7000 | 1492 AD | —Seventh age ends, eighth and last age begins. |
| 1512-17 AD | —Council of Lateran, convened and presided over by Pope Julius II and attended by several cardinals and bishops, repudiates the Council of Pisa and annuls the French "Pragmatic Sanction." Pope Julius dies and Leo X is elected. The latter presides over the Council, which formulates several canons and anathematizes the philosopher Peter Pomponazzi, who had taught heretical Aristotelian doctrines in regards to the soul. |
| 1517 AD | —Martin Luther nails his 95 theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenburg. Protestant Reformation begins in Germany with Lutheran schism (Lutheranism). |
| 1534 AD | —King Henry VIII creates the independent Church of England, after separating from the Pope of Rome, due to the fact that the latter would not grant him permission to divorce his wife and remarry. The Church of England later reforms and becomes a protestant sect. |
| 1541 AD | —Calvin leads Protestant Reformation in Geneva forming Calvinist schism (Calvinism). |
| 1545-62 AD | —Council of Trent, convened and presided over by Pope Paul III and attended by several bishops, condemns Lutheranism, Calvinism and other heretical forms of Protestantism. |
| 1551 AD | —Council of Moscow ( "Stoglav Synod" or "Council of the 100 Chapters"), convened by Russian Emperor Ivan IV the Terrible, presided over by Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow, and attended by several bishops of the Russian Church, formulates canons in regards to church discipline and liturgy, and glorifies (canonizes) numerous Russian saints. |
| 1560AD | —John Knox leads Protestant Reformation in Scotland and forms Presbyterian Church. |
| 1569 AD | —Frankish Pope Pius V orders his subjects to no longer make the sign of the cross with three fingers and from the right shoulder to the left (as was the ancient tradition), but rather with the entire extended hand and from the left shoulder to the right, in order to be different from the Easterners. The signing of the cross with three fingers is preserved only for the Pope, for bishops, and for the Carthusian and Dominican monastic orders. |
| 1582 AD | —Robert Browne leads Reformation in Holland and forms Congregationalist Church. |
| 1582 AD | —Frankish Pope Gregory XIII, with the help of pagan astronomers, formulates the new, papal, Gregorian Calendar, and demands its acceptance throughout the world. |
| 1582 AD | —King Sigismund III of Poland, a Franco-Latin, adopts the Gregorian Calendar within the realms of his kingdom. Thus the Ruthenian Orthodox Church, centered at Kiev and under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, inquires whether it should also adopt the Gregorian calendar, but Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah II calls a council and addresses a Patriarchal Sigilium (Bull) to the people of Trigovisty, under Polish rule, and to the entire Orthodox world in general, warning them not to adopt the new, papal, Gregorian calendar. |
| 1583 AD | —Council of Constantinople (Pan-Orthodox Synod), convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah II, called the Illustrious, of Constantinople, and attended by Patriarchs Sylvester of Alexandria and Sophronius of Jerusalem and several other bishops, condemns those who uncanonically and heretically insert the filioque clause in the Nicene creed, thereby believing that the Holy Spirit proceeds essentially and hypostatically from both the Father and the Son, rather than essentially from the Father alone, and from the Father and Son together only in a temporal sense; those who do not administer both the body and blood in the Eucharist, bur rather only the body, claiming that it is sufficient, although Christ administered both kinds; those who administer the body in the form of unleavened bread, contrary to the gospels and ancient tradition; those who perform the mystery of holy baptism by sprinkling, rather than by triple immersion; those who believe that at the Second Coming the Lord will judge only bodies and not also souls, or embodied souls; that Christians who had failed to repent on earth go to a mythical purgatory where they are cleansed by fire before entering paradise, or that hell is not everlasting but only temporary, as in the teachings of Origen; that the Pope of Rome, rather than the Lord Jesus Christ, is the head of the Church, and supposedly has certain rights to admit people into paradise by way of indulgences, passports or licenses to sin; and those who trample upon the decrees of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea by adopting the unorthodox Gregorian Paschalion and Menologion (i.e. the new calendar). |
| 1587 AD | —Council of Constantinople (Pan-Orthodox Synod), convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah II and attended by Patriarchs Sylvester of Alexandria, Joachim V of Antioch, Sophronius of Jerusalem and several bishops, condemns any attempt to adopt the new, papal, Gregorian calendar or to revise the Julian calendar. |
| 1589 AD | —Council of Moscow, convened by Russian Emperor Theodore I, presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah II, and attended by several Greek and Russian bishops, raises Metropolitan Job of Moscow to the rank of Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, thereby restoring the ancient pentarchy, Moscow having replaced the fallen Old Rome. |
| 1589 AD | —Council of Vilna, convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah II, and attended by several bishops, formulates regulations for the administration of the Ruthenian Church and elects Metropolitan Michael Rahoza of Kiev as exarch and primate. |
| 1593 AD | —Council of Constantinople (Pan-Orthodox Synod), convened by Russian Emperor Theodore I, presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah II, and attended by Patriarchs Meletius Pegas of Alexandria, Joachim VI of Antioch, Sophronius of Jerusalem, Job of Moscow and several bishops, condemns the use of the new, Gregorian calendar. |
| 1594 AD | —Council of Brest-Litovsk, convened by King Sigismund III of Poland, presided over by Metropolitan Michael of Kiev, and attended by the Ruthenian bishops, severs communion with Ecumenical Patriarchate and petitions for union with Franco-Latin Pope Clement VIII. |
