Timeline of Church History

Apostolic era (33-100)

• 33 The Holy Spirit descends on the day of Pentecost, filling the followers of Jesus Christ with power from on high.
• 49 Apostolic Council of Jerusalem rules that Gentiles do not have to become Jews before becoming Christians.
• 50 The Apostle Matthew finishes the Gospel of Matthew in Aramaic.
• 62 Martyrdom of Apostle James the Just, the Lord's brother and bishop of Jerusalem.
• 63 St. Joseph of Arimathea travels to Britain and lands in Glastonbury.
• 64-67 Persecution of Christians by Emperor Nero.
• 64 Martyrdom of the Apostle Paul in Rome.
• 67 Martyrdom of the Apostle Peter in Rome; Apostle Linus elected first bishop of Rome.
• 68 Suicide of Emperor Nero.
• 69 St. Ignatius of Antioch consecrated to the episcopacy in Antioch.
• 70 Apostle Mark writes his Gospel; the Temple in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Romans; expulsion of the Christians from the synagogues.
• 71 Apostle Mark introduces Christianity to Egypt.
• 75 Judea, Galilea and Samaria are renamed Palaestina by the Romans.
• 80 Gospel of Luke written by the Apostle Luke; Jewish historian (and former general) Josephus writes the Antiquities.
• 85 Acts of the Apostles is composed by the Apostle Luke.
• 95 Apostle John writes the Book of Revelation.
• 96-98 Persecution of Christians under Emperor Domitian.
• 96 Gospel of John written by that apostle as a supplement and further theological illumination of the Synoptic Gospels.
• 100 Death of the Apostle John the Theologian.

Ante-Nicene era (100-325)

• 107 Martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch.
• 130 Conversion of Justin Martyr.
• 132 Jews, led by Bar Kochba, whom some identify as the Messiah, revolt against Rome.
• 135 Christmas instituted as a holy day in Rome.
• 136 Emperor Hadrian crushes the Jewish resistance, forbids Jews from ever entering Jerusalem, and changes the name of the city to Aelia Capitolina; first recorded use of the title Pope for the bishop of Rome by Pope Hyginus.
• 144 Excommunication of Marcion for his heretical rejection of the Old Testament and for his semi-Gnostic teachings, particularly Docetism.
• 150 St. Justin Martyr describes the Divine Liturgy.
• 155 Martyrdom of Polycarp of Smyrna.
• 156 Beginning of Montanism.
• 165 Martyrdom of Justin.
• 180 St. Irenaeus of Lyons writes Against Heresies.
• 190 Pantaenus founds the Catechetical School at Alexandria.
• 197 Quartodeciman controversy.
• 200 Martyrdom of St. Irenaeus of Lyons.
• 203 Emperor Septimus Severus issues an edict against Christianity and Judaism.
• 206 King Abgar IX converts Edessa to Christianity.
• 215 Conversion of Tertullian to Montanism.
• 225 Death of Tertullian.
• 246 Paul of Thebes retreats to the Egyptian desert and becomes the first Christian hermit.
• 249-251 Persecution under the Emperor Decius.
• 251-253 Persecution under Emperor Gaius.
• 253-260 Persecution under Emperor Valerian.
• 260 Paul of Samosata begins his heretical preaching against the divinity of Christ.
• 264 Excommunication of Paul of Samosata.
• 284 Diocletian ascends the Roman imperial throne, and begins the most severe persecution against the Christians. During his reign, an estimated 1 million martyrs are slain for Christ.
• 285 St. Anthony the Great flees to the desert to pursue a life of prayer.
• 301 St. Gregory the Illuminator converts King Tiridates I of Armenia to the Christian faith.
• 304 Alban, protomartyr of Britain, killed by Roman authorities.
• 310 Armenia becomes the first Christian nation.
• 311 Rebellion of the Donatists in Carthage.
• 312 Conversion of Constantine the Great, who defeats Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge and becomes Emperor of the West.
• 313 The Edict of Milan is issued by St. Constantine the Great and his co-emperor Licinius, officially declaring religious freedom in the Roman Empire and specifically naming toleration for Christianity.
• 314 Condemnation of Donatism as a heresy.
• 318 St. Pachomius the Great, a disciple of Anthony the Great, organizes a community of ascetics at Tabennis in Egypt, founding cenobitic monasticism.
• 320 Expulsion of Arius by St. Alexander of Alexandria.
• 323 Constantine the Great builds a church on the site of the martyrdom of St. Peter in Rome.

