4 BC
Birth of Jesus.
AD 33
Death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.
43-44
Herod Agrippa 1st (grandson of Herod “the
Great”) persecutes church in Jerusalem and has James executed and Peter jailed.
45-60
Missionary journeys of Paul.
64
Nero persecutes Christians in Rome.
66-70
Jewish rebellion. Jerusalem destroyed (70). Christian
Jews lose significance.
ca 100
Paul’s letters collected and preserved as a unit.
ca 107
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, writes seven letters while
traveling to Rome and martyrdom. First to refer to all churches together as
“the Catholic Church.”
111-113
Letters between Trajan, emperor, and Pliny the Younger, governor
of Bithynia. Trajan counsels moderation in response to Christians.
140-200
Church leaders discern which writings should be in Bible.
ca 144
Marcion excommunicated by church in Rome for wanting to
exclude the whole Old Testament from the Bible and denying that Jesus was the
incarnation of God. Nonetheless, Marcionite churches existed from Gallia to the
Orient for centuries.
150?
Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, given
final form.
155
Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, martyred.
ca 170
Montanists influential in Anatolia.
178-202?
Irenaeus serves as bishop of Lyons in Gallia.
ca 180
First use of Apostle’s Creed: a summary of Christian
beliefs, in Rome, for baptisms.
ca 197
Tertullian, from Africa, writes first defense of
Christianity in Latin.
ca 200
Latin begins to displace Greek as liturgical language in
some churches in the western provinces of the Roman Empire.
ca 200
Clement starts distinctive school of theology in
Alexandria. Origen follows.
250-251
Decius, emperor, decrees persecution of Christians.
Murdered include Origen and Fabian, bishop of Rome.
ca 251-356
Anthony of the Desert.
258
Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, martyred.
ca 280
Hermitages and monasteries begin to spread through Egypt
and the Orient.
284-311
Diocletian, emperor, initiates worst persecution of
Christians by the Roman state: church buildings destroyed, Bibles burned, large
numbers of Christians become martyrs or apostates. Persecution declines in the
Western Empire by 305 but increases in ferocity from then until 311 in the
Eastern Empire.
311
In Africa, Donatist movement rejects forgiveness for
apostates.
312
Constantine claims Christ’s protection before Battle of
the Milvian Bridge.
313
Co-emperors Constantine and Licinius issue Edict of Milan
granting Christianity legal status as a religion.
ca 320
Construction begins on first St. Peter’s Church in Rome.
324-337
Constantine rules as sole Roman emperor.
325
Council of Nicaea (First Ecumenical) decides on first Nicene
Creed.
325-381
Arian controversy: Arius, priest in Alexandria, asserts
that Jesus unique but not equal to the Father.
330
Constantine makes New Rome, later called Constantinople, capital
of Roman Empire.
340?
Eusebius (ca 260-340) publishes milestone Church History.
361-363
Julian, called “the Apostate,” last non-Christian Roman
emperor.
374-397
Ambrose, bishop of Milan, then capital of the Western
Roman Empire.
378
Battle of Adrianople: emperor Valens dies in catastrophic
defeat of Roman army by Goths.
379-395
Theodosius, emperor, baptized in 380, last ruler of
united Roman Empire.
381
Council of Constantinople (Second Ecumenical) adopts
final form of Creed against Arianism.
381
John Chrysostom (“Golden-Tongued”) begins preaching in
Antioch.
386-387
Augustine becomes a Christian in Milan.
386
Jerome starts his translation of the Bible into Latin in
Bethlehem.
392
Theodosius, Roman ruler, declares all non-Christian
religions illegal.
395-430
Monasticism in Western Olympia begins at Nola near Naples
and near Marseilles (island of Lerins) or in it (John Cassian).
396-430
Augustine serves as bishop of Hippo.
398-404
John Chrysostom serves as bishop of Constantinople.
406-407
Massive invasion of Roman provinces from Germania across
a frozen Rhine.
410
Roman troops recalled from Britannia.
Alaric leads Arian Goths in first sack of Rome in 800
years.
Augustine writes The
City of God in response.
416-425
Visigoths seize control of Iberia.
429-430
Vandals seize control of Africa.
430-461
Leo 1st becomes first bishop of Rome to lead
churches outside Italia.
431
Council of Ephesus (Third Ecumenical) declares Mary
“Mother of God” (Greek: “Theotokos”) and deposes Nestorious as bishop of
Constantinople. Nestorians form separate churches.
