Timeline of Church History

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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)

  • 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 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; the First Letter of Michael Cerularius to Peter of Antioch.
  • 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); principality of Galicia (Halitsh) comes under Polish control.
  • 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.
  • 1385 The Kreva Agreement provided for the conversion of Lithuanian nobles and all pagan Lithuanians to Roman Catholicism, and joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the Kingdom of Poland through a dynastic union.
  • 1387 Lithuania converted to Roman Catholicism, while most of the Ruthenian lands (Belarus and Ukraine) stayed Orthodox.
  • 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.
  • 1440-41 The Encyclical Letter of Saint Mark of Ephesus.
  • 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)

  • 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