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.

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 St. Peter founds the See of Antioch.
• 37 St. 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 The Apostle Matthew finishes the Gospel of Matthew in Aramaic.
• 62 Martyrdom of Apostle James the Just, the Lord's brother and bishop of Jerusalem.
• 63 St. 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 St. Ignatius of Antioch consecrated to the episcopacy in Antioch.
• 70 Apostle Mark writes his Gospel; the Temple in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Romans; expulsion of the Christians from the synagogues.
• 71 Apostle Mark introduces Christianity to Egypt.
• 75 Judea, Galilea and Samaria are renamed Palaestina by the Romans.
• 80 Gospel of Luke written by the Apostle Luke; Jewish historian (and former general) Josephus writes the Antiquities.
• 85 Acts of the Apostles is composed by the Apostle Luke.
• 95 Apostle John writes the Book of Revelation.
• 96-98 Persecution of Christians under Emperor Domitian.
• 96 Gospel of John written by that apostle as a supplement and further theological illumination of the Synoptic Gospels.
• 100 Death of the Apostle John the Theologian.

Ante-Nicene era (100-325)

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

Nicene era (325-451)

• 325 First Ecumenical Council held in Nicea, condemning Arianism, setting the Paschalion, and issuing the first version of the Nicene Creed.
• 326 Discovery of the True Cross by the Empress St. Helena.
• 326 King Miraeus of Georgia becomes Christian.
• 328 Athanasius the Great becomes bishop of Alexandria.
• 329 St. Athanasius ordains St. Frumentius (Abba Selama) to the priesthood and commissions him to apostolic work in Ethiopia.
• 330 Amoun and Macarius the Great found monasteries in the Egyptian desert.
• 336 St Athanasius the Great of Alexandria goes into exile in Treves until 338. He told the Europeans about the rule of St Pachomius the Great, thus awakening interest in monasticism in Europe
• 340 Conversion of Wulfila to Arianism, subsequently missionizing the Goths with his heretical doctrine.
• 348 Death of St. Pachomius the Great.
• 350 St. Ninian establishes the church Candida Casa at Whithorn in Galloway, Scotland, beginning the missionary effort to the Picts.
• 356 Death of St. Anthony the Great.
• 358 Basil the Great founds the monastery of Annesos in Pontus, the model for Eastern monasticism.
• 360 St. Martin of Tours founds first French monastery at Liguge.
• 361 Julian the Apostate becomes Roman emperor.
• 367 St. Athanasius of Alexandria writes his Paschal letter, listing for the first time the canon of the New Testament of the Holy Scriptures.
• 373 Death of St Athanasius the Great, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria.
• 374 Election of Ambrose to the episcopacy of Milan.
• 375 St. Basil the Great writes On the Holy Spirit, confirming the divinity of the Holy Spirit.
• 376 Visigoths converted to Arian Christianity.
• 380 Christianity established as the official faith of the Roman Empire by Emperor St. Theodosius the Great.
• 381 Second Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople, condemning Macedonianism/Pneumatomachianism and Appollinarianism, declaring the divinity of the Holy Spirit, confirming the previous Ecumenical Council, and completing the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.
• 395 St. Augustine becomes bishop of Hippo.
• 398 St. John Chrysostom becomes Archbishop of Constantinople.
• 400 Translation of the Holy Scriptures into Latin as the Vulgate by St. Jerome.
• 401 St. Augustine of Hippo writes the Confessions.
• 403 Abduction of Patrick to Ireland to serve as a slave; he escapes a while later and returns to Britain.
• 407 Death of John Chrysostom in exile.
• 410 Fall of Rome to the Visigoths.
• 411 Pelagius condemned at a council in Carthage.
• 412 St Cyril succeeds his uncle Theophilus as Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria.
• 415 Pelagius cleared at a synod in Jerusalem and a provincial synod in Diospolis (Lydda); St. 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 A council in Carthage anathematizes Pelagianism by way of endorsing Augustinian anthropology.
• 426 St. Augustine of Hippo writes The City of God.
• 428 Nestorius becomes patriarch of Constantinople.
• 431 Third Ecumenical Council held in Ephesus, condemning Nestorianism and Pelagianism, confirming the use of the term Theotokos to refer to the Virgin Mary; the council also grants autocephaly to the Church of Cyprus; Palladius is sent by the Pope of Rome as a missionary bishop to Ireland.
• 432 Return of Patrick to Ireland to begin missionary work.
• 433 The Formulary of Peace completes the work of the Third Ecumenical Council by reconciling Cyril of Alexandria with John of Antioch.
• 444 Death of St Cyril, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria.
• 445 Founding of the monastery at Armagh in northern Ireland.
• 449 The "robber synod" of Ephesus. Dioscurus was chairman, with an order from the Emperor to acquit Eutyches.
• 450 First monasteries established in Wales.

Byzantine era (451-843)