432
Patrick starts preaching in Ireland.
438
Theodosian code, first Christian code of law, promulgated
by Theodosius 2nd, Roman emperor.
451
Council of Chalcedon (Fourth Ecumenical): discern and
declare Chalcedonian Formula affirming that Jesus Christ is one person with two
natures (divine and human).
Monophysites, those who affirm that Jesus Christ is one
person with one nature, reject the ecumenical definition and form separate
churches.
476
Romulus Augustulus deposed, becoming the last Roman to
rule the Western Roman Empire.
493-526
Theodoric rules Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy.
Gelasius, his friends and bishop of Rome, asserts that
Church rules souls; the state, bodies; and in that order.
498
Clovis, ruler of the Franks, is baptized as a Christian
on Christmas Day in Rheims.
ca 520
Dionysius Exiguus (“the Humble”) initiates dating system
using BC and AD.
527-565
Justinian, Roman ruler.
529
Code of Justinian: enduring legal foundation of
Christendom.
532-538
Construction of St. Sophia in Constantinople.
ca 543
Benedict of Nursia dies at Monte Cassino.
590-604
Gregory 1st (“the Great”) bishop of Rome.
596
Gregory sends Augustine to be first archbishop in
Britannia.
638-656
Arab Muslims take control of the Orient and Egypt.
711-716
Arab Muslims seize Iberia.
726-843
Iconoclast controversy centered in Constantinople.
732
Charles Martel ("the Hammer") repulses Muslim attack of Gallia.
735
Venerable Bede dies at monastery of Jarrow in northeast
Britannia.
800-840
Donation of Constantine (later proved a forgery) grants broad civic powers to bishop of Rome.
771-814
Charlemagne rules the Franks.
800
The bishop of Rome crowns Charlemagne as emperor of the
Romans on Christmas Day.
858-867
Nicholas 1st, most effective pope for 200
years.
858
Photius, brilliant scholar, becomes patriarch in Constantinople.
863
Cyril and Methodius, Greek Christian missionaries from
Salonica, in Moravia.
871-901
Alfred rules as king of England in Britannia.
910
Reforming abbey of Cluny founded in Gallia.
929
Wenceslas, ruler of Bohemia, murdered.
962
Otto (“the Great”), ruler of Saxony, restores Holy Roman
Empire in Germania, Noricum, and Italia. Has bishops exercise political as well as religious authority.
997-1038
Stephen, king, includes Hungary in Christendom.
1049-54
Leo 9th, of Germania, reestablishes importance
of papacy as ruler of Latin Christian Church.
1054
Schism between Latin and Greek Christian churches.
1059-1090
Normans conquer southern Italia and seize control of Sicily
from Arab Muslims.
1073-1085
Gregory 7th (original name: Hildebrand), pope,
commits to ending appointment of bishops and abbots by political leaders and to
establishing celibacy of priests.
1077
Henry 4th, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire,
forced to humble himself before the pope at Canossa in Noricum.
1084
Foundation of Carthusians at the Grand Chartreuse
(“Charterhouse”) in Gallia leads a larger movement of monastic growth.
1093-1109
Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, initiates intellectual
rebirth of Latin Christendom.
1095
Urban 2nd, pope, calls for first crusade
against Muslims to free Jerusalem from their control.
1098
Cistercians founded to reform Benedictines.
1099
Crusaders capture Jerusalem and establish a Latin kingdom there.
1120
Founding of Knights Templar and Hospitaller (Order of
St. John of Jerusalem) in Jerusalem.
ca 1140
Gratian initiates study of canon law in Latin Christendom
at Bologna with publication of his Decretum.
1153
Bernard of Clairvaux dies.
1156
Founding of Carmelite Order on Mount Carmel in Palestine.
1160
Peter Lombard, bishop of Paris, dies. His Sentences becomes the most important book of
theology in Christendom for centuries.
1170
Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in the
cathedral there.
1176
Peter Waldo of Lyon publicly advocates poverty and
simplicity; Waldensians start.
1198-1216
Innocent 3rd, most politically powerful pope,
deposes Otto 4th (Holy Roman Emperor), excommunicates John (King of
England), and forces Philip Augustus (King of France) to allow his wife to live with him again.
ca 1200
Groups of teachers and students coalesce into universities
in Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, and Bologna.
1204
Fourth Crusaders destroy Constantinople and center a new
Latin kingdom on its ruins.
