The Orthodox Christian Church Is...

The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Christian Church is:




(a) The Body of Christ

(b) The community of believers and followers of Jesus Christ since Pentecost — that point in time at which that community has been guided by The Holy Spirit, as had been promised by Our Lord prior to His Crucifixion and Resurrection:

[John 16:13: “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” Matthew 16:18: "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”]

(c) The same yesterday, today and forever, just as Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever [Hebrews 13:8]

(d) One, as Jesus Christ Himself is One and Indivisible

(e) Holy; sacramental; liturgical - as opposed to being merely some sort of club for social networking, or activism, or community organizing, or debating, or …. whatever is the trend of the week

(f) Catholic; universal; The Church for all of humanity in all places at all times, and also with each “Church” — each place of Orthodox worship, and each Autocephalous Church — complete in itself as the nexus between time and eternity, between Heaven and Earth.

(g) Apostolic; in continuity — both temporally and in terms of teachings and tradition — with the Apostles, who themselves were guided by Our Lord and Saviour, and who were in continuity with the teachings and traditions of the Israelite people prior to the temporal ministry of Jesus, the Messiah

(h) Orthodox; of correct teachings, correct worship, correct glorification.  Lex orandi, lex credendi.

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Timeline of Church History

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This article forms part of the series Introduction to Orthodox Christianity

Holy Tradition

Holy Scripture The Symbol of Faith Ecumenical Councils Church Fathers Liturgy Canons Icons

The Holy Trinity

God the Father Jesus Christ The Holy Spirit

The Church

Ecclesiology History Holy Mysteries Church Life

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.

Contents 1 New Testament era 2 Apostolic era (33-100) 3 Ante-Nicene era (100-325) 4 Nicene era (325-451) 5 Byzantine era (451-843) 6 Late Byzantine era (843-1453) 7 Post-Imperial era (1453-1821) 8 Modern era (1821-1917) 9 Communist era (1917-1991) 10 Post-Communist era (1991-Present) 11 Notes 12 See also 13 Published works 14 External links

New Testament era

• ca.4 BC Christ is born in Bethlehem; 14,000 Holy Innocents slain in Bethlehem.


• 6 Judaea Province created under direct Roman administration with capital at Caesarea, as the Romans annex Samaria, Judea and Idumea; Census of Quirinius.


• 18-37 Caiaphas becomes the Roman-appointed High Priest of Herod’s Temple.


• ca.25-26 Death of Joseph the Betrothed.


• 26-36 Pontius Pilate is appointed the Roman Prefect of Judaea province, who presided over the trial of Jesus and ordered his crucifixion.


• ca.28 John the Baptist began his ministry in the “15th year of Tiberius” (Luke 3:1-2), preaching “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matt 3:1-2); baptized Christ in the Jordan (Mark 1:4-11); arrested and beheaded by Herod Antipas.


• ca.28-30 Three year ministry of Jesus Christ, including: Temptation; Appointment of the Twelve Apostles; Sermon on the Mount; Miracles performed; Rejection; Transfiguration; Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem; the Temple money changers; Cursing the fig tree; Giving the great commandment; Anointing; Mystical Supper; Arrest; Sanhedrin Trial; Before Pilate; Passion; Crucifixion on Good Friday; Entombment by Pharisees Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus of the Sanhedrin; Harrowing of Hell; Resurrection on Easter Sunday; Appearances to various people over the next forty days; Giving the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20); and Ascension.


• ca. 30 Martyrdom of Stephen.


• 30 Conversion of Apostle Paul on road to Damascus.

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.


• 34 Apostle Peter founds See of Antioch.


• 35 The name Christian first used in Antioch.


• 37 Joseph of Arimathea travels to Britain and lands in Glastonbury.


• 49 Apostolic Council of Jerusalem rules that the un-circumcised nations do not have to be circumcised before becoming Christians.


• ca.50 Death of Gamaliel, a leading authority in the Sanhedrin and teacher of the Apostle Paul (Acts 22:3).


• 50 Apostle Matthew finishes the Gospel of Matthew in Aramaic.


• 52 Apostle Thomas arrives in Kerala, introducing Christianity to India.


• 62 Martyrdom of Apostle James the Just; crucifixion of Apostle Andrew in Patras.


• 63 Aristobulus consecrated as first bishop of Britain.


• 64-68 First of ten major persections of the Early Church, under 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; flight of the Christian community in Jerusalem to Pella in the Decapolis, to escape the Jewish revolt (66-73).


• 69 Ignatius of Antioch consecrated bishop of Antioch.


• 70 Apostle Mark writes Gospel; Temple in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Romans; expulsion of the Christians from the synagogues; Johanan Ben Zacchai founds college at Jamnia that becomes seat of Sanhedrin and center of Judaism A.D. 70-135, enabling emergence of Rabbinic Judaism.


• 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 Antiquities.


• ca. 80-90 Didache written.


• 85 Acts of the Apostles written by Apostle Luke.


• 90 Council of Jamnia (Javneh) marks final separation and distinction between the Jewish and Christian communities, including rejection of the Septuagint widely then in use among the Hellenized Jewish diaspora.


• 95 Apostle John writes Book of Revelation.


• ca.90-96 Persecution of Christians under Emperor Domitian.


• 96 Gospel of John written by Apostle John as supplement and further theological illumination of the Synoptic gospels.


• ca.100 Emergence of Christian Catacombs in the second century.


• 100 Death of Apostle John.

Ante-Nicene era (100-325)

• 107 Martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch; death of Apostle Symeon.


• 108-124 Persecution under Emperor Trajan, continuing under Emepror Hadrian.


• 124 Apostles Quadratus and Aristides present Christian apologies to Emperor Hadrian at Athens.


• 128 Aquila’s Greek translation of the Old Testament.


• 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 feast day in Rome.


• 136 Emperor Hadrian crushes Jewish resistance, forbids Jews from returning Jerusalem, and changes city name to Aelia Capitolina; first recorded use of 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 Justin Martyr describes Divine Liturgy.


• 155 Martyrdom of Polycarp of Smyrna.


• 156 Beginning of Montanism.


• 165 Martyrdom of Justin.


• ca. 170 Emergence of Muratorian Canon.


• ca. 175 Tatian’s Diatessaron harmonizes the four canonical gospels into single narrative.


• 177-180 Persection under Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180).


• 180 Irenaeus of Lyons writes Against Heresies ; Saint Dyfan first martyr in British Isles (at Merthyr Dyfan, Wales); death of Scillitan Martyrs in North Africa.


• 180-192 Theodotion’s Greek translation of the Old Testament.


• 190 Pantaenus founds the Catechetical School at Alexandria.


• 193-211 Symmachus’ Greek translation of the Old Testament.


• 195 Bishop Saint Elvan dies at Glastonbury.


• 197 Quartodeciman controversy.


• 200 Martyrdom of Irenaeus of Lyons.


• 202 Emperor Septimus Severus issues edict against Christianity and Judaism; Martyrdom of Haralampus of Magnesia.


• 202-210 Persecution under Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211).


• 206 King Abgar IX converts Edessa to Christianity.


• 208 Tertullian writes that Christ has followers on the far side of the Roman wall in Britain where Roman legions have not yet penetrated.


• ca. 209 Martyrdom of Alban in Britain.


• 215 Conversion of Tertullian to Montanism.


• 225 Death of Tertullian.


• 232 Heraclas becomes Pope of Alexandria.


• 235-238 Persecution under Emperor Maximinus Thrax.


• 240 Church at Dura-Europos built (earliest identified Christian church).


• ca.240 Origen’s Hexapla of the Old Testament, largest critical production of antiquity.


• 244 Plotinus founds Neoplatonist school in Rome.


• 246 Paul of Thebes retreats to the Egyptian desert and becomes first Christian hermit.


• 246-247 Two Councils of Arabia.


• 247 Rome celebrated its thousandth anniversary this year, witnessing a period of increased persecution of Christians.


• 249-251 Persecution under Emperor Decius.


• 257-260 Persecution under Emperor Valerian (253-260).


• 255-256 Three Councils of Carthage.


• 258 Bp. Cyprian of Carthage martyred.


• 260 Paul of Samosata begins his heretical preaching against the divinity of Christ.


• 264 Excommunication of Paul of Samosata.


• 274-275 Persecution under Emperor Aurelian.


• 270 Death of Gregory Thaumaturgus.


• 272 Martyrdom of Sabbas Stratelates (“the General”) of Rome and 70 soldiers.


• 284 Diocletian becomes Roman emperor, persecutes Church and martyrs an estimated one million Christians; martyrdom of Cosmas and Damian, Andrew Stratelates (“the General”) and 2,593 soldiers with him in Cilicia.


• 285 Anthony the Great flees to the desert to pursue a life of prayer.


• 286 Martrydom of Maurice and the Theban Legion.


• ca.300 Synod of Elvira in Spain.


• 301 Gregory the Illuminator converts King Tiridates I of Armenia to the Christian faith.


• 302 20,000 Martyrs burned at Nicomedia.


• 303 Outbreak of the Great Persecution (303-311), as Diocletian and Galerius launch the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire; martyrdom of George the Trophy-bearer.


• 305 Martyrdom of Panteleimon and Catherine of Alexandria. Martyrdom of Bishop Ianouarios of Beneventio of Campania and his Companions.


• 306 Martyrdom of Demetrius of Thessaloniki.


• 310 Armenia becomes first Christian nation; persecution of Christians under Persian King Shapur II (310-379).


• 311 Galerius issues Edict of Toleration ending persecution of Christians in his part of the Roman Empire; rebellion of the Donatists in Carthage.


• 312 Vision and conversion of Constantine the Great; defeat of Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, making Constantine Emperor of the West.


• 313 Edict of Milan issued by Constantine the Great and co-emperor Licinius, officially declaring religious freedom in the Roman Empire, specifically naming religious toleration for Christianity, restoration of property to Christian churches, and legal recognition.


• 314 Council of Ancyra held; Council of Arles condemns Donatism.


• 315 Council of Neo-Caesaria held.


• 318 Publication of On the Incarnation by Athanasius the Great, influencing the condemnation of Arianism; beginnings of Arian Controversy.


• 318 Pachomius the Great, disciple of Anthony the Great, organizes a community of ascetics at Tabennis in Egypt, founding cenobitic monasticism.


• 319 Translation of relics of Theodore Stratelates (“the General”).


• 320 Expulsion of Arius by Alexander of Alexandria; martyrdom of Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.


• 323 Constantine the Great builds church on the site of the martyrdom of Peter in Rome.


• 324 Constantine defeats Licinius and becomes sole emperor.

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 Helena; King Miraeus of Georgia becomes Christian.


• 328 Athanasius the Great becomes bishop of Alexandria (328-373).


• 329 Athanasius ordains Frumentius (Abba Selama) to priesthood and commissions him to evangelize Ethiopia.


• 330 Constantinople is founded as New Rome and Christian capital of the Roman Empire; Amoun and Macarius the Great found monasteries in the Egyptian desert.


• 333 Constantine commissions Eusebius, to prepare 50 copies of the Bible for churches in the new capital.


• 335 Death of Sylvester, Pope of Rome.