• 451 Fourth Ecumenical Council meets at Chalcedon, condemning Eutychianism and Monophysitism, affirming that Christ has two natures; this eventually led to a schism, with the Church of Alexandria being divided into Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian factions, with a similar schism occurring in the Church of Antioch along with it.
• 452 Proterios, who was appointed Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria to replace Dioscuros (who had been deposed at the Council of Chalcedon) convened a synod in Alexandria to try to reconcile the Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian groups.
• 459 St Symeon the Stylite (c.390-459), was a monk living in Syria who was the first Stylite.
• 466 Church of Antioch elevates the bishop of Mtskheta to the rank of Catholicos of Kartli, thus rendering the Church of Georgia autocephalous.
• 477 Bishop Timothy ("the Wild Cat") of Alexandria, who opposed the Council of Chalcedon, exiled the Orthodox bishops from Egypt.
• 484 Founding of the Monastery of St. Sabbas in the Judean wilderness; Synod of Beth Papat in Persia declares the Nestorian doctrine as the official theology of the Assyrian Church of the East, centered in Edessa.
• 488 Death of Peter the Fuller, the non-Chalcedonian Patriarch of Antioch.
• 490 St. Brigid founds the monastery of Kildare in Ireland.
• 521 St. Columba is born.
• 529 The pagan University of Athens is closed, and replaced by a Christian university in Constantinople.
• 529 St. Benedict of Nursia founds the monastery of Monte Cassino and codifies Western monasticism; Council of Orange condemns Pelagianism.
• 533 Mercurius is elected Pope of Rome and takes the name of John II, the first pope to change his name upon election.
• 533 Foundation of the Diocese of Selefkia in Central Africa by the Emperor Justinian.
• 534 Roman Empire destroys the Arian kingdom of the Vandals.
• 537 Construction of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople begun by Emperor St. Justinian the Great.
• 541 Jacob Baradeus, bishop of Edessa, organizes the Non-Chalcedonian Church in western Syria (the "Jacobites"), which spreads to Armenia and Egypt (the "Copts").
• 544 Founding of the monastery at Clonmacnoise in Ireland by St. Ciaran.
• 546 St. Columba founds the monastery of Derry in Ireland.
• 553 Fifth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople in an attempt to reconcile the Chalcedonians with the non-Chalcedonians— the Three Chapters of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, and Ibas of Edessa are condemned for their pro-Nestorian nature, and Origen and his writings are also condemned.
• 556 St. Columba founds the monastery of Durrow in Ireland.
• 563 Consecration of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople; St. Columba arrives on Iona and establishes his monastery there.
• 569 Final schism between the Chalcedonians and non-Chalcedonians in Egypt. Henceforth there were two Popes and Patriarchs of Alexandria: the Greek Orthodox Patriarch and the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch. The Coptic Patriarch later moved to Cairo. The Chalcedonians (Greek Orthodox) were also called "Melkites".
• 570 Birth of Mohammed, founder of Islam.
• 580 Monte Cassino is sacked by the Lombards and the monks flee to Rome.
• 589 At the Council of Toledo in Spain, the Filioque is added to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in an attempt to combat Arianism.
• 590 Irish missionary St. Columbanus founds monasteries in France (Luxeuil in Burgundy).
• 596 St. Gregory the Dialogist sends St. Augustine along with forty other monks to southern Britain to convert the pagans.
• 601 Augustine of Canterbury converts King St. Ethelbert of Kent and establishes the see of Canterbury.
• 615 Death of Columbanus in Italy.
• 626 Akathist Hymn is created, an extensive lyric poem of unparalleled beauty, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The Hymn was first chanted in the thanksgiving services following the victory of the Byzantine people after the first siege of Constantinople by Avars and Sassanid Persians on August 8, 626.
• 627 Pope St. Gregory the Dialogist sends Paulinus to found the see of York and convert King St. Edwin of Northumbria.
• 627 The (2nd) Universal Exaltation (Elevation) of the Venerable and Life-giving Cross. After the Battle of Nineveh in 627, where the Byzantines decisively defeat Sassanid Persians, Emperor Heraclius recovered Jerusalem and won back the cross of Christ that the Persians had carried off in 614. With great solemnity the Life-creating Cross was transferred to Jerusalem on September 14.
• 635 Lindisfarne sees the establishment of the monastery that would convert northern England by the missionary saint Aidan, a monk from Iona; Cynegils, king of Wessex, converts to Christianity.
• 636 Capture of Jerusalem by the Muslim Arabs.
• 638 Arabs allow Jews to return to Jerusalem.
• 639 Muslim conquest of Syria.
• 641 The capture of the great city of Alexandria by Muslim Arabs.
• 642 Muslim conquest of Egypt.
• 650 Final defeat of Arianism as Lombards convert to Orthodox Christianity.
• 657 Founding of Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire, England.
• 662 Death of St Maximus the Confessor.
• 663 Emperor Constans II is the last Eastern emperor to set foot in Rome.
• 664 Synod of Whitby held in northern England, harmonizing Celtic and Roman liturgical practices in England; Ionian monk Wilfrid appointed as Archbishop of York.
• 668 St. Theodore of Tarsus is appointed as archbishop of Canterbury.
• 669-78 First Arab siege of Constantinople, lasts off and on for seven years. By 677 at the Battle of Syllaeum, the Arab fleet was destroyed through use of "Greek Fire." This ended the immediate Arab threat to eastern Europe.
• 670 Composition of Caedmon's Hymn by St. Caedmon of Whitby.
• 680-681 Sixth Ecumenical Council is held in Constantinople, condemning Monothelitism and affirming the Christology of St. Maximus the Confessor, affirming that Christ has both a natural (human) will and a divine will. Patriarch Sergius of Constantinople and Pope Honorius of Rome are both explicitly anathematized for their support of the Monothelite heresy.
• 685 First monastics come to Mount Athos.
• 687 Destruction of Whitby Abbey by Danish raiders.
• 692 Quinisext Council (also called the Penthekte Council or the Council in Trullo) is held in Constantinople, issuing canons which are seen as completing the work of the Fifth and Sixth Ecumenical Councils, and declaring the Church of Jerusalem to be a patriarchate.
• 698 Muslim conquest of Carthage.
• 710 Pope Constantine (708-715) visited Constantinople in 710, the last time a Pope would visit the city until the visit of Pope Paul VI to Istanbul in 1967. Emperor Justinian II (685-695) kisses the Pope's foot.
• 716 Monastery at Iona conforms to Roman liturgical usage.
• 716 St Boniface's first missionary journey to Frisia.
• 717-18 Second Arab siege of Constantinople. Emperor Leo III repels the Arabs from Constantinople defending the city for 13 months and destroying their fleet. It is estimated that of the 200,000 muslim soldiers who besieged Constantinople, only around 30,000 made it home.
• 726 Emperor Leo the Isaurian starts his campaign against the icons. Iconoclastic Controversy 726-843.
• 731 The Venerable Bede completes the Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
• 732 Muslim invasion of Europe is stopped by the Franks at the Battle of Tours, on October 10, 732.
• 739 Emperor Leo III (717-41) publishes his ECLOGA Law Code, designed to introduce Christian principle into law.
• 749 St. John Damascene (c. 676 - December 5, 749).
• 750 The "Donation of Constantine" is discovered and accepted as a legitimate document, used by Pope Stephen II (752) to "prove" territorial and jurisdictional claims. However it is proven to be a forgery in AD 1444, since it quotes from St Jerome's Latin translation of the Bible, and St. Jerome wasn't born until 26 years after the Donation of Constantine was supposed to have been written.
• 754 Iconoclastic Council is held in Constantinople under the authority of Emperor Constantine V Copronymus, condemning icons and declaring itself to be the Seventh Ecumenical Council. Emperor Constantine begins the dissolution of the monasteries.
• 754 Death of St Boniface, the Apostle of Germany.
• 780 Death of St John of Damascus.
• 787 Seventh Ecumenical Council is held in Nicea, condemning Iconoclasm and affirming the veneration of the holy icons, declaring that worship is due to God alone, and that the honor paid to icons passes to its prototype.
• 800 Charlemagne is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor by Leo III of Rome on Christmas day.
• 800 Ambassadors of Caliph Harunu r-Rashid give keys to the Holy Sepulcher to the Frankish king Charlemagne, thus acknowledging some Frankish control over the interests of Christians in Jerusalem (this is reversed in 1027AD in favour of a Byzantine Protectorate again).
• 793 Sack of Lindisfarne. Viking attacks on England begin.
• 826 St. Ansgar arrives in Denmark and begins preaching; King Harald Klak of Denmark converts to Christianity.
• c.829-842 Icon of the Virgin Mary-Portaitissa, which by tradition was painted by the Apostle and Evangelist Luke, appeared on the Holy Mountain Athos ("in a pillar of fire" as Athonite tradition recounts) from the sea, close by the Iveron monastery.
• 836 Death of St Theodore the Studite.
• 843 The Triumph of Orthodoxy occurs on the first Sunday of Great Lent, restoring the icons to the churches.

