Timeline of Church History (Communist

Era (1917-1991))
https://orthodoxwiki.org/Timeline_of_Chur
ch_History_(Communist_Era_(1917-1991))
Timeline of Church History
Eras Timeline of Church History (Abridged article)
Eras New Testament Era | Apostolic Era (33-100) | Ante-Nicene Era (100-325) | Nicene Era (325-
451) | Byzantine Era (451-843) | Late Byzantine Era (843-1054) | Post-Roman Schism (1054-
1453) | Post-Imperial Era (1453-1821) | Modern Era (1821-1917) | Communist Era (1917-
1991) | Post-Communist Era (1991-Present) |
(Main articles)

The History of the Church is a vital part of the Orthodox Christian faith. Orthodox
Christians are defined significantly by their continuity with all those who have gone before,
those who first received and preached the truth of Jesus Christ to the world, those who helped
to formulate the expression and worship of our faith, and those who continue to move
forward in the unchanging yet ever-dynamic Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church.

Communist era (1917-1991)

1917 Bolshevik Revolution throws Church of Russia into chaos, effectively stranding
the fledgling Russian Orthodox mission in America; restoration of Moscow
Patriarchate with Tikhon as patriarch; British forces capture Jerusalem from Ottoman
Empire; Church of Georgia's autocephaly restored de facto by political chaos in
Russia; Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for the "establishment in
Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people"; Belogorsky St. Nicholas
Orthodox Missionary Monastery Cathedral (Perm Krai, Russia) is consecrated as the
largest cathedral in the Urals, but is soon captured by the Red Army.

1917-40 Persecution of the Orthodox Church in Russia begins, with 130,000 priests
arrested, 95,000 of whom were executed by firing squad.

1917-21 USSR Anti-Religious Campaign.

1918 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia murdered together with his wife Alexandra and
children; Metr. Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky) of Kiev and Gallich first bishop to be
tortured and slain by Russian Communists; deaths of of Hieromartyr Andronik,
Archbishop of Perm and Elizabeth the New Martyr; after the Armistice, in Britain the
"St. Sophia Redemption Committee" is formed, whose members included two future
Foreign Secretaries and many prominent public figures, seeking to restore Hagia
Sophia into an Orthodox Church (1918-1922).
 1918-1923 Allied Occupation of Constantinople.

1919-1922 Greco-Turkish War; a million refugees flee to Greece joining half a

million Greeks who had fled earlier; Pontic Greek Genocide eliminates the Christian
population of Trebizond.

1920 Death of Nektarios of Aegina; publication of Encyclical Letters by

Constantinople on Christian unity and on the Ecumenical Movement; re-
establishment of the Patriarchate of Serbia with the unification of the Patriarchate of
Karlovci (in the Habsburg Monarchy) with the Metropolitanate of Belgrade (in the
Kingdom of Serbia) and the election of Patr. Dimitrije (Pavlovic).

1921-28 USSR Anti-Religious Campaign.

1921 Constantinople renounces all claims to jurisdiction in any part of Africa, with
Alexandrian primate thenceforth known as Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All
Africa; Greek Archdiocese of America formed ; Abp. Tikhon (Belavin) elected
Patriarch of Moscow; Gorazd (Pavlik) consecrated as bishop for Western Rite Diocese
of Moravia and Silesia; an all-Ukrainian Synod is called in Kyiv and the Ukrainian
Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) (as yet unrecognized) is declared
independent from the Moscow Patriarchate (MP).

1922 Church of Albania declares autocephaly from Constantinople; formation of the

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia; British Mandate of Palestine begins;
Vladimir Lenin proclaims establishment of the Soviet Union; Solovetsky Monastery
converted by Lenin's decree to the "Solovki Special Purpose Camp", one of the
earliest forced-labor camps of the Gulag where 75 bishops died, along with tens of
thousands of laity ; Alcuin Club in England prints the Russian synod's report in favor
of adapting Book of Common Prayer for Orthodox use; death of Ethnomartyr
Metropolitan Chrysostomos (Kalafatis) of Smyrna; the predominatly Christian city of
Smyrna is destroyed, ending 1900 years of Christian civilization.