Nicene era (325-451)

• 325 First Ecumenical Council held in Nicea, condemning Arianism, setting the Paschalion, and issuing the first version of the Nicene Creed.
• 326 Discovery of the True Cross by the Empress St. Helena.
• 328 Athanasius the Great becomes bishop of Alexandria.
• 329 St. Athanasius ordains St. Frumentius (Abba Selama) to the priesthood and commissions him to apostolic work in Ethiopia.
• 330 Amoun and Macarius the Great found monasteries in the Egyptian desert.
• 340 Conversion of Wulfila to Arianism, subsequently missionizing the Goths with his heretical doctrine.
• 348 Death of St. Pachomius the Great.
• 350 St. Ninian establishes the church Candida Casa at Whithorn in Galloway, Scotland, beginning the missionary effort to the Picts.
• 356 Death of St. Anthony the Great.
• 358 Basil the Great founds the monastery of Annesos in Pontus, the model for Eastern monasticism.
• 360 St. Martin of Tours founds first French monastery at Liguge.
• 367 St. Athanasius of Alexandria writes his Paschal letter, listing for the first time the canon of the New Testament of the Holy Scriptures.
• 374 Election of Ambrose to the episcopacy of Milan.
• 375 St. Basil the Great writes On the Holy Spirit, confirming the divinity of the Holy Spirit.
• 376 Visigoths converted to Arian Christianity.
• 380 Christianity established as the official faith of the Roman Empire by Emperor St. Theodosius the Great.
• 381 Second Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople, condemning Macedonianism/Pneumatomachianism and Appollinarianism, declaring the divinity of the Holy Spirit, confirming the previous Ecumenical Council, and completing the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.
• 395 Augustine becomes bishop of Hippo.
• 398 St. John Chrysostom becomes Archbishop of Constantinople.
• 400 Translation of the Holy Scriptures into Latin as the Vulgate by St. Jerome.
• 401 Augustine of Hippo writes the Confessions.
• 407 Death of John Chrysostom in exile.
• 410 Fall of Rome to the Visigoths.
• 415 Pelagius condemned at a synod in Jerusalem.
• 418 A council in Carthage anathematizes Pelagianism.
• 426 Augustine of Hippo writes The City of God.
• 428 Nestorius becomes patriarch of Constantinople.
• 431 Third Ecumenical Council held in Ephesus, condemning Nestorianism and Pelagianism, confirming the use of the term Theotokos to refer to the Virgin Mary; the council also grants autocephaly to the Church of Cyprus; Palladius is sent by the Pope of Rome as a missionary bishop to Ireland.
• 432 Abduction of Patrick to Ireland to serve as a slave.
• 433 The Formulary of Peace completes the work of the Third Ecumenical Council by reconciling Cyril of Alexandria with John of Antioch.
• 445 Founding of the monastery at Armagh in northern Ireland.
• 450 First monasteries established in Wales.

Byzantine era (451-843)

