The history of the Church records the continuing work of Christ throughout human history.
In the Orthodox Christian understanding, history has profound theological significance because of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. Just as God chose to enter the world as a real, living, and breathing human being, He also chooses to work within and through human history to bring about the salvation of mankind. The history of the Church is therefore a sacred history—not in the same sense as the biblical history that reveals God’s saving work, but as a record of that saving work continuing in the lives of people and communities throughout the ages.
Through the lives of the Apostles and the early Christians, the witness of the martyrs, the teachings of the Church Fathers, and the councils that defended the Orthodox Faith, we see how the Gospel has been proclaimed, preserved, and lived from one generation to the next. These articles invite us to explore this history and to discover how the life of the Church bears witness to Christ’s continuing presence and work in the world.
| Article | Read Time | Hit Count | Written by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seventh Century | 6 mins | 4,262 | Fr. Thomas Hopko |
| Eighth Century | 5 mins | 4,498 | Fr. Thomas Hopko |
| Holy Icons | 9 mins | 5,223 | Timothy Ware ( Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia) |
| Ninth Century | 8 mins | 5,101 | Fr. Thomas Hopko |
| Encyclical Letter of Saint Photius (867) | 12 mins | 8,935 | Saint Photius the Great |
| Cyril and Methodius | 9 mins | 5,871 | Timothy Ware ( Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia) |
| Tenth Century | 4 mins | 4,517 | Fr. Thomas Hopko |
| Baptism of Russia: The Kiev period (988-1237) | 7 mins | 8,251 | Timothy Ware ( Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia) |
| Church History 3 – The Church of Imperial Byzantium (about AD 1000) | 30 mins | 7,156 | Timothy Ware ( Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia) |
| Eleventh Century | 5 mins | 4,115 | Fr. Thomas Hopko |
| Great Schism | 54 mins | 7,002 | Timothy Ware ( Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia) |
| Twelfth Century | 2 mins | 3,671 | Fr. Thomas Hopko |
| Thirteenth Century | 5 mins | 2,912 | Fr. Thomas Hopko |
| Fourteenth Century | 7 mins | 4,395 | Fr. Thomas Hopko |
| Fifteenth Century | 5 mins | 3,908 | Fr. Thomas Hopko |
| Church History 4 – Orthodoxy Under the Ottomans (1453-1821) | 6 mins | 6,484 | Timothy Ware ( Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia) |
| Moscow the third Rome | 13 mins | 9,406 | Timothy Ware ( Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia) |
| Church History 5 – The Church of Russia (1448-1800) | 8 mins | 4,851 | Timothy Ware ( Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia) |
| Sixteenth Century | 6 mins | 3,771 | Fr. Thomas Hopko |
| Seventeenth Century | 7 mins | 3,926 | Fr. Thomas Hopko |
| Synodical period (1700-1917) | 22 mins | 5,287 | Timothy Ware ( Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia) |
| Eighteenth Century | 7 mins | 2,970 | Fr. Thomas Hopko |
| Church History 6 – The Orthodox Churches In the 19th Century | 8 mins | 4,709 | Timothy Ware ( Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia) |
| Nineteenth Century | 9 mins | 3,383 | Fr. Thomas Hopko |