Home / Early Christianity and Byzantium 6 B. C. – 1453 A. D. (page 2)

Early Christianity and Byzantium 6 B. C. – 1453 A. D.

Important events of early Christianity 6 B. C.- 400

6 B.C.  Probable date of birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, Judea.

A.D. 24 Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist and begins his ministry.

A.D. 29 The Crucifixion of Jesus.

A.D. 30? Paul, while on the Way to Damascus to persecute the Christians, has a vision and is converted; he begins preaching.

A.D.45-47 Paul’s 1st mission takes him to several towns in Asia Minor where he founds churches.

A.D. 48 or 49 The first church council meets in Jerusalem and decides that non-Jewish Christians are not bound by the laws of Moses, opening the way for Gentile converts.

A.D. 50-53 Paul’s 2nd mission to Asia Minor and Greece.

A.D. 53-57 Paul’s 3rd mission.

A.D. 57 Paul is arrested in Jerusalem and taken to Rome to await trial before Caesar.

A.D. 64 Nero blames the fire of Rome on Christians and has many of them killed, including, according to tradition, Peter and Paul.

A.D. 133 Jerusalem is destroyed by Roman troops, making Rome one of the chief centers of the church.

A.D. 153 Justin writes his Apology defending the Christian faith.

A.D. 261 Emperor Gallienus issues the first edict of toleration for Christians, ending persecution for a time.

303 A new wave of persecution begins under Emperor Diocletian, continuing until his death in A.D. 312.

A.D. 324 Constantine, the first Christian emperor, begins to build a new capital at Byzantium.

A.D. 325 Constantine calls a church council at Nicea to discuss and settle the disputes about doctrine.

A.D. 379-395 Reign of Theodosius, who limits citizenship to Christians and outlaws other religions.

A.D. 382 Jerome begins his translation of the Old and New Testaments into Latin.

A.D. 386 Augustine is converted to Christianity and becomes a priest at Hippo in North Africa.

A.D. 390 Ambrose, bishop of Rome, forces Emperor Theodosius to do public penance for a massacre.

A.D. 400 The final arrangement of the New Testament is decided.

Important events in Byzantium and the Church A. D. 430 – 1453

A.D. 430 Augustine, now bishop of Hippo, dies.

A.D. 431 The Council of Ephesus marks the beginning of the split between the eastern and western churches.

A.D. 445 The western Emperor Valentinian III endorses the authority of the bishop of Rome, or pope; over the rest of the church.

A.D. 455 Vandals capture and sack the city of Rome.

A.D. 476 Romulus, the last western emperor, is deposed.

A. D. 527-565 Reign of Justinian the Great, who puts down a revolt and becomes an absolute monarch.

A.D. 532 Construction begins on the great cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

A.D. 638 Moslem Arabs capture the city of Jerusalem.

A.D. 726 Emperor Leo III bans religious pictures, or icons, leading to strained relations with the pope.

A.D.800 The pope crowns Charlemagne king over territory belonging to the empire, increasing the bitterness between East and West.

A.D. 867 Pope Nicholas and Photius‚  the patriarch of Constantinople excommunicate each other, splitting the church.

A. D. 878 Oleg, regent for the young Prince Igor of the Russians, captures the town of Kiev.

A. D. 907 Prince Igor assumes the throne and forces the Byzantine Empire to sign a trade treaty.

A.D. 944 A great fleet under Igor attacks Byzantium and is defeated.

A.D.990 Prince Vladimir converts to Christianity and makes it the state religion of Kievan Russia.

A.D. 1204 Crusaders, tempted by the promises of Venetian merchants, capture and loot the city of Constantinople.

A.D. 1240 The Mongol hordes capture and burn Kiev, slaughtering the inhabitants.

A.D. 1261 The Byzantines recapture Constantinople, but hold little of their former empire.

A.D. 1326 The Ottoman Turks conquer parts of the Byzantine Empire.

A.D. 1453 The Turks besiege and take Constantinople, bringing the Byzantine Empire to an end.

