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[Painting in the Early-Christian catacomb of San Callisto (Saint Calixte Catacomb)—David Macchi / [public domain] Wikimedia]

— c. 96 The First Letter of Clement urges Christians to pray for and serve others.

— c. 130–200 Epistle to Diognetus describes early church civic engagement.

— 313 Constantine ends formal persecution of Christians. 

— 380 Christianity becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire. Around this time Basil of Caesarea founds the Basiliad, a precursor to modern hospitals.

— c. early 400s Daniel the Stylite combines monastic isolation with advising Emperor Leo I.

— 426 Augustine publishes City of God.

— 516 Benedict writes his Rule and begins to establish the Benedictine order, where monks and nuns live in community rather than as hermits.

— 532 Justinian begins the construction of Hagia Sophia, which will be consecrated in 537.

— c. 588 Symeon the Holy Fool, one of the first “fools for Christ,” dies in Edessa.

— 590 Gregory the Great becomes pope; some time after this, he writes the Dialogues including the “Life of St. Benedict.” 

— 797 Empress Irene begins her troubled reign as sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire. 

— 843 Empress Theodora ends the iconoclastic controversy by restoring icons to Byzantine worship.

— 989 The Peace of God Movement —an effort to reduce violence among feuding nobles—is proclaimed.

— 1019 Svjatopolk of Kiev kills his half-brothers, Boris and Gleb, who refuse to commit violence against him; they become celebrated as Orthodox martyrs.

— 1027 The Truce of God Movement is proclaimed. 

— 1098 The Cistercians are founded; like the Benedictines, they will become politically powerful.

— c. 1200 The first confraternities are founded; they feature laypeople gathering to promote works of piety and mercy as well as art and culture.

— 1216 The Dominicans are founded and soon become leaders in education.

— c. 1220 Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod, a famous Orthodox royal saint, is born.

— 1462 The first mons pietatis (an institution that lent money to the poor at reasonable interest) opens in Italy.

— 1522 Martin Luther publishes “The Estate of Marriage.”

— 1523 Luther publishes Temporal Authority: To What Extent It Ought to Be Obeyed.

— 1525 Luther publishes Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants.

— 1633 The Daughters of Charity are founded.

— c. 1719 Xenia, one of the modern “holy fools,” is born in Russia.

— 1826 The American Temperance Society is founded.

— 1833 The American Anti-Slavery Society is founded. 

— 1835 Alexis de Tocqueville publishes the first volume of Democracy in America. 

— 1869 Josephine Butler begins campaigning against the Contagious Disease Acts.

— 1879 Katharine Bushnell goes to India as a doctor.

— 1885 Butler begins to work against child prostitution. Horace Underwood first goes to Korea. 

— c. 1890s Many American churches begin observing the Sunday before Labor Day as “Labor Sunday.”

— 1894 The short-lived Modern Church is founded as a church for working people.

— 1898 Abraham Kuyper delivers his Lectures on Calvinism.

— 1901 Kuyper becomes prime minister of the Netherlands.

— 1902 Herman Bavinck succeeds Kuyper as professor of theology at the Free University.

— 1908 The Methodist Episcopal Church publishes its influential Social Creed.

— 1909 After the death of her husband Sergei, Elizabeth Feodorovna opens a convent that serves the poor. She is later canonized as an Orthodox royal saint.

— 1923 Bushnell publishes God’s Word to Women. 

— 1932 Maria Skobtsova takes monastic vows on the condition that she can continue to live in and serve the world. She becomes a rescuer of Jews from the Nazis.

— 1933 The “church struggle” over Nazism begins in Germany.

— 1934 Leaders of the Confessing Church release the Barmen Declaration.

— 1937 Bonhoeffer publishes The Cost of Discipleship.

— 1939 Bonhoeffer becomes involved in the plot to kill Hitler.

— 1943 Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens denounces the deportation of Jews from Greece.

— 1948 The apartheid era begins in South Africa, prompting significant resistance among Christians and others.

— 1955 Francis and Edith Schaeffer launch L’Abri.

— 1956 Billy Graham founds Christianity Today with Carl Henry as its first editor.

— 1979 Schaeffer and his son Franky release Whatever Happened to the Human Race?

— 1994 The election of Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa officially ends apartheid.

By The editors

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