Chronology of Early Christianity
Below is chronology of events and people who appear in writing of the Bible. Reliable information is scanty, so dates are necessarly approximate. Generally, the date given is the latest likely. There are three different types of color-coded dates:
- Important events in Early Christianity
- Events in the creation of the Bible
- Other dates in history for comparison & context
Early Christianity |
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| c. 95 | Clement of Rome (c. 30 - 100), one of the earliest popes, writes a letter arguing that church leaders possess a divine authority inherited from Christ and his apostles. |
| c. 95- 105 | Composition of the "Pastoral Epistles", falsely attributed to Paul: Hebrews, I and II Timothy, Titus, and I Peter. |
| c. 100 | Gospel of Matthew is composed. |
| c. 100 | Christian churches are established in Greece, North Africa, Italy, and Asia Minor. |
| c. 100 - 125 | Gospel of John is composed. |
| 100 - 165 | St. Justin Martyr lives and is one of the first Christian apologists to offer a defense of Christianity. |
| 122 | Roman emporer Hadrian visits Britain and begins construction of a wall and fortifications between northern England and Scotland. |
| 132 | Shimeon Bar-Kokhba and Rabbi Akiba Ben-Joseph lead Jews in a revolt against Roman rule. They capture Jerusalem and create an independent state of Israel |
| 135 | Julius Severus, formerly governor of Britain, crushes the revolt in Palestine. Final Diaspora (dispersion) of the Jews occurs. |
| c. 140 | Shepherd of Hermas is written, presenting a highly developed system of bishops, deacons, and priests |
| c. 144 | Marcion founds an influential Christian which argues for the existence of two gods (one good, one evil) and for the rejection of the Old Testament. |
| c. 150 | Four "canonical" gospels are collected together. |
| c. 150 | School of Alexandria is founded in Egypt, quickly becoming a major center for both Christian theology and Greek philosophy. Among its prominent teachers are the theologians Clement (died c. 215) and Origen (c. 185 - 254). |
| 166 | Roman Emporer Marcus Aurelius sends gifts to Chinese Emporer Huan Ti. |
| c. 180 | Irenaeus (125 - c. 202), Catholic theologian, writes Against Heresies in an attempt to fight the spread of Gnosticism. He claimed that "every church must agree" with the church of Rome because of its apostolic authority. |
| 180 | First African Christians are martyred at Scillium. |
| 200 | New Testament canon is mostly fixed in currently known form. |
| 249 - 251 | Roman Emporer Diocletian persecutes Christians |
| 268 | Goths sack Athens, Corinth, and Sparta |
| 286 | Emporer Diocletian divides the empire - he rules the East and Maximilian rules the West. |
| 303 | Diocletian orders a general persecution of all Christians. |
| 312 | Constantine, Emporer of the Eastern Empire (from 306 - 337) defeats and kills Maxentius, Emporer of the Western Empire (from 308). Constantine converts to Christianity after seeing a vision before the Battle of Milvian Bridge. |
| 313 | Constantine issues the Edict of Milan, granting legal rights to all Christians and restoring their confiscated party. |
| 325 | First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea convened by Emporer Constantine: establishes Nicene
Creed as the fundamental statement of Christian doctrine. Purpose was to settle the dispute over the teachings of Arius (d. 336) that Christ was not equal in divinity to God. Council declares that Jesus was equal in divinity to God by majority vote and declares Arianism a heresy |
| 330 | Constantine rebuilds the city of Byzantium and renames it Constantiniople, establishing it as the new imperial capital city. |
| 350 | Christianity first reaches Ethiopia |
| 351 | Emporer Julian attempts to reintroduce paganism in the place of Christianity. |
| 367 | Festal Epistle of St. Athanasius (c. 293 - 373) offers earliest known list of New Testament canon in current form. |
| 372 | Buddhism introduced into Korea. |
| 380 | Christianity becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire under the reign of Theodosius I. |
| 381 | First Council of Constantinople. |
| 387 | Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430) converts to Christianity, becoming the leading theologian in the church's entire history by writing major theological works like City of God and Confessions and by writing polemics against heresies. |
| 395 | Roman Empire divided again between East and West, setting the stage for the eventual division of the Christian Church. Latin Christianity is based in Rome under the leadership of the popes, while Eastern Orthodoxy develops in the east in Constantinople under the leadership of patriarchs. |
| 401 | Innocent I becomes Pope (until 417) and claims universal jurisdiction over the Roman Church. |
| c. 405 | St. Jerome (c. 347 - 419) completes the Vulgate - a Latin translation of both the Old and New Testaments. This remains the Latin Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. |
| 410 | Lead by Alaric, the Goths sack Rome |
| 418 | British monk Pelagius (c. 354 - 420) is excommunicated. Pelagius denied original sin and the need for baptism, asserting that if God asked men to do good, then they must be capable of doing good on their own. He was condemned by Augustine. |
| 433 | Attila become ruler of the Huns (until 453) |
| c. 430 | Saint Patrick introduces Christianity to pagan Ireland. |
| 431 | Ecumenical Council of Ephesus denounces the teachings of Nestorius (d. 451), who argued that Christ had completely separate human and divine natures. In additio to voting that Christ was fully human and fully divine at the same time, it also voted that is the mother of God as well as of Jesus Christ. |
