The events of Church history that led to significant developments in Church practice and organisation
By gabrielizgi
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Period: 60 to 313
The Age of Early Christianity
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64
Fire ravages Rome
Emperor Nero blames Christians and unleashes persecution. In the summer of 64, Rome suffered a terrible fire that consumed almost three quarters of the city. The people accused the Emperor Nero for the devastation. In order to deflect these accusations and placate the people, Nero laid blame for the fire on the Christians and began a persecution of the Christians. -
70
Titus destroys Jerusalem and its temple.
Separation deepens between Christianity and Judaism. A Roman military force of about 30,000 troops under the command of Titus marched into Jerusalem and began a systematic slaughter of the Jews and the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, exactly asJesus foretold 40 years earlier. -
313
The Edict of Milan
Edict of Milan was issued by Constantine. It was the foreground in Christianity becoming a legal religion within the Roman empire. The agreement shifted Christianity from being an illicit, persecuted sect to being a welcome—and soon dominant—religion of the Roman Empire. It marked the Roman Empire’s final abandonment of the policies of persecution of Christians. -
Period: 313 to 590
Age of the Christian Empire
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325
The Council of Nicea
The Council of Nicea addressed debates perplexing the Church and defines the doctrine of who Jesus really was, by order of the Roman Emperor Constantine. Constantine, who claimed conversion to Christianity, called for a meeting of bishops to be held in Nicea to resolve some escalating controversies among the church leadership. The result of this meeting was the forming of the “Nicene Creed.” A statement of doctrine they produced was one that all of Christianity would follow and obey. -
431
Ecumenical council held at Ephesus refutes Nestorianism
The doctrine that Christ was two persons (one human, the other divine) in one body. This is also the council in which Mary is declared as 'God-bearer' or more commonly known today as, 'Mother of God'. -
432
St Patrick goes as a missionary to Ireland
Taken there as a teenager as a slave, he returns and leads multitudes of Irish people to the Christian faith, in an act which led to the significant development in church practices in Ireland. -
451
The Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon confirms Orthodox teaching that Jesus was truly God and truly man and existed in one person, also affirming Christ as having two distinct natures united in one person (known as the 'Hypostatic Union'). -
529
Benedict of Nursia
Benedict of Nursia establishes his monastic order. His "rule" becomes the most influential for centuries of monasticism in the West. Christian monasticism is the devotional practice of individuals who live ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. -
Period: 590 to Jan 1, 1517
Christian Middle Ages
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Dec 24, 800
The Coronation of Charlemagne
The coronation of Charlemagne marked a new era in Christianity and in Europe. It showed a new way of life where everything was determined by Christianity (aka the Roman Catholic Church) and protected by secular rulers. -
Dec 24, 863
Cyril and Methodius, evangelise the Serbs.
Cyril and Methodius, Greek brothers, evangelise the Serbs. Cyril develops the Cyrillic alphabet which remains the basis for the Slavonic used in the liturgy of the Russian church. After their deaths, their pupils continued their missionary work among other Slavs. Both brothers are venerated in the Orthodox Church as saints with the title of "equal-to-apostles", therefore having significance on the impact on the organisation and development of church history. -
Dec 24, 1054
The East-West Schism
Differences between Western and Eastern Christians finally cause a definitive break and Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox still remain separate. This is significant as it led to a separation of Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. As afternoon prayers were about to begin, Cardinal Humbert, strode into the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, right up to the main altar, and placed on it a parchment that declared the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, to be excommunicated. -
Dec 24, 1095
Pope Urban II Launches the First Crusade
Waves of pilgrims and soldiers embarked for the Holy Land, beginning an era of exploration and conquest. The first crusaders ventured for Constantinople, slaughtering Jews throughout Germany and occasionally skirmishing with local peoples. They mark the first direct conflicts between Western European powers and the Islams of the Middle East. The memories and cultural heritage of the Crusades still affect Middle Eastern politics and the relationship between Christianity and Islam. -
Dec 24, 1182
Massacre of Latin inhabitants of Constantinople
This was a large-scale massacre of the Roman Catholic (called "Latin") inhabitants of Constantinople, by the Eastern Orthodox population of the city in April 1182. This further worsened the relationship between the two parties. -
Dec 24, 1204
Siege of Constantinople
Siege of Constantinople, also called the Fourth Crusade occurred in 1204. Crusader armies captured, looted, and destroyed parts of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture, the Latin Empire was created and Baldwin of Flanders was crowned Emperor Baldwin I of Constantinople. -
Dec 24, 1346
The Black Death
When facing death, medieval society in 1346 looked to the Church, just as they did to medics, for rituals of comfort. Fearing contagion, burials became hasty affairs. The plague revealed the Church’s human side and left such a traumatic impression on minds of the people that it influenced Martin Luther’s Reformation movement in the 1500’s. -
Dec 24, 1378
The Great Papal Schism
When three popes, vied for supremacy, the medieval church entered a forty-year crisis of authority. After attempted help from also Catherine of Siena the dispute ended in 1417 with election of Martin V. The Schism was caused due to the death of Gregory XI. Which his death, the Romans feared the election of a French pope and the removal of the papacy back to Avignon. As a result, the papal election that took place in April causing rioting outside the conclave and dissension within. -
Period: Dec 1, 1517 to
Age of the Reformation
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Dec 24, 1517
Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses
Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses in Wittenberg, Germany. The 95 Theses’ are known as the ‘the disputation on the power of indulgences.’ Luther’s post is also recognised as the initial catalyst in the Protestant reformation. -
Dec 24, 1523
Ulrich Zwingli leads Swiss reformation
Ulrich Zwingli leads the Swiss reformation from his base as head pastor in Zurich. It led to significant changes in civil life and state matters in Zürich. After the victory of the Catholic cantons in 1531, they proceeded to institute counter-reformatory policies in some regions. -
Dec 24, 1536
John Calvin publishes The Institutes of the Christian Religion
John Calvin publishes The Institutes of the Christian Religion, the most substantial theological work of the Reformation. The book included introductions to the Protestant faith for those with some previous knowledge of theology and covered a broad range of theological topics from the doctrines of church and sacraments to justification by faith alone and Christian liberty. -
Thirty Years War
It was a series of wars in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. Initially a war between Protestant and Catholic states in the fragmenting Holy Roman Empire, it gradually developed into a more general conflict involving most of the great powers of Europe, gradually becoming less about religion. Ended with the Peace of Westphalia. -
Period: to
Age of Reason & Revival
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The 'Great Awakening'
A revival movement among Protestants in the USA. Led under Jonathan Edwards, stirred the American colonies with many conversions and individual returns to heartfelt faith. -
Period: to
The Age of Progress
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Pope Pius IX proclaims the doctrine of Papal Infallibility
Pope Pius IX proclaims the doctrine of Papal Infallibility. Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church that states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope is preserved from the possibility of error. -
Period: to
Age of Ideologies
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Martin Luther King, Jr
Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister, leads a march on Washington espousing the teachings of Jesus in a civil rights movement that affects all American. He vouches for rights for African Americans whilst abiding to church teachings in a peaceful manner. -
Second Vatican council
Second Vatican council. Major reforms in the Roman Catholic church are initiated. Mutual anathemas of 1054 between Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches lifted. It will promote new attitudes and practices in Catholicism. -
Signing of the Joint Declaration on Justification
Signing of the Joint Declaration on Justification by the Lutheran and Roman Catholic Churches. It was a document that stated that the churches now share "a common understanding of our justification by God's grace through faith in Christ." To the parties involved, this essentially resolves the five hundred year old conflict over the nature of justification which was at the root of the Protestant Reformation.