Late Byzantine era (843-1453)

• 846 Muslim raid of Rome.
• 852 St. Ansgar founds the churches at Hedeby and Ribe in Denmark.
• 858 St. Photius the Great becomes patriarch of Constantinople.
• 861 Ss. Cyril and Methodius depart from Constantinople to missionize the Slavs; council presided over by papal legates held in Constantinople which confirms St. Photius the Great as patriarch.
• 862 Ratislav of Moravia converts to Christianity.
• 863 First translations of Biblical and liturgical texts into Church Slavonic by Ss. Cyril and Methodius.
• 863 The Venetians steal relics of St Mark from Alexandria.
• 864 Prince Boris of Bulgaria is baptized.
• 867 Council in Constantinople held, presided over by Photius, which anathematizes Pope Nicholas I of Rome for his attacks on the work of Greek missionaries in Bulgaria and the use by papal missionaries of the heretical Filioque; Pope Nicholas dies before hearing the news of his excommunication; Basil the Macedonian has Emperor Michael III murdered and usurps the Imperial throne, reinstating Ignatius as patriarch of Constantinople.
• 869-870 The Robber Council of 869-870 is held, deposing St. Photius the Great from the Constantinopolitan see and putting the rival claimant Ignatius on the throne, declaring itself to be the "Eighth Ecumenical Council."
• 870 Conversion of Serbia.
• 877 Death of St. Ignatius I of Constantinople, who appoints St. Photius to succeed him.
• 877 Arab Muslims conquer all of Sicily from Byzantium and make Palermo their capital.
• 879-880 The Eighth Ecumenical Council is held in Constantinople, confirming Photius as Patriarch of Constantintople, anathematizing additions to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, and declaring that the prerogatives and jurisdiction of the Roman pope and the Constantinopolitan patriarch are essentially equal; this council is reluctantly accepted by Pope John VIII of Rome.
• 883 Muslims burn the monastery of Monte Cassino.
• 885 Mount Athos gains political autonomy.
• 885 Death of St Methodius, apostle to the Slavs.
• 911 The Holy Protection of the Virgin Mary. On October 1st, 911, during an all night vigil at the Blachernae church of the Mother of God in Constantinople, at 4 o'clock in the morning, the most holy Mother of God appeared above the people with a veil spread over her outstretched hands, as though to protect them with this covering.
• 911 Russian envoys visit Constantinople to ratify a treaty, sent by Oleg, Grand Prince of Rus'.
• 912 Normans become Christian.
• 944 The city of Edessa is recovered by the Byzantine army and the renowned relic of the Holy Mandylion ("Not Made by Hands"), a textile bearing the impression of Christ's face, is conveyed from the city, where it had been kept since the first century, to Constantinople. There the miraculous relic is deposited in the Pharos chapel of the Great Palace of the Byzantine emperors.(1)
• c.950 Monastery of Hosios Loukas is founded near ancient Stiris in Greece.
• 957 St Olga is baptised in Constantinople.
• 962 Denmark becomes a Christian nation with the baptism of King Harald Blaatand ("Bluetooth").
• 963 St. Athanasius of Athos establishes the first major monastery on Mount Athos, the Great Lavra.
• 968 Rila Monastery founded. The Monastery of Saint John of Rila, better known as the Rila Monastery is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria.
• 973. Moravia assigned to the Diocese of Prague, putting the West Slavic tribes under the jurisdiction of the German Church.
• 978 St Edward the Martyr, 962-978, King of England.
• 988 Baptism of Rus' begins with the conversion of St. Vladimir of Kiev.
• 995 St. Olaf of Norway proclaims Norway to be a Christian kingdom.
• 1000 Christianization of Greenland and Iceland.
• 1008 Conversion of Sweden.
• 1009 Patriarch Sergius II of Constantinople removes the name of Pope Sergius IV of Rome from the diptychs of the Church of Constantinople, because the pope had written a letter to the patriarch including the Filioque.
• 1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is completely destroyed on October 18, 1009, by the "mad" Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, sixth Fatimid Caliph in Egypt, founder of the Druze sect (1021) who proclaimed himself divine, and who hacked out the Church's foundations down to the bedrock.
• 1014 Filioque used for the first time in Rome by Pope Benedict VIII at the coronation of Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1015 Death of St Vladimir of Kiev, Prince of Rus', apostle of the Russians and Ruthenians.
• 1017 Danish king Canute converts to Christianity.
• 1022 Death of St Simeon the New Theologian.
• 1027 The Frankish protectorate over Christian interests in Jerusalem is replaced by a Byzantine protectorate. Byzantine leaders begin the reconstruction of the Holy Sepulchre (see AD 800).
• 1036 Byzantine Emperor Michael IV makes a truce with the Caliph of Egypt in 1036 to allow the rebuilding of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by Byzantine Masons. The Varangian Guard of the Byzantine Emperor (Eastern Vikings/Rus) were sent there to protect pilgrims, as the Knights Templar would at a later date. The Church was Consecrated in 1048.
• 1051 Monastery of the Kiev Caves founded.
• 1054 Cardinal Humbert excommunicates Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Consantinople, a major centerpoint in the formation of the Great Schism between East and West.
• 1059 Errors of Berengar of Tours condemned in Rome. The term "transubstantiation" begins to come in to use, ascribed to Peter Damian (1007-1072).
• 1066 Normans invade England flying the banner of the Pope of Rome, defeating King Harold of England at the Battle of Hastings, beginning the reformation of the church and society there to align with Latin continental ecclesiology and politics.
• 1071 Seljuk Turks capture Jerusalem. Seljuk rule is not quite as tolerant as that of the Fatimids and Christian pilgrims begin returning to Europe with tales of persecution and oppression. The Seljuks then defeat the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert (1071) in Anatoliaand begin the Islamification of Asia Minor.
• 1071 Norman princes led by Robert Guiscard capture Bari, the last Byzantine stronghold in Italy, bringing to an end over five centuries of Byzantine rule in the south.
• 1073 Hildebrand becomes Pope Gregory VII and launches the "Gregorian" reforms (celibacy of the clergy, primacy of the papacy over the empire, right of the Pope to depose emperors).
• 1075 The Dictatus Papae document advances the strongest case for Papal supremacy.
