Timeline of Church History

The History of the Church is a vital part of the Orthodox Christian faith. Orthodox Christians are defined significantly by their continuity with all those who have gone before, those who first received and preached the truth of Jesus Christ to the world, those who helped to formulate the expression and worship of our faith, and those who continue to move forward in the unchanging yet ever-dynamic Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church.

New Testament era

• ca. 6-7BC Christ is born in Bethlehem; 14,000 Holy Innocents slain in Bethlehem.
• ca. 25-26 Death of Joseph the Betrothed.
• ca. 27 Christ's baptism in the Jordan.
• ca. 28 Beheading of John the Baptist.
• ca. 30 Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ.
• 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 Gentiles do not have to become Jews before becoming Christians.
• 50 Apostle Matthew finishes the Gospel of Matthew in Aramaic.
• 62 Martyrdom of Apostle James the Just; crucifixion of Apostle Andrew in Patras.
• 63 Aristobulus consecrated as first bishop of Britain.
• 64-67 Persecution of Christians by Emperor Nero.
• 64 Martyrdom of the Apostle Paul in Rome.
• 67 Martyrdom of the Apostle Peter in Rome; Apostle Linus elected first bishop of Rome.
• 68 Suicide of Emperor Nero.
• 69 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.
• 96-98 Persecution of Christians under Emperor Domitian.
• 96 Gospel of John written by Apostle John as supplement and further theological illumination of the Synoptic gospels.
• 100 Death of Apostle John.

Ante-Nicene era (100-325)

• 107 Martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch; death of Apostle Symeon.
• 124 Apostles Quadratus and Aristides present Christian apologies to Emperor Hadrian at Athens.
• 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.
• 180 Irenaeus of Lyons writes Against Heresies ; Saint Dyfan first martyr in British Isles (at Merthyr Dyfan, Wales.)
• 190 Pantaenus founds the Catechetical School at Alexandria.
• 195 Bishop Saint Elvan dies at Glastonbury.
• 197 Quartodeciman controversy.
• 200 Martyrdom of Irenaeus of Lyons.
• 202 Martyrdom of Haralampus of Magnesia.
• 203 Emperor Septimus Severus issues edict against Christianity and Judaism.
• 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.
• 246 Paul of Thebes retreats to the Egyptian desert and becomes first Christian hermit.
• 249-251 Persecution under Emperor Decius.
• 251-253 Persecution under Emperor Gaius.
• 253-260 Persecution under Emperor Valerian.
• 255-256 Three Councils of Carthage.
• 260 Paul of Samosata begins his heretical preaching against the divinity of Christ.
• 264 Excommunication of Paul of Samosata.
• 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.
• 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, as Diocletian launches the last major 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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; 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.
• 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.