1209-1229
Albigensian crusade in southern Gallia.
1215-1250
Frederick 2nd rules Holy Roman Empire and
Sicily and negotiates return of Jerusalem to Christian control.
1221
Dominic, founder of Order of Preachers (Dominicans),
dies.
1226
Francis of Assisi, founder of Order of Friars Minor
(Franciscans), dies.
1226-1270
Louis 9th rules France. Later declared a
saint.
1232
Gregory 9th establishes Papal Inquisition.
This institutional prosecution of heretics is done chiefly by Dominicans and
Franciscans.
1243-1254
Innocent 4th, pope, uses his position to
politically attack Frederick 2nd, emperor.
ca 1250
Christians complete the reconquest of Iberia with the
exception of Granada.
1274
Thomas Aquinas dies. His Summa Theologica remains the most brilliant synthesis of Latin
Christian theology.
1291
The Latin Christian Kingdom in the Orient ends with the
fall of Acre.
1302
Boniface 8th makes the greatest claims for
papal authority in the document Unam
sanctam.
1309-1377
Popes in Avignon.
1321
Dante dies.
1357
Gregory of Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica and
defender of Hesychasm, dies.
1378-1415
Great Schism of Latin Christendom.
1384
John Wyclif dies; Lollards of Britannia continue his call
for church reform.
1409-1449
Conciliar Movement: church councils as creative response
to end Great Schism and reform Latin Christian Church.
1415
Council of Constance (1414-1418) executes John Hus, a Czech
follower of Wyclif, triggering a rebellion of Hussites in Bohemia.
1453
The Roman Empire ends with the capture of Constantinople
by Muslims. Under their control, St. Sophia immediately becomes a mosque.
1492
Spanish Christians take control of Granada: the last
Muslim state in Iberia.
Christopher Columbus discovers the Western Hemisphere for Christendom.
1506
Reconstruction begins of St. Peter’s Church in Rome.
1508-1512
Michelangelo paints the ceiling of the chapel of Sixtus 4th
(the Sistine).
1509
Publication of The
Praise of Folly by Erasmus.
1516
Publication of a critical edition of the New Testament by
Erasmus.
1517
Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses in Wittenberg,
Germania.
1521
The pope excommunicates Luther and the Diet of Worms
outlaws him.
1522
Luther is hidden in a castle in Wartburg.
1521
Zwingli starts preaching reform in Zurich.
1525-1530
Luther’s call for reform begins spreading throughout
Germania.
1525
Anabaptist movement begins in Zurich.
1526
William Tyndale publishes his English translation of the
New Testament.
1529
At the Diet of Speyer, some Germanic leaders protest
attempts to stop the reform movement, so those participating in that movement
come to be called Protestants by their opponents.
1530
At the Diet of Augsburg, Lutherans submit the Augsburg
Confession. This becomes the normative Lutheran summary of faithful witness to
Jesus Christ.
1533-1534
Anabaptists take control of Munster before being
overthrown.
1534
Henry 8th replaces the pope as head of all
churches in Britannia.
Ignatius Loyola founds the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Paris.
1536-1541
Michelangelo paints The
Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.
1541-1564
John Calvin serves as religious leader of Geneva.
1545-1563
Council of Trent (1545-1547, 1551-1552, 1562-1563).
1552
Bartolome de las Casas publishes A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies.
1553-1558
Mary Tudor attempts to reestablish past Latin Christian
Church dominance in Britannia.
1555
Michael Servetus executed for heresy in Geneva.
1555
Peace of Augsburg: Lutheran churches legalized in
Germania.
1555-1556
Mary Tudor has Protestant leaders Latimer, Ridley, and
Cranmer executed.
1559
Huguenots (French Calvinists) across Gallia meet together for the first time.
1559
Elizabeth 1st, ruler of England, accomplishes a moderate Protestant peace.
1562
Theresa of Avila begins a reformation of Carmelites in
Iberia.
1562-1594
Catholic and Protestant Christians battle each other in
Gallia.
1566-1579
Protestant Christians in Holland rebel against their
Spanish Catholic king and gain independence.
1567
John of the Cross works with Theresa of Avila.
1572
St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of Huguenots in Paris and
elsewhere.
1594-1597
Richard Hooker publishes Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity which becomes a normative
statement of Anglican beliefs and practices.
1598
Edict of Nantes
1611
King James Version of the Bible published.