| 1595 AD | —Council of Rome, convened and presided over by Franco-Latin Pope Clement VIII, and attended by several cardinals and bishops, receives the Ruthenians into communion, allowing them to recite the creed without the filioque clause and to retain the Eastern rite. This event forms the "Greek Catholic," "Byzantine Catholic" or "Uniate Catholic" Church. |
| 1596 AD | —Council of Brest-Litovsk, convened by Prince Constantine of Ostrog, presided over by Bishop Gideon Balaban of Lemburg, and attended by Bishop Michael Kopystenski of Przemysl, Archimandrite Nicephorus (representing the Ecumenical Patriarch), Cyril Lucaris (representing the Patriarch of Alexandria) and several fathers, condemn the union of the Ruthenians with the Pope, declare the maintenance of the Old Calendar, and petition the Ecumenical Patriarchate to depose the Uniate metropolitan and bishops. |
| 1605 AD | —John Smyth leads Protestant Reformation in Amsterdam and forms Baptist Church. |
| 1620AD | —Council of Moscow, convened by Russian Emperor Michael, presided over by Patriarch Philaret, and attended by several bishops, declare Latin converts to be received by the rite of baptism, due to the fact that Latins baptize by aspersion rather than triple immersion. |
| 1628 AD | —Council of Kiev, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Job of Kiev, and attended by bishops from throughout western Russia (at that time under Polish rule), condemn the union of Brest-Litovsk, depose and excommunicate the apostate Uniates, and declare their fidelity to the Orthodox Christian faith and loyalty to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. |
| 1628 AD | —Michael Jones leads Reformation in Holland and forms Dutch Reformed Church. |
| 1638 AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Patriarch Jeremiah II, and attended by several bishops, condemns the heretical Calvinism of Patriarch Cyril Lucaris. |
| 1642 AD | —Council of Jassy, convened by the Duke of Moldavia, presided over by Metropolitan Peter Moghila of Kiev, and attended by several bishops representing all five Orthodox patriarchates, condemns the Latin and Calvinist heresies and especially the Uniates who had been converted by Latin and Calvinist missionaries, confirms various so-called Apocryphal books as being genuine parts of scripture, and corrects the Latin errors of the Confession of Peter Moghila, thereby permitting it to be used for Orthodox catechism. |
| 1666-67 AD | —Council of Moscow (Pan-Orthodox Synod), convened by Russian Emperor Alexis, presided over by Patriarch Païsius of Alexandria, and attended by Patriarchs Macarius of Antioch and Joasaph of Moscow, Metropolitans Athanasius of Iconium (representing the Ecumenical Patriarch), Ananias of Sinai (representing the Patriarch of Jerusalem), and several bishops and fathers, condemn the Old Ritualists (who refused to comply with corrections made in order to comply with the Church's liturgical unity, such as celebrating feastdays on the same day as the rest of the Orthodox Churches, making the sign of the cross with three fingers instead of two, not kneeling on Sundays, etc); allows heretics and schismatics to be received into the Orthodox Church by the rite of chrismation, as an act of economy (dispensation), instead of baptism; and forbids the iconographic depiction of the Holy Trinity with God the Father as an old man and the Holy Spirit as a dove, due to the fact that it transgresses the rules of Orthodox iconography as expressed by the Seventh Ecumenical Council, and because the form of this image is of unorthodox Western origin. |
| 1670AD | —Council of Jerusalem, convened and presided over by Patriarch Dositheus, condemns al the Franco-Latin heresies, including the new, papal, Gregorian calendar. |
| 1672 AD | —Council of Jerusalem (Pan-Orthodox Synod), convened and presided over by Patriarch Dositheus, and attended by several bishops, condemns the Patriarch Cyril Lucaris for his heretical Calvinist theories (that salvation is by grace alone and therefore God supposedly predestined the salvation or damnation of each individual without taking any of their deeds into account, making man's free will irrelevant to salvation; prating that God wills the damnation of souls for no fault of their own; and that holy communion is not truly the Lord's holy body and precious blood, but rather only symbolic of the Lord's suffering). The acts of this council are later signed by all five patriarchates, including that of Russia, thereby making its decisions equivalent to that of a Pan-Orthodox Council. |
| 1701 AD | —Metropolitan Athanasius of Transylvania (under Hungarian rule) accepts union with the Franco-Latins, thereby forming the Uniate Greek-Catholic Church in Romania. |
| 1724 AD | —Due to Franco-Latin missionaries in Syria, the Roman Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch becomes tainted with pro-uniate, Latin-minded clergy. After the repose of the Roman Orthodox Patriarch Athanasius III Debbas of Antioch and all the East, the pro-Latin party headquartered in Damascus uncanonically elects Cyril VI as new patriarch. A week later, the Roman Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch elects Sylvester the Cypriot as rightful successor to the throne. The other Roman Orthodox patriarchates recognize the election of Sylvester, whereas Cyril and his party are condemned as schismatics. Having fallen into schism from the Roman Orthodox Church, the schismatics unite with the Frankish papacy and form what came to be known as the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. |
| 1754 AD | —The kyriakon of St. Anne's Skete on Mt. Athos is built and Orthodox faithful throughout the world send the names of their deceased relatives to be commemorated at the full services held in kyriakon. At first, the memorial services are only held on Saturdays, but due to the multitude of names to be commemorated, services begin to be held on other days of the week, including Sundays. This causes controversy as many fathers disagree with the practice of commemorating the dead on Sunday, the day of Resurrection. The fathers who disagree with the practice are scorned and called Kollyvades. Among these fathers, who are later glorified as saints, are Macarius Notaras of Corinth, Athanasius of Paros, Nicodemus of Athos and Arsenius of Paros (the latter had even died in "schism"). |
