Church History: Era of the Seven Ecumenical Councils

Era of the Seven Ecumenical Councils

• 330 - Ethiopian King Ezana of Axum makes Christianity an official religion
  
• 334 - The first bishop is ordained for Merv / Transoxiana (area of modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and southwest Kazakhstan) ^[29]
  
• 341 - Ulfilas begins work with the Goths in present-day Romania
  ^[31]
  
• 354 - Theophilus "the Indian" reports visiting Christians in India;^[16]
  Philostorgius mentions a community of Christians on the Socotra islands, south of Yemen in the Arabian Sea^[33]
  
• 370 - Wulfila translates the Bible into Gothic, the first Bible translation done specifically for missionary purposes
  
• 378 - Jerome writes, "From India to Britain, all nations resound with the death and resurrection of Christ"^[24]
  
• 380 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I makes Christianity the official state religion^[35]
  
• 382 - Jerome is commissioned to translate the Gospels (and subsequently the whole Bible) into Latin (Price, p. 78</ref>
  
• 386 - Augustine of Hippo converted ^[36]
  
• 432 - Patrick goes to Ireland as missionary ^[38]
  
• 450 - First Christians reported in Liechtenstein^[24]
  
• 496 - Conversion of Clovis I, king of Franks in Gaul, along with 3,000 warriors ^[39]
  
• 499 - Persian king Kavadh I, fleeing his country, meets a group of Christian missionaries going to Central Asia to preach to the Turks
  
• 500 - First Christians reported in North Yemen; Nairam becomes Christian center
  
• 563 - Columba sails from Ireland to Scotland where he founds an evangelistic training center on Iona
  ^[43]
  
• 596 - Gregory the Great sends Augustine and a team of missionaries to (what is now) England to reintroduce the Gospel. The missionaries settle in Canterbury and within a year baptize 10,000 people ^[45]
  
• 635 - First Christian missionaries (Nestorian monks, including Alopen, from Asia Minor and Persia arrive in China ^[49]; Aidan of Lindisfarne begins evangelizing in the heart of Northumbria (England) ^[50]
  
• 697 - Muslims overrun Carthage, capital of North Africa
  ^[54]
  
• 720 - Caliph Umar II puts heavy pressure on the Christian Berbers to convert to Islam
  
• 716 - Boniface begins missionary work among Germanic tribes
  ^[55]
  
• 724 - Boniface fells pagan sacred oak of Thor at Geismar in Hesse (Germany) ^[56]
  
• 740 - Irish monks reach Iceland
  ^[57]
  
• 771 - Charlemagne becomes king and will decree that sermons be given in the vernacular. He also commissioned Bible translations.^[58]
  
• 781 - Nestorian Stele erected near Xi'an (China) to commemorate the propagation in China of the Luminous Religion, thus providing a written record of a Christian presence in China ^[59]
  

Church History: Ante-Nicene Age

Ante here means before the Nicene Creed, ante is different from anti-. The words in bold are people and events that you should know.


Main article: Ante-Nicene Period

• 110-160? Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, Letter to the Philippians, (Apostolic Fathers)
  
• 130-250? "Christian Apologists" writings against Roman religion: Justin Martyr,
  Athenagoras, Apology of Aristides, Theophilus of Antioch, Tatian, Quadratus, Melito of Sardis, Apollinaris Claudius, Marcus Minucius Felix, Arnobius, Epistle to Diognetus
  
• 132-135 Bar Kokhba's revolt: final Jewish revolt, Judea and Jerusalem erased from maps, region renamed Syria Palæstina (the term Palestine was originally coined by Herodotus), Jerusalem renamed Aelia Capitolina
  
• 150? Valentinius, most famous Christian Gnostic, according to Tertullian narrowly lost election for Bishop of Rome
  
• 150(+/-10)? Shepherd of Hermas, written in Rome (Apostolic Fathers)
  
• 160? Martyrdom of Polycarp (Apostolic Fathers)
  
• 180-202? Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon, combated heresies, cited "Western" Gospel text-type (Ante-Nicene Fathers); second "Primate of the Gauls"
  
• 223? Tertullian, sometimes called "father of the Latin Church" because he coined trinitas, tres Personae, una Substantia, Vetus Testamentum, Novum Testamentum, convert to Montanism, cited "Western" Gospel text-type (Ante-Nicene Fathers)
  
• 270? Anthony begins monastic movement
  
• 303-312 Diocletian's Massacre of Christians, included burning of scriptures (EH 8.2)
  
• 314 Arsacid Armenia first to adopt Christianity as state religion (mainstream date; traditionally 301)
  
• 321 Constantine decreed Sunday as state "day of rest" (CJ3.12.2), see also Sol Invictus
  

Pasted [edited] from ;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Christianity#Ante-Nicene_Period

Church History – A Basic Time Line

Before we begin to explore church history at this blog, we first need to establish some dates, if for no other reason, it helps create boxes to put people, places, and events in.


Here is a basic time line that we can play with. This is certainly not the only timeline and the dates are definitely open to debate. Few things occur out of the blue and a date chosen as a border marker, for example, 1648 and the end of the 30 Year War, wasn't a one-time happening obviously, we could just as easily mark it 1618 and the beginning of the war, or the pre-cursors to the war, or … well you get the drift.


Here are some dates that maybe helpful to you in understanding at least Western Church History.

Basic Breakdown

Apostolic Era (33-100 AD)

Early Church (100-305)

Christian Empire (305-475)

Middle Ages (475-1517)

Early (475-999)

Middle (1000 - 1299)

Late (1300-1517)

Reformation and Reason (1517-1648)

First Great Awakening (1648 - 1789)

Second Great Awakening (1789-1914)

Age of Ideologies (1914 - Now)



I would love to hear from the Korean side of the blog readers. How is Korean church history measured? 


Bonus points for anyone who can tell me why these dates were chosen