In this series
Eastern Orthodoxy
270 Antony takes up life of solitude
301 Armenia officially embraces Christianity
313 Emperor Constantine legalizes Christian church (right)
325 First Council of Nicea; Arius condemned but not defeated
328 Athanasius becomes bishop of Alexandria and fights Arianism
358 Basil the Great founds first monastery (right)
380 Christianity becomes the sole legal religion of the Roman Empire
381 First Council of Constantinople adopts Nicene Creed
398 John Chrysostom becomes bishop of Constantinople
431 First Council of Ephesus condemns Nestorius
444 Death of Cyril of Alexandria, who believed Christ had one nature after his Incarnation (monophysitism)
451 The Council of Chalcedon condemns monophysitism; monophysite Egypt, Syria, and Ethiopia break with Constantinople (right)
483 Emperor Zeno’s Henotikon tries to reconcile monophysites but fails
553 The Second Constantinople Council fails to reconcile monophysites
662 Exiled Maximus the Confessor dies
680 After Third Council of Constantinople, all attempts to reconcile the monophysites cease (right)
692 “Quinisext” Council codifies canon law of Eastern church
726 Byzantine Emperor Leo III starts campaign against icons (iconoclasm); persecutes those who defend icons (right)
749 John of Damascus, first systematic theologian of the East and defender of icons, dies
787 Second Council of Nicea condemns iconoclasm
811-843 Iconoclastic campaign revived by imperial court but fails
862 Mission of Cyril and Methodius to the Slavs
867 Photius, patriarch of Constantinople, accuses Rome of heresy because of the filioque
988 Vladimir, prince of Kiev, embraces Christianity; conversion of Russia follows (right)
1014 Rome introduces filioque into its liturgy; pope no longer commemorated at Constantinople
1022 Death of Simeon the New Theologian, Byzantium’s greatest mystic
1054 Papal legates excommunicate patriarch of Constantinople, who in turn excommunicates the legates
1204 Crusaders sack Constantinople (right)
1274 Union of Lyons rejected by the Orthodox
1338 Gregory Palamas defends Hesychasm in his Triads
1438 Council of Florence attempts to reunite East and West
1453 Turks conquer Byzantium (right)
Events in the West
257-60 Cyprian, Pope Sixtus II martyred in Valerian persecution
285 Roman Empire divided east and west
312 Donatist Schism begins
350 Goths converted to Arian Christianity
386 Augustine’s conversion
395 Alaric the Visigoth begins military compaigns; eventually sacks Rome (410) (right)
432 Patrick’s mission to Ireland (right)
440 Leo I becomes pope
c. 503 Baptism of Clovis, king of the Franks
540 Benedict writes his monastic Rule
590 Gregory the Great becomes pope
732 Battle of Tours stops Muslim incursions in Europe (right)
754 Boniface, missionary to the Germans, martyred
800 Charlemagne becomes Holy Roman Emperor (right)
1093 Anselm becomes bishop of Canterbury
1095-1099 First Crusade
1115 Bernard founds monastery at Clairvaux
1141 Hildegard of Bingen begins writing
1208 Francis renounces wealth
1274 Thomas Aquinas dies
1303-1378 “Babylonian Captivity”: Roman popes at Avignon
1415 Jan Hus burned
Gerald Bray is a professor at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama.
Copyright © 1997 by the author or Christianity Today/Christian History magazine. Click here for reprint information on Christian History.