• 1088 Founding of monastery of St. John the Theologian on Patmos.
• 1095 Launching of the First Crusade.
• 1096 Persecution of Jews by Crusaders.
• 1098 Anselm of Canterbury completes his "Cur Deus homo", marking a radical divergence of Western theology of the atonement from that of the East.
• 1098 Crusaders capture Antioch.
• 1099 Crusaders capture Jerusalem on July 15, 1099. Once in the city, the Crusaders massacre the garrison of Fatimid Moslems and a large percentage of the Moslem and Jewish population. They found the "Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem," and other crusader states known collectively as "Outremer," lasting from 1099-1291.
• 1119 Order of Knights Templar founded.
• 1144 Bernard of Clairvaux calls for a Second Crusade to rescue the besieged Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, and Louis VII of France and Konrad III of Germany join the Crusaders, but they are defeated by the Muslims. Muslims take Christian stronghold of Edessa.
• 1149 Building on the work of Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX in 1048, the crusaders began to renovate the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in a Romanesque style and added a bell tower. The Consecration of the Crusader Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem took place on 15 July,1149, the 50th anniversary of the capture of the city.
• 1180 Last formal, canonical acceptance of Latins to communion at an Eastern altar in Antioch.
• 1187 Saladin retakes Jerusalem: Saladin destroys the crusader army at the Battle of Hattin on July 4th 1187, then going on to beseige and capture Jerusalem.
• 1189 Third Crusade is led by King Richard the Lion-Hearted of England, King Philip Augustus II of France, and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
• 1191 Cyprus is taken from the Byzantines by English King Richard I "Lion Heart", and sold to Frankish crusaders in 1198.
• 1204 Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade sack Constantinople, laying waste to the city and stealing many holy relics and other items; Great Schism generally regarded as having been completed by this act.
• 1211 Venetian crusaders conquer Byzantine Crete, retaining it until ousted by the Ottoman Turks in 1669 over four centuries later.
• 1235 Death of St Sava of Serbia.
• 1237 Golden Horde (Mongols) begin subjugation of Russia.
• 1240 Mongols sack Kiev. Prince Alexander Yaroslavich (Nevsky) defeats the Swedish army at the Battle of the Neva.
• 1242 Prince Alexander Nevsky's Novgorodian force defeats the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Lake Peipus, a major defeat for the Catholic crusaders.
• 1258 Michael Paleologus seizes the throne of the Nicaean Empire, founding the last Roman (Byzantine) dynasty. He begins the reconquest of the Greek peninusla from the Latins.
• 1259 The Byzantines defeat the Latin Principality of Achaea at the Battle of Pelagonia in September of 1259, marking the beginning of the Byzantine recovery of Greece.
• 1261 End of Latin occupation of Constantinople. Orthodox Patriarchs are restored to Constantinople. A triumphant parade entering the city is held on August 15, with the emperor following the famous Hodegetria icon of the Virgin into the city.
• 1261 Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus made the city of Mystras the seat of the new Despotate of Morea. It remained the capital of the despotate, becoming the second most important city in the empire after Constantinople. In 1989 the ruins, including the fortress, palace, churches, and monasteries, were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• 1268 Egyptian Mamelukes capture Antioch.
• 1275 Patriarch of Constantinople John XI Bekkos (1275-1282), was elected to replace Patriarch Joseph I Galesiotes (1267-1275) who had abdicated early in 1275 due to his opposition to the Council of Lyon (1274). Patriarch Bekkos was a controversial figure and the chief Greek advocate of the reunion of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches.
• 1291 Fall of Acre. End of crusading in the Holy Land.
• 1302 Papal Bull "Unam Sanctum" issued on November 18, 1302 by Pope Boniface VIII proclaims Papal supremacy.
• 1333 Gregory Palamas (1296-1359): author of Hesychastic theology, defends the Orthodox practice of hesychast spirituality and the use of the Jesus Prayer.
• 1336 Meteora in Greece is established as a center of Orthodox monasticism.
• 1341-1351 Three sessions of the Ninth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople, affirming the hesychastic theology of St. Gregory Palamas and condemning the rationalistic philosophy of Barlaam of Calabria.
• 1341-47 Byzantine civil war between John VI Cantacuzenus (1347–54) and John V Palaeologus (1341–91). The installation of Cantacuzenus on the throne in 1347 confirmed the victory of the Heyschast movement. Byzantine historian George Ostrogorsy writes that "after the strong Latin influence in the 12th and 13th centuries the conservative Greek tradition in Byzantium came into its own in the first half of the 14th century, and it was diametrically opposed to Western culture as well as to the Roman Church.".
• 1344 Death of Amda Syon, Emperor of Ethiopia.
• 1346 *1349 Prince Stephen Dushan of Serbia assumes the title of Tsar (Caesar).
• 1354 Ottoman Turks make first settlement in Europe, at Gallipoli.
• 1359 Death of St Gregory Palamas, Athonite monk and Archbishop of Thessalonica.
• 1379 Western "Great Schism" ensues, seeing the simultaneous reign of three Popes of Rome.
• 1383 St Stephen of Perm, missionary to the Zyrians, consecrated bishop.
• 1389 Serbs are defeated by Ottoman Turks of Sultan Murad I at the battle of Kosovo Polje.
• 1391-98 Ottoman Turks beseige Constantinople for the first time, unsuccessful seven-year seige.
• 1396 First English Bible translated by John Wyclif.
• 1417 End of Western "Great Schism" at the Council of Constance.
• 1422 Second unsuccessful Ottoman seige of Constantinople.
• 1439 Ecclesiastical reunion with the West is attempted at the Council of Florence, where only St. Mark of Ephesus refuses to capitulate to the demands of the delegates from Rome.
• 1448 Church of Russia declares its independence from the Church of Constantinople.
• 1452 Unification of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches in Hagia Sophia on December 12, 1452 on the West's terms, when Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, under pressure from Rome allowed the union to be proclaimed.
• 1453 Constantinople falls on Tuesday May 29,1453 to the invasion of the Ottoman Turks. End of the Roman Empire in the East. Hagia Sophia is turned into a mosque.

