4th century
From Missiopedia
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Overview: History - Epochs - Turnings - Centuries BC - Centuries AD
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Not even the initially severe persecution under Diocletian could stop Christianity's forward momentum at this point. One in 10 of the world's population is Christian and the Bible has been translated into several languages. In the opening years of the century, several kings of nations begin converting to Christianity, particularly Armenia and Ethiopia. The pivotal Council of Nicaea develops a standardized creed that will contribute to church unity for centuries. Most importantly, Constantine's edict of toleration in 313 paves the way for the church's explosive growth. The fourth century is a time of some great thinkers like Augustine of Hippo. At the same time, dark clouds are again hovering on the horizon as tribal nomads in the north begin to gather on Rome's borders, drawn by the riches of the civilization.
[edit] Events
- Nestorian schools in Asia Minor.
- Kingdom of Axum conquers the Ethiopian Kingdom of Meroe.
- 303 - Severe persecution under Diocletian.
- 300 - First Christians reported in Greater Khorasan; an estimated 10% of the world's population is now Christian; the Bible is available in 10 different languages
- 304 - Armenia accepts Christianity as state religion
- 306 - The first bishop of Nisibis is ordained
- 313 - Emperor Constantine issues Edict of Milan, legalizing Christianity in the Roman Empire
- 314 - Tiridates III of Armenia converted by Gregory the Illuminator
- 314 - King Urnayr of Caucasian Albania converted by Gregory the Illuminator
- 316 - Division of China into northern and southern regimes.
- 325 - The Council of Nicaea is held.
- 327 - Emperor Constantine baptized shortly before his death; Georgian King Mirian III of Iberia converted by Nino
- 328 - Frumentius takes gospel to Ethiopia
- 333 - Ethiopian King Ezana of Axum makes Christianity an official religion
- 334 - The first bishop is ordained for Merv in Transoxiana
- 340 - Ulfilas begins work with the Goths in present-day Romania
- 350 - Two young Christians, shipwrecked in the Red Sea, are taken as slaves to Ethiopia to serve in the royal court. Given freedom to preach the gospel, their witness gives birth to the Coptic Church.
- 354 - Theophilus "the Indian" reports visiting Christians in India; Philostorgius mentions a community of Christians on the Socotra islands, south of Yemen in the Arabian Sea
- 364 - Conversion of Vandals to Christianity during the reign of Emperor Valens
- 370 - Ulfilas translates the Bible into Visigothic, the first Bible translation done specifically for missionary purposes
- 381 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I makes Christianity the official state religion
- 382 - Jerome is commissioned to translate the Bible into Latin
- 386 - Augustine of Hippo converted
- 390 - Nestorian missionary Abdyeshu (or Abdisho) builds a monastery on the island of Bahrain
- 395 - White Huns from Central Asia (Afghanistan) cross the Don, threatening the Byzantine provinces of east Syria.
- 397 - Ninian evangelizes the Southern Picts of Scotland