• 336-338 Athanasius the Great goes into exile in Treves, telling Europeans about the monastic rule of Pachomius the Great, awakening interest in monasticism in Europe.


• 337 Death of Constantine.


• 339-346 Second exile of Athanasius.


• 340 Conversion of Wulfila to Arianism, subsequently missionizing the Goths with heretical doctrine; Council of Rome under Pope Julius where Athanasius and Marcellus are declared innocent and maintained in the communion of the western churches; Council of Gangra held.


• 340-570 Constantinople overtakes Rome as the largest city in the world by population.


• 341 Council of Antioch held; Emperor Constans bans pagan sacrifices and magic rituals under penalty of death.


• 345 Death of Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia.


• 347 Council of Sardica.


• 348 Death of Pachomius the Great; death of Spyridon of Trimythous.


• 350 Ninian establishes the church Candida Casa at Whithorn in Galloway, Scotland, beginning the missionary effort to the Picts.


• 351 Apparition of the Sign of the Cross over Jerusalem.


• 355 Death of Nina, Enlightener of Georgia.


• 356 Death of Anthony the Great.


• 357 The Council of Sirmium, the high point of Arianism, issues the Blasphemy of Sirmium.


• 358 Basil the Great founds monastery of Annesos in Pontus, the model for Eastern monasticism.


• 359 Councils of Seleucia in the east and Rimini in the west.


• 360 Martin of Tours founds first French monastery at Liguge; first church of Hagia Sophia inaugurated by Emperor Constantius II.


• 362 Synod of Alexandria; Antiochian schism (362-414).


• 361-63 Julian the Apostate becomes Roman emperor, attempting to restore paganism.


• 363 Emperor Jovian reestablished Christianity as the official religion of the Empire, stating that he preferred the Orthodox view, and that Athanasius was to be permitted to return to his see at Alexandria.


• 364 Council of Laodicea held..


• 365-66 Brief exile and final restoration of Athanasius of Alexandria.


• 367 Athanasius of Alexandria writes his Paschal letter, listing for the first time the canon of the New Testament of the Holy Scriptures, including all 27 New Testament Books; death of Hilary of Poitiers.


• 373 Death of Athanasius the Great; death of Ephrem the Syrian.


• 374 Election of Ambrose as bishop of Milan.


• 375 Basil the Great writes On the Holy Spirit, confirming the divinity of the Holy Spirit.


• 376 Visigoths convert to Arian Christianity.


• 378 Meletius returns to his see as bishop of Antioch; at Battle of Adrianople Emperor Valens defeated by the Visigoths, permanently weakening northern borders of the empire.


• 379 Death of Basil the Great; Emperor Gratian’s rescript Ordinariorum Sententias extends power of Bishop of Rome by allowing him authority over bishops within his own jurisdiction.


• 380 Christianity established as the official faith of the Roman Empire by Emperor Theodosius the Great; Council of Saragossa condemns Priscillianism.


• 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; Council of Aquileia led by Ambrose of Milan deposes Arian bishops.


• 382 Pope Siricius of Rome first to bear title Pontifex Maximus.


• ca. 383 Death of Frumentius.


• 384 Council of Bordeaux condemns Priscillian.


• 385 Death of Gregory of Nyssa.


• 386 Panagia Soumela Monastery founded in Trebizond, Pontus, Asia Minor; death of Cyril of Jerusalem; Theodosius the Great begins to rebuild the present-day Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.


• 387 Augustine baptized at Pascha by Ambrose of Milan.


• 391 Death of Gregory the Theologian.


• 391-92 All non-Christian temples in the Empire closed; Theodosius the Great ends pagan Eleusinian Mysteries by decree and causes surviving pagan sacrifices at Alexandria and Rome to cease.


• 392 Death of Macarius the Great.


• 393 Council of Hippo publishes Biblical canon; Emperor Theodosius bans Olympic Games as a pagan festival.


• 394 Epiphanius of Salamis attacks teachings of Origen as heretical; Council of Constantinople held; Donatist Council of Bagai in Africa held with 310 bishops.


• 395 Augustine becomes bishop of Hippo in North Africa; the placing of the cincture (sash) of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Church of the Virgin in Halkoprateia-Constantinople (395-408).


• 395 Re-division of Empire with death of Emperor Theodosius the Great.


• 397 Council of Carthage publishes Biblical canon; death of Martin of Tours; death of Ambrose of Milan.


• 398 John Chrysostom becomes Archbishop of Constantinople.


• ca. 398 Martyrdom of 10,000 Fathers of the Scetis by Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria.


• 399 Anastasius of Rome and other bishops condemn doctrine of Origen.


• 401 Augustine of Hippo writes Confessions; Pope Innocent I of Rome supports John Chrysostom and condemns pelagianism.


• 402 Emperor Honorius transfers capital of the Western Empire from Milan to Ravenna; Porphyry of Gaza obtains imperial decree ordering closing of pagan temples in Gaza.


• 403 Abduction of Patrick to Ireland to serve as a slave; visit of Victricius of Rouen to Britain; Synod of the Oak held near Chalcedon, deposing and exiling John Chrysostom.


• 404 Martyrdom of Telemachus, resulting in Emperor Honorius’ edict banning gladiator fights.


• 405 Translation of Holy Scriptures into Latin as the Vulgate by Jerome; martyrdom of Moses the Black.


• 406 Invasion of Gaul by Germanic tribes, severing contact between Rome and Britain.


• 407 Death of John Chrysostom in exile.


• 410 Fall of Rome to the Visigoths under Alaric I; escape of Patrick back to Britain; Emperor Honorius tells Britain to attend to its own affairs, effectively removing the Roman presence; Honoratus founds a monastery on island of Lerins.


• 410 Council of Seleucia declares Mesopotamian Nestorian bishops independent of Orthodox bishops.


• 411 Pelagius condemned at council in Carthage; Rabbula becomes bishop of Edessa.


• 412 Cyril succeeds his uncle Theophilus as Pope of Alexandria; Honorius outlaws Donatism; Lazarus, bishop of Aix-en-Provence, and Herod, bishop of Arles, expelled from sees on a charge of Manichaeism.


• 413 Martyrdom of Marcellinus of Carthage.


• 414 Resolution of the Antiochian division.


• 415 Pelagius cleared at a synod in Jerusalem and a provincial synod in Diospolis (Lydda); John Cassian founds convent at Marseilles.


• 416 Councils in Carthage and Milevis condemn Pelagius and convince Pope Innocent I of Rome to excommunicate him.


• 418 Foundation of the Arian Visigothic Kingdom, as Emperor Honorius rewards Visigoth federates by giving them land in Gallia Aquitania on which to settle.


• 418-24 Council in Carthage anathematizes Pelagianism by way of endorsing Augustinian anthropology.


• 425 Sanhedrin disbanded by the Roman Empire; University of Constantinople founded as the first university in the world.


• 426 Augustine of Hippo writes The City of God.


• 428 Nestorius becomes patriarch of Constantinople.


• 429 Pope Celestine I dispatches prominent Gallo-Roman Bishops Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes to Britain as missionary bishops and to combat the Pelagian heresy; death of Sisoes the Great.


• ca. 430 Death of Nilus of Sinai.


• 430 Peter the Iberian founds Georgian monastery near Bethlehem.


• 431 Third Ecumenical Council held in Ephesus, condemning Nestorianism and Pelagianism, confirming the use of the term Theotokos to refer to the Virgin Mary, and confirming autocephaly of Church of Cyprus; Pope Celestine sends Palladius to Ireland.


• 432 Return of Patrick to Ireland to begin missionary work; death of Ninian, Apostle to the Picts.


• 433 Formulary of Peace completes the work of the Third Ecumenical Council by reconciling Cyril of Alexandria with John of Antioch.


• 435 Death of John Cassian; death of Acacius of Melitene; Nestorius exiled by Imperial edict to a monastery in a Sahara oasis.


• 438 Codex Theodosianus published.


• 439 Carthage falls to Vandals.


• 444 Death of Cyril of Alexandria; Pope Leo the Great abolishes Gallican vicariate.


• 445 Founding of monastery at Armagh in northern Ireland; Emperor Valentinian III issues decree recognizing primacy of the bishop of Rome.


• 447 Earthquake in Constantinople, when a boy was lifted up to heaven and heard the Trisagion.


• 449 Robber Synod of Ephesus, presided over by Dioscorus of Alexandria, with an order from the emperor to acquit Eutyches the Monophysite.


• 450 First monasteries established in Wales; Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britian; death of Peter Chrysologus.

Byzantine era (451-843)

• 451 Fourth Ecumenical Council meets at Chalcedon, condemning Eutychianism and Monophysitism, affirming doctrine of two perfect and invisible but separate natures of Christ, and recognizing Church of Jerusalem as patriarchate; Attila the Hun defeated at Battle of Chalons.


• 452 Proterios of Alexandria convenes synod in Alexandria to reconcile Chalcedonians and non-Chalcedonians; second finding of the Head of John the Forerunner.


• 452 Attila the Hun invades northern Italy, but is convinced to withdraw from Ravenna by Pope Leo the Great; Venice founded by fugitives from Attila’s army.


• 455 Vandals under Gaiseric sack Rome; Germanic Saxons and Angles conquer Britain, founding several independent kingdoms.


• 457 Victorius of Aquitania computes new Paschalion; first coronation of Byzantine Emperor by patriarch of Constantinople.


• 459 Death of Symeon the Stylite.


• 461 Death of Leo the Great; death of Patrick of Ireland.


• 462 Indiction moved to September 1; Studion Monastery founded.


• 466 Church of Antioch elevates bishop of Mtskheta to rank of Catholicos of Kartli, rendering the Church of Georgia autocephalous.


• ca.471 Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople was first called “Oikoumenikos” (Ecumenical).


• 473 Death of Euthymius the Great.


• 475 Emperor Basiliscus issues circular letter to the bishops of his empire, supporting Monophysite Christological position.


• 476 Fall of Western Roman Empire.


• 477 Timothy Aelurus of Alexandria exiles Chalcedonian bishops from Egypt.


• 482 Byzantine emperor Zeno I issues Henotikon in an attempt to reconcile the differences over the Christology of Chalcedon.


• 484 Acacian Schism.


• 484 Founding of Mar Sabbas Monastery by Sabbas the Sanctified; Synod of Beth Lapat in Persia declares Nestorianism as official theology of Assyrian Church of the East, effectively separating the Assyrian church from the Byzantine church.


• 488 Death of Peter the Fuller.


• 489 Emperor Zeno I closes Nestorian academy in Edessa, which was then transferred under Sassanian Persian auspices to Nisibis, becoming the spiritual center of the Assyrian Church of the East.


• 490 Brigid of Kildaire founds monastery of Kildare in Ireland.


• 494 Pope Gelasius I of Rome delineates relationship between church and state in his letter Duo sunt, written to Emperor Anastasius I.


• 496 Pope Gelasius I of Rome dedicates February 14 to Valentine of Terni in the West, banning the pre-Christian Roman festival of Lupercalia; Bp. Remigius of Rheims baptizes Franks into Orthodox Christianity.


• ca. 500 Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite writes The Mystical Theology.


• 502 Start of Byzantine-Sassanid wars, lasting until 562.