Post-Imperial era (1453-1821)

• 1455 Gutenberg makes the first printed Bible.
• 1480 Spanish Inquisition.
• 1492 Millennian speculation in Moscow. The Church calendar ended in 1492, and many were convinced that it marked the end of the seventh and last millennium in the world's history.
• 1503 Council at which controversy arose between St Nil Sorsky and St Joseph of Volokalamsk about monastic landholding. Joseph's party were known as the Possessors and the Trans-Volga hermits as the Nonpossessors.
• 1517 St Maximus the Greek invited to Russia to translate the Greek service books and correct the Russian ones.
• 1517 Martin Luther nails his Ninety-Five Theses to the door at Wittenburg, sparking the Protestant Reformation; Ottomans conquer Jerusalem, Antioch and Alexandria, when Joakim the Athenian was Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria.
• 1526 Nonpossessors attack Tsar Vassily (Basil) III for divorcing his wife, and are driven underground.
• 1534 King Henry VIII declares himself supreme head of the Church of England.
• 1536 Publication of John Calvin's "Institutes of the Christian religion".
• 1540 Death of Emperor Lebna Dengel of Ethiopia.
• 1541 Portuguese expeditionary force arrives in Ethiopia.
• 1542 Ethiopians and Portuguese defeat Ahmad ibn Ibrahim Gran of Adal, thus neutralising Adal threat to Ethiopia.
• 1547 Council of Trent held to answer the Protestant Reformation.
• 1551 Council of the Hundred Chapters in Russia.
• 1552 Death of St Basil the blessed, Fool for Christ, critic of Ivan IV Grozny, for whom St Basil's Cathedral in Red Square is named.
• 1555 Archbishop Gurian missionary in Kazan (until 1564).
• 1564 Jesuits arrive in Poland.
• 1569 Martyrdom of St Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow, at the hands of Ivan IV Grozny.
• 1575 Church of Constantinople grants autonomy to Church of Sinai.
• 1581 Ostrozhsky Bible printed by Prince Kurbsky and Ivan Fedorov.
• 1582 Institution of the Gregorian Calendar by Pope Gregory XIII.
• 1589 Autocephaly of the Church of Russia recognized; the primate of the Church of Russia is styled as "patriarch."
• 1596 At the Union of Brest-Litovsk, several million Ukrainian and Byelorussian Orthodox Christians, living under Polish rule, leave the Church of Russia and recognize the Pope of Rome, without giving up their Byzantine liturgy and customs, creating the Uniate church.
• 1627 Pope and Patriarch Cyril Lukaris of Alexandria presented the famous "Codex Alexandrinus" to King Charles I of England for "safe keeping".
• 1642 The Council of Jassy (Iaşi) revises Peter Moghila's confession to remove overtly Roman Catholic theology. Also confirms the canonicity of certain of the deuterocanonical books.
• 1652-1658 Patriarch Nikon of Moscow revises liturgical books to bring them into conformity with the Greek liturgical customes, leading to the excommunication of dissenters, who become known as the Old Believers.
• 1647 An Orthodox Church is erected in Tunisia.
• 1652 A school and hospital were established in Old Cairo by Patriarch Joannikios.
• 1685 Orthodoxy introduced in Beijing, China by the Church of Russia.
• 1715 Metropolitan Arsenios of Thebaid sent to England by Pope and Patriarch Samuel of Alexandria to negotiate with non-juror Anglican bishops (those who had refused to take the oath to William and Mary).
• 1724 Melkite schism, many faithful from the Church of Antioch become Uniates.
• 1767 A community of Orthodox Greeks establishes itself in New Smyrna, Florida.
• 1768 Jews are massacred during riots in Russia-occupied Poland.
• 1782 First publication of the Philokalia; autonomy of Church of Sinai confirmed by Church of Constantinople.
• 1794 Missionaries, including St. Herman of Alaska, arrive at Kodiak Island, bringing Orthodoxy to Russian Alaska.
• 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.