1618-1648
Thirty Years’ War, largely in Germania.
1642-1651
English Civil War
1647
George Fox starts congregations that later form the
Religious Society of Friends.
1648
Peace of Westphalia ends the civil war of Latin
Christendom.
1660
Monarchy restored in England.
1675
Philipp Spener, Lutheran theologian, founds movement
called Pietism.
1678
John Bunyan publishes The
Pilgrim’s Progress.
1685
Thousands of Huguenots flee France after Louis 14th
revokes the Edict of Nantes.
1686
Roman Catholic James 2nd of England deposed.
1695-1697
Pierre Bayle, a Huguenot, published his Dictionary in Rotterdam.
1722-1750
Johann Sebastian Bach leader of music at St. Thomas
Church, Leipzig.
1738
John Wesley begins his itinerant ministry.
1742
George Frideric Handel’s Messiah first performed in Dublin.
1751-65
Denis Diderot’s first edition of the French Encyclopedia strongly criticizes Church and
advocates Enlightenment philosophy.
1718-1778
Writings of Voltaire on Christianity including La Pucelle (1756), Candide (1759),
and Philosophical Dictionary (1764).
1762
Rousseau's Emile,
on education, includes “The Profession of Faith by the Savoyard Vicar.”
1773
Clement 14th, pope, disbands the Jesuits.
1789-1794
The French Revolution brings nationalization of church
property, banning of monastic vows, and state control of church leadership.
1792-1793
The Terror brings violent attempt to rid France of
Christianity.
1799
Schleiermacher, preacher in Berlin, publishes Speeches on Religion.
1801
Napoleon agrees with pope to lift worst restrictions on
Catholic Church in France.
1804
British and Foreign Bible Society founded to translate
Bible into all languages possible.
1807
British government bands slave trade.
1814
After Napoleon’s fall, Pius 7th, pope,
restarts the Jesuits.
1817
King of Prussia leads reunion of Lutheran and Calvinist
churches.
1826
Christians in Noricum and Hellas start freeing themselves
from Muslim rule. Ottoman state retaliates with persecution and exile of
Christians in Anatolia.
1829
Catholics emancipated in the UK.
1833
J. H. Newman and John Keble start Oxford Movement.
Slavery abolished in all British territories.
1840
London Missionary Society sends David Livingston to
Africa where he dies in 1873.
1846-1878
Rule of Pius 9th as pope. His rejection of
modernism best expressed in Syllabus of
Errors (1864).
1848
The Communist
Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
1858
Bernadette Soubirou sees the Blessed Virgin Mary at
Lourdes.
1859
Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species.
1868
Charles Lavigerie, French Catholic leader in Africa, founds the
White Fathers for the African Missions.
1870
Italian nationalists take control of Rome from pope and
make it capital of united Italy.
First Vatican Council declares pope infallible when
speaking on faith and practice.
Old Catholic Church founded in Germania by those who
reject papal infallibility.
1872-1879
Otto von Bismarck’s kulturkampf
against the Catholic Church in Germany.
1879
French progressives increasingly attack the Catholic Church.
1894-1896
Widespread murder of Armenian Christians by Ottoman
state.
1894-1906
Dreyfus affair leads to formal separation of Church and
French state over issue of antisemitism.
1915
Widespread murder of Armenian Christians by Ottoman
state.
1916
Murder of Charles de Foucauld, French hermit in Africa.
1923
Greek state expels Muslims and Turkish state expels
Christians.
1929
Lateran Treaty: Mussolini creates Vatican City and gives
political control of it to pope.
1933
Hitler seizes total control in Germany.
Hitler makes an agreement with Pius 11th,
pope, but does not honor it.
1934
Barmen Declaration: a few brave churches reject Hitler’s
domination of German churches.
1937
Pius 11th denounces Hitler in On the Church and the German Reich (Mit brennender Sorge).
1938
Kristallnacht (“Night
of Broken Glass”): Nazis destroy Jewish synagogues and shops and arrest Jews
across Germany.
1940
Roger Schutz founds Taize community in Gallia to help
Jews and other refugees.
1948
World Council of Churches begins in Amsterdam.
Communist states in East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and
Hungary persecute Church. Worst show trial was of Cardinal Mindszenty
of Hungary (1948-1949).
1962-1965
Second Vatican Council.
1965
Charismatic movement.
1992
Church of England approves ordination of women.
