Timeline of Church History

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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.

Contents

New Testament era

Apostolic era (33-100)

Ante-Nicene era (100-325)

Nicene era (325-451)

Byzantine era (451-843)

Late Byzantine era (843-1453)

  • 845 The The 42 Martyrs of Ammoria in Phrygia, taken as hostages from Ammoria to Samarra (in Iraq) and executed there.
  • 846 Muslim raid of Rome.
  • 850 Third Finding of the head of John the Forerunner.
  • 852 Ansgar founds churches at Hedeby and Ribe in Denmark.
  • 858 Photius the Great becomes patriarch of Constantinople.
  • 860 Second Rus-Byzantine War, a naval raid and the first siege of Constantinople by the Rus.
  • ca. 860 Christianization of the Rus' Khaganate.
  • 861 Cyril and Methodius depart from Constantinople to missionize the Slavs; Council of Constantinople attended by 318 fathers and presided over by papal legates confirms Photius the Great as patriarch and passes 17 canons.
  • 862 Rastislav of Moravia converts to Christianity.
  • 863 First translations of Biblical and liturgical texts into Church Slavonic by Cyril and Methodius.
  • 863 Venetians steal relics of Apostle Mark from Alexandria.
  • 864 Baptism of Prince Boris of Bulgaria; Synaxis of the Theotokos in Miasena in memory of the return of her icon.
  • 865 Bulgaria under Khan Boris I converts to Orthodox Christianity.
  • 866 Vikings raid and capture York in England.
  • 867 Council in Constantinople held, presided over by Photius, which anathematizes Pope Nicholas I of Rome for his attacks on the work of Greek missionaries in Bulgaria and the use by papal missionaries of the heretical Filioque; Pope Nicholas dies before hearing news of excommunication; Basil the Macedonian has Emperor Michael III murdered and usurps the Imperial throne, reinstating Ignatius as patriarch of Constantinople.
  • 867 Death of Kassiani, Greek-Byzantine poet and hymnographer, who composed the Hymn of Kassiani, chanted during Holy Week on Holy Wednesday.
  • 869-870 Robber Council of 869-870 held, deposing Photius the Great from the Constantinopolitan see and putting the rival claimant Ignatius on the throne, declaring itself to be the "Eighth Ecumenical Council."
  • 870 Conversion of Serbia; death of Rastislav of Moravia; Malta conquered from the Byzantines by the Arabs; martyrdom of Edmund, King of East Anglia.
  • 874 Translation of relics of Nicephorus the Confessor, interred in the Church of the Holy Apostles, Constantinople.
  • 877 Death of Ignatius I of Constantinople, who appoints Photius to succeed him.
  • 877 Arab Muslims conquer all of Sicily from Byzantium and make Palermo their capital.
  • 878 King Alfred the Great of Wessex defeats Vikings; the Treaty of Wedmore divides England between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes (the Danelaw).
  • 879-880 Eighth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople attended by 383 fathers passing 3 canons, confirms Photius as Patriarch of Constantinople, anathematizes additions to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, and declares that the prerogatives and jurisdiction of the Roman pope and the Constantinopolitan patriarch are essentially equal; the council is reluctantly accepted by Pope John VIII of Rome.
  • 883 Muslims burn the monastery of Monte Cassino.
  • 885 Mount Athos gains political autonomy.
  • 885 Death of Methodius.
  • 886 Glagolitic alphabet, (now called Old Church Slavonic) adopted in Bulgarian Empire; St Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, captures London from the Danes.
  • 902 Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, is captured by the Aghlabid Arabs.
  • 904 Thessalonika sacked and pillaged by Saracen pirates under Leo of Tripoli, a Greek pirate serving Saracen interests.
  • 907 Third Rus-Byzantine War, a naval raid of Constantinople (or Tsargrad in Old Slavonic) led by Varangian Prince Oleg of Novgorod, which was relieved by peace negotiations.
  • 899 Death of Alfred the Great.
  • 911 Holy Protection of the Virgin Mary.
  • 911 Russian envoys visit Constantinople to ratify a treaty, sent by Oleg, Grand Prince of Rus'.
  • 912 Normans become Christian; Nicholas I Mysticus becomes Patriarch of Constantinople.
  • 927 Church of Bulgaria recognized as autocephalous by Constantinople.
  • 931 Abbott Odo of Cluny reforms monasteries in Aquitaine, northern France, and Italy, starting the Cluniac Reform movement within the Benedictine order, focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art and caring for the poor.
  • 933 Death of Patr. Tryphon of Constantinople.
  • 935 Martyrdom of Wenceslaus, prince of the Czechs.
  • 941 Fourth Rus-Byzantine War.
  • 944 City of Edessa recovered by Byzantine army, including Icon Not Made By Hands.
  • 945 Dunstan becomes Abbot of Glastonbury.