The Resurrection and the Faithful Few A. D. 29 – 35

resurrection

JESUS lived and died a Jew. Like the ancient Hebrew teachers, he urged people to love God and to love their neighbours. He left no writings of his own. His public ministry was short, possibly not as long as two years. It seems probable, therefore, that his influence on world history might not have been nearly as great had his story ended on the cross. The gospel story does not end with his crucifixion. He died on Friday. To speed the death of those crucified on Fridays, so that they could be buried before the Sabbath, the legs of the victims were usually broken. The soldiers broke the legs of the thieves hanging on either side of Jesus. But since Jesus seemed to be dead already they did not break his legs. To make certain he was dead one of the soldiers thrust his spear into the side of Jesus. One Joseph of Arimathea received permission from Pilate to take away the body of Jesus. This he did with the help of friends and placed the body, in a new sepulcher in a nearby garden. The grave was really a cave hollowed out of rock in the side of a hill. Over the entrance they rolled a huge stone. The following day being the Sabbath, nothing more could be done. Early Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene and other followers of Jesus brought sweet spices to anoint his body. But they found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. Puzzled and frightened, the others left the place, but Mary did not leave. While she was weeping by the side of the tomb Jesus suddenly appeared before her. That same evening in Jerusalem, Jesus appeared before a number of disciples gathered together in a locked room. The disciples were terrified, for they …

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The Life of Jesus Christ (B. C. 6 to 29 A. D.)

ALL THAT is known about Jesus of Nazareth appears in the first four books of the New Testament. These books, written many years after his death, are called the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. There are differences of detail in each and the events of his life are not always reported in only one or two of the books, others in all of them. The gospels of Matthew and Luke, for example, begin with the birth of Jesus to a virgin named Mary. The gospels of Mark and John begin with events that took place some thirty years later. In general, the life story of Jesus is the same in all four gospels. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, probably about 6 B.C. Almost nothing is said of his childhood, except that he lived in a village called Nazareth in the province of Galilee with his mother Mary and her husband Joseph. Joseph was a carpenter. As a boy, Jesus probably served as his helper and became skilled in making such things as yokes for oxen, bins, chests, beds and kneading troughs. In his home, Jesus spoke the common language of the Jews, which was Aramaic. The synagogue served both as his school and as his place of worship. There he studied the Scriptures and probably learned his prayers in the ancient Hebrew tongue. We are told that during his youth he “increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man.” Jesus was thirty years old when John the Baptist began preaching in the valley of the Jordan near the Dead Sea. John was believed to be a prophet. From Galilee and from all the other provinces of Palestine, people came in large numbers to hear him. …

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The First Palm Sunday A.D. 29

JERUSALEM

IT WAS the Sunday before Passover. The soft greens of spring and patches of wild flowers brightened the hills above Jerusalem. The holy days of the Passover, celebrating the escape of the Jews from slavery in Egypt, would not begin until the following Friday at sundown. But people were already busy preparing for it. The roads leading into the Holy City were crowded with Jews coming to attend the rites in the Temple. On the roads were also herds of cattle, flocks of sheep and carts loaded with cages of turtledoves. These were being brought to the Temple to be sold for sacrifice on the altar of God. Each Jew, according to his ability, would make a burnt offering in thankfulness and praise to the Lord for delivering his ancestors from the hands of the Egyptians. In Jerusalem, bakers were busy baking flat cakes of hard bread, which was known as unleavened bread because it was made without yeast. Unleavened bread was the only kind the Jews were allowed to eat during the Passover. It was a reminder that their ancestors had eaten unleavened bread during their flight from Egypt, for then there had been no time to let the dough rise before baking. The Jews were not the only ones busy with preparations. In the great marble fortress of Antonia, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea was regrouping his soldiers for special duty throughout the city. With hundreds of thousands of Jews expected for the Passover, a large force of guards had to be held in readiness to deal with any emergency. Ruling over the Jews was no easy matter. They were stubborn‚ willful, independent; not at all like other conquered peoples. Palestine had been an occupied country for almost five centuries. The Jews had been conquered, in …

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