| 1755-56 AD | —Council of Constantinople (Pan-Orthodox Council), convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Cyril V, and attended by Patriarchs Matthew of Alexandria and Parthenius of Jerusalem, and several bishops representing the Orthodox patriarchates (the acts of this council are also later signed by Patriarch Sylvester of Antioch), decree that Western converts must be baptized upon their reception into the Orthodox Church. This council also condemns and anathematizes anyone that dares to change the calendar. |
| 1766 AD | —Council of Cetinje, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Sabbas of Zeta and Cetinje, declares the Archdiocese of Montenegro to be independent. The autocephaly is later recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Churches of Russia and Serbia. |
| 1772 AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Theodosius II, and attended by Patriarch Sophronius of Jerusalem and several bishops, declares the Kollyvades to be correct in serving memorials on Saturdays, but does not judge those who perform them on Sundays or any other day of the week. |
| 1773 AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Samuel Hantzeris, declares it proper to serve memorials for the dead on Saturday alone. |
| 1774 AD | —Council of Koutloumousiou in Athos, convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Cyril V, and attended by Patriarch Matthew of Alexandria and 10 bishops in total, anathematize whoever does not accept the synodical decisions on the Kollyvades issue. |
| 1776 AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Sophronius II, and attended by several bishops, excommunicates the Kollyvades. |
| 1780AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Sophronius II, and attended by several bishops, condemns the iconographic depiction of the Holy Trinity with God the Father as an old man and the Holy Spirit as a dove, due to its Franco-Latin origins, and because it transgresses the rules of Orthodox iconography. |
| 1815 AD | —Council of Cyprus, convened and presided over by Archbishop Cyprian of New Justiniana, and attended by several bishops, condemns freemasonry. |
| 1819 AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Patriarch St. Gregory V, endorses the teachings of the Kollyvades (forbidding memorial services for the dead to be held on Sundays, recommending frequent communion, and observing the empirical experience of hesychasm, regardless of metaphysical speculations and rationalism). |
| 1821 AD | —The Roman Orthodox Revolution is sparked and spreads throughout the Ottoman Empire, giving hope for the re-establishment of the Roman Orthodox State (Romania). |
| 1827 AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Patriarch Agathangelus I, and attended by several bishops, condemns any attempt to revise the church calendar. |
| 1828 AD | —The Roman State is re-established in Peloponnesus under John Cappodistrias, with the provisional capital of Nauplia en Romania (Napoli de Romania, Naples of Romania). |
| 1832 AD | —London Conference declares the newly established Roman State to be known as the "Kingdom of Greece" or Basileia tes Hellados in Greek, for Athens to be its capital, for its people to be called Greeks or Hellenes, and to be ruled by King Otto, a Bavarian royal. |
| 1833 AD | —Council of Nauplia, declares the liberated areas to be ecclesiastically independent of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and to be governed by a five-member synod of bishops. |
| 1848 AD | —Council of Constantinople (Pan-Orthodox Synod), convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Anthimus VI, and attended by Patriarchs Hierotheus of Alexandria, Methodius of Antioch, Cyril of Jerusalem and 33 bishops representing the Orthodox patriarchates, condemns all the Franco-Latin heresies that had arisen up until that time. |
| 1850AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Patriarch Anthimus VI, and attended by several bishops, recognizes the autocephaly of the Church of Greece. |
| 1865 AD | —The Romanian Church declares itself independent of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. |
| 1869-70AD | —Council of Vatican, convened and presided over by Pope Pius IX, and attended by several cardinals and bishops, confirms the false new dogma of the so-called Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary by St. Anne, and declares the pope, while he speaks ex cathedra in matters of dogma and church order, he is supposedly infallible. Many Franco-Latins disagree with this definition of papal infallibility and form what is later known as the Old Catholic Church, prominent in Germany and neighboring lands. |
| 1870AD | —Slavic-speaking Orthodox Christians living in the Thracian and Macedonian regions of the Ottoman Empire, who up until this time had referred to themselves as Romans and had belonged to the Rum Milet (Roman sub-nation under Ottoman rule), begin calling themselves Bulgarians as a reaction to the Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians of the same areas who had forsaken their Roman name and identity by adopting the term Hellenes. This ethnic schism between Slavic and Greek speaking Roman Orthodox Christians soon leads to an ecclesiastical schism. The Bulgarians sever communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch Anthimus VI of Constantinople (New Rome), and in his place install their own Bulgarian patriarch in Constantinople, as well as their own Bulgarian Metropolitans and Bishops in every major town of Thrace and Macedonia. |
| 1872 AD | —Council of Constantinople (Pan-Orthodox Synod), convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Anthimus VI, and attended by Patriarchs Sophronius IV of Alexandria and Procopius II of Jerusalem and several bishops, condemn phyletism (ethnocentric belief that Orthodox Christians in a given place and time should be divided into separate exarchates, based on ethnicity), and the Bulgarian schism is condemned. The decisions of this council are later accepted by the other local Orthodox Churches. |
| 1879 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Procopius I of Athens, and attended by several bishops, condemns the Makrakists, who believe in the Protestant delusion that humans supposedly each consist of three natures: a body, soul and spirit; and that the former two are mortal and corruptible whereas the latter is divine, being the Holy Spirit; rather than believing that all men consist of only a single human nature; that this one nature consists of two compartments, to wit, a body and a soul; that man's sprit is simply another term for his soul and these terms are used interchangeably; that the human nature does not consist of anything divine in and of itself; and that the human soul or spirit is not eternal, but is rather created immortal and incorruptible by divine grace. |
