Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, December 2nd, 2023
the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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Historical Writings
Today in Christian History
Saturday, August 25
325
The General Council of Nicea ended. This first ecumenical conclave in the history of the Church was attended by 300 bishops, who together established the Nicene Creed and set down the lunar formula for celebrating Easter.
1213
Archbishop Langton meets with several barons and the prelates of England who are unhappy with King John's despotic behavior. Langton reads aloud Henry I's coronation charter, on which certain English rights are based, and swears the barons to uphold it, forcing King John to sign the Magna Carta two years later.
1560
Protestantism was formally adopted at the First General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Scottish Parliament had earlier voted to accept a Calvinist confession of faith, declaring that the pope no longer had jurisdiction over Scotland.
1649
Death of Thomas Shepard, a well-known Puritan preacher and author.
1817
Joseph Mohr, 25, began serving as pastor of the St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria. (It was Christmas Eve, 1818, when Mohr and church organist Franz Gruber, together, produced the enduring Christmas carol, "Stille Nacht"/"Silent Night.")
1864
Birth of John Henry Jowett, English Congregational clergyman. In 1918, he succeeded G. Campbell Morgan as pastor of the famed Westminster Chapel in London.
1867
Death of Michael Faraday, an innovator in the field of electricity and a devout Christian.
1935
English Bible expositor Arthur W. Pink wrote in a letter: 'None but the Lord himself can afford us any help from the awful workings of unbelief, doubtings, carnal fears, murmurings. Thank God one day we will be done forever with "unbelief."'
1936
All foreigners are ordered to leave Suchow, compelling Mildred Cable, Francesca French, and Eva French - the China Trio - to abandon their long-time mission work in the remote regions of China.
1940
Japanese Christian socialist Kagawa is arrested as a traitor after church services.
1945
Execution of missionary John Birch in China. The US government, which knows the details of his undercover work, bungles a cover-up. The conservative John Birch Society, which attempts to expose such cover-ups, will take its name from this event.
1980
Death of Nicolai Michaelovitch Zernov, a Russian Orthodox expatriate who had taught at Oxford and written many books about the Orthodox Church and Russian Christianity. He also founded the Anglican-Orthodox ecumenical group Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius and worked continuously to unite Christians.
Copyright Statement
© 1987-2020, William D. Blake. Portions used by permission of the author, from "Almanac of the Christian Church"
© 1987-2020, William D. Blake. Portions used by permission of the author, from "Almanac of the Christian Church"
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