MARCH 23
Gregory the Illuminator Restored Christianity in Armenia (332)
“Since I am coming to that holy room, Where, with Thy Choir of Saints, for evermore I shall be made Thy music, as I come I tune my instrument here at t...”
John Donne. Devotions upon Emergent Occasions.
Let the Lord Use What We Have
The Lord needs it—Luke 19:34 (NIV). To say this to the owner of the colt at once stilled all opposition to his bei...
Events
452
Theodosius, who holds monophysite views, installs himself as Patriarch of Jerusalem this Easter Sunday, having ousted Juvenal, the orthodox bishop.
Authority for the date: Rampolla, Life of St. Melania1198
Last day for Waldenses and other “heretics” to leave the dominions of Pedro II, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona. Following this date, every “heretic” is liable to burn at the stake and have his/her property confiscated.
Authority for the date: Vacandard, E. The Inquisition.1324
Pope John XXII excommunicates Louis IV of Bavaria, Holy Roman Emperor, for exercising imperial rights when the pope had ordered him not to.
Authority for the date: Hughes, Philip. A Short history of the Catholic Church. Burns & Oates Ltd, 1974.1415
Jean Charlier Gerson, speaking at the Council of Constance, asserts that a pope may be forced to abdicate and that general councils are above popes.
Authority for the date: Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church.1532
Zurich leaders execute two Anabaptists by drowning, Heinrich Karpfis and Hans Herzog. These are the last of six such executions at Zurich.
Authority for the date: Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church.1542
Sebastian Castellio is appointed rector of the College of Geneva. He will run afoul of Calvin over personal disagreements and a dispute over the interpretation of the Song of Solomon. Expelled from Geneva, Castellio will suffer eight years of poverty before he is hired to teach at Basel. Calvin will also reject Castellio’s arguments for freedom of conscience advanced in Concerning Heretics.
Authority for the date: Zweig, Stefan. The Right to Heresy or, How J1593
After languishing in English prison seven years, John Greenwood and Henry Barrowe are brought to trial, charged with “publishing and dispensing seditious books.” While in prison they had written against Queen Elizabeth’s ecclesiastical supremacy. They will be hanged in April.
Authority for the date: Dale, R. W. History of English Congregationalism. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1907.1754
Death in Amsterdam of Johann Jakob Wettstein, a notable theologian and Bible scholar, accused of heterodox views by Reformed scholars but accepted by Remonstrants (Arminians).
Authority for the date: http://www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/W/wettstein-johann-jakob.html1869
The Methodist Episcopal Woman’s Board in Boston organizes the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society.
Authority for the date: Deen, Edith. Great Women of the Christian Faith. New York: Harper, 1959.1873
Delegates of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church elect Joseph A. Beebe, of North Carolina, and L. H. Holsey, of Georgia, to be bishops.
Authority for the date: Phillips, C. H. History of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America.1929
Jonas Ahui (by his claim) is ordained the successor of West African prophet William Wadé Harris, who gives him a Bible and sacred objects. Ahui will gather a large number of Harris followers into l’Eglise Harriste which will still be strong and active in the twenty-first century.
Authority for the date: Haliburton. The Prophet Harris1943
In a letter that he hand-delivers to the German occupiers of Greece, Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens denounces the deportation of Jews to concentration camps, quoting the Scripture that teaches that in Christ “there is neither Jew nor Greek.” When Nazis threaten to shoot him, he will reply sarcastically (alluding to an incident in which a Turkish mob lynched a former Patriarch), “According to the traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church, our prelates are hanged, not shot. Please respect our traditions!”
Authority for the date: cypriumnews.com/archbishop-damaskinos-the-greek-clergyman-who-stared-down-the-nazis1966
Arthur Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Pope Paul VI meet and exchange greetings in Rome, the first official meeting between heads of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches in more than four hundred years.
Authority for the date: www.vatican.va