Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Master Church Chronology

Chadwick, Owen. A History of Christianity (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995, pp. 286-293).
Latourette, Kenneth Scott (1884-1968) A History of Christianity (Peabody, Massachusetts: Prince Press, 1999; originally published by Harper & Brothers, 1953).

1. “The First Five Hundred Years: Christianity Wins the Roman Empire and Takes Shape [A.D. 1-500]” (Latourette, v)

AD 1
Birth of Jesus.

AD 30 [or 33]
Death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.
Pentecost: beginning of the Church.

43-44
Herod Agrippa 1st (grandson of Herod “the Great”) persecutes church in Jerusalem and has James, brother of John, executed and Peter jailed.

45-60
Missionary journeys of Paul.

64-66
Nero initiates first persecution by the Roman state of Christians, in the city of Rome.

66-70
Jewish rebellion. Jerusalem destroyed (70). Christian Jews lose significance.

81-96
Domitian, emperor, initiates the second persecution of Christians, also in the city of Rome.

90
Letter of Clement

ca 100
Paul’s letters collected and preserved as a unit.

100
Didache (Teaching of the Twelve): first Christian document outside New Testament to discuss the structure of Christian communities.

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 the 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 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 preaches 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 is 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.

2. “The Darkest Hours: The Great Recession, A.D. 500-A.D. 950” (Latourette, v)

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 repulses Muslim attack of Gallia.

735
Venerable Bede dies at monastery of Jarrow in northeast Britannia.

800-840
Donation of Constantine grants broad civic powers to the 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, murdured.

3. “Four Centuries of Resurgence and Advance, A.D. 950-A.D. 1350" (Latourette, vi)

962
Otto (“the Great”), ruler of Saxony, restores Holy Roman Empire in Germania, Noricum, and Italia. Combines political and religious rule in bishops.

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 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 the Latin Kingdom there.

1120
Founding of Knights Templars and Hospitallers (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 was 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 live with his wife 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.

4. “Geographic Loss and Internal Lassitude, Confusion, and Corruption, Partly Offset by Vigorous Life, A.D. 1350-A.D. 1500” (Latourette, vi)

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.


5. “Reform and Expansion, A.D. 1500- A.D. 1750” (Latourette, vii)

1506
Reconstruction begins of St. Peter’s, 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.

1530
At the Diet of Augsburg, Lutherans submit the Augsburg Confession. This became 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 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) from across Gallia hold their first meeting.

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.

6. “Repudiation and Revival, A.D. 1750- A.D. 1815” (Latourette, vii)

1751-65
Denis Diderot’s first edition of the French Encyclopedia strong critic of Church and advocate of Enlightenment philosophy.

1718-1778
Writings of Voltaire, including La Pucelle (1756), Candide (1759), and Philosophical Dictionary (1764).

1762
Rousseau publishes Emile, on education, which includes “The Profession of Faith by the Savoyard Vicar.”

1773
Clement 14th, pope, ends 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.

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, bishop of Rome, restarts the Jesuits.


7. “The Great Century: Growing Repudiation Paralleled by Abounding Vitality and Unprecedented Expansion, A.D. 1815- A.D. 1914” (Latourette, vii)

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 exiled 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, 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 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.

8. “Vigor amidst Storm, A.D. 1914- A.D. 1952” (Latourette, viii)

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 Jewish and other refugees.

1948
World Council of Churches begins in Amsterdam.
Communist states in East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary start to 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.


Copyright © 2020 by Steven Farsaci.
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