Timeline of Church History (Byzantine Era (451-843))

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.

Byzantine era (451-843)

• 451 Fourth Ecumenical Council meets at Chalcedon, condemning Eutychianism and Monophysitism, affirming doctrine of two perfect and indivisible but distinct natures in 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; death of Shenouda the Great, abbott of White Monastery in Egypt, considered the founder of Coptic Christianity.
• ca.471 Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople was first called "Oikoumenikos" (Ecumenical).
• 473 Death of Euthymius the Great.
• 475 Emperor Basiliscus issues circular letter to the bishops of his empire, supporting Monophysite Christological position.
• 476 Fall of Western Roman Empire.
• 477 Timothy Aelurus of Alexandria exiles Chalcedonian bishops from Egypt.
• 482 Byzantine emperor Zeno I issues Henotikon in an attempt to reconcile the differences over the Christology of Chalcedon.
• 484 Acacian Schism.
• 484 Founding of Mar Sabbas Monastery by Sabbas the Sanctified; Synod of Beth Lapat in Persia declares Nestorianism as official theology of Assyrian Church of the East, effectively separating the Assyrian church from the Byzantine church.
• 488 Death of Peter the Fuller.
• 489 Emperor Zeno I closes Nestorian academy in Edessa, which was then transferred under Sassanian Persian auspices to Nisibis, becoming the spiritual center of the Assyrian Church of the East.
• 490 Brigid of Kildaire founds monastery of Kildare in Ireland.
• 494 Pope Gelasius I of Rome delineates relationship between church and state in his letter Duo sunt, written to Emperor Anastasius I.
• 496 Pope Gelasius I of Rome dedicates February 14 to Valentine of Terni in the West, banning the pre-Christian Roman festival of Lupercalia; Bp. Remigius of Rheims baptizes Franks into Orthodox Christianity.
• ca. 500 Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite writes The Mystical Theology; Babylonian Talmud completed.
• 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; Justinian decrees that all dates must include the Indiction.
• 538 Emperor Justinian the Great, via deportations and force, manages to get all five patriarchates offcially into communion.
• 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.
• 565-78 The Cherubic Hymn was added to the Divine Liturgy by Emperor Justin II.
• 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.
• 576 Dual hierarchy henceforth in Alexandria, Chalcedonian (Greek) and Monophysite (Coptic).
• 577 Patr. John III Scholasticus is responible for the first collection of Canon Law, the Nomocanon, of the 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.
• 639 Christian monastery built in Ch'ang-an, capital of China.
• 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; persecution of Christians in China under Empress Wu's strong pro-Buddhist policies (China had declared Buddhism the state religion in 691).
• 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.

Notes

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

See also

• Timeline of Orthodoxy in America
• Timeline of Orthodoxy in Australia
• Timeline of Orthodoxy in Greece
• Timeline of Orthodoxy in New Zealand
• Timeline of Orthodoxy in Japan
• Timeline of Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic relations

Published works

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

From an Orthodox perspective

• Schmemann, Alexander. The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy.
• Ware, Timothy. The Orthodox Church: New Edition. (ISBN 0140146563)
• Dr. Kathryn Tsai. A Timeline of Eastern Church History. Divine Ascent Press, CA, 2004. ISBN 0971413924

From a Heterodox perspective

• Boer, Harry R. A Short History of the Early Church. (ISBN 0802813399)
• Cairns, Earle E. Christianity Through the Centuries: A History of the Christian Church. (ISBN 0310208122)
• Chadwick, Henry. The Early Church. (ISBN 0140231994)
• Collins, Michael, ed.; Price, Matthew Arlen. Story of Christianity: A Celebration of 2000 Years of Faith. (ISBN 0789446057)
• Eusebius Pamphilus; Cruse, C.F. (translator). Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History. (ISBN 1565633717)
• Gonzalez, Justo L. A History of Christian Thought, Volume 1: From the Beginnings to the Council of Chalcedon. (ISBN 0687171822)
• Gonzalez, Justo L. A History of Christian Thought, Volume 2: From Augustine to the Eve of the Reformation. (ISBN 0687171830)
• Gonzalez, Justo L. A History of Christian Thought, Volume 3: From the Protestant Reformation to the Twentieth Century. (ISBN 0687171849)
• Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume 1: The Early Church to the Reformation. (ISBN 0060633158)
• Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume 2: Reformation to the Present Day. (ISBN 0060633166)
• Hall, Stuart G. Doctrine and Practice in the Early Church. (ISBN 0802806295)
• Hastings, Adrian, ed. A World History of Christianity. (ISBN 0802848753)
• Hussey, J. M. The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire: Oxford History of the Christian Church. (ISBN 0198264569)
• Jones, Timothy P. Christian History Made Easy. (ISBN 1890947105)
• Noll, Mark A. Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity. (ISBN 080106211X)
• Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600). (ISBN 0226653714)
• Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 2: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600-1700). (ISBN 0226653730)
• Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 3: The Growth of Medieval Theology (600-1300). (ISBN 0226653749)
• Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 4: Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700). (ISBN 0226653773)
• Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 5: Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture (since 1700). (ISBN 0226653803)
• Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church. (ISBN 156563196X)
• Wace, Henry; Piercy, William C., ed. A Dictionary of Christian Biography: Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D. With an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies. (ISBN 1565630572)
• Walton, Robert C. Chronological and Background Charts of Church History. (ISBN 0310362814)

External links

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

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

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