• 506 Church of Armenia separates from Chalcedonian Orthodoxy.


• 507 Clovis I defeats Visigoths at Battle of Vouillé near Poitiers, ending their power in Gaul.


• 512 Death of Genevieve of Paris.


• 518 Severus of Antioch deposed by Emperor Justin I for Monophysitism; Patriarch John II of Constantinople is addressed as “Oikoumenikos Patriarches” (Ecumenical Patriarch).


• 519 Eastern and Western churches reconciled with end of Acacian Schism.


• ca. 520 Elesbaan (Caleb), King of Ethiopia (Axum), invades Jewish Himyarite kingdom of Yemen, which was persecuting the Christians there, thus establishing Axumite control of South Arabia.


• 521 Birth of Columba of Iona.


• 527 Dionysius Exiguus calculates the date of birth of Jesus incorrectly; foundation of St. Catherine’s Monastery on the Sinai peninsula by Justinian the Great.


• ca. 528 Death of Procopius of Gaza.


• 529 Pagan University of Athens closed and replaced by Christian university in Constantinople; Benedict of Nursia founds monastery of Monte Cassino and codifies Western monasticism; Council of Orange condemns Pelagianism; Church of the Nativity burned down in Samaritan revolt of 529; death of Theodosius the Great.


• 529-534 Justinian‘s Corpus Juris Civilis issued.


• 530 Brendan the Navigator lands in Newfoundland, Canada, establishing a short-lived community of Irish monks.


• 532 Justinian the Great orders building of Hagia Sophia; death of Sabbas the Sanctified.


• 533 Mercurius 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 Roman Empire destroys the Arian kingdom of Vandals; Malta becomes Byzantine province.


• 536 Mennas of Constantinople summons a synod anathematizing Severus of Antioch.


• 537 Construction of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople completed.


• 539 Ravenna becomes exarchate of the Byzantine Empire.


• 541 Jacob Baradeus organizes the Non-Chalcedonian Church in western Syria (the “Jacobites”), which spreads to Armenia and Egypt.


• 543 Doctrine of apokatastasis condemned by Synod of Constantinople.


• 544 Jacob Baradeus consecrates Sergius of Tella as bishop of Antioch, opening the lasting schism between the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Chalcedonian Church of Antioch; founding of the monastery at Clonmacnoise in Ireland by Ciaran.


• 545 Synod of Brefi at Llandewi Brefi in Wales condemns Pelagianism ; Saint David of Wales moved the Primatial See of Britain from Caerleon to Menevia (St. Davids’s).


• 546 Columba founds monastery of Derry in Ireland.


• 547 Convent of Our Lady of Saydnaya founded in Damascus of Syria ; Saint David of Wales does obeisance to the Patriarch of Jerusalem.


• 553 Fifth Ecumenical Council 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 Nestorianism, and Origen and his writings are also condemned.


• 553 Bishops of Aquileia, Milan, Venetia and the Istrian peninsula in Italy all refuse to condemn the Three Chapters, causing Schism of the Three Chapters in those areas, leading to independence of Patriarch of Venice from Patriarch of Aquileia; Ostrogoth kingdom conquered by the Byzantines after the Battle of Mons Lactarius.


• 554 Church of Armenia officially breaks with the West in 554, during the second Council of Dvin where the dyophysite formula of Chalcedon was rejected.


• 556 Columba founds monastery of Durrow in Ireland; death of Roman the Melodist.


• 557 Brendan the Navigator founds monastery at Clonfert, Ireland.


• 563 Re-consecration of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople after its dome is rebuilt; Columba arrives on Iona and establishes monastery there, founding mission to the Picts.


• 564 Death of Petroc.


• 569 Final schism between Chalcedonians and non-Chalcedonians in Egypt; David of Wales holds Synod of Victoria to re-assert the anti-Pelagian decrees of Brefi.


• 570 Death of Gildas; birth of Muhammad, founder of Islam.


• 571 Death of Yared, Ethiopian musician credited with inventing the sacred music tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.


• 579 400 Martyrs slain by Lombards in Sicily.


• 580 Monte Cassino sacked by Lombards, sending its monks fleeing to Rome; Slavs begin to migrate into the Balkans and Greece.


• 587 Visigoth King Reccared renounces Arianism in favor of Orthodoxy.


• 589 Council of Toledo adds Filioque to Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in an attempt to combat Arianism.


• ca. 590 Parthenon in Athens converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Theotokos.


• 590 Columbanus founds monasteries in France.


• 593 Anastasius the Sinaite restored as Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.


• 596 Gregory the Dialogist sends Augustine along with forty other monks to southern Britain to convert pagans.


• 597 Death of Columba of Iona.


• 598 Glastonbury Abbey founded – the Church in the British Isles numbers 120 bishops, hundreds of monasteries and parishes organized under a Primate with his See at Menevia.


• ca. 600 The Ladder of Divine Ascent written by John Climacus; Gregory the Dialogist inspires development of Gregorian Chant through his liturgical reforms.


• 601 Augustine of Canterbury converts King Ethelbert of Kent and establishes see of Canterbury.


• 602 Final series of wars between Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Empire; Augustine of Canterbury meets with Welsh bishops to bring them under Canterbury.


• 604 Mellitus becomes first bishop of London and founds first St. Paul’s Cathedral; death of Gregory the Dialogist.


• 605 Death of Augustine of Canterbury.


• 609 Pantheon in Rome converted into church, consecrated to the Virgin Mary and All Saints (Santa Maria dei Martiri).


• 610 Heraclius changes official language of the Empire from Latin to Greek, already the lingua franca of the vast majority of the population.


• 612 Holy Sponge and Holy Lance brought to Constantinople from Palestine.


• 614 Persians sack Jerusalem under Chosroes II of Persia; Church of the Holy Sepulchre damaged by fire, True Cross captured, and over 65,000 Christians in Jerusalem massacred.


• 615 Death of Columbanus in Italy.


• 617 Persian Army conquers Chalcedon after a long siege.


• 618 Death of Kevin of Glendalough.


• 620 Slavs attack Thessaloniki.


• 622 Year one of the Islamic calendar begins, during which the hejira occurs; Muhammad and his followers emigrating from Mecca to Medina.


• 626 Akathist Hymn to the Virgin Mary written, after Constantinople liberated from a siege of 80,000 Avars, Slavs and the Persian fleet.


• 627 Emperor Heraclius decisively defeats Sassanid Persians at Battle of Nineveh, recovering True Cross and breaking power of the Sassanid dynasty.


• 628 Muhammad issues Charter of Privileges to monks of Saint Catherine’s Monastery.


• 630 Second Elevation of the Holy Cross.


• 633 Death of Modestus of Jerusalem.


• 635 Founding of Lindisfarne Monastery by Aidan, a monk from Iona; Cynegils, king of Wessex, converts to Christianity.


• 636 Capture of Jerusalem by Muslim Arabs after Battle of Yarmuk.


• 638 Muslim Arabs allow Jews to return to Jerusalem.


• 640 Muslim conquest of Syria; Battle of Heliopolis between Arab Muslim armies and Byzantium opens door for Muslim conquest of 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 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 of Rome 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 Persian Empire as the last shah of Persia Yezdegherd III of the Sassanid dynasty is killed at Merv.


• 653 Pope Martin the Confessor arrested on orders of Byzantine Emperor Constans II.


• 654 Invasion of Rhodes by Arabs.


• 655 Martyrdom of Martin the Confessor.


• 657 Founding of Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire, England.


• 662 Death of Maximus the Confessor.


• 663 Emperor Constans II is last Eastern emperor to set foot in Rome; Constans II declares 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, adopting Roman calendar and tonsures in Northumbria; Ionian monk Wilfrid appointed as Archbishop of York; death of Cedd.


• 668 Theodore of Tarsus appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.


• 669-78 First Arab siege of Constantinople; at Battle of Syllaeum Arab fleet destroyed by Byzantines through use of Greek Fire, ending immediate Arab threat to eastern Europe.


• 670 Composition of Caedmon’s Hymn by Caedmon of Whitby.


• 672 The First Synod of Hertford called by Theodore of Tarsus, adoption of ten decrees paralleling the canons of the Council of Chalcedon.


• 673 The Second Council of Hatfield upholds Orthodoxy against Monothelitism.


• 680-681 Sixth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople, condemning Monothelitism and affirming Christology of Maximus the Confessor, affirming that Christ has both a human will and a divine will; Patr. Sergius of Constantinople and Pope Honorius of Rome are both explicitly anathematized for their support of Monothelitism.


• 680 First Bulgarian Empire established after a successful war with Byzantium.


• 682 Foundation of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey in England.


• 685 First monastics come to Mount Athos; death of Anastasius of Sinai.


• 685 John Maron elected 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 Cuthbert of Lindisfarne.


• 688 Emperor Justinian II and Caliph al-Malik sign treaty neutralizing Cyprus.


• 690c. The Witenagamot of England forbade appeals from the Local Church to the Patriarch of Rome.


• 691 Dome of the Rock completed in Jerusalem.


• 692 Quinisext Council (also called the Penthekte Council or Council in Trullo) 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.


• 694 Byzantine army of Justinian II defeated by Maronites, who became fully independent afterwards.


• 697 Council of Birr accepts Roman Paschalion for northern Ireland; at this synod, Adomnán of Iona promulgates his Cáin Adomnáin.


• 698 Muslim conquest of Carthage; at Synod of Aquileia, bishops of the diocese of Aquileia end the Schism of the Three Chapters and return to communion with Rome.


• ca. 700 Death of Isaac of Syria.


• 705 Long period of fighting begins between Trebizond in eastern Asia Minor and the Arabs.


• 706 Greek replaced by Arabic as administrative language in Egypt.


• 707 Byzantines lose Balearic Islands to Moors; death of John Maron.


• 710 Pope Constantine makes last papal visit to Constantinople before 1967.


• 711 Umayyad Islamic invasion of Spain.


• 712 Death of Andrew of Crete.


• ca. 715 Lindisfarne Gospels produced in Northumbria (Northern England).


• 715 Grand Mosque of Damascus built over the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist; Al-Aqsa Mosque constructed over site of Church of St. Mary of Justinian; Pictish King Nechtan invites Northumbrian clergy to establish Christianity amongst the Picts.


• 716 Monastery at Iona conforms to Roman liturgical usage; Boniface‘s first missionary journey to Frisia.


• 717 Pictish king Nechtan expels monks from Iona.


• 717-18 Second Arab siege of Constantinople.


• 719 Nubian Christians transfer allegiance from Chalcedonian church to Coptic church.


• 723 Boniface fells Thor’s Oak near Fritzlar.


• 726 Iconoclast Emperor Leo the Isaurian starts campaign against icons.


• 730 Emperor Leo the Isaurian orders destruction of all icons, beginning the First Iconoclastic Period.


• 731 Bede completes Ecclesiastical History of the English People.


• 732 Muslim invasion of Europe stopped by Franks at Battle of Tours, establishing a balance of power between Western Europe, Islam and the Byzantine Empire.