| 451 | Attila invades Gaul but is repulsed by joint forces of Franks, Alemanni and Romans at battle of Chalons. Invades Italy the next year. |
| 451 | Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon votes that Christ is simultaneously "truly man and truly God." |
| 455 | Gaiseric leads the Vandals in sacking Rome. |
| 476 | The Western Roman Empire falls to barbarian armies, leaving the church as the primary authority in the West. In the East, the Byzantine Empire based in Constantinople continues for the next 977 years. |
| 503 | Britons under war leader Arthur defeat the Saxons at Mount Badon |
| c. 529 | Italian monk Benedict establishes a monastary on Monte Cassino, in Italy. His Benedictine order creates the Western monastic tradition which spread rapidly throughout Europe. |
| 532 | The Church of Hagia Sofia (Divine Wisdom), the largest Christian church in the world, is built in Constantinople by Emporer Justinian (483 - 565) as the focal point of Byzantine Christianity. |
| 550 | Saint David takes Christianity to Wales |
| 553 | Second Council of Constantinople |
| 552 | Buddhism introduced into Japan. |
| 562 | End of Japanes power in Korea. |
| 563 | Irish monk Saint Columba founds a monastery on the island of Iona and begins the conversion of the Picts to Christianity |
| 570 | Mohammad born in Mecca. |
| 590 - 604 | Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540 - 604) begins his liturgical reforms and changes in church administration. He enhances both the power and prestige of the papacy. |
| 596 | Pope Gregory sends Augustine of Canterbury (d. 605) to England on a missionary journy to spread the message of Christianity. |
| 597 | Saint Augustine visits England and converts the kingdom of Kent to Christianity. |
| 620 | Vikings begin invading Ireland. |
| 624 | Buddhism becomes the established religion of Japan. |
| 625 | Mohammad begins dictating the Koran. |
| 632 | Death of Mohammad. |
| 635 | Muslims begin conquest of Persia and Syria. |
| 661 | Omayyad Dynasty in Islam. |
| 664 | At the Synod of Whitby, Oswy abandons the Celtic Christian Church and accepts the faith of the Latin Chruch of Rome. The Celtic Christian Church begins its decline. |
| 674 | Arab conquest reaches Indus River. |
| 680-81 | Third Council of Constantinople |
| 700 | The Psalms are translated into Anglo-Saxon and the Lindsisfarne Gospels are produces. |
| 726 | Byzantine Emporer Leo III (c. 680 - 741) begins the "Iconoclastic Controversy" by banning the worship of religious images (icons). |
| 731 | Venerable Bede, a British monk, finishes his history of the Church in England. |
| 756 | Donation of Pepin: the papal domains in Italy are created and established as territory under the soveriegn control of popes. |
| 787 | The Second Nicean Council meets - this is the last of the seven church councils commonly accepted as authoritative by both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. The Council votes to allow the veneration but not the worship of icons. |
| 787 | Danes invade England for the first time. |
| 800 | Charlemange (c. 742 - 814) is crowned Emporer by Pope Leo III (750 - 816) at Saint Peter's Basillica in Rome. This coronation marks th beginning of a new relationship between the church and state, with the emporer's temporal authority depending upon the spiritual blessing of the pope. |
| 843 | The worship of icons is restored in the East by Byzantine Emporer Michael III (839 - 867), thus ending the "Iconclastic Controversy." |
| 850 | Acropolis of Zimbabwe is built in Rhodesia. |
| 867 | Photian Schism between Eastern and Western churches begins during the first patriarchy of Photius (c. 820 - 891). Photius excommunicates Pope Nicholas I (c. 800 - 867) during their dispute over various issues, but especially the use in the Western church of the filoque clause in the Nicene Creed (meaning: "and from the son"). This had been added to the statement that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. The schism leads to Photius' deposition, but he later manages to achieve reconciliation with Rome. |
| 869-70 | Fourth Coucil of Constantinople |
| 874 | Vikings settle in Iceland. |
| 900 | Mayans emigrate to Yucatan Peninsula. |
| c. 950 | Catholicism is finally the prevalent and dominant religion throughout Europe. |
| 981 | Eric the Red settles in Greenland. |
| 988 | Vladimir I (c. 956 - 1015), grand duke of Kiev, declares Eastern Orthodox Christianity to be the official state religion of Russia. |
| 995 | Japanese literary and artistic golden age begins under emporer Fujiwara Michinaga (ruled 995 - 1028). |
| c. 1000 | Chinese perfect gunpowder. |
| 1002 | Leif Ericsson explores North American coast. |
| 1054 | Schism between the Western Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches finalizes long-standing split between the chuches. Pope Leo IX (1002 - 1054) and Patriarch Michael Cerularius exchange anathemas of excommunication. |
| 1059 | The College of Cardinals is established as the body responsible for electing popes. |
| 1100 | Polynesian islands colonized. |
| 1123 | First Lateran Council |
| 1139 | Second Lateran Council |
| 1151 | End of Toltec Empire in Mexico |
| 1179 | Third Lateran Council |
| 1189 | Last known Norse visit to North America |
| 1325 | Aztecs found Tenochtitlan |
| c. 1380 | John Wycliffe (c. 1320 - 1384), an English priest, begins the first English translation of the Bible. |
| 1483 | Inca Empire established in Peru. |
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