Modern era (1821-1991)

• 1821 Greek independence declared on the Day of Annunciation (March 25).
• 1829 The Treaty of Adrianople ends the Greek War of Independence, culminating in the creation of the modern Greek state.
• 1832 Church of Serbia becomes de facto autocephalous.
• 1833 Church of Greece declares its autocephaly, making it independent of the Church of Constantinople.
• 1848 Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs sent by the primates and synods of the four ancient patriarchates of the Orthodox Church, condemning the Filioque as heresy, declaring the Roman Catholic Church to be heretical, schismatic, and in apostasy, repudiating Ultramontanism and referring to the Photian Council of 879-880 as the "Eighth Ecumenical Council."
• 1850 Church of Constantinople recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Greece.
• 1854 Immaculate Conception declared dogma by Roman Catholic Church.
• 1870 Papal Infallibility declared Roman Catholic dogma necessary for salvation by the First Vatican Council.
• 1864 First Orthodox parish established on American soil in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Greeks.
• 1865 Church of Romania declares its independence from the Church of Constantinople.
• 1871 Nikolai Kasatkin establishes Orthodox mission in Japan.
• 1872 Council in Jerusalem declares phyletism to be a heresy; Church of Bulgaria gains de facto autocephaly by a decree of the Sultan.
• 1879 Church of Constantinople recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Serbia.
• 1881 Wave of anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia causes mass migrations of Jews (2.5 million Jews settle in the United States, thousands settle in Palestine).
• 1885 Church of Constantinople recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Romania.
• 1898 Last Greek patriarch of Antioch deposed.
• 1899 Restoration of Arabs to the Patriarchal throne of Antioch.
• 1900 Chinese Martyrs of the Boxer-Rebellion in China. Some of the 222 Orthodox martyrs of June 10/23, 1900, were direct descendants of the Russian mission set up at the end of the seventeenth century, after Russia lost its Albazin outpost to Chinese forces.
• 1905 Seat of 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.
• 1905 Apostolos Makrakis (1831-1905). A charismatic lay theologian, preacher, ethicist and philosopher, and editor of the Rudder, who was an influential leader of the awakening movement in post-revolutionary Greece.
• 1907 Archimandrite Eusebius Matthopoulos founds the Zoe Brotherhood, thus becoming one of the most influential figures in the twentieth century history of the Church of Greece.
• 1908 Fr Nikodemos Sarikas sent to Johannesburg, Transvaal, by the Ecumenical Patriarchate as the first Orthodox priest there. After a short time he left for German East Africa (later Tanzania) because of the opposition of Johannesburg Greeks to mission among Africans.
• 1908 St. John of Kronstadt, 1829-1908. The Wonder-Working Father John Sergiev is another of the great elders and saints who were a part of the spiritual revival started by St. Paisius Velichkovsky.
• 1914 The Church of Russia included, in 1914, more than 50,000 priests, 21,000 monks, and 73,000 nuns. It supported thousands of schools and missions. It cooperated with the Russian government in exercising great influence in Mid-Eastern affairs.
• 1917 Battle of Jerusalem (December 8 - December 26) - British forces under General Allenby capture the city of Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire.
• 1917 Church of Georgia's autocephaly restored de facto by the political chaos in Russia.
• 1917 The Bolshevik Revolution throws the Church of Russia into chaos, effectively stranding the fledgling Orthodox mission in America; St. Nicholas Romanov, Tsar of Russia is martyred together with his wife St. Alexandra and children. Communism's "Militant Atheism" becomes official policy, (1917-1991).
• 1921 The Church of Constantinople renounces all claims to jurisdiction in any part of Africa, and the Patriarch of Alexandria is henceforth known as the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa; Greek Archdiocese of America is formed.
• 1922 Church of Albania declares its independence from the Church of Constantinople; formation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.
• 1922 By the end of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922, the city of Smyrna in Asia Minor is evacuated, after the Greek army is routed and 30,000 civilians are killed. A million refugees fled to Greece joining half a million Greeks who had fled earlier.
• 1922 British Mandate in the Middle East 1922-1948. Britain rules Palestine and much of the Middle East.
• 1923 Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia granted autonomy by the Church of Constantinople.
• 1924 Church of Constantinople recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Poland.
• 1924 Bishop Daniel William Alexander convenes a 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.
• 1925 Church of Romania becomes a patriarchate.
• 1925 First Africans in sub-Saharan Africa baptised in Tanganyika by Fr Nikodemos Sarikas.
• 1927 Daniel William Alexander travels from South Africa to America to be consecrated a bishop of the African Orthodox Church. Orthodox Archbishopric of Johannesburg established.
• 1931 Reception of the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe into the Ecumenical Patriarchate, led by Metr. Eulogius (Georgievsky) of Paris.
• 1932 Daniel William Alexander travels to Uganda to meet Reuben Spartas, and establish African Orthodox Church there.
• 1933 October 12, 1933: Greek Orthodox Church Bans Freemasonry. The Holy Synod banned it as it wished "to bring back after eighteen centuries the manners and customs of the pagans."
• 1934 Daniel William Alexander travels to Kenya, and establishes African Orthodox Church led by Arthur Gathuna.
• 1935 The critical edition of the Septuagint, "Septuaginta," is published in Gottingen Germany by Alfred Rahlfs at the Septuaginta-Unternehmens Institute.
• 1937 Church of Constantinople recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Albania.
• 1938 St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York) and St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary (South Canaan, Pennsylvania) founded.