• 733 Byzantine Emperor Leo the Isaurian withdraws the Balkans, Sicily and Calabria from the jurisdiction of the Pope in response to Pope Gregory III of Rome‘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 Bede; See of York achieves archepiscopal status.


• 739 Emperor Leo III (717-41) publishes his Ecloga , designed to introduce Christian principle into law; Byzantine forces defeat Umayyad invasion of Asia Minor at Battle of Akroinon; death of Willibrord.


• 740 Khazars voluntarily convert to Judaism.


• 742 After a forty-year vacancy, Stephen IV becomes Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, at the suggestion of Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik.


• 746 Byzantine forces regain Cyprus from the Arabs.


• 747 The Witenagamot of England again forbids appeals to the Roman Patriarch ; Council of Clovesho I adopts Roman calendar, observance of the feasts of St. Gregory the Great and Augustine of Canterbury, and adopts the Rogation Days.


• 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 Lombard king Aistulf captures Ravenna and the Romagna, ending Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna.


• 752 Death of Pope Zacharias of Rome.


• 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 dissolution of the monasteries.


• 754 Death of Boniface.


• 756 Donation of Pepin cedes lands including Ravenna that became basis of Papal States.


• 768 Wales adopts Orthodox Paschalion and other decrees of the Synod of Whitby at teaching of Elfoddw of Gwynedd.


• 769 Pope Stephen III of Rome holds a council changing papal election procedure and confirming veneration of icons.


• 772 Charlemagne starts fighting Saxons and Frisians; Saxony is subdued and converted to Christianity.


• 781 King Charlemagne of the Franks summons Alcuin of York to head palace school at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) to inspire revival of education in Europe.


• 785 The Synod of Cealchythe erects the Archbishopric of Lichfield.


• 786 Beatus of Liébana publishes Commentary on the Apocalypse.


• 787 Seventh Ecumenical Council held in Nicea, condemning iconoclasm and affirming veneration of icons; two councils 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 at Lichfield.


• 792 The Synod of Regensburg condemned Adoptionism.


• 793 Sack of Lindisfarne Priory, beginning Viking attacks on England.


• 794 Charlemagne convenes council in Frankfurt-in-Main, rejecting decrees of Seventh Ecumenical Council and inserting Filioque into Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.


• 796 Alcuin made Abbot of Saint-Martin in Tours by Charlemagne.


• 800 Charlemagne 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 Charlemagne, acknowledging some Frankish control over the interests of Christians in Jerusalem ; establishment of the Western Rite Monastery of Saint Mary in Jerusalem.


• 801 Controversy in Jerusalem over Frankish pilgrims using Filioque.


• 803 Council of Clovesho II abolishes archbishopric of Lichfield, restoring the pattern of the two metropolitan archbishoprics (Canterbury and York) which had prevailed before 787, and requires the use of the Western Rite amongst the English speaking peoples.


• 810 Pope Leo III refused permission for the Filioque to be inserted in the Creed.


• 814 Bulgarians lay siege to Constantinople; conflict erupts between Emperor Leo V and Patr. 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 Ansgar arrives in Denmark and begins preaching; King Harald Klak of Denmark converts to Christianity.


• 828 Death of Patr. Nicephorus I of Constantinople.


• ca. 829-842 Icon of the Panagia Portaitissa appears on Mount Athos near Iviron Monastery.


• 836 Death of 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.

Late Byzantine era (843-1453)

• 843 Triumph of Orthodoxy occurs on first Sunday of Great Lent, restoring icons to churches.


• 845 42 Martyrs of Ammoria in Phrygia taken as hostages from Ammoria to Samarra (in Iraq) and executed there; noted Greek scholar Johannes Scotus Erigena takes over the Palatine Academy in France.


• 846 Muslim raid of Rome.


• 850 Third Finding of the head of John the Forerunner ; Bishop Censteg of Dingerein in Cornwall accepts the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.


• 852 Ansgar founds churches at Hedeby and Ribe in Denmark.


• 858 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.


• 861 Cyril and Methodius depart from Constantinople to missionize the Slavs; Council of Constantinople attended by 318 fathers and presided over by papal legates confirms Photius the Great as patriarch and passes 17 canons.


• 862 Rastislav of Moravia converts to Christianity.


• 863 First translations of Biblical and liturgical texts into Church Slavonic by Cyril and Methodius.


• 863 Venetians steal relics of Apostle Mark from Alexandria.


• 864 Baptism of Prince Boris of Bulgaria; Synaxis of the Theotokos 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 work of Greek missionaries in Bulgaria and use by papal missionaries of Filioque; Pope Nicholas dies before hearing news of excommunication; Basil the Macedonian has Emperor Michael III murdered and usurps 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.


• 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 Edmund, King of East Anglia.


• 874 Translation of relics of Nicephorus the Confessor, interred in the Church of the Holy Apostles, Constantinople.


• 877 Death of Ignatius I of Constantinople, who appoints 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 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 Methodius.


• 886 Glagolitic alphabet, (now called Old Church Slavonic) adopted in Bulgarian Empire; St Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, captures London from the Danes.


• 888 Foundation of Shaftesbury Abbey.


• 902 Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, is captured by the Aghlabid Arabs.


• 904 Thessalonika 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.


• 910 Benedictine Abbey of Cluny founded in France.


• 899 Death of Alfred the Great.


• 911 Holy Protection of the Virgin Mary; 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.


• 927 Church of Bulgaria recognized as autocephalous by Constantinople.


• 931 Abbott Odo of Cluny reforms 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.


• 933 Death of Patr. Tryphon of Constantinople.


• 935 Martyrdom of Wenceslaus, prince of the Czechs.


• 941 Fourth Rus-Byzantine War.


• 944 City of Edessa recovered by Byzantine army, including Icon Not Made By Hands ; The Western Rite Monastery of the Holy Saviour is established in Constantinople under Imperial favour.


• 945 Dunstan becomes Abbot of Glastonbury.


• 948 Future Holy Roman Emperor Otto I the Great founds missionary dioceses of Brandenburg, Havelburg, Ribe, Aarhus, and Schleswig.


• ca. 950 Monastery of Hosios Loukas founded near Stiris in Greece.


• 957 Olga of Kiev baptized in Constantinople.


• 960 Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas re-captures Crete for Byzantines; Dunstan becomes Archbishop of Canterbury, reforming monasteries and enforcing rule of Benedict.


• 962 Denmark becomes Christian nation with baptism of King Harald Blaatand (“Bluetooth”); Holy Roman Empire formed, with Pope John XII crowning Otto I the Great Holy Roman Emperor; Diploma Ottonianum is co-signed by Pope John XII and Otto, confirming the earlier Donation of Pepin, granting control of Papal States to the Popes, regularizing Papal elections, and clarifying the relationship between Popes and oly Roman Emperors.


• 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; Sviatoslav of Kiev destroys Khazar imperial power, as the Khazar fortresses of Sarkel and Tamatarkha fall to the Rus’.


• 966 Anti-Christian riots in Jerusalem.


• 968 Rila Monastery founded; Sviatoslav of Kiev defeats Bulgarians at the Battle of Silistra, precipitating the collapse of the First Bulgarian Empire.


• 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 Olga of Kiev; Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas captures Antioch and Aleppo from Arabs.


• 972 Emperor John I Tzimiskes grants 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 takes Emesa, Baalbek, Damascus, Tiberias, Nazareth, Caesarea, Sidon, Beirut, Byblos and Tripoli, but fails 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 Mount Athos.


• 980-5 The Western Rite Monastery of Amalfion is founded on Mount Athos.


• 983 Martyrdom of Theodore the Varangian and his son John of Kiev.


• 987 Sixth Rus-Byzantine War, where Vladimir of Kiev dispatches troops to the Byzantine Empire to assist Emperor Basil II with an internal revolt, agreeing to accept Orthodox Christianity as his religion and bring his people to the new faith.


• 988 Baptism of Rus’ begins with the conversion of 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 Michael, first Metropolitan of Kiev.


• 995 Olaf of Norway proclaims Norway to be a Christian kingdom; relics of Cuthbert transferred with his community to Durham.


• 1000 Conversion of Greenland and Iceland.


• 1008 Conversion of Sweden.


• 1009 Patr. Sergius II of Constantinople removes name of Pope Sergius IV of Rome from diptychs 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 Martyrdom of Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury; Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah issues oppressive decrees against Jews and Christians including the destruction of all Christian and Jewish houses of worship.


• 1013 Jews expelled from caliphate of Córdoba.


• 1014 Filioque used for first time in Rome by Pope Benedict VIII at coronation of Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor.


• 1015 Death of Vladimir of Kiev.


• 1017 Danish king Canute converts to Christianity.


• 1022 Death of 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 sent to protect pilgrims.


• 1043 Eighth and last Rus’-Byzantine War, an unsuccessful naval raid against Constantinople; Edward the Confessor crowned King of England at Winchester Cathedral; University of Constantinople is re-organized under Michael Psellos.


• 1045-50 Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Novgorod built, the oldest Orthodox church building in Russia, executed in an architectural style more austere than the Byzantine, reminiscent of the Romanesque.


• 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 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; First Letter of Michael Cerularius to Peter of Antioch.


• 1059 Errors of Berengar of Tours condemned in Rome; term transubstantiation begins to come in to use, ascribed to Peter Damian.


• 1064 Seljuk Turks storm Anatolia taking Caesarea and Ani, conquering Armenia.


• 1066 Normans invade England flying banner of Pope of Rome, defeating King Harold of England at Battle of Hastings.


• 1066-1171 Beginning reformation of English church and society to align with Latin continental ecclesiology and politics.


• 1071 Seljuk Turks defeat Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert, beginning Islamification of Asia Minor; 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”.


• 1073 Hildebrand becomes Pope Gregory VII and launches the Gregorian reforms (celibacy of the clergy, primacy of papacy over empire, right of Pope to depose emperors); Seljuk Turks conquer Ankara.


• 1074 Death of Theodosius of the Kiev Caves.


• 1075 Dictatus Papae document advances Papal supremacy.


• 1077 The Seljuk Turks capture Jerusalem and kill 3,000 citizens; Seljuks capture Nicea.


• 1084 Antioch is captured by the Seljuk Turks from the Byzantines.


• 1087 Translation of the relics of Nicholas of Myra from Myra to Bari.


• 1088 Founding of monastery of John the Theologian on Patmos; election of Pope Urban II, a prominent member of the Cluniac Reform movement .


• 1095 Launching of the First Crusade.


• 1096 Persecution of Jews by Crusaders.


• 1098 Anselm of Canterbury completes 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 Nicetas of Kiev Caves, Bishop of Novgorod.


• 1113 Latin Order of Knights Hospitaller founded as a religious/military order under its own charter, charged with the care and defense of the Holy Land and pilgrims.


• 1118 Latin Order of Knights Templar founded.


• 1118-1137 Imperial monastery of Christ Pantocrator founded.


• ca. 1131-45 Coptic Pope of Alexandria Gabriel II initiates addition of Arabic as a liturgical language with his Arabic translation of the Liturgy.


• ca. 1120-1220 Spread of Aristotelian philosophy throughout Western Europe, mostly via the translations of Averroes and Maimonides.


• 1120 Council of Nablus is held in Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.


• 1127-1145 Constantinople largest city in the world by population.