1923 Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia granted autonomy by Church of
Constantinople; Treaty of Lausanne affirmed the international status of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate, with Turkey guaranteeing respect and the Patriarchates full
protection; Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud defines the IdEgo-Super-ego as the three
theoretical constructs of the Psyche.

1924 Church of Constantinople recognizes autocephaly of Church of Poland; death of

Arsenios the Cappadocian, the Wonderworker; Bp. Daniel William Alexander
convenes meeting in Kimberley, South Africa, which decides to secede from the
African Church (a Protestant denomination) and affiliate with the (non-canonical)
"African Orthodox Church" in New York under George Alexander McGuire;
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the USA splits into two separate jurisdictions,
one for those from Galicia, and another for those from Carpatho-Ukraine, Croatia,
Hungary and Slovakia.
 1925 Church of Romania becomes a patriarchate; first Africans in sub-Saharan Africa
baptized in Tanganyika by Fr. Nikodemos Sarikas; death of Tikhon of Moscow; death
of Jonah of Manchuria.

1926 Polish Catholic National Church received as a Western Rite diocese in Poland of
Church of Russia under Bp. Alexis of Grodno; John Maximovitch tonsured by
ROCOR Metr. Anthony (Khrapovitsky) of Kiev; the Benedictine monastery
Chevetogne Abbey is founded in Belgium, dedicated to Christian unity, being a
double rite monastery having both Western (Latin rite) and Eastern (Byzantine rite)
churches holding services every day.

1927 Daniel William Alexander travels from South Africa to America to be

consecrated a bishop of African Orthodox Church; Orthodox Archbishopric of
Johannesburg established; bishops of Russian church in America authorize formation
of American Orthodox Catholic Church, including a Western Rite missionary
outreach; death of Ambrose (Khelaia) the Confessor.

1928-41 USSR Anti-Religious Campaign.

1928 Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius founded.

1929 Papal Bull Cum data fuerit regulates Uniate clergy in the US, mandating
celibacy, resulting in the return of several parishes back to Orthodoxy in 1938;
kingdom of Italy and Papacy ratify Lateran Treaty, recognizing sovereignty of Papacy
within the new state of the Vatican City; "Russicum" (Russian College or 'College of
St. Therese') founded in Vatican City by Pope Pius XI and run by the Jesuits; Russian
Fraternity of Saint Irenee in France celebrates Western Rite.

1930 Patr. Meletios Metaxakis attended the Seventh Lambeth Conference in England
as an observer.

1931 Reception of Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition

in Western Europe into the Ecumenical Patriarchate, led by Metr. Eulogius
(Georgievsky) of Paris; USSR bans sale or importation of Bibles; the Bonn
Agreement established full communion between the Church of England and Old
Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht.

1932 Daniel William Alexander travels to Uganda to meet Reuben Spartas,

establishing African Orthodox Church there.

1933 Church of Greece bans Freemasonry; opening of the new Patriarchal Palace in
Cairo by Patriarch Meletios, built at the expense of Egyptiot Greek benefactor
Theodore Kotsikas; Vatican and Germany sign the Reich Concordat, guaranteeing the
rights of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany.

1934 Hieromartyr John (Pommers) of Riga; episcopal consecration of John

Maximovitch; Daniel William Alexander travels to Kenya, establishing African
 Orthodox Church led by Arthur Gathuna; clergy opposing Nazi regime in Germany
have homes raided by secret police.

1935 Critical edition of Septuagint published in Gottingen Germany by Alfred Rahlfs

at the Septuaginta-Unternehmens (Institute); Old Calendar Church is formed when
three bishops declared their separation from the official Church of Greece stating that
the calendar change was a schismatic act.

