mother Church".
• 1866 Greek church takes the diocese of the Ionian Islands from Constantinople.
• 1871 Patriarch Gregory V returned to Athens and entombed in cathedral.
• 1877 Death of Arsenios of Paros.
• 1881 Thessaly and part of Epirus added to the Church of Greece.
• 1901 Publication of Gospels in modern Greek. Riots ensue and publications are withdrawn from circulation.
• 1912 Epirus, Macedonia and eastern islands, from Northern territories of Greece, are liberated and come under the administration of the Greek Church.
• 1917 Hierarchy of the Greek Church changed in accordance with political control of the country of Greece.

Communist era (1917-1991)

• 1920 Death of Nectarios of Aegina.
• 1922 Metropolis of Aitolia and Akarnania founded in its modern form; Metropolitan Chrysostomos (Kalafatis) of Smyrna is lynched by a Turkish mob on Sunday September 10, considered an Ethnomartyr of the Orthodox Church and Greek nation.
• 1923 Treaty of Lausanne hands over contrl of the Holy Mountain to Greece.
• 1924 Constitution of the Holy Mountain agreed; Greek government adopts new calendar; Old Calendarist Schism.
• 1926 Proposal for Mount Athos to be turned into a Casino by Pangalos.
• 1932 Death of Papa-Nicholas (Planas).
• 1945 October 17: Archbishop Damaskinos serves as regent in an attempt to stabilise Greece.
• 1947 The Dodecanese Islands are liberated but remain under the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
• 1952 New Monastery of Panagia Soumela built in the village of Kastania, in Macedonia, Greece, housing the wonderworking icon of Panagia Soumela, becoming a center of religious pilgrimage.
• 1953 School of Theology on Mount Athos reopened.
• 1959 Death of Blessed Elder Joseph (Spilaiotis) the Hesychast.
• 1965 First Metropolitan for Piraeus is elected, His Eminence Chrysostomos (Tabladorakis) of Argolidos; Monastery of Panagia Pantanassa (Kranidiou) founded.
• 1970 Death of Amphilochios (Makris).
• 1975 Death of Papa-Dimitris (Gagastathis).
• 1980 Death of Philotheos (Zervakos).
• 1983 Death of Elder Arsenios the cave-dweller of Mt. Athos.
• 1988 Radio Station "Church of Piraeus 91.2 FM." begins transmitting in October.

Post-Communist era (1991-Present)

• 1991 Death of Elder Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) the Kapsokalivite (Evangelos (Bairaktaris)) February 7.
• 1992 Death of Gabrielia (Papayannis).
• 1994 Death of Elder Paisios (Eznepidis) of Mt. Athos July 12.
• 1998 Death of Monk Ephraim of Katounakia.
• 2000 Greek church campaigns against omission of compulsory reference to religious affiliation on identity cards.
• 2002 Metropolis of Glyfada is established as a new metropolis separating from Metropolis of Nea Smyrni.
• 2008 Archbishop Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens reposes; Archbishop Ieronymos II (Liapis) of Athens succeeds him.

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

• Church of Greece
• Timeline of Church History