• 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 join Crusaders, but are defeated by Muslims; Muslims take Christian stronghold of Edessa.


• 1147 Moscow founded by Prince Yuri Dolgoruki, a ruler of the northeastern Rus’; Roger II of Sicily takes Corfu from the Byzantine Empire, and pillages Corinth, Athens and Thebes.


• 1149 Crusaders begin to renovate Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Romanesque style, adding a bell tower.


• 1159 John of Salisbury authors Policraticus, a treatise on government drawing from the Bible, the Codex Justinianus, and arguing for Divine Right of Kings.


• 1164 Uncovering of the relics of Leontius of Rostov.


• 1170 Miracle of the weeping icon of the Theotokos “of the Sign” at Novgorod; Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland; city of Dublin captured by the Normans.


• 1176 Sultanate of Rum defeats Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Myriokephalon, marking end of Byzantine attempts to recover Anatolian plateau; Al-Adil I, Muslim ruler of Egypt, suppresses a revolt by Christian Copts in city of Qift, hanging nearly 3,000 of them.


• 1177 Latin King Baldwin of Jerusalem and his knights, with Templars, defeat Muslim army of Saladin at Battle of Montgisard.


• 1179 Death of Hildegard von Bingen.


• 1180 Last formal acceptance of Latins to communion at an Orthodox altar in Antioch.


• 1182 Maronites, who assisted the Crusaders during the Crusades, reaffirm their affiliation with Rome in 1182; dedication of Monreale Cathedral in Sicily, containing the largest cycle of Byzantine mosaics extant in Italy.


• 1185 Second Bulgarian Empire founded.


• 1186 Byzantine Empire recognizes independence of Bulgaria and Serbia.


• 1187 Saladin retakes Jerusalem after destroying crusader army at Battle of Hattin, and returns Christian holy places to 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 Ethiopian Emperor Gebre Mesqel Lalibela orders construction of Lalibela.


• 1191 Cyprus taken from Byzantines by English King Richard I the Lion-hearted.


• 1198 Cyprus sold by England to Frankish crusaders.


• 1204 Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople, laying waste to the city and stealing many relics and other items; Great Schism generally regarded as having been completed by this act; Venetians use the imperial monastery of Christ Pantocrator as their headquardters in Constantinople; Theodore I Lascaris establishes the Empire of Nicaea; death of Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides, author of Guide for the Perplexed which harmonized the Old Testament with Aristotle.


• ca. 1204-75 Martyrdom by Latins of monks of Iveron Monastery.


• ca.1207 Stephen Langton divides the Bible into the defined modern chapters in use today.


• 1211 Venetian crusaders conquer Byzantine Crete, retaining it until ousted by Ottoman Turks in 1669.


• 1212 Children’s Crusade, led by 12-year-old Stephen of Cloyes, sets out for Holy Land from France.


• 1213 Death of Tamar of Georgia.


• 1216 Latin Dominican Order formally recognized.


• 1217-21 Fifth Crusade.


• ca.1220 English Bp. Richard Le Poore is said to have been responsible for the final form of the “Use of Sarum“, which had the sterling reputation of being the best liturgy anywhere in the West.


• 1223 Latin Franciscan Order formally recognized.


• 1226 Latin Carmelite order formally recognized.


• 1228 Sixth Crusade results in 10-year treaty starting in 1229 between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Egyptian sultan; Jerusalem ceded to Franks, along with a narrow corridor to the coast, as well as Nazareth, Sidon, Jaffa and Bethlehem.


• 1235 Death of Sava of Serbia.


• 1237 Golden Horde 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 Battle of Lake Peipus, a major defeat for the Catholic crusaders.


• 1244 Jerusalem conquered and razed by Khwarezmian mercenaries (Oghuz Turks) serving under the Ayyubid ruler of Egypt Salih Ayyub, triggering Seventh Crusade.


• 1245 First Council of Lyons in the Roman Catholic Church mandates 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 Greek peninsula from Latins; Salisbury Cathedral is consecrated.


• 1259 Byzantines defeat Latin Principality of Achaea at the Battle of Pelagonia, marking the beginning of the Byzantine recovery of Greece.


• 1260 Subjugation of Church of Cyprus to the Roman Catholic Church.


• 1261 End of Latin occupation of Constantinople and restoration of Orthodox patriarchs; Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos makes Mystras seat of the new Despotate of Morea, where a Byzantine renaissance occurred.


• 1268 Egyptian Mamelukes capture Antioch.


• 1269 Orthodox patriarch returns to Antioch after a 171-year exile and usurpation by Latin patriarch.


• 1270 Eighth Crusade launched by King Louis IX of France.


• 1271-72 Ninth Crusade led by Prince Edward of England to Acre, considered to be the last of the medieval Crusades to the Holy Land.


• 1274 Second Council of Lyons 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 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.


• 1287 Last record of Western Rite Monastery of Amalfion on Mount Athos.


• 1291 Fall of Acre; end of crusading in Holy Land.


• 1298 Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and Pope Gregory I are named collectively as the first Great Doctors of the Western Church.


• 1302 Papal Bull Unam Sanctum issued by Pope Boniface VIII proclaims Papal supremacy.


• 1326 Metr. Peter moves his see from Kiev to Vladimir and then to Moscow.


• 1309 Rhodes falls to the Knights of St. John, who establish their headquarters there, renaming themselves the “Knights of Rhodes.”


• 1311-12 Council of Vienne in the Roman Catholic Church disbands the Knights Templar.


• 1332 Amda Syon, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces, allowing for the spread of Christianity to frontier areas.


• 1336 Meteora in Greece 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.


• 1340 Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra founded by Sergius of Radonezh.


• 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 Gregory Palamas and condemning rationalistic philosophy of Barlaam of Calabria.


• 1342 Patriarchate of Antioch transferred to Damascus under Ignatius II.


• 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.


• 1352 Death of Ewostatewos (Eusthathius), Ethiopian monk and religious leader.


• 1353 Death of Sergius and Herman, Abbots of Valaam.


• 1354 Ottoman Turks make first settlement in Europe at Gallipoli.


• 1359 Death of Gregory Palamas.


• 1360 Death of John Koukouzelis the Hymnographer.


• 1365 Crusaders under Latin King Peter I of Cyprus sack Alexandria, Egypt.


• 1378 Death of Alexis of Moscow.


• 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 Stephen of Perm, missionary to Zyrians, consecrated bishop; appearance of Theotokos of Tikhvin icon.


• 1385 Kreva Agreement provides for conversion of Lithuanian nobles and all pagan Lithuanians to Roman Catholicism, joining Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the Kingdom of Poland through a dynastic union.


• 1387 Lithuania converts to Roman Catholicism, while most Ruthenian lands (Belarus and Ukraine) remain Orthodox.


• 1389 Serbs defeated by Ottoman Turks of Sultan Murad I at the battle of Kosovo Polje; death of Lazar, prince of Serbia.


• 1390 Ottomans take Philadelphia, last significant Byzantine enclave in Anatolia.


• 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 Council of Constance in Roman Catholic Church represents high point for Conciliar Movement over authority of pope.


• 1417 End of Western Great Schism at the Council of Constance.


• 1418 Latin monk Thomas à Kempis authors The Imitation of Christ.


• 1422 Second unsuccessful Ottoman siege of Constantinople.


• 1423-24 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 West attempted at Council of Florence, where only Mark of Ephesus refuses to capitulate to demands of delegates from Rome.


• 1440-41 Encyclical Letter of Mark of Ephesus.


• 1444 Donation of Constantine proved forgery.


• 1448 Church of Russia unilaterally declares its independence from the Church of Constantinople; Vatican Library formally established by Pope Nicholas V.


• 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, allows the union to be proclaimed.


• 1453 Constantinople falls to invasion of the Ottoman Turks, ending Roman Empire; Hagia Sophia turned into a mosque; martyrdom of Constantine XI Palaiologos, last of the Byzantine Emperors; many Greek scholars escape to the West with books that become translated into Latin, triggering the Renaissance.

Post-Imperial era (1453-1821)

• 1455 Gutenberg makes first printed Bible.


• 1455-56 Confession of Faith by Patr. Gennadius of Constantinople.


• 1456-1587 Byzantine Church of Theotokos Pammakaristos became the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.


• 1461 Death of Jonah, Metropolitan of Moscow; commemoration of the Apparition of the Pillar with the Robe of the Lord under it at Mtskheta in Georgia, October 1.


• 1462 Wonderworking icon of Archangel Michael of Mantamados created.


• 1463 Bosnia becomes province of Ottoman Empire, with an estimated 36,000 families voluntarily accepting Islam, followed by a sustained process of assimilation to Islam.


• 1480 Spanish Inquisition; meeting of the Theotokos of Vladimir icon in memory of saving Moscow from the invasion of Khan Ahmed.


• 1492 Millennialist movements in Moscow, due to end of church calendar (year 7,000, according to the Byzantine Date of Creation).


• 1497 Martyrdom of Macarius, Metropolitan of Kiev, by invading Tatars.


• 1503 Possessor and Non-Possessor controversy.


• 1512 First Christian church erected in Americas in Santo Domingo by Spanish.


• 1516 Desiderius Erasmus publishes “Textus Receptus” of New Testament on the basis of 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 Ninety-Five Theses to door at Wittenburg, sparking Protestant Reformation; Ottomans conquer Jerusalem, Antioch and Alexandria.


• 1522 Martin Luther translates New Testament into German and Reformation principle of Sola Scriptura becomes formalized.


• 1526 Non-Possessors attack Tsar Vassily III for divorcing his wife and are driven underground.


• 1529 First Ottoman Siege of Vienna, marking Ottoman Empire’s apex and 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.


• 1537-41 Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilds the city walls of Jerusalem (the current walls of the Old City of Jerusalem), including sealing off the Golden Gate in 1541 to prevent the Messiah’s entrance.


• 1540 Death of Emperor Lebna Dengel of Ethiopia; formal founding of 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 Basil the Blessed.


• 1555 Abp. Gurian begins mission to Kazan.


• 1563 Anglican Church’s Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion published.


• 1564 Jesuits arrive in Poland.


• 1568 Pope Pius V recognizes four Great Doctors of the Eastern Church, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Athanasius.


• 1569 Martyrdom of Philip of Moscow, at the hands of Ivan IV Grozny.


• 1569 Union of Lublin unites Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania into a single state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, placing the Ruthenian Orthodox lands of Belarus, and modern Ukraine under direct Roman Catholic rule.


• 1571 Restoration of Church of Cyprus to Orthodox rule.


• 1573 Pope Gregory XIII establishes 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 Correspondence of Patr. Jeremias II of Constantinople with Lutherans.


• 1575 Church of Constantinople grants autonomy to Church of Sinai.


• 1576 Pope Gregory XIII establishes 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 Gerasimus of Kefalonia; discovery of Our Lady of Kazan, holiest Russian icon.


• 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 Sigillion of 1583 issued against Gregorian Calendar by council convened in Constantinople.


• ca.1587-Present. The relatively modest Church of St George in the Phanar district of Istanbul becomes the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.


• 1589 Autocephaly and canonical territory of Church of Russia recognized, as Patr. Jeremias II of Constantinople raises Metr. 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.