1935-40 Italian forces occupy Ethiopia and begin intermittent persecutions of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

1936 Ukase of Moscow Patriarchate establishes Western Orthodox Church in France

using Western Rite.

1936-37 Many Russian Orthodox Clerics die in Joseph Stalin's Great Purge.

1937 Church of Constantinople recognizes autocephaly of Church of Albania; Holy

Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology founded; arrest of Alexander Hotovitzky,
missionary of America and hieromartyr of the Bolshevik yoke; Hieromartyr Bp.
Seraphim (Zvezdinsky) of Dimitrov executed by firing squad (canonized by the
Russian Orthodox Church in 2000); Hieromartyr Bp. Peter (Polyansky) of Moscow
and Krutitsy executed by firing squad.

1938 St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York) and St.
Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary (South Canaan, Pennsylvania) founded;
death of Silouan the Athonite; American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese
founded, when a group of 37 Carpatho-Russian Eastern Catholic parishes, under the
leadership of Fr. Orestes Chornock, were received into the jurisdiction of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate; Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung authors Psychology and
Religion.

1939 Galicia is divided as Poland gets partitioned between the German Empire and
Soviet Union approximately along the Curzon Line, so that Western Galicia goes to
the German Empire, and Eastern Galicia is affiliated with Soviet Ukraine.

1941 Martyrdom of Gorazd (Pavlik) of Prague by Nazis; Nicholas (Ono) of Japan is

the first Japanese national to be consecrated an Orthodox bishop.

1941-44 Pskov Orthodox Mission works for the revival of Orthodox Church life in
North-Western Russia and the three neighbouring Baltic republics (the 'Liberated
Regions of Russia'), during their occupation by Nazi Germany .

1941-45 Croatian Ustasa terrorists kill 500,000 Orthodox Serbs, expel 250,000 and
force 250,000 to convert to Catholicism.

1943 Church of Russia recognizes autocephaly of Church of Georgia; first

constitution of the African Orthodox Church in East Africa signed by Reuben Spartas
and Arthur Gathuna; Joseph Stalin meets with hierarchs of Russian Orthodox Church
 to establish a "patriotic union," granting concessions to the church, including the
gathering of the holy synod and the election of Sergius I as patriarch of Moscow.

1943-1944 Hundreds of Orthodox priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

eliminated, tortured and drowned by Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists -
Ukrainian Rebel Army, aided by Uniate Metr. Josyf Slipyj who was a spiritual leader
of Nazi military units that were later condemned by the Nuremberg tribunal, and who
was imprisoned by Soviet authorities for aiding the UPA.

1944 Fr. Evgraph Kovalevsky completes restoration of Liturgy of St. Germaine de

Paris.

1945 Church of Bulgaria's autocephaly generally recognized; library of early

Christian texts discovered at Nag Hammadi in Egypt; Soviet Union annexes
Czechoslovakia; Church of Russia claims jurisdiction over the Church of the Czech
Lands and Slovakia.

1945-1958 In the post-war era the official organization of the Church of Russia was
greatly expanded (although individual members of the clergy were occasionally
arrested and exiled), with the number of open churches reaching ca. 25,000.

1945-1990 Persecution of the Orthodox Church in Albania.

1946 Reuben Spartas of the African Orthodox Church visits Alexandria; Holy Synod
of the Church of Alexandria officially recognizes and accepts the African Greek
Orthodox Church in Kenya and Uganda; state-sponsored synod is held at Lviv,
Ukraine in March, which officially dissolves the Union of Brest-Litovsk and
integrates the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church into the Russian Orthodox Church,
Soviet authorities arresting resisters or deporting them to Siberia; first post-war
ROCOR Council of Bishops is convened in Munich.

1947 Dead Sea Scrolls discovered near Qumran in Egypt, pre-dating the Masoretic
text by about a millenium, many fragments of which agree with the Septuagint
version of the Bible over and against the Masoretic Text, proving that many of the
variants in the Greek were also present in ancient Hebrew manuscripts; death of
Alexei Kabalyiuk, who played a major role in reviving Orthodoxy in Transcarpathia
in the early 20th century.