| 1879 AD | —Council of Sremsky-Carlovtsy, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Michael and attended by several bishops, declares the Serbian Orthodox Church to be autocephalous. |
| 1885 AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim IV, and attended by several bishops, recognizes the autocephalous status of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The autocephaly is later recognized by the other Churches. |
| 1888 AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Patriarch Dionysius V, and attended by several bishops, permits the reception of Western converts to Orthodoxy by the rite of chrismation as an act of economia (dispensation) in extreme circumstances. |
| 1895 AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Patriarch Anthimus VII, and attended by 13 bishops in total, condemns all the Franco-Latin heresies, including the new false dogma of the so-called Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary by St. Anne, and the blasphemous teaching that the pope is supposedly infallible and undeposable. |
| 1899 AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Constantine V, and attended by several bishops, deposes the newly-elected Patriarch Meletius II of Antioch, on the grounds of phyletism, due to the fact that the latter had been elected by an anti-Greek, pro-Arab party within the Antiochene Patriarchate, a similar party to that which caused the Melkite schism of 1724 and subsequent union with the Latins. |
| 1902-04 AD | —Council of Constantinople (Pan-Orthodox Council), convened and presided over by Patriarch Joachim III, and attended by several bishops, addresses the local Orthodox Churches of Alexandria, Jerusalem, Cyprus, Russia, Greece, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, requesting each to convene a council to decide two issues: firstly, whether steps should be taken for the Orthodox Church to enter into dialogue and subsequent communion with the so-called Old Catholics who had separated from the Pope in 1870 because they refused to accept the decisions of the Vatican Council regarding papal infallibility; and secondly, if an agreement could be reached in regards to whether or not to revise the Julian calendar or accept the Gregorian calendar, as requested by many proponents of revision. The Local Orthodox Churches each convene councils to discuss the issues at hand. These councils are: the Council of Alexandria (1902), presided over by Patriarch Photius; the Council of Jerusalem (1903), presided over by Patriarch Damian; the Council of Moscow (1903), presided over by Metropolitan Vladimir; the Council of Bucharest (1903), presided over by the Metropolitan of Wallachia; the council of Athens (1903) presided over by Metropolitan Theocletus; the council of Karlovtsi (1904), presided over by Metropolitan Innocent; and the Council of Cetinje (1904), presided over by Metropolitan Metrophanes. The Council of Constantinople (1904) is then resumed under the presidency of Patriarch Joachim III, and in accordance with the decisions of the Local Orthodox Churches it is decided that Universal Orthodoxy is in favor of communion with the Old Catholics so as long as the latter condemn all the Franco-Latin heresies and return to the fold of the Orthodox Church; and that Universal Orthodoxy condemns any attempt to revise the Julian calendar or accept the Gregorian, declaring that all Local Orthodox Churches adhere to the patristic Orthodox paschalion and menologion. |
| 1912 AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Patriarch Joachim III, and attended by several bishops, condemns the Onomatodoxi (name-worshippers), who believed that the name of God is not only holy and filled with the grace of God, but blasphemously prate that God's name is rather holy in and of itself, being God Himself. |
| 1913 AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Patriarch Germanus V, and attended by several bishops, again condemns the Onomatodoxi (name-worshippers). |
| 1913 AD | —Council of Moscow, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow, and attended by several bishops, condemns the Onomatodoxi (name-worshippers). |
| 1914-18 AD | —World War I. |
| 1918 AD | —Council of Moscow, convened and presided over by Patriarch Tychon of Moscow, and attended by several bishops, condemns and anathematizes Militant Atheism (Marxism, Communism) which had taken control over Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution. This council also confirms the earlier condemnation of the Onomatodoxi (name-worshippers). |
| 1919 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Germanus of Demetrias, and attended by several bishops, again condemns the new calendar. |
| 1920AD | —Council of Moscow, convened and presided over by Patriarch Tychon of Moscow and all Russia, and attended by several bishops, ratifies a directive to allow Russian dioceses outside Russia, or out of contact with the Moscow Patriarchate due to the Bolshevik persecutions, to set up self-governing temporary higher church administrations. |
| 1920AD | —Council of Constantinople (Syncretistic Synod), convened and presided over by Metropolitan Dorotheus of Prusa, and attended by several bishops, seeks union with the heterodox Westerners. This remarkable about-face is mostly due to the patriarchate's fear of the spread of Communism throughout the eastern lands, especially after the fall of the Russian and Ottoman empires and the rise of the new Bolshevik and Kemalian nations, the latter of which had begun a campaign of ethnically cleansing Asia Minor of its native Roman Orthodox population and placed the Ecumenical Patriarchate in jeopardy). Fearing the future, the council blasphemously declares union with heterodox possible, regardless of doctrinal differences; proposes the adoption of a new calendar common to all denominations; and calls for the convention of so-called pan-Christian assemblies for theological dialogue leading to the union of all Eastern and Western confessions. |
