MAY 12
EPIPHANIUS, ICONOCLAST AND CHURCH FATHER (403)
“I heard a loud voice in the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he h...”
Gray, Thomas Ruffin. The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrections in Southampton, Va. Baltimore, Maryland: Lucas & Deaver, 1831.
Every Day Has Vexations and Blessings (1830)
Every day has its vexations; but every day has also its blessings and its joys.…The sunbeam that warms me, the dr...
Events
403
Burial of St. Epiphanius of Salamis in a new church he had built. An Orthodox bishop, he had opposed the use of icons that was creeping into the church, famously tearing down a curtain that depicted one. In his writings he had rejected Arianism and cataloged eighty other heresies. He also wrote directives for the translation of the Bible. The Seventh Ecumenical Council (787) while authorizing the use of icons, will name him a father and teacher of the Church.
Authority for the date: http://oca.org/saints/lives/2014/05/12/101356-st-epiphanius-the-bishop-of-cyprus563
Columba and twelve companions, sailing in a currach of wickerwork covered with hides, land at Iona on the eve of Pentecost. Iona will become a center of evangelization for Scotland and Northern England.
Authority for the date: McNeill, The Celtic churches1003
Death of Pope Sylvester II. Because of his interest in science, he had been accused of being in league with Satan. He had tutored the young Otto III, who upon ascending to power elevated Sylvester to the papacy—the first Frenchman to become pope. Sylvester’s main political achievement had been to form an alliance that drove the Saracens out of Italy.
Authority for the date: Brusher, Joseph. Popes Through the Ages, Third Edition. Neff-Kane, 1980.1792
William Carey publishes An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians, to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens.... The pamphlet forces many Protestants to rethink missions and becomes their manifesto.
Authority for the date: ” Lessons From The Life Of William Carey.” http://www.donelsonav.org/pocket/pp-991003.html1795
Death in New Haven, Connecticut, of Ezra Stiles, a Congregationalist pastor, theologian, and the seventh president of Yale. He had been an advocate of Hebrew studies.
Authority for the date: https://www.geni.com/people/Rev-Ezra-Stiles/60000000072911265431838
Death in Windsor, New South Wales [Victoria], of Samuel Marsden, missionary to New Zealand known as “Greatheart of the Maori.”
Authority for the date: Standard encyclopedias.1982
Pope John Paul II is approached at Fatima by a bayonet-wielding priest.
Authority for the date: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/3203594/Pope-John-Paul-stabbed-by-priest.html1986
Christians of the Nazarene Church of Maputo, Mozambique take literally 2 Chronicles 6:28-30 and humble themselves and pray for their nation, plagued by war and famine. Led by Salomão Macie, they will continute their intercession each evening through the 18th. The civil war will continue six more years. However the church will experience a large increase in members.
Authority for the date: Dictionary of African Christian Biography.