Important Events in Christian History

Jesus lived on the earth from approx. 4BC to 33AD. Herod the Great, who died in 4BC, was still alive at the time of Jesus' birth. Matt 2:1

Jesus' ministry from the time of his baptism until his crucifixion was approximately 3 years.

Jesus appeared to his disciples for 40 days after his resurrection until he ascended to heaven from Bethany at the top of the Mt. of Olives. Luke 24:50

50 days after Jesus' resurrection (10 days after his ascension) he sent the Holy Spirit to the apostles (Pentecost) which gave them supernatural powers to heal and speak in foreign languages. Acts 2:1-4

Paul of Tarsus was originally a great persecutor of the Christians but was converted to Christianity on a journey to Damascus. While on the journey he heard the voice of Jesus and was blinded for 3 days. Acts 9:1-9 Paul became a great witness for Christ establishing many churches and preaching primarily to the gentiles. Paul wrote letters to the people he converted and the churches he founded. 13 of these letters became 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament.

All of Jesus' 12 apostles were martyred for their faith except John. In old age John wrote the book of Revelation with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. John also wrote 4 other books in the New Testament. They are: the Gospel John, and the short letters which are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John.

In the first 300 years after Christ there was a great persecution of the Christians. Many Christians were martyred for their faith including in Rome the Apostles Peter and Paul under Roman Emperor Nero (emperor from 54-68AD).

The persecution of Christians finally ended in 313AD when Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor, issued the Edict of Milan that officially gave freedom of religion in the Roman Empire.

Emperor Constantine called the first ecumenical (whole church) council to be held in Nicea in 325AD. It was called primarily to settle the question concerning whether Jesus was preexistent with the Father for all time or whether Jesus was created by the Father. Arius, a bishop from Alexandria, supported the idea of the creation of Jesus (and thus was inferior to the Father). Overwhelmingly, the vote of the bishops in Nicea was that Jesus was coeternal with the Father and equal to the father. A statement of faith making this doctrine of the Trinity crystal clear was drawn up. Since this council was held in Nicea this statement of faith became known as the Nicene Creed. It was modified at the 1st council of Constantinople in 381 and the phrase "and the son" referred to as the filioque was added only by the Latin western church in Rome in the 6th century which was one of the factors that lead to the split between the eastern Greek (Orthodox) Church and the western Latin (Roman Catholic) Church in 1054. In addition to the Nicene Creed the first council in Nicea established a method for determining the date to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus (Easter) based upon the Jewish Passover (the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the spring equinox).

The canon (which means measuring stick) of the New Testament was in some dispute and not firmly established into the 27 books we have today until the Council of Carthage in 397. There were 3 criteria that were used to evaluate which books were to be included in the canon:

1. The writing should come from one of the apostles or someone very close to an apostle.

2. The writing should have been in common usage in the church since the beginning.

3. Everything in the writing should be in harmony with the rest of the accepted books.

The monk, Jerome, at the request of Pope Damasus I, translated the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament into Latin in the years 382-405 for use in the Roman Church. He did his translating in a grotto adjacent to the grotto in Bethlehem where tradition holds is the birthplace of Christ. Jerome's Latin translation became known as the Vulgate (meaning common) and it was the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church for the next 1000 years.

In the year 625 Mohamed, who was illiterate, began reciting the Koran and others wrote it down.

By 732 Muslim armies had conquered the Holy Land, Egypt, all of North Africa, and Spain. The Muslim army was met by an army of Christians known as the "Franks" commanded by Charles "the hammer" Martel at Tours, France in the fall of 732. Even though greatly outnumbered the Franks defeated the Muslims which halted the spread of Islam through all of Europe. Some historians credit Charles Martel's army of Franks with saving Christianity.

In 800 the grandson of Charles Martel was crowned by Pope Leo III as the Emperor of the Romans which was an attempt to revive the long since fallen Roman Empire. It was the 1st time the Pope had crowned an emperor and created an unholy alliance between the church and the secular government that lasted for a thousand years. This emperor was Charlemagne which means Charles the Great. Charlemagne expanded his empire though conquest into most of central and western Europe as well as Italy. Conquered people were required to become Christian under penalty of death. This reign of Charlemagne was the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire which existed in central Europe until 1803 when Napolean Bonapart of France abolished it.

In 1054 the "Great Schism" between the Eastern and Western Churches occurred. Until this time there was only one Christian Church in the world. There were 5 great centers of Christianity in the early church. They were in Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome. Each of these 5 centers were lead by a patriarch. The Greek Eastern Church had their center in Constantinople and the Latin Western Church had their center in Rome. From the beginning each of the patriarch's were equal except that the Patriarch in Rome was given the title of "first among equals" and in a tie vote could make the final determination. Over time the Roman patriarch began to assume more and more authority which was never accepted by the patriarchs in the east. In addition the western churches did not allow their clergy to marry which the eastern churches considered contrary to tradition and scripture. The western church used unleavened bread for communion which the eastern church did not. Another serious concern was that the Roman Latin church had added the "filioque" (and the son) to the Nicene Creed which said that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son. This was unacceptable to the eastern churches. After a feeble attempt to reconcile differences by a delegate from Rome who was sent to Constantinople, the Roman Patriarch excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Patriarch of Constantinople returned the favor by excommunicating the Roman Patriarch. The Christian Church was now no longer one church but two.

1095-1291 Over this almost 200 year period Christian armies from primarily Europe traveled to the Holy Land to capture, maintain control, or recapture the land from Muslim armies. These wars became known as the Crusades. In 1095 Pope Urban of Rome called the first crusade in response to a request for help from the Byzantine Emperor Alexius in Constantinople in his war against the Muslim Turks. In the first crusade the Holy Land was taken from the Muslims and Christian control lasted for about 80 years. Various cities were controlled at different times by each side over the 200 year period. The 4th crusade is noteworthy because the Christian European armies on their way to the Holy Land ransacked the Christian Orthodox city of Constantinople which further alienated the Latin speaking western Roman Catholics from the Greek speaking eastern Orthodox Christians.

The Inquisition began in 1184. It lasted for several centuries and occurred in several European countries. It was an organized effort by the Roman Catholic Church to suppress through threat, torture, and other punishment any teaching or practice of Christianity that did not agree with the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church considered the inquisition a fight against heretics and it continued through the 1500s which was the time of the Protestant reformation. As translated from Latin the purpose of the torture and other punishments of the inquisition was stated as follows: "for punishment does not take place primarily and per se for the correction and good of the person punished, but for the public good in order that others may become terrified and weaned away from the evils they would commit."

In 1453 the last remaining remnant of the Roman Empire, Constantinople, fell to the Muslim Ottoman Empire. The Great Christian Church, the Hagia Sophia, the Church of Holy Wisdom, was converted into a mosque. Many prominent Christians fled to Rome and this is one of the events that is credited with helping to fuel the European renaissance in the 1500s.

After the fall of Constantinople which was the center of Orthodox Christianity, Russia claimed Moscow to be the center of Orthodoxy. They had already elected their own patriarch or head of their church in 1448.