1948 Martyrdom of Protopresbyter Dr. Gabriel Kostelnik, a Carpatho-Russian priest

who returned to the Orthodox Church soon after the end of World War II, having
presided over the Lvov Assembly in March 1946 calling for the return of all Uniates
to the Orthodox Faith; establishment of State of Israel and end of British Mandate of
Palestine; Church of Russia re-grants autocephaly to the Church of Poland (after
having revoked it in the aftermath of World War II); World Council of Churches is
founded; Council of Moscow is held on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the
independence of the Russian Church from Constantinople, with representatives of the
local Orthodox Churches rejecting all participation in the World Council of Churches;
after the Soviet Union recognized the state of Israel, Israel returned all Russian church
 properties on its territory to the Moscow Patriarchate, including the Russian
Compound.

1949 Soviet authorities revoke the Union of Uzhhorod of 1646, creating the Orthodox
Eparchy of Mukachiv-Uzhhorod, under the Patriarch of Moscow; Communist
takeover of China leads to oppression of religious groups.

1950 Pope Pius XII proclaims the Bodily Assumption of the Virgin Mary as a dogma;
Symeon (Du) is consecrated Bishop of Tianjin in July, becoming the first Chinese
Orthodox bishop, transferred in September to be Bishop of Shanghai (1950-1965).

1951 Church of Russia grants autocephaly to the Czechoslovakian Orthodox Church;

1500th anniversary celebration of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

1952 Death of Matrona the Wonderworker of Moscow; new Monastery of Panagia

Soumela built in the village of Kastania, in Macedonia, Greece, housing the
wonderworking icon of Panagia Soumela, becoming a center of religious pilgrimage;
Dr. Carl Jung publishes his Answer to Job, addressing the 'problem of evil'; the
Revised Amharic Bible (H.I.M. Haile Sellassie I Authorized Royal Amharic Bible) is
produced under the patronage of Emperor Haile Selassie, being presented to him on
April 19th, 1952, and first published in 1961.

1952-1960 With the onset of the Mau-Mau Movement in Kenya (British East Africa
Protectorate), the Orthodox Church is banished by the British Colonial Government
suffering severe oppression.

1953 Metr. Antony (Bashir) accepts three Western Rite parishes into Syrian
Metropolitanate in America.

1956 Church of China under Chinese administration is established under pressure

from the Chinese authorities.

1957 Church of Russia grants autonomy to Church of China.

1958-1964 In the USSR Nikita Khrushchov initiated his own campaign against the
Russian Orthodox Church and forced the closure of about 12,000 churches. Many
closed churches were deastoyed.

1958 Patr. of Antioch adopts provisions of Russian synods of 1879 and 1907 for use
by Western Rite in America; Western Orthodox Church of France comes under Abp.
John Maximovitch, who authorizes the use of the restored Gallican rite.

1959 Abp. Anastasios (Yannoulatos) of Albania establishes inter-Orthodox mission

agency Porefthentes (Go Ye) to revive the church's mission activities; autocephaly
granted to the Church of Ethiopia by Coptic Pope Cyril VI (Atta) of Alexandria.

1961 Creation of Western Rite Vicariate in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian

Archdiocese of North America; death of Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) of Simferopol;
 consecration of first Orthodox Church in Uganda; first Pan-Orthodox Conference in
Rhodes; first ever visit of a Greek Orthodox Patriarch to Canada, as Patr. Benedict of
Jerusalem begins a North-American tour to raise funds for the restoration of the
shrines in the Holy Land; Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly in outer space;
death of eminent psychologist Dr. Carl Jung, often considered the first modern
psychologist to state that the human psyche is "by nature religious" and to explore it
in depth.

