Timeline of Church History

33 - Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2).

 

69 -  Bishop Ignatius consecrated in Antioch in heart of New Testament era — St. Peter had been the first bishop there. Other early bishops include James, Polycarp, and Clement.

 

150 - St. Justin Martyr describes the liturgical worship of the Church, centered in the Eucharist. Liturgical worship is rooted in both the Old and New Testaments.

 

325 - The Council of Nicea settles the major heretical challenge to the Christian faith posed when the heretic Arius asserted that Christ was created by the Father. St. Athanasius defends the eternality of the Son of God. Nicea is the first of Seven Ecumenical Councils.

 

397 - Council of Carthage defines the Bible.

 

451 - Council of Chalcedon (Second Ecumenical Council) affirms the apostolic doctrine of the two natures of Christ (fully human and fully divine).​​

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589 - A synod in Toledo, Spain, adds the filioque to the Nicene Creed (asserting that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son). This is later adopted by Rome.

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787 - The era of Ecumenical Councils ends at Nicea; the Seventh Ecumenical Council restores the centuries-old use of icons to the Church.

 

880 -  The Photian Schism, a four-year schism between the episcopal sees of Rome and Constantinople, centered on the right of the Byzantine Emperor to depose and appoint a patriarch without approval from the papacy.

 

988 - Conversion of Rus’ (Russia) begins.

 

1054 - The Great Schism occurs. Two major issues include Rome’s claim to a universal papal supremacy and her addition of the aforementioned filioque clause to the Nicene Creed. The Photian Schism (880) further complicates the debate.

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1095 - The Crusades begin. The sack of Constantinople (1204) adds great stress to the already strained relations between the Christians of the East and West.​​​​​

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1333 - St. Gregory Palamas defends the Orthodox practice of hesychast spirituality and the use of the “Jesus Prayer.”

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1453 - Turks overrun Constantinople; Byzantine Empire ceases to exist.

 

1517 - Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the door of the Roman Church in Wittenberg, initiating the Protestant Reformation.

1529 - Church of England begins pulling away from Rome.

1794 - Missionaries arrive on Kodiak Island in Alaska; Orthodoxy introduced to North America.

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1854 - Pope Pius IX defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in his papal encyclical Ineffabilis Deus. 

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1870 - Papal Infallibility, under certain circumstances, becomes Roman dogma.

1988 - One thousand years of Orthodoxy in Russia recognized; Orthodox Church world-wide maintains fullness of the Apostolic Faith.