• ca. 1600-1700 Conversion of Albania to Islam mainly through discriminatory tax system, the Djize.


• 1604 Death of Juliana of Lazarevo.


• 1607 Death of Patr. Job of Moscow.


• 1609-10 Douay-Rheims Bible printed, first complete English Roman Catholic Bible, translated from Vulgate.


• 1611 Authorized King James Version of the Bible printed.


• 1612 Martyrdom of Patr. Hermogenes of Moscow; Our Lady of Kazan icon commemorates the deliverance from Poles.


• 1625 Confession of Faith by Metrophanes Kritopoulos written.


• 1627 Pope Cyril Lukaris of Alexandria presents 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 Union of Uzhhorod joins 63 Ruthenian Orthodox priests from the Carpathian Mountains to Roman Catholic Church on terms similar to Union of Brest.


• 1647 Orthodox church erected in Tunisia.


• 1649 Martyrdom of Athanasius of Brest-Litovsk by the Latins.


• 1650-1700 Ottoman Constantinople is largest city in the world by population.


• 1652 School and hospital established in Old Cairo by Patr. Joannikios.


• 1652-1658 Patriarch Nikon of Moscow revises liturgical books to bring them into conformity with the Greek liturgical customs, leading to mass excommunication and schism of dissenters, who become known as Old Believers.


• 1654 Appearance of icon of Theotokos of the Kievan Brotherhood.


• 1656 Voskresensky Monastery founded by Patr. Nikon at Istra near Moscow, intended to represent the Heavenly Jerusalem.


• 1665 Greek Jewish kabbalist Sabbatai Sevi hailed by Jews of Palestine as the Messiah, but then converts to Islam before the Ottoman Sultan to save his life.


• 1667 Annexation of most of Kievan Rus’ by Tsar of Muscovite Kingdom.


• 1669 Greek island of Crete taken by Ottoman Empire from Venetians.


• 1672 Synod of Jerusalem convened by Patr. Dositheos Notaras, refuting article by article the Calvinistic confession of Cyril Lucaris, defining Orthodoxy relative to Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, and defining the Orthodox Biblical canon; acts of this council are later signed by all five patriarchates (including Russia).


• 1675 Appearance of icon of Theotokos of Pochaiv.


• 1683 Second Ottoman Siege of Vienna, capital of the Holy Roman Empire.


• 1685 Orthodoxy introduced in Beijing by Church of Russia.


• 1688 Appearance of Joy of All Who Sorrow icon.


• 1689 Great Serb Migrations of hundreds of thousands of Serbian refugees from Kosovo and Serbia proper, leaving a vacuum filled by flood of Albanian immigrants.


• 1698 Consecration of the first Orthodox Church in China, in the name of Sophia (Divine Wisdom), when Emperor Kangxi ordered a Buddhist temple to be cleared for Russian inhabitants in Beijing.


• 1700-02 Submission of the dioceses of Lemberg (Lviv) and Luzk (Lutsk) in the Galician area of Ukraine to Roman Catholic Church completes 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 published at Oxford, reproducing (imperfectly) the Codex Alexandrinus of London.


• 1715 Metr. Arsenios of Thebaid sent to England by Pope Samuel of Alexandria to negotiate with Non-Juror Anglican bishops.


• 1716-25 Correspondence of Ecumenical Patriarch and Russian Czar with English Non-Jurors.


• 1721 Czar Peter I of Russia 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 Innocent of Irkutsk.


• 1754 Hesychast Renaissance begins with the Kollyvades Movement.


• 1755 Synod of Constantinople declares Roman Catholic baptism invalid and ordered baptism of converts from Roman Catholicism.


• 1756 Sigillion of 1756 issued against the Gregorian Calendar by Patr. 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 About 1,200 Kiev region Uniate churches return to Orthodoxy under political pressure from Russia.


• 1774 Russia and Ottoman Empire sign treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji, bringing Russia for the first time into the Mediterranean as the acknowledged protector of Orthodox Christians.


• 1779 Death of Kosmas Aitolos.


• 1782 First publication of Philokalia; autonomy of Church of Sinai confirmed by Church of Constantinople.


• 1793-95 Over 2,300 Uniate churches became Orthodox under Tsarina Catherine the Great.


• 1794 Missionaries, including Herman of Alaska, arrive at Kodiak Island, bringing Orthodoxy to Russian Alaska; death of Paisius Velichkovsky of Moldova and Mt. Athos.


• 1796 Nicodemus the Hagiorite publishes Unseen Warfare in Venice.


• 1800 The Rudder published and printed in Athens.


• 1803 Death of Xenia of St. Petersburg.


• 1804 British and Foreign Bible Society founded.


• 1805 Death of Makarios of Corinth, a central figure in the Kollyvades 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 Martyrdom of Euthymius and Ignatius of Mount Athos.


• 1815 Peter the Aleut tortured and martyred in San Francisco, California.


• 1816 American Bible Society founded; martyrdom of Acacius of Athos.


• 1819 Council at Constantinople endorses views of Kollyvades fathers.

Modern era (1821-1917)

• 1821 Metr. Germanos of Patra declares Greek independence on Day of Annunciation (March 25), also Kyriopascha; martyrdom of Patr. Gregory V of Constantinople, Abp. Kyprianos of Cyprus, and Abp. Gerasimos of Crete in retaliation.


• 1823 Icon of Panagia Evangelistria found on Tinos, led by a vision from Pelagia of Tinos, becoming the most venerated pilgrimage item in Greece, at the Church of Evangelistria.


• 1825 Russia and Britain establish Alaska/Canada boundary.


• 1829 Treaty of Adrianople ends Greek War of Independence, culminating in the creation of the modern Greek state.


• ca. 1830 Slavophile movement begins in Russia.


• 1831 Return of 3,000,000 Uniates with the Orthodox Church at Vilnius in 1831.


• 1832 Church of Serbia becomes de facto autocephalous.


• 1833 Church of Greece declares autocephaly, making it independent of the Constantinople; death of Seraphim of Sarov.


• 1839 Synod of Polotsk abolishes Union of Brest-Litovsk in all areas under Russian rule as Greek Catholic dioceses in Lithuania and Belarus re-enter the Orthodox Church (with the exception of the eparchy of Chelm, in Polish territory, which was itself integrated into the Russian Orthodox Church in 1875).


• 1840s Correspondence of Anglican William Palmer with Alexei Khomakiov, and Philaret of Moscow towards establishment of Western Rite church in England.


• 1847 Restoration of Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem by Pope Pius IX.


• 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 autocephaly of Church of Greece.


• 1851 Translation into English of Septuagint by Lancelot C. L. Brenton; Ottoman Empire recognizes France as supreme Christian authority in Holy Land and grants it possession of the Church of the Nativity.


• 1852 Ottoman Empire makes division of Church of the Holy Sepulchre permanent.


• 1852-72 Tregelles’ critical Greek text of the New Testament.


• 1853-56 Crimean War fought between Russia and the Ottoman Empire together with Britain and France, beginning over which church would be recognized as the “sovereign authority” of the Christian faith in the Holy Land.


• 1854 Immaculate Conception declared dogma by Roman Catholic Church.


• 1859 Constantin von Tischendorf discovers Codex Sinaiticus at St. Catherine’s Monastery; Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection published; Christian quarter of Damascus sacked by a Muslim mob also involving Turkish troops.


• 1860 Death of Alexei Khomiakov, co-founder of the Slavophile movement.


• 1864 First Orthodox parish established on American soil in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Greeks; death of Jacob Netsvetov; Pope Pius IX presented his Syllabus of Errors.


• 1865 Church of Romania declares its independence from the Church of Constantinople.


• 1867 Sale of Alaska to United States; death of Ignatius Brianchaninov.


• 1869 Celebration of first miracle of the Icon of the Theotokos at Chernigov-Gethsemane; Russian synod authorizes corrected text of Western Rite liturgy and Benedictine offices.


• 1870 Papal Infallibility declared Roman Catholic dogma necessary for salvation by First Vatican Council; Papal States cease to exist; Old Catholic schism occurs; Old Catholics openly courted by Russian church in France and Germany.


• 1871 Nikolai Kasatkin establishes Orthodox mission in Japan.


• 1872 Council in Jerusalem declares phyletism to be heresy; Church of Bulgaria gains de facto autocephaly by a decree of the Sultan.


• 1873 Philotheos Bryennios discovers the Didache in manuscript with copies of several early Church documents.


• 1875 Uniate diocese of Chelm in Poland incorporated into Russian Orthodox Church under Alexander II, with all of the local Uniates converted to Orthodoxy.


• 1876 Theophan the Recluse begins issuing a translation of the Philokalia in Russian.


• 1877 Death of Arsenios of Paros.


• 1879 Church of Constantinople recognizes autocephaly of Church of Serbia; death of Innocent of Alaska; Joseph Julian Overbeck journeys to Constantinople to request approval from patriarch for use of Roman liturgy and Benedictine offices.


• 1881 Wave of anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia causes mass migration of Jews (2.5 million Jews settle in the United States, thousands settle in Palestine).


• 1882 Synod of Constantinople gives conditional approval to use of Roman liturgy and Benedictine offices; Nihilist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche declares “God is dead”.


• 1884 The Way of a Pilgrim published in Kazan.


• 1885 Church of Constantinople recognizes autocephaly of Church of Romania; English Revised Version published; Archbishop of Canterbury officially removes all of Apocrypha from King James Bible.


• 1886 Church of Maria Magdalene built on slope of Mount of Olives, in the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem by Tsar Alexander III.


• 1889 Federation of Old Catholic Churches, not in communion with Rome, at the Union of Utrecht.


• ca. 1890 Unseen Warfare further revised by Theophan the Recluse.


• 1890-1 Bp. Vladimir (Sokolovsky-Avtonomov) receives a parish of Swiss Old Catholics at Dyckesville, Wisconsin, as Western Rite parish.


• 1891 Death of Ambrose of Optina.


• 1892 Pastoral visit of Bp. Nicholas (Ziorov) to Western Rite parish in Wisconsin.


• 1895 Reply of Synod of Constantinople to Pope Leo XIII.


• 1896 Pope Leo XIII issues the bull Apostolicae Curae which declares Anglican Orders “absolutely null and utterly void”.


• 1896-1906 Oxyrhynchus papyri discovered in Egypt dating from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, including portions of the New Testament.


• 1898 Last ethnically Greek patriarch of Antioch deposed; Western Rite diocese organized in Czechoslovakia by Church of Russia.


• 1899 Restoration of Arabs to the Patriarchal throne of Antioch.


• 1900 Martyrdom of Orthodox Christians in Chinese Boxer (Yihetuan Movement) Rebellion.


• 1901 “Evangelakia” riots in Athens Greece in November, over translations of New Testament into Demotic (modern) Greek, resulting in fall of both government and Metropolitan of Athens.


• 1903 Uncovering of the relics of Seraphim of Sarov.


• 1904 Ecumenical Patriarchate publishes the “Patriarchal” Text of the Greek New Testament, based on about twenty Byzantine manuscripts; petition to Russian synod by Abp. Tikhon (Belavin), Bp. Raphael (Hawaweeny), and Fr. John Kochurov to permit adaption of services taken from Anglican Book of Common Prayer for use by Orthodox people.