1962 Philosopher and historian of science Thomas Kuhn publishes The Structure of
Scientific Revolutions, a landmark study in the sociology of knowledge, popularizing
the terms "paradigm" and "paradigm shift", seeking to debunk the conception of
cumulative scientific development as a myth.

1962-1965 Second Vatican Council held in Rome, initiating major modernist liturgical
and theological reforms for the Roman Catholic Church, including restriction of
ancient Tridentine Mass and introduction of the Novus Ordo.

1963 1900th anniversary of martyrdom of Apostle Mark; second Pan-Orthodox

Conference in Rhodes; 1000th anniversary celebration of founding of Mount Athos;
independence of Kenya from British colonial rule eases the situation of the Orthodox
Church, which is eventually recognized by President Jomo Kenyatta and receives help
from the Church of Cyprus over time; on the Sunday of Orthodoxy March 3rd 1963
an assembly of priests and laypeople from Kenya and Uganda was held in Kampala,
reaffirming their full support and attachment to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of
Alexandria.

1964 Meeting of Pope Paul VI of Rome and Patr. Athenagoras I (Spyrou) of

Constantinople in Jerusalem; third Pan-Orthodox Conference in Rhodes; Synaxis of
the Saints of Rostov established by resolution of His Holiness Patriarch Alexis I and
the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church; the Russian Compound was
purchased by the government of Israel from the Moscow Patriarchate (except for the
cathedral and one building), paid for in $3.5 million worth of oranges (The "Orange
Deal").

1965 Pope Paul VI of Rome and Patriarch Athenagoras I (Spyrou) of Constantinople

mutually nullify the excommunications of 1054; Abp. John Maximovitch consecrates
Jean-Nectaire (Kovalevsky) for Western Orthodox Church of France; the office of
Latin Patriarch of Constantinople is officially abolished.

1966 Translation of the sacred relics of the Holy Apostle Titus of Crete, from Venice
(which took them in 1669), back to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Crete; the
Cultural Revolution almost totally destroyed the young Chinese Orthodox Church; the
Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("List of Prohibited Books") is formally abolished on
14 June by Pope Paul VI.

1967 Church of Macedonia unilaterally declares its autocephaly, making it

independent of the Church of Serbia (as yet unrecognized); Albania is declared an
atheist state, closing all religious institutions and forbiding any religious practices.
 1968 Visit to Patriarchate of Alexandria by Vatican representatives, who give Patr.
Nicholas VI a part of the relics of St Mark from Venice, on behalf of Pope Paul VI;
fourth Pan-Orthodox Conference in Chambesy, Switzerland.

1968-1971 Millions of Christians, Muslims, Jews and others witness apparitions of

the Virgin Mary many times over a three year period over the Coptic Orthodox
Church of St. Mary at Zeitun, Cairo, recognized as authentic by the Coptic Orthodox
Church and other churches.

1969 Metr. Philaret (Voznesensky) of New York (ROCOR) issues the first of a series
of "Sorrowful Epistles" (1969, 1971, 1975) to the primates of the local Orthodox
Churches, condemning forays into ecumenism.

1970 Russian-American Metropolia reconciles with Church of Russia and is granted

autocephaly, renamed as the Orthodox Church in America, returning control of
Church of Japan to Moscow, which grants it autonomy; glorification of Herman of
Alaska in separate services by the ROCOR and the OCA; Abp. Makarios III
(Mouskos) of Cyprus baptizes 10,000 into the Orthodox Church in Kenya.

1971 Halki Seminary closed by Turkish authorities; inauguration of the new

Patriarchal Palace of the Church of Alexandria at St Savva Monastery (21 November).

1972 Death of pioneer missionary Archim. Chrysostomos Papasarantopoulos, having

laboured to spread the Orthodox faith in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Congo.

1973 Anglican-Orthodox dialogue began, when the Anglican-Orthodox Joint

Doctrinal Discussions (A/OJDD) held its first meeting in Oxford; Fr. Reuben Mukasa
Spartas is consecrated as Bp. Christophoros of Nilopolis; Fr. George Arthur Gatung'u
Gathuna is consecrated as the Bishop of Nitrea on February 25 in Kagira, the first
black African Bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church of Kenya.