• 451 Fourth Ecumenical Council meets at Chalcedon, condemning Eutychianism and Monophysitism, affirming that Christ has two natures; a huge schism occurs, with the entire Church of Alexandria breaking from the rest of the Church, bringing large portions of the Church of Antioch along with it.
• 466 Church of Antioch elevates the bishop of Mtskheta to the rank of Catholicos of Kartli, thus rendering the Church of Georgia autocephalous.
• 484 Founding of the Monastery of St. Sabbas in the Judean wilderness; Synod of Beth Papat in Persia declares the Nestorian doctrine as the official theology of the Assyrian Church of the East, centered in Edessa.
• 490 St. Brigid founds the monastery of Kildare in Ireland.
• 529 St. Benedict of Nursia founds the monastery of Monte Cassino and codifies Western monasticism; Council of Orange condemns Pelagianism.
• 533 Mercurius is elected Pope of Rome and takes the name of John II, the first pope to change his name upon election.
• 534 Roman Empire destroys the Arian kingdom of the Vandals.
• 537 Construction of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople begun by Emperor St. Justinian the Great.
• 541 Jacob Baradaeus, bishop of Edessa, organizes the Non-Chalcedonian Church in western Syria (the "Jacobites"), which spreads to Armenia and Egypt (the "Copts").
• 544 Founding of the monastery at Clonmacnoise in Ireland by St. Ciaran.
• 546 St. Columba founds the monastery of Derry in Ireland.
• 553 Fifth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople in an attempt to reconcile the Chalcedonians with the 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.
• 556 St. Columba founds the monastery of Durrow in Ireland.
• 563 Consecration of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople; St. Columba arrives on Iona and establishes his monastery there.
• 570 Birth of Mohammed, founder of Islam.
• 580 Monte Cassino is sacked by the Lombards and the monks flee to Rome.
• 589 At the Council of Toledo in Spain, the Filioque is added to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in an attempt to combat Arianism.
• 590 Irish missionary St. Columbanus founds monasteries in France (Luxeuil in Burgundy).
• 596 St. Gregory the Dialogist sends St. Augustine along with forty other monks to southern Britain to convert the pagans.
• 601 Augustine of Canterbury converts King St. Ethelbert of Kent and establishes the see of Canterbury.
• 615 Death of Columbanus in Italy.
• 627 Pope St. Gregory the Dialogist sends Paulinus to found the see of York and convert King St. Edwin of Northumbria.
• 635 Lindisfarne sees the establishment of the monastery that would convert northern England by the missionary saint Aidan, a monk from Iona; Cynegils, king of Wessex, converts to Christianity.
• 636 Capture of Jerusalem by the Muslim Arabs.
• 638 Arabs allow Jews to return to Jerusalem.
• 639 Muslim conquest of Syria.
• 642 Muslim conquest of Egypt.
• 650 Final defeat of Arianism as Lombards convert to Orthodox Christianity.
• 657 Founding of Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire, England.
• 663 Emperor Constans II is the last Eastern emperor to set foot in Rome.
• 664 Synod of Whitby held in northern England, harmonizing Celtic and Roman liturgical practices in England; Ionian monk Wilfrid appointed as Archbishop of York.
• 668 St. Theodore of Tarsus is appointed as archbishop of Canterbury.
• 670 Composition of Caedmon's Hymn by St. Caedmon of Whitby.
• 680-681 Sixth Ecumenical Council is held in Constantinople, 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.
• 685 First monastics come to Mount Athos.
• 687 Destruction of Whitby Abbey by Danish raiders.
• 692 Quinisext Council (also called the Penthekte Council or the Council in Trullo) is held in Constantinople, 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.
• 698 Muslim conquest of Carthage.
• 716 Monastery at Iona conforms to Roman liturgical usage.
• 726 Emperor Leo the Isaurian starts his campaign against the icons.
• 731 The Venerable Bede completes the Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
• 732 Muslim invasion of Europe is stopped by the Franks at the Battle of Tours.
• 754 Iconoclastic Council is held in Constantinople under the authority of Emperor Constantine V Copronymus, condemning icons and declaring itself to be the Seventh Ecumenical Council.
• 787 Seventh Ecumenical Council is held in Nicea, condemning Iconoclasm and affirming the veneration of the holy icons, declaring that worship is due to God alone, and that the honor paid to icons passes to its prototype.
• 800 Charlemagne is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor by Leo III of Rome on Christmas day.
• 826 St. Ansgar arrives in Denmark and begins preaching; King Harald Klak of Denmark converts to Christianity.
• 843 The Triumph of Orthodoxy occurs on the first Sunday of Great Lent, restoring the icons to the churches.

Late Byzantine era (843-1453)

• 846 Muslim raid of Rome.
• 852 St. Ansgar founds the churches at Hedeby and Ribe in Denmark.
• 861 Ss. Cyril and Methodius depart from Constantinople to missionize the Slavs.
• 862 Ratislav of Moravia converts to Christianity.
• 863 First translations of Biblical and liturgical texts into Church Slavonic by Ss. Cyril and Methodius.
• 864 Prince Boris of Bulgaria is baptized.
• 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.
• 870 Conversion of Serbia.
• 879-880 The Eighth Ecumenical Council is held in Constantinople, confirming Photius as Patriarch of Constantintople.
• 883 Muslims burn the monastery of Monte Cassino.
• 885 Mount Athos gains political autonomy.
• 912 Normans become Christian.
• 962 Denmark becomes a Christian nation with the baptism of King Harald Blaatand ("Bluetooth").
• 963 St. Athanasius of Athos establishes the first monastery on Mount Athos, the Great Lavra.
• 988 Baptism of Russia begins with the conversion of St. Vladimir of Kiev.
• 995 St. Olaf of Norway proclaims Norway to be a Christian kingdom.
• 1000 Christianization of Greenland and Iceland.
• 1008 Conversion of Sweden.
• 1009 Muslims destroy the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
• 1014 Filioque used for the first time in Rome by Pope Benedict VIII.
• 1017 Danish king Canute converts to Christianity.
• 1051 Monastery of the Kiev Caves founded.
• 1054 Cardinal Humbert excommunicates Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Consantinople, a major centerpoint in the formation of the Great Schism between East and West.
• 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 Turkish capture of Jerusalem.
• 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).
• 1088 Founding of monastery of St. John the Theologian on Patmos.
• 1095 Launching of the First Crusade.
• 1096 Persecution of Jews by Crusaders.
• 1098 Crusaders capture Antioch.
• 1099 Crusaders capture Jerusalem.
• 1144 Bernard of Clairvaux calls for a Second Crusade to rescue the besieged Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, and Louis VII of France and Konrad III of Germany join the Crusaders, but they are defeated by the Muslims.
• 1187 Saladdin retakes Jerusalem.
• 1189 Third Crusade is led by King Richard the Lion-Hearted of England, King Philip Augustus II of France, and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
• 1204 Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade sack Constantinople, laying waste to the city and stealing many holy relics and other items.
• 1336 Meteora in Greece is established as a center of Orthodox monasticism.
• 1341-1351 Three sessions of the Ninth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople, affirming the hesychastic theology of St. Gregory Palamas and condemning the rationalistic philosophy of Barlaam of Calabria.
• 1379 Western "Great Schism" ensues, seeing the simultaneous reign of three Popes of Rome.
• 1389 Serbs are defeated by Ottoman Turks of Sultan Murad I.
• 1396 First English Bible translated by John Wyclif.
• 1417 End of Western "Great Schism" at the Council of Constance.
• 1439 Ecclesiastical reunion with the West is attempted at the Council of Florence, where only St. Mark of Ephesus refuses to capitulate to the demands of the delegates from Rome.
• 1448 Church of Russia declares its independence from the Church of Constantinople.
• 1453 Constantinople falls to the invasion of the Ottoman Turks.