• 1905 Death of Apostolos Makrakis; Tsar Nicholas Romanov’s decree on freedom of religion results in about 250,000 Ruthenians returning to Uniatism; seat of Russian Orthodox bishop in America moved from San Francisco to New York, as immigration from Eastern Europe and the reception of ex-Uniates shifts the balance of Orthodox population to eastern North America.


• 1907 Archim. Eusebius Matthopoulos founds Zoe Brotherhood; Papal Bull Ea Semper issued, effectively subordinating Greek Catholic clergy in the United States to local Roman Catholic bishops; Commission on Anglican and Old Catholic Affairs of Russian synod reports in favor of adaptation of services from Book of Common Prayer and sets out criteria.


• 1908 Fr. Nikodemos Sarikas sent to Johannesburg, Transvaal, by Ecumenical Patriarchate as first Orthodox priest there, leaving after a short time for German East Africa (later Tanzania) because of the opposition of Johannesburg Greeks to mission among Africans.


• 1908 Death of John of Kronstadt.


• 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference is the formal beginning of the modern Protestant Christian ecumenical movement, a precursor to the World Council of Churches.


• 1912 Death of Nicholas of Japan.


• 1915-18 Armenian Genocide in Turkey.

Communist era (1917-1991)

• 1917 Bolshevik Revolution throws Church of Russia into chaos, effectively stranding the fledgling Russian Orthodox mission in America; restoration of Moscow Patriarchate with Tikhon as patriarch; British forces capture Jerusalem from Ottoman Empire; Church of Georgia‘s autocephaly restored de facto by political chaos in Russia; Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”.


• 1917-40 Persecution of the Orthodox Church in Russia begins, with 130,000 priests arrested, 95,000 of whom were executed by firing squad.


• 1918 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia murdered together with his wife Alexandra and children; Metr. Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky) of Kiev and Gallich first bishop to be tortured and slain by Russian Communists; deaths of of Hieromartyr Andronik, Archbishop of Perm and Elizabeth the New Martyr.


• 1919-1922 Greco-Turkish War; a million refugees flee to Greece joining half a million Greeks who had fled earlier; Pontic Greek Genocide eliminates the Christian population of Trebizond.


• 1920 Death of Nektarios of Aegina; publication of Encyclical Letters by Constantinople on Christian unity and on the Ecumenical Movement.


• 1921 Constantinople renounces all claims to jurisdiction in any part of Africa, with Alexandrian primate thenceforth known as Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa; Greek Archdiocese of America formed ; Abp. Tikhon (Belavin) elected Patriarch of Moscow; Gorazd (Pavlik) consecrated as bishop for Western Rite Diocese of Moravia and Silesia; an all-Ukrainian Synod is called in Kyiv and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) (as yet unrecognized) is declared independent from the Moscow Patriarchate (MP).


• 1922 Church of Albania declares autocephaly from Constantinople; formation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia; British Mandate of Palestine begins; Vladimir Lenin proclaims establishment of the Soviet Union; Solovetsky Monastery converted by Lenin’s decree to the “Solovki Special Purpose Camp”, one of the earliest forced-labor camps of the Gulag where 75 bishops died, along with tens of thousands of laity ; Alcuin Club in England prints the Russian synod’s report in favor of adapting Book of Common Prayer for Orthodox use; death of Ethnomartyr Metropolitan Chrysostomos (Kalafatis) of Smyrna; the predominatly Christian city of Smyrna is destroyed, ending 1900 years of Christian civilization.

• 1923 Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia granted autonomy by Church of Constantinople; Treaty of Lausanne affirmed the international status of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, with Turkey guaranteeing respect and the Patriarchate’s full protection; Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud defines the Id–Ego-Super-ego as the three theoretical constructs of the Psyche.


• 1924 Church of Constantinople recognizes autocephaly of Church of Poland; Bp. Daniel William Alexander convenes meeting in Kimberley, South Africa, which decides to secede from the African Church (a Protestant denomination) and affiliate with the “African Orthodox Church” in New York under George McGuire; Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the USA splits into two separate jurisdictions, one for those from Galicia, and another for those from Carpatho-Ukraine, Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia.


• 1925 Church of Romania becomes a patriarchate; first Africans in sub-Saharan Africa baptized in Tanganyika by Fr. Nikodemos Sarikas; death of Tikhon of Moscow.


• 1926 Polish Catholic National Church received as a Western Rite diocese in Poland of Church of Russia under Bp. Alexis of Grodno; John Maximovitch tonsured by ROCOR Metr. Anthony (Khrapovitsky) of Kiev.


• 1927 Daniel William Alexander travels from South Africa to America to be consecrated a bishop of African Orthodox Church; Orthodox Archbishopric of Johannesburg established; bishops of Russian church in America authorize formation of American Orthodox Catholic Church, including a Western Rite missionary outreach.


• 1928 Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius founded.


• 1929 Papal Bull Cum data fuerit regulates Uniate clergy in the US, mandating celibacy, resulting in the return of several parishes back to Orthodoxy in 1938; kingdom of Italy and Papacy ratify Lateran Treaty, recognizing sovereignty of Papacy within the new state of the Vatican City; “Russicum” (Russian College or ‘College of St. Therese’) founded in Vatican City by Pope Pius XI and run by the Jesuits; Russian Fraternity of Saint Irenee in France celebrates Western Rite.


• 1931 Reception of Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe into the Ecumenical Patriarchate, led by Metr. Eulogius (Georgievsky) of Paris; USSR bans sale or importation of Bibles; the Bonn Agreement established full communion between the Church of England and Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht.


• 1932 Daniel William Alexander travels to Uganda to meet Reuben Spartas, establishing African Orthodox Church there.


• 1933 Church of Greece bans Freemasonry.


• 1934 Daniel William Alexander travels to Kenya, establishing African Orthodox Church led by Arthur Gathuna; clergy opposing Nazi regime in Germany have homes raided by secret police; episcopal consecration of John Maximovitch.


• 1935 Critical edition of Septuagint published in Gottingen Germany by Alfred Rahlfs at the Septuaginta-Unternehmens (Institute); Old Calendar Church is formed when three bishops declared their separation from the official Church of Greece stating that the calendar change was a schismatic act.


• 1935-40 Italian forces occupy Ethiopia and begin intermittent persecutions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.


• 1936 Ukase of Moscow Patriarchate establishes Western Orthodox Church in France using Western Rite.


• 1936-37 Many Russian Orthodox Clerics die in Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge.


• 1937 Church of Constantinople recognizes autocephaly of Church of Albania; Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology founded.


• 1938 St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York) and St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (South Canaan, Pennsylvania) founded; death of Silouan the Athonite; American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese founded, when a group of 37 Carpatho-Russian Eastern Catholic parishes, under the leadership of Fr. Orestes Chornock, were received into the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate; Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung authors Psychology and Religion.


• 1939 Galicia is divided as Poland gets partitioned between the German Empire and Soviet Union approximately along the Curzon Line, so that Western Galicia goes to the German Empire, and Eastern Galicia is affiliated with Soviet Ukraine.


• 1941 Martyrdom of Gorazd (Pavlik) of Prague by Nazis.


• 1941-45 Croatian Ustasa terrorists kill 500,000 Orthodox Serbs, expel 250,000 and force 250,000 to convert to Catholicism.


• 1943 Church of Russia recognizes autocephaly of Church of Georgia; first constitution of the African Orthodox Church in East Africa signed by Reuben Spartas and Arthur Gathuna; Joseph Stalin meets with hierarchs of Russian Orthodox Church to establish a “patriotic union,” granting concessions to the church, including the gathering of the holy synod and the election of Sergius I as patriarch of Moscow.


• 1943-44 Hundreds of Orthodox priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church eliminated, tortured and drowned by Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists – Ukrainian Rebel Army, aided by Uniate Metr. Josyf Slipyj who was a spiritual leader of Nazi military units that were later condemned by the Nuremberg tribunal, and who was imprisoned by Soviet authorities for aiding the UPA.


• 1944 Fr. Evgraph (Kovalevsky) completes restoration of Liturgy of St. Germaine de Paris.


• 1945 Church of Bulgaria‘s autocephaly generally recognized; library of early Christian texts discovered at Nag Hammadi in Egypt; Soviet Union annexes Czechoslovakia; Church of Russia claims jurisdiction over the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.


• 1945-90 Persecution of the Orthodox Church in Albania.


• 1946 Reuben Spartas of the African Orthodox Church visits Alexandria; Holy Synod of the Church of Alexandria officially recognizes and accepts the African Greek Orthodox Church in Kenya and Uganda; state-sponsored synod is held at Lviv, Ukraine in March, which officially dissolves the Union of Brest-Litovsk and integrates the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church into the Russian Orthodox Church, Soviet authorities arresting resisters or deporting them to Siberia.


• 1947 Dead Sea Scrolls discovered near Qumran in Egypt; death of Alexei Kabalyiuk, who played a major role in reviving Orthodoxy in Transcarpathia in the early 20th century.


• 1948 Establishment of State of Israel and end of British Mandate of Palestine; Church of Russia re-grants autocephaly to the Church of Poland (after having revoked it in the aftermath of World War II); World Council of Churches is founded; Council of Moscow is held on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the independence of the Russian Church from Constantinople, with representatives of the local Orthodox Churches rejecting all participation in the World Council of Churches.


• 1949 Soviet authorities revoke the Union of Uzhhorod of 1646, creating the Orthodox Eparchy of Mukachiv-Uzhhorod, under the Patriarch of Moscow.


• 1950 Pope Pius XII proclaims the Bodily Assumption of the Virgin Mary as a dogma.


• 1951 Church of Russia grants autocephaly to the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia; 1500th anniversary celebration of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.


• 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 Metr. Antony (Bashir) accepts three Western Rite parishes into Syrian Metropolitanate in America.


• 1957 Church of Russia grants autonomy to Church of China.


• 1958 Patriarch of Antioch adopts provisions of Russian synods of 1879 and 1907 for use by Western Rite in America ; Western Orthodox Church of France comes under Abp. John Maximovitch, who authorizes the use of the restored Gallican rite.


• 1959 Abp. Anastasios (Yannoulatos) of Albania establishes inter-Orthodox mission agency Porefthentes to revive the church’s mission activities; autocephaly granted to the Church of Ethiopia by Coptic Pope Cyril VI (Atta) of Alexandria.


• 1961 Creation of Western Rite Vicariate in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America; death of Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) of Crimea; consecration of first Orthodox Church in Uganda; first Pan-Orthodox Conference in Rhodes; Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly in outer space.


• 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council held in Rome, initiating major liturgical and theological reforms for the Roman Catholic Church, including restriction of ancient Tridentine Mass and introduction of the Novus Ordo.


• 1963 1900th anniversary of martyrdom of Apostle Mark; second Pan-Orthodox Conference in Rhodes; 1000th anniversary celebration of founding of Mount Athos.