• 1943 Church of Russia recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Georgia; first constitution of the African Orthodox Church in East Africa signed by Reuben Spartas and Arthur Gathuna.
• 1945 Church of Bulgaria's autocephaly generally recognized; library of early Christian texts is 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 A library of early Christian texts is discovered at Nag Hammadi in Egypt, in December 1945, known as the Nag Hammadi Library or the Gnostic Gospels.
• 1946 Reuben Spartas of the African Orthodox Church visits Alexandria. The Holy Synod of the Church of Alexandria officially recognises and accepts the African Greek Orthodox Church in Kenya and Uganda.
• 1947 Dead Sea Scrolls are discovered near Qumran in Egypt.
• 1948 Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948, one day before the expiry of the British Mandate of Palestine. On the same day that Israel declares its independence, the 1948 Arab-Israeli war starts with five Arab countries attacking Israel from all sides: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq.
• 1948 Church of Russia re-grants autocephaly to the Church of Poland (after having revoked it in the aftermath of World War II).
• 1948 On Dec. 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights .
• 1951 Church of Russia grants autocephaly to the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.
• 1957 Church of Russia grants autonomy to the Church of China.
• 1958 Creation of Western Rite Vicariate in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America with the reception of multiple Western Rite parishes into Orthodoxy.
• 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council held in Rome, initiating major liturgical and theological reforms for the Roman Catholic Church, including the abolition of the ancient Tridentine Mass and the introduction of the Novus Ordo.
• 1961 Archbishop Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), 1877-1961, Archbishop of the Crimea, the Confessor and Doctor was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1995, and on March 19, 1996, by the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He was one of the most brilliant surgeons of his time. He spent more than a decade in prison and exile during the Soviet era, and is one of the most revered saints in modern-day Greece.
• 1964 Historic meeting of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I (Spyrou) of Constantinople in Jerusalem.
• 1965 Pope Paul VI of Rome and Patriarch Athenagoras I (Spyrou) of Constantinople mutually nullify the excommunications of 1054, on December 7, 1965.
• 1967 Church of Macedonia declares its autocephaly, making it independent of the Church of Serbia. To date, this declaration has not been recognised by any other Orthodox Church.
• 1970 Glorification of St. Herman of Alaska in separate services by the ROCOR and the OCA.
• 1970 Orthodox Church in America reconciles with the Church of Russia and is granted autocephaly. The Church of Russia grants autonomy to the Church of Japan.
• 1971 The Halki Seminary Greek Orthodox Theology Patriarchal School on Heybeliada Island near Istanbul is closed to new students under a law that put religious and military training under state control. As a result, the Christian Orthodox Church is unable to train new clergy for eventual leadership in Turkey.
• 1975 Division in the Antiochian church in North America overcome by the uniting of the two Antiochian archdioceses into one by Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) of New York and Archbishop Michael (Shaheen) of Toledo.
• 1979 Pope John Paul II visits made a historic three-day visit to Turkey in November 1979, for a religious summit with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Demetrios I, stating a determination to bring to a close what he has called the “intolerable scandal” of the divisions within the Christian-professing world.
• 1979 The Joint Commission of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches for Theological Dialogue was established in November 1979 by Pope John Paul II and the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I. The sessions of the Committee included: 1) Patmos, 1980; 2) Munich, 1982; 3) Bari,1987; 4) Valamo, Finland, 1988; 5) Moscow, 1990; 6) Balamand, 1993; 7) Baltimore, 2000; and 8) Belgrade, 2006.
• 1980 The first plenary session of the International Joint Commission for the Theological Dialogue met in the spring of 1980 at the island of Patmos,Greece. The first theme chosen for study was ecclesiology and its link to the mysteries of the Eucharist and the Trinity.
• 1982 In Munich, the second Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue published its first official common document: “The Mystery of the Church and of the Eucharist in Light of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity.”
• 1985 Founding of Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) as Greek Archdiocesan Mission Center.
• 1987 The third Joint Commission issued the common document “Faith, Sacraments and the Unity of the Church” in Bari, Italy.
• 1987 Dec. 3, 1987 - Visit by Dimitrios, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople to the Vatican.
• 1988 One thousand (1000) years of Orthodoxy in Russia, as Orthodox Church world-wide maintains fulness of the Apostolic faith.
• 1988 The fourth Joint Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church meets in Valamo, Finland and issues: “The Sacrament of Order in the Sacramental Structure of the Church.”
• 1989 Since 1989 Archimandrite Ephraim of Philotheou (commonly known as Elder Ephraim) founds 17 men's and women’s monasteries in North America (7 men's, 10 women's, to date 2007). Before this, there was very little Athonite monastic activity in the Western Hemisphere, despite the growth and prosperity of the Greek Orthodox Church in the United States and Canada during the past century.
• 1989 Church of Constantinople recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Georgia.
• 1989 Glorification in Russia of St. Tikhon of Moscow.
• 1990 The fifth Joint Theological Commission session met in Moscow. Work began by the Committee on the next common document in Moscow, “Ecclesiological and Canonical Consequences of the Sacramental Nature of the Church”, but at the request of the Orthodox Church the discussions were stopped in order to address the question of “Uniatism”.