Post-Imperial era (1453-1782)

• 1455 Gutenberg makes the first printed Bible.
• 1480 Spanish Inquisition.
• 1517 Martin Luther nails his Ninety-Five Theses to the door at Wittenburg, sparking the Protestant Reformation; Ottomans conquer Jerusalem.
• 1534 King Henry VIII declares himself supreme head of the Church of England.
• 1547 Council of Trent held to answer the Protestant Reformation.
• 1582 Institution of the Gregorian Calendar by Pope Gregory XIII.
• 1589 The primate of the Church of Russia is styled as "patriarch."
• 1596 At the Union of Brest-Litovsk, several million Ukrainian and Byelorussian Orthodox Christians, living under Polish rule, leave the Church of Russia and recognize the Pope of Rome, without giving up their Byzantine liturgy and customs, creating the Uniate church.
• 1652-1658 Patriarch Nikon of Moscow revises liturgical books to bring them into conformity with the Greek liturgical customes, leading to the excommunication of dissenters, who become known as the Old Believers.
• 1768 Jews are massacred during riots in Russia-occupied Poland.

Modern era (1782-present)

• 1782 First publication of the Philokalia.
• 1794 Missionaries, including St. Herman of Alaska, arrive at Kodiak Island, bringing Orthodoxy to America.
• 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.
• 1821 Greek independence declared on the Day of Annunciation (March 25).
• 1829 The Treaty of Adrianople ends the Greek War of Independence, culminating in the creation of the modern Greek state.
• 1832 Church of Serbia becomes de facto autocephalous.
• 1833 Church of Greece declares its autocephaly, making it independent of the Church of Constantinople.
• 1848 Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs sent by the primates and synods of the four ancient patriarchates of the Orthodox Church, condemning the Filioque as heresy, declaring the Roman Catholic Church to be heretical, schismatic, and in apostasy, repudiating Ultramontanism and referring to the Photian Council of 879-880 as the "Eighth Ecumenical Council."
• 1850 Church of Constantinople recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Greece.
• 1854 Immaculate Conception declared dogma by Roman Catholic Church.
• 1870 Papal Infallibility declared Roman Catholic dogma necessary for salvation by the First Vatican Council.
• 1865 Church of Romania declares its independence from the Church of Constantinople.
• 1871 Nikolai Kasatkin establishes Orthodox mission in Japan.
• 1872 Council in Jerusalem declares phyletism to be a heresy; Church of Bulgaria gains de facto autocephaly by a decree of the Sultan.
• 1879 Church of Constantinople recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Serbia.
• 1881 Wave of anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia causes mass migrations of Jews (2.5 million Jews settle in the United States, thousands settle in Palestine).
• 1885 Church of Constantinople recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Romania.
• 1917 Church of Georgia's autocephaly restored de facto by the political chaos in Russia.
• 1918 The Bolshevik Revolution throws the Church of Russia into chaos, effectively stranding the fledgling Orthodox mission in America.
• 1922 Church of Albania declares its independence from the Church of Constantinople.
• 1937 Church of Constantinople recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Albania.
• 1943 Church of Russia recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Georgia.
• 1945 Church of Bulgaria's autocephaly generally recognized; library of early Christian texts is discovered at Nag Hammadi in Egypt.
• 1947 Dead Sea Scrolls are discovered near Qumran in Egypt.
• 1965 Pope Paul VI of Rome and Patriarch Athenagoras (Spyrou) I of Constantinople mutually nullify the excommunications of 1054.
• 1970 Orthodox Church in America reconciles with the Church of Russia and is granted autocephaly.
• 1989 Church of Constantinople recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Georgia.
• 1994 Ligonier Meeting in Western Pennsylvania held by the majority of Orthodox hierarchs in North America.

Notes

Some of these dates are necessarily a bit vague, as records for some periods are particularly difficult to piece together accurately.