Historical Writings

Nestorius is made Patriarch of Constantinople. His attacks on the use of the term "Theotokos" (God-bearer) to describe the Virgin Mary will lead to clashes and get him declared a heretic. He will not deny Jesus's nature as God, but feels the term challenges the important reality of Christ's human nature.

In Philadelphia, church reformer Richard Allen, 56, was elected the first bishop of the newly-created African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. (Previously, in 1799, Allen had been the first black ordained to preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church.)

Birth of Edward Kremser, German chorister. Included among his numerous vocal and instrumental works is the enduring hymn tune KREMSER ("We Gather Together").

Listeners who hear the first complete public performance of Brahms' Requiem in the cathedral of Bremen this Good Friday recognize it as a masterpiece. The master composer has taken his texts from the German Lutheran translation of the Bible and focuses on consoling the living.

Death of Henry Van Dyke, 81, an American Presbyterian clergyman and author. He is still remembered for two writings: a book, "The Story of the Other Wise Man" (1896), and a hymn, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" (1908).

U.S. Armed forces liberated the prison camp at Buchenwald, Germany. It was estimated that nearly 57,000 prisoners (mostly Jews) perished in the gas chambers of Buchenwald during its eight-year existence as a Nazi concentration camp.

Watchman Nee is arrested in Shanghai. This Chinese Christian becomes well-known in the West when his many books are published.

The Russian Orthodox Church in America was granted autocephalic independence by its Mother organization, the Russian Orthodox Church. Headquartered today in Syosset, New York, membership in this religious body currently numbers approximately one million.

Death in Seattle of Betty Greene, a Women’s Air Force Service pilot during World War II. She had founded the Christian Airmen’s Missionary Fellowship in 1945, later known as the Missionary Aviation Fellowship. After leaving the airforce, she flew for Wycliffe Bible Translators around the world.