| 1921 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Germanus of Demetrias, and attended by several bishops, deposes Metropolitan Meletius Metaxakis of Athens for supporting the revolutionary government, which had caused the Venizelist schism. However, after his deposition by the Church of Greece, Metaxakis manages to usurp the throne of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Upon his installment by the revolutionary government, Metaxakis recognizes the orders of the heretical Anglican Church of England. |
| 1922 AD | —Council of Moscow, convened and presided over by Patriarch Tychon, and attended by several bishops, condemns and anathematizes the renovationists (a modernist sect that styled itself as the “Living Church” and introduced the new calendar, shortened services, abolished the fasts, and allowed priests to cut their hair, shave and wear secular clothing; the renovationists also had strong ties with the antichristian Bolshevik regime). |
| 1923 AD | —Council of Constantinople (Syncretistic Synod), convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Meletius IV Metaxakis (a professed 33 degree freemason, who had been deposed by the Church of Greece), and attended by Bishop Gore of Oxford (another freemason, representing the Anglican heretics), Metropolitans Callinicus of Cyzicus and Basil of Nicea (a freemason representing the Church of Cyprus, and who later usurps the Ecumenical throne in 1925), Archbishop Alexander Nomolovsky (a freemason who had already been suspended by the Church of Russia), Metropolitan Gabriel of Montenegro (representing the Church of Serbia), Metropolitan James of Dyrrachium (representing the Church of Greece), Archbishop Anastasius Gribanovsky (representing the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile, who abandons the synod without signing any agreements), and Archimandrite Julius Scriban (representing the Church of Romania). The Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem and Moscow, and the Churches of Georgia and Bulgaria are not represented. This heretical congress proposes: to abandon the historic Orthodox Paschalion and Menologion and adopt the new calendar; to transfer major feastdays to the nearest Sundays in order to lessen the holidays; to allow a married episcopate, for widowed priests to remarry and for unmarried priests to be allowed to marry after their ordination; to shorten the Church services; to abolish the fasts; to allow clergy to cut their hair and shave their beards; and to allow clergy to wear secular clothing in public. The Local Orthodox Churches do not recognize this false council, and a month later riots break out in the streets forcing Patriarch Meletius Metaxakis to resign from office. |
| 1923 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Chrysostom of Athens, and attended by 4 bishops (only 2 of which agree), decides to adopt the new calendar. |
| 1924 AD | —Council of Alexandria, convened and presided over by Patriarch Photius of Alexandria, and attended by several bishops, condemns the decision of the Church of Greece to adopt the new calendar and calls for a Pan-Orthodox Council. Patriarchs Gregory of Antioch and Damian of Jerusalem and Archbishop Cyril of Cyprus reply by also condemning the new calendar and by offering Patriarch Photius their complete support. |
| 1924 AD | —The Ecumenical Patriarchate and the State Church of Greece implement the change of the calendar and demand all Local Orthodox Churches to also implement the change. Patriarch Photius of Alexandria sharply rejects the innovation and declares that his Patriarchate is to remain with the old calendar. His stance is joined shortly thereafter by Patriarch Gregory of Antioch, Patriarch Damian of Jerusalem and Archbishop Cyril of Cyprus. Patriarch Demetrius of Serbia replies that although the Serbian Church was at one stage willing to adopt the new calendar, it has now changed its mind and has decided to remain with the calendar of the Holy Fathers. Patriarch Tychon of Moscow, due to a faulty translation of Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory’s telegraph, thinks that the entire Orthodox world has adopted the new calendar and therefore decides to follow suit. However, upon hearing that the majority of Local Orthodox Churches had rejected the innovation, Patriarch Tychon does not implement the change. Metropolitan Anthony of Kiev, and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, condemns the introduction of the new calendar. The only Local Orthodox Church that implements the change of the calendar is the Church of Romania under Metropolitan Myron of Wallachia. The latter is therefore rewarded with the title of patriarch due to his blind obedience. |
| 1926 AD | —Although deposed by the Church of Greece and forced to resign from the position of Ecumenical Patriarch, Meletius Metaxakis usurps the Alexandrian throne and implements the calendar change in that patriarchate. The Church of Cyprus follows in 1928. |
| 1927 AD | —Metropolitan Sergius Stragorodsky, a leading Russian bishop, declares the Church to be completely loyal and subject to the antichristian Soviet government. Several bishops throughout Russia protest against this declaration, and are forced underground, thereby forming the Catacomb Church of Russia. The Russian Church Abroad also protests. Sergius's followers later form the "Moscow Patriarchate," created by Stalin in 1943. |
| 1928 AD | —Council of Syzran-Yeltz-Vyshny-Volochok in Russia (Nomadic Synod), convened and presided over by Bishop Mark Novoselov, and attended at first by 3 other bishops and 3 priests, each representing a different Catacomb Synod (i.e. Danilovites, Josephites, Andrewites, Victorites, Yaroslavlites, Yedinovertsy, etc). This council condemns the renovationists as well as the sergianists as schismatics, declares them bereft of sacramental grace, and requires their chrismation upon reception into the Church. |
| 1928 AD | —Council of Constantinople, convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Basil III, and attended by several bishops, transfers the dioceses of Southern Macedonia and Western Thrace to the jurisdiction of the State Church of Greece, and elevates Metropolitan Chrysostom of Athens to the status of Archbishop of Athens and all Greece. |
| 1929 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Archbishop Chrysostom of Athens, and attended by 44 bishops (most of which had been transferred to this jurisdiction the preceding year), decides to legitimize the adoption of the new calendar. Of the 44 bishops present, 13 depart the council meeting, 27 refuse to endorse the decree, and only 4 sign. |
