Historical Writings

Death of Pope St. Julius. A staunch defender of Athanasius, he gave him asylum when he was forced into exile by the empire's Arian faction.

The armies of the Fourth Crusade captured Constantinople and established the Latin Empire.

Pope Clement VI enumerates the many crimes of Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV and orders him to renounce the imperial dignity, which he ultimately does.

Reformation evangelist William Farel is forbidden to preach in Meaux, France. Subsequently, he will shift his endeavors to Switzerland.

Mass is said in Zurich for the last time as an act of the established church.

Protestant converts Thomas Loseby, Henry Ramsey, Thomas Thirtel, Margaret Hide, and Agnes Stanley are burned together in a single fire during the reign of Mary Tudor.

French-born Swiss reformer Theodore Beza (John Calvin's successor) wrote in a letter to Scottish reformer John Knox: 'They whose citizenship is in heaven ought to have their whole dependence on heaven.'

Deeply moved by the preaching of Jesuit priest Antonio de Andrade, the King of Tibet personally lays the cornerstone of the first Christian church in Tibet. However, the work soon will end because alarmed Buddhist monks will overthrow the king and shut down the mission.

Death of Jacques-Beniqne Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, orator, philosopher, and historian. A master of style and argument, he supported the divine right of kings, defended the freedom of the French church and monarchy against popes, upheld Catholic doctrines against Protestants, and obtained the church’s condemnation of some writings of the Quietist bishop François Fenelon.

The first issue of the Tatler, England's first magazine, goes on sale. It will demonstrate the power of the press to reform manners and morals. Joseph Addison, a Christian, will write many of its numbers.

Death of Acacius the Younger of Mt. Athos. An extreme ascetic and prayer warrior, given to night-long vigils, he was regarded as a saint in the Orthodox Church.

Thomas Cadell publishes William Wilberforce's A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Higher and Middle Classes in This Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity. The book becomes influential in changing the character of British society.

The Church Missionary Society was organized in London under the original name of the Society for Missions in Africa and the East. This Anglican missions agency currently works in fields located in Africa, Ceylon, India, Pakistan, Iran, Palestine and the Far East.

Baptism of Huang Guagcai, an orphan who will become the first Chinese deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church in China and later will be ordained its first clergyman.

Death of Adoniram Judson, Baptist missionary pioneer to Burma. He had translated the Bible into Burmese. At his death, he is on a voyage undertaken in an attempt to regain his health and overcome depression which makes him doubt his salvation. He and his wife, Ann, had been household names in America.

The Evangelical Reformed Church in Northwest Germany was created by royal decree when the king of Prussia ordered the 124 "reformed" congregations scattered throughout the area to become incorporated as an independent territorial church.

An 11-day constitutional convention in Hot Springs, Arkansas, ended. During its sessions, the Assemblies of God denomination was founded.

Patriarch Tikhon raises Vladimir Nikolsky to the rank of archbishop of Perm where he takes the name Andronicus. The following year Andronicus will be shot and buried alive (one account will say drowned) by Soviets irate that he stands for the old regime against their atheism and resists their looting of Russian Orthodox churches.

Twentieth anniversary of Watchman Nee's imprisonment, five years more than his maximum sentence. Within weeks the evangelical pastor will be dead.

Arrest of 200 Makarere Church people in Uganda under Idi Amin's cruel regime.