1974 1600th anniversary of death of Athanasius the Great.

1975 Division in the Antiochian church in North America overcome by the uniting of
the two Antiochian archdioceses into one by Metr. Philip (Saliba) of New York and
Abp. Michael (Shaheen) of Toledo; Joint Commission of Orthodox and Old Catholic
theologians is established.

1976 First Pre-Synodal Pan-Orthodox Conference at Orthodox Centre of the

Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambesy, Switzerland; the first phase of the Anglican-
Orthodox dialogue was concluded by the publication of The Moscow Agreed
Statement; the General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the USA (ECUSA)
approves ordination of women to all three orders: bishop, priest, and deacon.

1977 The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha - Revised Standard
Version (Expanded Edition) is published, endorsed by Abp. Athenagoras (Kokkinakis)
of Thyateira and Great Britain; Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS, 4th ed.) is
 published, including footnotes with possible corrections to the Hebrew text based on
the Samaritan Pentateuch, Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, Vulgate, and Peshitta.

1979 Pope John Paul II visits Ecumenical Patriarchate; torture and martyrdom of
Archim. Philoumenos (Hasapis), keeper of the Greek monastery of Jacob's Well in
Samaria (Nablus, West Bank), by Zionist extremists who also desecrate the church;
Joint Commission of Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches for Theological
Dialogue established by Pope John Paul II and Patr. Demetrius I (Papadopoulos) of
Constantinople.

1980 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue, 1st

plenary, met in Patmos and Rhodes; Greek priest-monk Fr. Athanasios Anthides
travelled to India to begin a systematic Orthodox Mission in the rural area of
Arambah, in West Bengal; Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician Bob Marley
(+1981) is baptized by Abp. Abuna Yesehaq of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in
Kingston, Jamaica, on November 4, 1980.

1981 Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission meets for the first time in Espoo, Finland.

1982 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission publishes in Munich first official

common document, "The Mystery of the Church and of the Eucharist in Light of the
Mystery of the Holy Trinity"; second Pre-Synodal Pan-Orthodox Conference in
Chambesy, Switzerland; formal founding of Makarios III Patriarchal Seminary in
Nairobi, Kenya.

1984 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission, 3rd plenary, meets in Khania,

Crete; the second phase of the Anglican-Orthodox dialogue was concluded with the
publication of The Dublin Agreed Statement; neomartyr Bp. Paul (de Ballester-
Convallier) of Nazianzus.

1985 Founding of Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) as Greek

Archdiocesan Mission Center; Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission issues statement
"Divine Revelation."

1986 Third Pre-Synodal Pan-Orthodox Conference in Chambesy, Switzerland.

1987 Visit by Ecumenical Patr. Demetrius I (Papadopoulos) of Constantinople to

Vatican; Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission issues common document
"Faith, Sacraments and the Unity of the Church"; group of twenty parishes of the
Evangelical Orthodox Church, originally formed by former Campus Crusade for
Christ leaders Peter Gillquist and Jon Braun, are received into Antiochian
Archdiocese in US, becoming the Antiochian Evangelical Orthodox Mission;
Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission issues the statement "Scripture and Tradition;"
Optina Monastery was officially re-established; on August 19 Patr. Pimen of Moscow
and All Russia, and Ec. Patr. Demetrios I of Constantinople co-celebrated the Divine
Liturgy on the Feast of the Transfiguration at the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Monastery
for the first time in 398 years (since January 1589); death of noted Russian
iconographer Leonid Alexandrovich Ouspensky.
 1988 1000th anniversary of Orthodoxy in Russia; the beginning of renaissance the
Orthodoxy in USSR; Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission publishes
common document "The Sacrament of Order in the Sacramental Structure of the
Church"; Indonesian Muslim convert to Orthodoxy Fr. Daniel Byantoro begins his
mission in Indonesia, sparking the rebirth of Orthodoxy there; Mount Athos is
designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