| 1932 AD | —Council of Sremsky-Carlovtsy, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Anthony of Kiev and attended by several bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, condemns freemasonry and declares unrepentant freemasons to be excommunicated. |
| 1933 AD | —Council of Antioch, convened and presided over by Patriarch Alexander III, and attended by several bishops, declares baptism necessary for the reception of Western converts. |
| 1933 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Archbishop Chrysostom of Athens, and attended by several bishops, condemns freemasonry and all affiliated organizations. |
| 1935 AD | —Council of Sremsky-Carlovtsy, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Anastasius, and attended by several bishops, condemns the heretical Sophism or Sophiology preached in the Parisian school by Archimandrite Sergius Bulgakov (the belief that Sophia—God’s Wisdom—is a feminine personality, the soul of the world, thereby adding a fourth hypostasis to the Holy Trinity, replacing God the Father with a “mother-goddess” and other false doctrines based on Plato’s pagan philosophy, cabbalistic teachings, and heretical Valentinian Gnosticism, which had been condemned by the early Church). This council declares the Parisians (under the Ecumenical Patriarchate) to be bereft of grace. |
| 1935 AD | —Council of Keratea, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Germanus of Demetrias, and attended by Metropolitans Chrysostom of Florina, Chrysostom of Zacynth, Germanus of the Cyclades, Christopher of Megaris, Polycarp of Diaulia and Matthew of Bresthena, condemn the introduction of the new calendar, declare the State Church of Greece to be in schism, and formulate regulations for the new seven-member synod. Metropolitan Germanus of Demetrias is installed as locum tenens of the Archdiocesan throne, 5 of the remaining bishops are given ruling dioceses, whereas Chrysostom, the former Metropolitan of Florina, is placed in charge of apostolic ministry and foreign affairs, and is sent to the East to garner support from the Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem. |
| 1935 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Germanus of Demetrias, and attended by Metropolitans Chrysostom of Florina, Germanus of the Cyclades and Matthew of Bresthena, and several archimandrites and fathers, declares the State Church of Greece to be fully schismatic and bereft of sacramental grace. |
| 1937 AD | —Council of Ust-Kut in Russia, confirms the decisions of the 1928 Nomadic Council. |
| 1938 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Germanus of the Cyclades, attended by Metropolitan Matthew of Bresthena, and several archimandrites and fathers, condemns Florinism, as preached by Chrysostom of Florina (the belief that those who fall under anathema and sever themselves from the Church are supposedly only potentially but not actually in schism, and therefore possess sacramental grace; that supposedly only a Pan-Orthodox Council has the power to condemn heresies that have already been condemned by numerous Pan-Orthodox Councils in the past; and that the official church, even if in schism and under anathema, is supposedly the “Mother Church” and “source of grace” simply because it is recognized as such by the state authorities. |
| 1939-45 AD | —World War II. |
| 1945 AD | —The Bulgarian Church restores communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, adopts the new calendar and the Metropolitan of Sofia is elevated to the rank of Patriarch. |
| 1945 AD | —Council of Athens (false council), convened and presided over by Metropolitan Chrysostom of Florina and attended by 2 bishops, officially endorses the false teachings of Florinism (later known as Cyprianism). This decision is repudiated in 1950. |
| 1948 AD | —Council of Amsterdam (Syncretistic Synod), at which the World Council of Churches (WCC) is established for the purpose of ecumenical dialogue and joint prayer between Orthodox and Protestants. The new calendarist Churches of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Romania and Greece participate, along with countless Protestant sects. |
| 1948 AD | —Council of Moscow (Sergianistic Synod), convened by the antichristian atheist Stalin, presided over by Patriarch Alexius of Moscow, and attended by representatives of the Churches of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Russia, Georgia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Czechoslovakia and Poland, praises Stalin and endorses a pro-communist political stance and ironically condemns ecumenism, purely for political reasons, despite the fact that the Churches represented at this council are ecumenistic, and become even more deeply involved in ecumenism after this council's resolution. |
| 1948 AD | —Council of Chirchik in Russia, convened and presided over by Archbishop Theodore, and attended by 13 bishops representing each of the Catacomb synods, condemns the sergianistic false council of 1948, and declares Metropolitan Anastasius of the Russian Church Abroad to be the true leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. |
| 1949 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Archbishop Matthew of Athens, and attended by 4 bishops and several archimandrites and fathers, condemns freemasonry. |
| 1950AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Chrysostom of Florina, and attended by 3 bishops, repudiates Florinism and apologizes for causing a schism. In the next year 1 Florinite bishop dies and the remaining 3 resign from the episcopate. Of those that resign, 2 join the new calendarists, leaving Chrysostom of Florina alone until he dies in 1955, leaving no successors, thus bringing the Florinite hierarchy to an end. |
| 1956 AD | —Council of Slatioara in Moldavia, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Galaction, and attended by 3 bishops and several archimandrites and fathers, condemns the introduction of the new calendar, declares the new calendarists to be schismatic, and formally establishes the Holy Synod of the True Orthodox Church of Romania. |