Post-Modern era (1991-Present)

• 1991 Soviet Union Collapses, end of Cold War (1945-1991). The end of Communism in Eastern Europe allows the Orthodox churches to re-emerge. Most "Orthodox" Countries, previously suppressed by communistic dictatorships, miraculously were saved from atheistic socialism, regaining their apostolic calling of preaching un-fearfully the Gospel of Christ.
• 1992 Civil War Begins in Former Yugoslavia. War of Yugoslav Disintegration 1992-1996.
• 1993 The sixth Joint Theological Commission session met in Balamand, Lebanon, and issued the common document on “Uniatism: Method of Union of the Past, and Present. Search for Full Communion.”
• 1993 April 9, 1993, prompted by a petition signed by 11,000 laypeople, the Church of Cyprus condemned Freemasonry as a religion incompatible with Christianity.
• 1994 Ligonier Meeting in Western Pennsylvania at the 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." The 29 Bishops of the SCOBA gathered together in their "first attempt" to Establish an American Orthodox Patriarchate in the Western Hemisphere.
• 1995 June 27, 1995 - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I Archontonis) was welcomed to the Vatican. On June 29, 1995 the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles, Patriarch Bartholomew and the Pope gave homilies in Saint Peter’s Basilica, and signed a Common Declaration. (Common Declarations were also signed in 2004, & 2006).
• 1997 Visit by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I (Archontonis) of Constantinople to US. For his inspiring efforts on behalf of religious freedom and human rights, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was heralded as a Bridge Builder and Peacemaker and awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the U.S. Congress in 1997.
• 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.
• 2000 The seventh Joint Theological Commission session met in Baltimore, U.S.A., and discussed a text on “The Ecclesiological and Canonical Implications of Uniatism”. The theological dialogue between the two sides were suspended after this time due to difficulties. They resumed again in 2006.
• 2001 Papal Apology to Orthodox Church, May 4th, 2001.
• 2002 Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope John Paul II Sign a Declaration on Protecting the Environment, June 11, 2002.
• 2003 The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America is granted "self-rule" (similar but not identical to autonomy) by the Church of Antioch.
• 2003 April 2003, The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem barred US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair from ever entering the shrine. The chief priest of the church, Father Panaritus, was quoted as saying "They are war criminals and murderers of children. Therefore, the Church of Nativity decided to ban them access into the holy shrine forever."
• 2004 Pope John Paul II returns the relics of Ss. John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian to the Church of Constantinople.
• 2004 His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew visited Havana, Cuba to participate in the consecration of the first Orthodox Church to be built in the island nation in four decades. The consecration Liturgy at the newly built St Nicholas Church took place on Sunday, January 25, 2004.
• 2004 February 2004 - The Bishop of Sergiyev Posad Feogonst sanctified the first Orthodox church built in Antarctica at a site that can be seen from 30 kilometers away.
• 2004 June 29, 2004 - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I welcomed to Vatican. Pope John Paul II & Patriarch Bartholomew I signed a Common Declaration on July 1, 2004, pledging their continued efforts toward reunion of Orthodox and Catholic Churches.
• 2005 October 28, 2005 - Tension at the Ecumenical Patriarchate due to the "Grey Wolves" Turkish terrorist group. The Turkish nationalist group "Grey Wolves" staged a rally outside the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Phanar, where they laid a black wreath, demanding the transfer of the Patriarchate to Greece.
• 2006 January 2006 - The first Orthodox Prayer Book in Chinese and Russian. A hardcover bilingual Russian-Chinese prayer book was made available for the first time through the support of the Brotherhood of Sts Peter and Paul of Hong Kong. The prayer book consists of the morning and evening prayers and the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.
• 2006 March 2, 2006 - Pope Benedict drops one of his nine official titles, giving up "Patriarch of the West" in a discreet step apparently intended to help promote closer ties with the Orthodox churches of the East.
• 2006 August 2006 - North Korea Russian Orthodox Church Opens. North Korea's first ever Russian Orthodox Church conducted its inaugural mass Sunday Aug. 13th., although there was no sign the hardline communist regime had eased its tight controls on religion.
• 2006 October 2006 - Pope ends "Doctrine of Limbo," as per the conclusions of a 30-strong Vatican international commission of theologians. The commission's conclusions were formally approved by Pope Benedict XVI at a mass Friday October 6th
• 2006 The eighth Joint Theological Commission of the Orthodox and Roman Cathlolic Churches met in Belgrade, Serbia.
• 2006 November 29, 2006 - Pope Benedict XVI visits the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The visits of his predecessors to the Church of Constantinople included Pope Paul VI in 1967, and Pope John Paul II in 1979. The Pope and the Patriarch signed a 7-point common declaration of ecumenical solidarity, on November 30, 2006.
• 2006 December 14, 2006 - A milestone in the recent history of the Church of Greece was the official visit of Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and all Greece to the Vatican. The visit was carried out with the “aim of reaffirming the need for both Churches to join forces so that they can ensure that Europe maintain her Christian character and to deal with burning human issues needy of a solution the Church can offer.”
• 2007 Restoration of full communion between Moscow Patriarchate and ROCOR took place on the Great Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord, May 17, 2007.

Notes

• Some of these dates are necessarily a bit vague, as records for some periods are particularly difficult to piece together accurately.
• The division of Church History into separate eras as we do here will always be to some extent arbitrary, though we have tried to group periods according to major watershed events.
• This timeline is necessarily biased toward the history of the Orthodox Church, though a number of non-Orthodox events are mentioned for their importance in history related to Orthodoxy.

See also

• Timeline of Orthodoxy in America
• Timeline of Orthodoxy in Australia
• 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

• 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 link

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

History of Orthodox Christianity

A 3-part series by GOTelecom - QuickTime format

• Part 1: Beginnings - Journey begins with the founding of the Church, the spread of Christianity to "nations" by the Apostles, the Gospel and the institution of Sacraments
• Part 2: Byzantium - After the stabilization of the Church, the journey continues through the period of the Nicene Creed, Patristic Scriptures, Divine Liturgy and Icons. During this same period, however, the official division of East and West is witnessed and concludes with a gradual rift in matters of faith, dogma, church customs, politics and culture
• Part 3: A Hidden Treasure - The Church becomes the only institution perceived by Greeks as the preserver of their national identity during 400 years of Turkish rule. By the end of the 19th century, a worldwide Orthodox community is born and the Church expands its influence to major social and philanthropic concerns