THE GENUINE ORTHODOX CHURCH

1821 Metr. Germanos of Patra declares Greek independence on Day of Annunciation (March 25), also Kyriopascha; martyrdom of Patr. Gregory V of Constantinople, Abp. Kyprianos of Cyprus, and Abp. Gerasimos of Crete in retaliation.

1830 Slavophile movement begins in Russia.

1831 Return of 3,000,000 Uniates with the Orthodox Church at Vilnius in 1831.

1832 Church of Serbia becomes de facto autocephalous.

1833 Church of Greece declares autocephaly, making it independent of the Constantinople; death of Seraphim of Sarov.

1839 Synod of Polotsk abolishes Union of Brest-Litovsk in all areas under Russian rule as Greek Catholic dioceses in Lithuania and Belarus re-enter the Orthodox Church.

1848 Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs sent by the primates and synods of the four ancient patriarchates of the Orthodox Church, condemning the Filioque as heresy, declaring the Roman Catholic Church to be heretical, schismatic, and in apostasy, repudiating Ultramontanism and referring to the Photian Council of 879-880 as the "Eighth Ecumenical Council."

1850 The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople issues a decree recognizing theChurch of Greece as autonomous. Each of the five bishops of the Church of Greece is given the title of Metropolitan, and is commemorated as such in his respective Metropolis. All the Metropolitans are to commemorate "The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece." At this time, the Church of Greece consists of only the regions known as Roumeli (Continental Greece), Moreas (Peloponnesian region), and the Cyclades (south-westemAegean Islands).

1851 Translation into English of Septuagint by Lancelot C. L. Brenton; Ottoman Empire recognizes France as supreme Christian authority in Holy Land and grants it possession of the Church of the Nativity.

1852 Ottoman Empire makes division of Church of the Holy Sepulchre permanent.

1852 The parliament of Greece passes acts relating to Bishoprics, Bishops, and theClergy, and enacts statutes pertaining to the Church.

1853-1856 Crimean War fought between Russia and the Ottoman Empire together with Britain and France, beginning over which church would be recognized as the "sovereign authority" of the Christian faith in the Holy Land.

1854 Immaculate Conception declared dogma by Roman Catholic Church.

1859 Constantin von Tischendorf discovers Codex Sinaiticus at St. Catherine's Monastery.

1860 Death of Alexei Khomiakov, co-founder of the Slavophile movement.

1864 The diocese of the Ionian Islands is added to the church of Greece.

1864 First Orthodox parish established on American soil in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Greeks; death of Jacob Netsvetov.

1865 Church of Romania declares its independence from the Church of Constantinople.

1869 Russian synod authorizes corrected text of Western Rite liturgy and Benedictine offices.

1870 Papal Infallibility declared Roman Catholic dogma necessary for salvation by First Vatican Council.

1871 Nikolai Kasatkin establishes Orthodox mission in Japan.

1872 Council in Jerusalem declares phyletism to be heresy; Church of Bulgaria gains de facto autocephaly by a decree of the Sultan.

1872 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.

1875 Uniate diocese of Chelm in Poland incorporated into Russian Orthodox Church under Alexander II, with all of the local Uniates converted to Orthodoxy.

1876 Theophan the Recluse begins issuing a translation of the Philokalia in Russian.

1879 Church of Constantinople recognizes autocephaly of Church of Serbia; death of Innocent of Alaska.

1881 The dioceses of Thessaly, and a part of Epirus, are added to the Church of Greece.

1882 Synod of Constantinople gives conditional approval to use of Roman liturgy and Benedictine offices; Mitrophan Ji becomes the first Chinese ordained a priest in the Church of China.

1885 Church of Constantinople recognizes autocephaly of Church of Romania; English Revised Version published; Archbishop of Canterbury officially removes all of Apocrypha from King James Bible.

1888 Typikon of the Great Church of Christ is published with revised church services, prepared by Protopsaltis George Violakis, issued with the approval and blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarch, while the Sabaite (monastic) Typikon continues to be used in Russia.

1889 Federation of Old Catholic Churches, not in communion with Rome, at the Union of Utrecht.

1890 Unseen Warfare further revised by Theophan the Recluse.

1891 Death of Ambrose of Optina.

1895 Reply of Synod of Constantinople to Pope Leo XIII.

1898 Last ethnically Greek patriarch of Antioch deposed; Western Rite diocese organized in Czechoslovakia by Church of Russia.

1899 Restoration of Arabs to the Patriarchal throne of Antioch.

1900 Martyrdom of Orthodox Christians in Chinese Boxer Rebellion (Yihetuan Movement).

1901 "Evangelakia" riots in Athens Greece in November, over translations of New Testament into Demotic (Modern) Greek, resulting in fall of both government and Metropolitan of Athens.

1902-1904 - 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.

1904 Ecumenical Patriarchate publishes the "Patriarchal" Text of the Greek New Testament, based on about twenty Byzantine manuscripts; petition to Russian synod by Abp. Tikhon (Belavin), Bp. Raphael (Hawaweeny), and Fr. John Kochurov to permit adaption of services taken from Anglican Book of Common Prayer for use by Orthodox people.

1905 Death of Apostolos Makrakis; Tsar Nicholas Romanov's decree on freedom of religion results in about 250,000 Ruthenians returning to Uniatism; seat of Russian Orthodox bishop in America moved from San Francisco to New York, as immigration from Eastern Europe and the reception of ex-Uniates shifts the balance of Orthodox population to eastern North America.

1907 Archim. Eusebius Matthopoulos founds Zoe Brotherhood; Commission on Anglican and Old Catholic Affairs of Russian synod reports in favor of adaptation of services from Book of Common Prayer and sets out criteria.

1908 Fr. Nikodemos Sarikas sent to Johannesburg, Transvaal, by Ecumenical Patriarchate as first Orthodox priest there, leaving after a short time for German East Africa (later Tanzania) because of the opposition of Johannesburg Greeks to mission among Africans.

1908 Death of John of Kronstadt.

1912 Death of Nicholas of Japan.