| 1957 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Demetrius of Thessalonica, and attended by 12 bishops of the True Orthodox Churches of Greece and Cyprus, condemns new calendarism, modernism, ecumenism and syncretism, especially in regards to the involvement of various so-called Orthodox clergy and laymen in the heretical World Council of Churches convention of Amsterdam in 1948. |
| 1960AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Archbishop Agathangelus of Athens, and attended by several bishops, deposes the disobedient archimandrites Acacius Pappas (the elder), Acacius Pappas (the younger), Auxentius Pastras and several other monks for canonical infractions. Archbishop Matthew had ordained these archimandrites, but because he refused to consecrate them to the episcopacy, they departed and took the lead of the bishopless Florinite flock. These deposed monks later succeed in obtaining consecrations from a new calendarist Romanian bishop and a Russian bishop acting without the knowledge or permission of his Synod, thereby forming the “Acacian” schism, which eventually splinters into a bewilderment of factions both in Greece and abroad. |
| 1961-63 AD | —Council of Rhodes (Syncretistic Synod), convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, and attended by several bishops representing each of the official Local Orthodox Churches, agrees to enter into ecumenical dialogue with the Papists. |
| 1963 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Archbishop Agathangelus, and attended by several bishops, condemns and anathematizes the heretical Russellites, otherwise known as so-called “witnesses of Jehovah,” who follow Arianism, Chiliasm, Gnosticism and countless other heresies already condemned by the early Church. |
| 1963 AD | —Council of Grayslake in Illinois, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Dionysius Milivojevic, and attended by several fathers, severs communion with Patriarch Germanus of Serbia due to the latter’s involvement with the antichristian communist government of Yugoslavia, thereby forming the Free Serbian Orthodox Church in the Diaspora. |
| 1963-65 AD | —Council of Vatican (Syncretistic Synod), convened and presided over at first by Pope John XXIII (a Rosicrucian Freemason) and later by Pope Paul VI (another Freemason), and attended by several cardinals and bishops, declares the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Anglican Church of England to possess the grace of the priesthood and apostolic succession, and encourages ecumenical dialogue and joint prayers with the Orthodox and Protestants. In addition to this, the false religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism are declared to possess some form of truth, and Catholics are called upon to acquire a better understanding of these non-Christian confessions. At the end of the council, Pope Paul VI takes off his papal miter (traditionally worn by the Roman popes as a sign of authority) and places it upon the altar. From that day forward, the Roman popes no longer wear the papal miter, but rather a normal tiara common to all Latin bishops. |
| 1965 AD | —Council of Jerusalem (Syncretistic Synod), convened and presided over by Pope Paul VI, and attended by Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, and several Franco-Latin and Orthodox bishops, lift the anathemas of 1054 regardless of doctrinal differences. The two faiths are theoretically united and joint prayers commence. The True Orthodox protest. |
| 1968 AD | —Council of Uppsala (Syncretistic Synod - WCC), at which the Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant delegations blasphemously declare that none of them have known the truth, and pray for “truth” to be found in the future as a product of their ecumenical dialogue. |
| 1968 AD | —Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras inserts Pope Paul VI’s name in the diptychs, thereby restoring complete liturgical communion with the unrepentant heretical Frankish papacy. |
| 1969 AD | —Council of New York, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Philaret, receives into communion the Acacian schism of Greece under Archbishop Auxentius Pastras. |
| 1971 AD | —Council of New York, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Philaret, and attended by several Russian bishops, as well as Metropolitans Callistus of Corinth and Epiphanius of Citium representing the True Orthodox Church of Greece and Cyprus, respectively. The Russian bishops accept the ecclesiology of the Greek bishops in regards to the schismatic status of the new calendarists and also conform to the Greek practice of receiving converts from Western denominations by the rite of holy baptism. |
| 1972 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Callistus, and attended by several bishops of the True Orthodox Church of Greece and of the Acacian synod, in order to heal the schism, but to no avail. The Acacians under Auxentius depart the council. |
| 1974 AD | —Council of New York, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Philaret, and attended by several bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, as well as 2 bishops representing the True Orthodox Churches of Greece and Cyprus. This council states that the introduction of the new calendar caused a schism and declares the validity of new calendarist sacraments to be “in doubt.” This council also declares the Sergianist Moscow Patriarchate to be in schism and with doubtful mysteries. Finally, the 1667 ban on the Old Russian rite is lifted, preparing the way for schismatic old ritualists to return to the fold of the True Orthodox Church through confession of the faith and chrismation. |
| 1974 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Archbishop Auxentius, and attended by 8 Acacian bishops, confirms the Athenian councils of 1935 and 1950, declaring the new calendarists to be fully schismatical and therefore void of sacramental grace. |
| 1976 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Archbishop Andrew, and attended by 12 bishops of the True Orthodox Churches of Greece and Cyprus, severs communion with the Russian Church Abroad until such a time that the Russian bishops officially declare the new calendarists to be fully schismatic, and thereby terminate joint services with new calendarist bishops, and cease offering the sacraments to new calendarists. |
| 1978 AD | —Council of New York, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Philaret, and attended by several bishops, severs communion with the Acacian synod due to the canonical infractions of Archbishop Auxentius and other Acacian bishops. |