  • 948 Holy Roman Emperor Otto I the Great founds missionary dioceses of Brandenburg, Havelburg, Ribe, Aarhus, and Schleswig.
  • ca. 950 Monastery of Hosios Loukas founded near Stiris in Greece.
  • 957 Olga of Kiev baptized in Constantinople.
  • 960 Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas re-captures Crete for the Byzantines; Dunstan becomes Archbishop of Canterbury, reforming the monasteries and enforcing the rule of Benedict.
  • 962 Denmark becomes a Christian nation with the baptism of King Harald Blaatand ("Bluetooth"); Holy Roman Empire formed, with Pope John XII crowning Otto I the Great Holy Roman Emperor; Diploma Ottonianum is co-signed by Pope John XII and Otto, confirming the earlier Donation of Pepin, granting control of the Papal States to the Popes, regularizing Papal elections, and clarifying the relationship between the Popes and the Holy Roman Emperors.
  • 963 Athanasius of Athos establishes first major monastery on Mount Athos, the Great Lavra.
  • 965 Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas gains Cyprus completely for the Byzantines; Sviatoslav of Kiev destroys Khazar imperial power, as the Khazar fortresses of Sarkel and Tamatarkha fall to the Rus.
  • 968 Rila Monastery founded; Sviatoslav of Kiev defeats Bulgarians at the Battle of Silistra, precipitating the collapse of the First Bulgarian Empire.
  • 968-71 Fifth Rus-Byzantine War, resulting in a Byzantine victory over the coalition of Rus', Pechenegs, Magyars, and Bulgarians in the Battle of Arcadiopolis, and the defeat of Sviatoslav of Kiev by John I Tzimiskes.
  • 969 Death of Olga of Kiev; Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas captures Antioch and Aleppo from Arabs.
  • 972 Emperor John I Tzimiskes grants Mount Athos its first charter (Typikon).
  • 973 Moravia assigned to the Diocese of Prague, putting the West Slavic tribes under jurisdiction of German church.
  • 975 Emperor John I Tzimiskes in a Syrian campaign takes Emesa, Baalbek, Damascus, Tiberias, Nazareth, Caesarea, Sidon, Beirut, Byblos and Tripoli, but fails to take Jerusalem.
  • 978 Death of King Edward the Martyr.
  • 980 Revelation of the Axion Estin (the hymn "It Is Truly Meet"), with the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel to a monk on Mount Athos.
  • 983 Martyrdom of Theodore the Varangian and his son John of Kiev.
  • 987 Sixth Rus-Byzantine War, where Vladimir of Kiev dispatches troops to the Byzantine Empire to assist Emperor Basil II with an internal revolt. agreeing to accept Orthodox Christianity as his religion and bring his people to the new faith.
  • 988 Baptism of Rus' begins with the conversion of Vladimir of Kiev who is baptized at Chersonesos, the birthplace of the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox churches; Vladimir marries Anna, sister of Byzantine emperor Basil II.
  • 992 Death of Michael, the first Metropolitan of Kiev.
  • 995 Olaf of Norway proclaims Norway to be a Christian kingdom; the relics of Cuthbert are transferred with his community to Durham.
  • 1000 Conversion 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 Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem destroyed by the "mad" Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, founder of the Druze.
  • 1012 Death of Hieromartyr Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury.
  • 1013 Jews expelled from the caliphate of Córdoba.
  • 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.
  • 1017 Danish king Canute converts to Christianity.
  • 1022 Death of St. Simeon the New Theologian.
  • 1024 Seventh Rus-Byzantine War, Byzantine naval victory.
  • 1027 Frankish protectorate over Christian interests in Jerusalem is replaced by a Byzantine protectorate, which begin reconstruction of Holy Sepulchre.
  • 1036 Byzantine Emperor Michael IV makes a truce with the Caliph of Egypt to allow rebuilding of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by Byzantine masons; Varangian Guard of the Byzantine Emperor sent to protect pilgrims.
  • 1045-50 Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Novgorod built, the oldest Orthodox church building in Russia, executed in an architectural style more austere than the Byzantine, reminiscent of the Romanesque.
  • 1043 Eighth and last Rus'-Byzantine War, an unsuccessful naval raid against Constantinople; Edward the Confessor crowned King of England at Winchester Cathedral.
  • 1048 Re-consecration of Holy Sepulchre.
  • 1051 Monastery of the Kiev Caves founded.
  • 1052 Edward the Confessor founds Westminster Abbey, near London.
  • 1053 Death of Saint Lazarus the Wonder-worker of Mount Galesius near Ephesus.
  • 1054 Cardinal Humbert excommunicates Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople, a major centerpoint in the formation of the Great Schism between East and West; the First Letter of Michael Cerularius to Peter of Antioch.