1989 Church of Constantinople recognizes autocephaly of the Church of Georgia;

Elder Ephraim begins founding Athonite-style monasteries in North America;
Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission issues statement "The Canon and the
Inspiration of the Holy Scripture"; glorification in Russia of Tikhon of Moscow;
Uniate Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church legalized, with Greek Catholics beginning
seizure of property from Russian Orthodox Church, which they claimed as theirs prior
to the synod of 1946; the third phase of the Anglican-Orthodox dialogue began, when
the commission was re-constituted as The International Commission for Anglican-
Orthodox Theological Dialogue (ICAOTD), under the chairmanship of Metr. John of
Pergamon and Bp. Henry Hill (succeeded in 1990 by Bp. Mark Dyer); Orthodox-
Oriental Orthodox Joint Commission adopts the first Agreed Statement on
Christology, at a historic meeting at the Anba Bishoy Monastery, Egypt from June 20-
24, 1989.

1990 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Theological Commission meets in Freising,

Germany; first Orthodox service in seventy years held in St. Basil's Cathedral; murder
of Fr. Alexander Men; death of Fr. Athanasios Anthides, first Greek Orthodox
Missionary to India, suceeded a year later by priest-monk Fr. Ignatios Sennis, who
came to Calcutta to continue the mission; Orthodox-Oriental Orthodox Joint
Commission adopts the Second Agreed Statement; commemoration of the Optina
Monastery startsy was approved by the Synod of the Russian Church Abroad in 1990
(and by MP in 1996).

Notes
Some of these dates are necessarily a bit vague, as records for some periods are
particularly difficult to piece together accurately.

The division of Church History into separate eras as done here will always be to some
extent arbitrary, though it was attempted to group periods according to major
watershed events.

This timeline is necessarily biased toward the history of the Orthodox Church, though
a number of non-Orthodox or purely political events are mentioned for their
importance in history related to Orthodoxy or for reference.

See also
Timeline of Orthodoxy in America

Timeline of Orthodoxy in Australia

 Timeline of Orthodoxy in China

Timeline of Orthodoxy in Greece

Timeline of Orthodoxy in New Zealand

Timeline of Orthodoxy in Japan

Timeline of Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic relations

Published works
The following are published writings that provide an overview of Church history:

From an Orthodox perspective

Schmemann, Alexander. The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy.

Ware, Timothy. The Orthodox Church: New Edition. (ISBN 0140146563)

Nikolas K. Gvosdev. Emperors and Elections: Reconciling the Orthodox Tradition

with Modern Politics. Huntington, NY: Troitsa Books, 2000.

Theodore Papadopoullos. Orthodox Church and Civil Authority. Journal of

Contemporary History. Vol. 2, No. 4, Church and Politics (Oct., 1967), pp.201-209.

From a Heterodox perspective

Cairns, Earle E. Christianity Through the Centuries: A History of the Christian

Church. (ISBN 0310208122)

Collins, Michael, ed.; Price, Matthew Arlen. Story of Christianity: A Celebration of

2000 Years of Faith. (ISBN 0789446057)

Gonzalez, Justo L. A History of Christian Thought, Volume 3: From the Protestant

Reformation to the Twentieth Century. (ISBN 0687171849)

Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume 2: Reformation to the Present

Day. (ISBN 0060633166)

Hastings, Adrian, ed. A World History of Christianity. (ISBN 0802848753)

Jones, Timothy P. Christian History Made Easy. (ISBN 1890947105)

Noll, Mark A. Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity.

(ISBN 080106211X)
 Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine,
Volume 5: Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture (since 1700). (ISBN 0226653803)

Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church. (ISBN 156563196X)

Walton, Robert C. Chronological and Background Charts of Church History. (ISBN

0310362814)