| 1981 AD | —Council of Grayslake in Illinois, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Irenaeus of the Free Serbian Orthodox Church, and attended by several bishops, condemns ecumenism and enters into communion with the Acacians under Archbishop Auxentius. |
| 1983 AD | —Council of New York, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Philaret, and attended by 13 bishops, condemns ecumenism and the heretical branch theory, and anathematizes those who knowingly remain in communion with ecumenist heretics. |
| 1985 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Archbishop Andrew, and attended by several bishops, archimandrites and fathers of the True Orthodox Church of Greece, condemns and repudiates the syncretistic false Constantinopolitan councils of 1920 and 1923 which set forth the introduction of modernism and ecumenism in the realms of Orthodoxy, and the false Athenian council of 1923 which introduced the new calendar. This council also anathematizes the heretical Ecumenical Patriarchs Meletius Metaxakis, Basil III and Athenagoras, as well as Archbishop Chrysostom Papadopoulos of Athens. |
| 1985 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Archbishop Auxentius, and attended by 16 Acacian bishops, unites the Auxentian, Callistite and Gerontian factions in which the Acacians were up until this time divided, and confirms the Athenian councils of 1935, 1950 and 1974, declaring the new calendarists to be fully schismatic and bereft of grace. |
| 1986 AD | —Council of Assisi (Syncretistic Synod), convened and presided over by Pope John Paul II, and attended by several new calendarist and ecumenist "Orthodox," participate in joint prayer with Protestants and representatives of various non-Christian religions. |
| 1990AD | —Council of Barr (Syncretistic Synod - WCC), attended by so-called "Orthodox," Catholic and Protestant delegations, "affirms the need to move beyond a theology which confines salvation to the explicit personal commitment to Jesus Christ," thereby declaring that faith in Christ is not necessary, and that one can be saved by other (non-Christian) means. |
| 1991 AD | —Council of Damascus (Syncretistic Synod), convened and presided over by Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch, and attended by the heretical Monophysite Jacobite Syrian Patriarch Zakka. The two patriarchs enter into full communion and declare their patriarchates to be "sister churches" despite the christological differences. |
| 1991 AD | —Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Archbishop Andrew, and attended by several bishops, adopts the teachings of St. Nicodemus of Athos in regards to permitting veneration of the western Holy Trinity icon in order to prevent scandals among the faithful. |
| 1991 AD | —Council of Grayslake in Illinois (false council), convened and presided over by Metropolitan Irenaeus of the Free Serbian Orthodox Church, and attended by several bishops, declares its submition to the sergianistic, ecumenistic Patriarchate of Serbia. |
7500 | 1992 AD | —Council of Athens (false council), convened and presided over by Archbishop Andrew, and attended by several bishops, condemns those who prefer the traditional Orthodox icon of the Hospitality of Abraham as a symbol of the Holy Trinity rather than the western- style Holy Trinity icon, despite the fact that the latter icon had been forbidden by the Pan-Orthodox Council of 1667 and the Constantinopolitan Council of 1780. The council is placed under house arrest during its session; the bishops who desire to depart are not permitted to do so until signing the council’s decrees. Archbishop Andrew of Greece, Metropolitan Epiphanius of Cyprus, Metropolitan Nicholas of Piraeus, Metropolitan Pachomius of Argolis and the synodical secretary, Archimandrite Cerycus, repudiate their signatures shortly after the council. The decisions of this council are never published in the official periodical of the Synod, but they are uncanonically distributed by other means. |
| 1993 AD | —Council of Balamand (Syncretistic Synod), attended by representatives of the "Orthodox" Churches of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Russia, Romania, Cyprus, Poland, Albania and Finland, declare the so-called Roman Catholics to be a "sister church." |
| 1994 AD | —Council of Jerusalem, convened and presided over by Patriarch Diodorus, and attended by several bishops, condemns ecumenism and syncretism, especially in regards to the union of the Patriarchate of Antioch with the Monophysites and the Balamand agreement of eucharistic unity with the Franco-Latin Papists. |
| 1994 AD | —Council of New York (false council), convened and presided over by Metropolitan Vitaly, and attended by several bishops, endorses Florinism (the belief that the modernists, sergianists and ecumenists are the “Mother Church” and possess sacramental grace) and enters into Eucharistic communion with the Cyprianites (an Acacian faction that confesses Florinism). The Synod of Metropolitan Vitaly repudiates this resolution in 2001. |
| 1997 AD | —Council of Athens (false council), convened and presided over by Metropolitan Gregory of Messenia, and attended by 4 bishops, anathematizes those who refer to the western- style Holy Trinity icon as untraditional or unorthodox. In so doing, this council condemns countless saints and fathers. Within 5 years, 3 of the bishops that attended this false council die and 1 departs the synod, leaving Metropolitan Gregory of Messenia alone. |
| 2000AD | —Council of New York (false council), convened and presided over by Metropolitan Vitaly, and attended by several bishops, declares its willingness to enter into agreements with and eventually submit to the sergianistic and ecumenistic Moscow Patriarchate. |
| 2001 AD | —Council of Mansonville, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Vitaly, and attended by 3 bishops, declares it has no eucharistic communion with the Moscow and Belgrade Patriarchates; repudiates the 1994 communion with the Cyprianites; confirms the 1983 anathema against ecumenism; and condemns the Laurites (those who accept the false council of 2000 and are paving their way towards union with the ecumenists). |
| 2002 AD | —Council of Mansonville, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Vitaly, and attended by 4 bishops, thoroughly condemns the heresy of Florinism (Cyprianism). |