  • 1059 Errors of Berengar of Tours condemned in Rome; term transubstantiation begins to come in to use, ascribed to Peter Damian.
  • 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 and defeat Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert, beginning 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.
  • ca. 1071-1176 Byzantine epic poem Digenes Akrites is written, set in the ninth and tenth centuries, inspired by the almost continuous state of warfare with the Arabs in eastern Asia Minor, presenting a comprehensive picture of the intense frontier life of the Akrites, the border guards of the Byzantine Empire.
  • 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).
  • 1074 Death of Theodosius of the Kiev Caves.
  • 1075 Dictatus Papae document advances Papal supremacy.
  • 1087 Translation of the relics of Nicholas of Myra from Myra to Bari.
  • 1088 Founding of monastery of John the Theologian on Patmos.
  • 1095 Launching of the First Crusade.
  • 1096 Persecution of Jews by Crusaders.
  • 1098 Anselm of Canterbury completes Cur Deus homo, marking a radical divergence of Western theology of the atonement from that of the East.
  • 1098 Crusaders capture Antioch.
  • 1099 Crusaders capture Jerusalem founding the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and other crusader states known collectively as "Outremer."
  • 1108 Death of Nicetas of the Kiev Caves, Bishop of Novgorod.
  • 1119 Order of Knights Templar founded.
  • ca. 1131-45 Coptic Pope of Alexandria Gabriel II initiates acceptance of Arabic as a liturgical language (in addition to the Coptic), with his Arabic translation of the Liturgy.
  • 1144 Bernard of Clairvaux calls for a Second Crusade to rescue the besieged Latin kingdom of Jerusalem; Kings Louis VII of France and Konrad III of Germany join Crusaders, but are defeated by Muslims; Muslims take Christian stronghold of Edessa.
  • 1147 Moscow founded by Prince Yuri Dolgoruki, a ruler of the northeastern Rus'.
  • 1149 Crusaders began to renovate the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Romanesque style, adding a bell tower.
  • 1164 Uncovering of the relics of Leontius of Rostov.
  • 1170 Miracle of the weeping icon of the Theotokos "of the Sign" at Novgorod; Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland; city of Dublin is captured by the Normans.
  • 1177 Latin King Baldwin of Jerusalem and his knights, with the Templars, defeat the Muslim army of Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard.
  • 1179 Death of Hildegard von Bingen.
  • 1180 Last formal acceptance of Latins to communion at an Orthodox altar in Antioch.
  • 1187 Saladin retakes Jerusalem after destroying crusader army at the Battle of Hattin, and returns Christian holy places to the Orthodox Church.
  • 1189 Third Crusade led by King Richard the Lion-Hearted of England, King Philip Augustus II of France, and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
  • ca. 1189 Ethiopian Emperor Gebre Mesqel Lalibela orders construction of Lalibela.
  • 1191 Cyprus taken from Byzantines by English King Richard I "Lion Heart."
  • 1198 Cyprus sold by England to Frankish crusaders.
  • 1204 Fourth Crusade sacks 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.
  • ca. 1204-61 Martyrdom by Latins of monks of Iveron Monastery.
  • 1211 Venetian crusaders conquer Byzantine Crete, retaining it until ousted by the Ottoman Turks in 1669.
  • 1212 Children's Crusade, led by 12-year-old Stephen of Cloyes, sets out for the Holy Land from France.
  • 1213 Death of Tamar of Georgia.
  • 1217-21 Fifth Crusade.
  • 1228 Sixth Crusade results in 10-year treaty starting in 1229 between the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and the Egyptian sultan; Jerusalem ceded to the Franks, along with a narrow corridor to the coast, as well as Nazareth, Sidon, Jaffa and Bethlehem.
  • 1235 Death of Sava of Serbia.
  • 1237 Golden Horde begin subjugation of Russia.
  • 1240 Mongols sack Kiev; Prince Alexander Nevsky defeats Swedish army at Battle of the Neva.
  • 1242 Alexander Nevsky's Novgorodian force defeats Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Lake Peipus, a major defeat for the Catholic crusaders.
  • 1244 Jerusalem conquered and razed by Khwarezmian mercenaries (Oghuz Turks) serving under the Ayyubid ruler of Egypt Salih Ayyub, triggering the Seventh Crusade.
  • 1245 First Council of Lyons in the Roman Catholic Church mandates red hat for cardinals and a levy for the Holy Land.
  • 1247 Ayyubids conquer Jerusalem, driving out the Khwarezmian Turks.
  • 1248-54 Seventh Crusade.
  • 1258 Michael VIII Palaiologos seizes the throne of the Nicaean Empire, founding the last Roman (Byzantine) dynasty, beginning reconquest of Greek peninsula from Latins.