• 1964 Meeting of Pope Paul VI of Rome and Patr. Athenagoras I (Spyrou) of Constantinople in Jerusalem; third Pan-Orthodox Conference in Rhodes; Synaxis of the Saints of Rostov established by resolution of His Holiness Patriarch Alexis I and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.


• 1965 Pope Paul VI of Rome and Patriarch Athenagoras I (Spyrou) of Constantinople mutually nullify the excommunications of 1054 ; Abp. John Maximovitch consecrates Jean-Nectaire (Kovalevsky) for Western Orthodox Church of France.


• 1967 Church of Macedonia unilaterally declares its autocephaly, making it independent of the Church of Serbia (as yet unrecognized); Albania is declared an atheist state, closing all religious institutions and forbiding any religious practices.


• 1968 Visit to Patriarchate of Alexandria by Vatican representatives; fourth Pan-Orthodox Conference in Chambesy, Switzerland.


• 1968-71 Millions of Christians, Muslims, Jews and others witness apparitions of the Virgin Mary many times over a three year period over the Coptic Orthodox Church of St. Mary at Zeitun, Cairo, recognized as authentic by the Coptic Orthodox Church and other churches.


• 1970 Russian-American Metropolia reconciles with Church of Russia and is granted autocephaly, renamed as the Orthodox Church in America, returning control of Church of Japan to Moscow, which grants it autonomy; glorification of Herman of Alaska in separate services by the ROCOR and the OCA; Abp. Makarios III (Mouskos) of Cyprus baptizes 10,000 into the Orthodox Church in Kenya.


• 1971 Halki Seminary closed by Turkish authorities.


• 1974 1600th anniversary of death of Athanasius the Great.


• 1975 Division in the Antiochian church in North America overcome by the uniting of the two Antiochian archdioceses into one by Metr. Philip (Saliba) of New York and Abp. Michael (Shaheen) of Toledo.


• 1976 First Pre-Synodal Pan-Orthodox Conference at Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambesy, Switzerland.


• 1977 Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia published.


• 1979 Pope John Paul II visits Ecumenical Patriarchate; torture and martyrdom of Archim. Philoumenos, keeper of the Greek monastery of Jacob’s Well in Samaria (Nablus, West Bank), by Israeli Fanatics who also desecrate the church.


• 1979 Joint Commission of Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches for Theological Dialogue established by Pope John Paul II and Patr. Demetrius I (Papadopoulos) of Constantinople.


• 1980 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue, 1st plenary, met in Patmos and Rhodes.


• 1981 Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission meets for the first time in Espoo, Finland.


• 1982 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission publishes in Munich first official common document, “The Mystery of the Church and of the Eucharist in Light of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity”; second Pre-Synodal Pan-Orthodox Conference in Chambesy, Switzerland; formal founding of Makarios III Patriarchal Seminary in Nairobi, Kenya.


• 1984 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission, 3rd plenary, meets in Khania, Crete.


• 1985 Founding of Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) as Greek Archdiocesan Mission Center; Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission issues statement “Divine Revelation.”


• 1986 Third Pre-Synodal Pan-Orthodox Conference in Chambesy, Switzerland.


• 1987 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission issues common document “Faith, Sacraments and the Unity of the Church”; visit by Patr. Demetrius I (Papadopoulos) of Constantinople to Vatican.


• 1987 Group of twenty parishes of the Evangelical Orthodox Church, originally formed by former Campus Crusade for Christ leaders Peter Gillquist and Jon Braun, are received into Antiochian Archdiocese in US, becoming the Antiochian Evangelical Orthodox Mission; Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission issues the statement “Scripture and Tradition.”


• 1988 1000th anniversary of Orthodoxy in Russia; Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission publishes common document “The Sacrament of Order in the Sacramental Structure of the Church.”


• 1989 Church of Constantinople recognizes autocephaly of the Church of Georgia; Elder Ephraim begins founding Athonite-style monasteries in North America; Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission issues statement “The Canon and the Inspiration of the Holy Scripture”; glorification in Russia of Tikhon of Moscow; Uniate Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church legalized, with Greek Catholics beginning seizure of property from Russian Orthodox Church, which they claimed as theirs prior to the synod of 1946.


• 1990 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Theological Commission meets in Freising, Germany; first Orthodox service in seventy years held in St. Basil’s Cathedral; martyrdom of Fr. Alexander Men; Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP) self-proclaims its independance from the UAOC (both groups unrecognized).

Post-Communist era (1991-Present)

• 1991 Soviet Union collapses, ending Cold War; representatives of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches meet in Chambesy, Switzerland, discussing relations with World Council of Churches; Ruthenian Byzantine rite Catholic Church in Transcarpathia was restored as a separate entity from Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church based in Galicia, having about 23% of Transcarpathia’s parishes compared to 60% of the Orthodox total there; Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Exarchate of Southern Europe is created.


• 1992 Civil war begins in former Yugoslavia; synaxis of primates of Orthodox churches in Constantinople; Romanian Orthodox Church canonizes Constantin Brâncoveanu (+1714).


• 1993 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Theological Commission meets in Balamand, Lebanon, issuing common document “Uniatism: Method of Union of the Past, and Present. Search for Full Communion” (the “Balamand document“); Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission issues statement “The Ecumenical Councils.”


• 1993 Church of Cyprus condemns Freemasonry; Orthodox Study Bible: New Testament and Psalms published; Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church becomes autocephalous; martyrdom of New Martyrs of Optina Pustyn.


• 1994 Ligonier Meeting in Western Pennsylvania at Antiochian Village held by the majority of Orthodox hierarchs in North America votes to do away with the notion of Orthodox Christians in America being a “diaspora“; death of Elder Paisios of Mount Athos.


• 1995 Patr. Bartholomew I visits Vatican; Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission issues statement “Understanding of Salvation in the Light of the Ecumenical Councils”; Pope John Paul II issues encyclical Orientale Lumen, encouraging reunion between East and West.


• 1996 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America reorganized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, dividing the administration of the two continents into four parts.


• 1997 Visit by Patr. Bartholomew I (Archontonis) of Constantinople to US; establishment of dioceses of Bukoba, Madagascar, Ghana and Nigeria; Russian Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations declares Orthodox Christianity as Russia’s predominant religion.


• 1998 Church of Constantinople, not recognizing Russia’s right to issue a tomos of autocephaly in 1951, issues its own tomos for the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia; Thessaloniki Summit held to discuss Orthodox participation in WCC; uncovering of the relics of Ambrose of Optina; Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission issues statement “Salvation: Grace, Justification and Synergy.”


• 1999 Numerous Serbian Orthodox sites in Kosovo and Metohia destroyed and desecrated during NATO peacekeeping presence; Lutheran World Federation and Roman Catholic Church sign Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.


• 2000 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Theological Commission meets in Baltimore, discusses text on “The Ecclesiological and Canonical Implications of Uniatism,” but is suspended; Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission issues statement “Word and Sacraments (Mysteria) in the Life of the Church”; Russian Orthodox Church announces the canonization of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family; government of Greece orders removal of religious affiliation from state identity cards.


• 2001 Pope John Paul II of Rome apologizes to Orthodox Church for Fourth Crusade; Chalcedonian and Non-Chalcedonian Patriarchates of Alexandria agree to mutually recognize baptisms and marriages performed in each other’s churches.


• 2002 Patr. Bartholomew I (Archontonis) of Constantinople and Pope John Paul II co-sign Venice Declaration of Environmental Ethics; Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission issues statement “Mysteria/Sacraments as Means of Salvation.”


• 2003 Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America granted “self-rule” (similar but not identical to autonomy) by Church of Antioch.


• 2004 Pope John Paul II returns relics of John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian to Church of Constantinople; Patr. Bartholomew I (Archontonis) of Constantinople consecrates church in Havana, Cuba; consecration of first Orthodox church in Antarctica by Church of Russia; Tikhvin Icon returned to Tikhvin Dormition Monastery after six decades in the United States; Ecumenical Patriarchate canonizes Fr. Alexis Medvedkov, Fr. Dimitri Klepinine, Mother Maria Skobtsova, George Skobtsov and Elie Fondaminskii of the Russian emigration in France; Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission statement “Baptism and Chrismation as Sacraments of Initiation into the Church.”


• 2005 Major controversy in Ukraine involving the almost exclusively western Ukraine-based Uniate Greek Catholic Church moving its administrative centre on from Lviv to Kiev, constructing a large cathedral there, and its plans to establish a patriarchate, criticized by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and other Orthodox.


• 2006 Publication of first Orthodox prayer book in Chinese and Russian; Pope Benedict XVI drops Patriarch of the West title; Russian Orthodox parish opened in Pyongyang, North Korea; Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Theological Commission meets in Belgrade, Serbia; Pope Benedict XVI visits Ecumenical Patriarchate, drawing criticism from Mount Athos; Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens visits Vatican; Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission issues statement “The Holy Eucharist in the Life of the Church.”


• 2007 Restoration of full communion between Moscow Patriarchate and ROCOR; 1600th anniversary celebration of the repose of John Chrysostom; the Vatican formally abolishes doctrine of Limbo; number of Orthodox believers in Italy reaches almost one million as a result of immigration from Romania and Ukraine; synod of over 50 bishops of the Church of Ukraine announce that the UOC-MP is “an autonomous, historical part of the Russian Orthodox Church”; Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission meets in Ravenna, Italy, 10th plenary, led by co-presidents Cardinal Walter Kasper and Metr. John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon, agreeing upon a joint document consisting of 46 articles providing an ecclesiastical road map in discussing union; Russian delegation walks out of Ravenna talks in protest of presence of Estonian delegation (EP); letter “A Common Word Between Us and You” is sent by 138 Muslim leaders from 40 nations to the leaders of the world’s Christian churches, calling for understanding and commonality.


• 2008 First Orthodox Liturgy celebrated at the North Pole; Orthodox Study Bible (with Septuagint) published; UOC-MP canonizes new martyrs of Vasyliivskyi, Fr. Serhii Shtenko and laymen Prokhor Bunchuk and Kyryl Pryima, martyred during the communist persecution of the church in the 20th century; 14th Session of the Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission was held in Paphos, Cyprus.

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 done here will always be to some extent arbitrary, though it was attempted 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 or purely political events are mentioned for their importance in history related to Orthodoxy or for reference.

See also

• Timeline of Orthodoxy in America


• Timeline of Orthodoxy in Australia


• Timeline of Orthodoxy in Greece


• Timeline of Orthodoxy in New Zealand


• Timeline of Orthodoxy in Japan

Published works

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

From an Orthodox perspective

• Schmemann, Alexander. The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy.


• Ware, Timothy. The Orthodox Church: New Edition. (ISBN 0140146563)

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

• A Timeline of Church History provided by St. Ignatius of Antioch Orthodox Christian Church

• History of Orthodox Christianity (QuickTime movies)
  
  
  
  • Part 1: Beginnings
  
  
  • Part 2: Byzantium
  
  
  • Part 3: A Hidden Treasure
  
  
  
  

• Timeline of Patriarchal History. Order of St. Andrew the Apostle. Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. (Pop-up Video Presentation, in Sections)

References:


Alexander Schmemann – The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy [excerpts].pdf

Orthodox New Testament [EOB Patriarchal Text].pdf

What Do You Believe?

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†NI KA†