  • 1259 Byzantines defeat Latin Principality of Achaea at the Battle of Pelagonia, marking the beginning of the Byzantine recovery of Greece.
  • 1261 End of Latin occupation of Constantinople and restoration of Orthodox patriarchs.
  • 1261 Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos makes Mystras seat of the new Despotate of Morea, where a Byzantine renaissance occurred.
  • 1268 Egyptian Mamelukes capture Antioch.
  • 1270 The Eighth Crusade is launched by Louis IX, King of France.
  • 1271-72 Ninth Crusade led by Prince Edward of England to Acre, is considered to be the last of the medieval Crusades to the Holy Land.
  • 1274 Second Council of Lyons held, proclaiming union between the Orthodox East and the Roman Catholic West, but generally unaccepted in the East.
  • 1275 Unionist Patriarch of Constantinople John XI Beccus elected to replace Patriarch Joseph I Galesiotes, who opposed the Council of Lyons; 26 martyrs of Zographou monastery on Mt. Athos, martyred by the Latins.
  • ca. 1280 Kebra Nagast ("Book of the Glory of Kings") compiled, a repository of Ethiopian national and religious feelings.
  • 1281 Pope Martin IV authorizes a Crusade against the newly re-established Byzantine Empire in Constantinople, excommunicating Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and the Greeks and renouncing the union of 1274; French and Venetian expeditions set out toward Constantinople but are forced to turn back in the following year.
  • 1291 Fall of Acre; end of crusading in Holy Land.
  • 1302 Papal Bull Unam Sanctum issued by Pope Boniface VIII proclaims Papal supremacy.
  • 1326 Moscow became the seat of the Russian Orthodox Metropolitanate, as Metropolitan Peter moved his see from Kiev to Vladimir and then to Moscow.
  • 1309 Rhodes falls to the Knights of St. John, who establish their headquarters there, renaming themselves the "Knights of Rhodes."
  • 1311-12 Council of Vienne in the Roman Catholic Church disbands the Knights Templar.
  • 1336 Meteora in Greece is established as a center of Orthodox monasticism.
  • 1338 Gregory Palamas writes Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, defending the Orthodox practice of hesychast spirituality and the use of the Jesus Prayer.
  • 1341-47 Byzantine civil war between John VI Cantacuzenus (1347–54) and John V Palaeologus (1341–91).
  • 1341-51 Three sessions of the Ninth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople, affirming hesychastic theology of Gregory Palamas and condemning rationalistic philosophy of Barlaam of Calabria.
  • 1344 Death of Amda Syon, Emperor of Ethiopia.
  • 1349 Prince Stephen Dushan of Serbia assumes the title of Tsar (Caesar); principality of Galicia (Halitsh) comes under Polish control.
  • 1353 Death of Sergius and Herman, Abbots of Valaam.
  • 1354 Ottoman Turks make first settlement in Europe, at Gallipoli.
  • 1359 Death of Gregory Palamas.
  • 1360 Death of John Koukouzelis the Hymnographer.
  • 1365 Crusaders under Latin King Peter I of Cyprus sacked Alexandria, Egypt.
  • 1378 Death of Alexis of Moscow.
  • 1379 Western Great Schism ensues, including simultaneous reign of three Popes of Rome.
  • ca. 1380 English Church reformer John Wyclif writes that the true faith is preserved only in the East, "among the Greeks."
  • 1382-95 First English Bible translated by John Wyclif.
  • 1383 Stephen of Perm, missionary to the Zyrians, consecrated bishop; appearance of the Theotokos of Tikhvin icon.
  • 1385 Kreva Agreement provides for conversion of Lithuanian nobles and all pagan Lithuanians to Roman Catholicism, joining Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the Kingdom of Poland through a dynastic union.
  • 1387 Lithuania converts to Roman Catholicism, while most of the Ruthenian lands (Belarus and Ukraine) remain Orthodox.
  • 1389 Serbs defeated by Ottoman Turks of Sultan Murad I at the battle of Kosovo Polje; death of Great-martyr Lazarus (Lazar), prince of Serbia.
  • 1391-98 Ottoman Turks unsuccessfully besiege Constantinople for the first time.
  • 1410 Iconographer Andrei Rublev paints his most famous icon depicting the three angels who appeared to Abraham and Sarah, the angels being considered a type of the Holy Trinity.
  • 1414-18 The Council of Constance in the Roman Catholic Church represented a high point for the movement that promoted the authority of councils over the authority of the pope, but in the end the pope's authority was re-affirmed.
  • 1417 End of Western Great Schism at the Council of Constance.
  • 1422 Second unsuccessful Ottoman siege of Constantinople.
  • 1423-24 Council of Siena in the Roman Catholic Church was the high point of conciliarism, emphasizing the leadership of the bishops gathered in council, but the conciliarism expressed there was later branded as a heresy.
  • 1439 Ecclesiastical reunion with the West attempted at the Council of Florence, where only