Timeline of Christianity

c. 4 BC – c. AD 30/33

Jesus of Nazareth

Where: Roman Judea and Galilee

• Born c. 6–4 BC, before the death of Herod the Great (4 BC). The “BC/AD” split, worked out in the 6th century, missed by a few years.
• Preached in Galilee. Crucified in Jerusalem under Pontius Pilate (prefect AD 26–36), c. AD 30 or 33.
• His followers, led by Peter and by James the brother of Jesus, began as a movement within Judaism, centered on Jerusalem.

c. AD 34–50

First churches beyond Judea

Where: Damascus; Antioch on the Orontes (Antakya, southern Turkey)

• Paul (Saul), a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia (near Mersin), turns from persecutor to apostle, c. AD 34.
• At Antioch, the disciples were “first called Christians” (Acts 11:26). Antioch became the base for missions west.
• Council of Jerusalem (c. AD 49): non-Jewish converts don’t have to be circumcised or keep the full Jewish law.

c. AD 46–58

Paul’s journeys through Anatolia

Where: Galatia (Pisidian Antioch, Iconium = Konya, Lystra, Derbe), Ephesus, Troas

• First journey (c. 46–48), with Barnabas: Cyprus, then Perge, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe in south-central Anatolia.
• Second journey (c. 49–52): back through the Galatian churches, then from Troas across to Macedonia and Greece, the first mission in Europe.
• Third journey (c. 53–57): two to three years based in Ephesus. Silversmiths who made Artemis souvenirs started a riot in the Great Theatre (Acts 19). He wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus.
• The letter to the Colossians greets believers in nearby Laodicea and Hierapolis (Col 4:13).
• Arrested in Jerusalem c. 57 and sent to Rome. Tradition says he was executed there under Nero (c. AD 64–67).

On our trip: Ephesus, Great Theatre · Hierapolis

late 1st century (Revelation c. AD 95)

John, Mary and the Seven Churches of Revelation

Where: Patmos (Greek island off the Turkish coast) and the Roman province of Asia (western Turkey)

• Revelation, written by a John on Patmos c. AD 95, opens with letters to seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna (İzmir), Pergamon (Bergama), Thyatira (Akhisar), Sardis (Sart), Philadelphia (Alaşehir) and Laodicea (by Denizli).
• Laodicea is the “lukewarm” church (Rev 3:16). Its ruins sit across the valley from Hierapolis and Pamukkale.
• Tradition (from the 2nd century) says the apostle John spent his last years in Ephesus. His tomb is said to lie under the Basilica of St John on Ayasuluk Hill in Selçuk, which Justinian rebuilt in the 6th century.
• Tradition says John brought Mary, the mother of Jesus, to Ephesus. The House of the Virgin Mary (Meryem Ana Evi) on the hill above the city was identified in 1891, guided by the visions of a German nun, Anne Catherine Emmerich. Popes Paul VI (1967), John Paul II (1979) and Benedict XVI (2006) visited.

On our trip: Ephesus and Selçuk (Basilica of St John, House of Mary) · Laodicea, across from Hierapolis

AD 64–311

Persecutions and martyrs

Where: Across the Roman Empire, including Smyrna, Bithynia and Hierapolis

• Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome (AD 64). Tradition says Peter and Paul were killed in Rome in those years.
• c. AD 112: Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia (northwest Turkey), wrote to Emperor Trajan asking how to handle Christians. It is the earliest outside description of Christian worship.
• Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna (İzmir), was burned c. AD 155, saying he had served Christ for 86 years.
• Tradition says the apostle Philip was martyred at Hierapolis. The 5th-century Martyrium of St Philip stands on the hill above the city.
• Empire-wide persecutions under Decius (250), Valerian (257–260), and Diocletian’s “Great Persecution” (303–311), which ended with Galerius’s edict of toleration in 311.

On our trip: Hierapolis, Martyrium of St Philip

312–380

Constantine: from persecuted to official

Where: Rome, then Constantinople (Istanbul)

• Constantine won the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312) under a Christian sign. The Edict of Milan (313), agreed with his co-emperor Licinius, gave Christians freedom of worship and returned their property.
• He re-founded Byzantium as Constantinople, the “New Rome,” dedicated in 330.
• He was baptized on his deathbed near Nicomedia (İzmit) in 337.
• Nicholas, 4th-century bishop of Myra (Demre), is the saint behind Santa Claus. Italian sailors carried his relics to Bari in 1087.
• In 380 Theodosius I made Nicene Christianity the empire’s official religion (Edict of Thessalonica).

On our trip: Myra / Demre (St Nicholas) · Hagia Sophia (first church on the site, 360)

325–451

The great councils in Anatolia

Where: Nicaea (İznik), Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalcedon (Kadıköy, Istanbul’s Asian side)

• Nicaea, 325, called by Constantine: Jesus is “of one substance” with the Father, against Arius. The first Nicene Creed, and a common rule for dating Easter.
• Constantinople, 381: expanded the creed into the form still recited in churches today, and affirmed the Trinity.
• Ephesus, 431: Mary is Theotokos, the “God-bearer,” and Nestorius is condemned. It met in the Church of Mary, whose ruins are at Ephesus.
• Chalcedon, 451: Christ is one person in two natures, divine and human. The Coptic, Armenian, Syriac and Ethiopian churches rejected it and went their own way.
• 1,700 years after Nicaea, on 28 Nov 2025, Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew prayed together at İznik.

On our trip: Ephesus, Church of Mary

4th century (c. 330–395)

The Cappadocian Fathers

Where: Cappadocia: Caesarea (Kayseri, where we land), Nyssa, Nazianzus

• Basil the Great (c. 330–379), bishop of Caesarea, wrote the monastic rules Orthodox monks still follow. He also built a hospital and poorhouse outside the city.
• His brother Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–c. 395) and his friend Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 329–390). Gregory of Nazianzus briefly presided over the Council of Constantinople in 381.
• Together they gave the Trinity its classic formula, one essence in three persons, which was affirmed in 381.
• Basil and Gregory of Nyssa’s sister Macrina the Younger led a community of religious women on the family estate.

On our trip: Cappadocia

527–565 (Hagia Sophia 532–537)

Justinian and Hagia Sophia

Where: Constantinople; Ephesus/Selçuk

• After the Nika riots burned the earlier church (532), Justinian rebuilt Hagia Sophia in under six years, dedicating it in 537. His architects, Anthemius of Tralles (Aydın) and Isidore of Miletus, both came from western Anatolia.
• For nearly a thousand years it was the largest cathedral in the world.
• The Basilica Cistern was built for the same city in the same years.
• He also built the great Basilica of St John over John’s traditional tomb at Selçuk.

On our trip: Hagia Sophia · Basilica Cistern · Selçuk, Basilica of St John

c. 4th–13th century

Cappadocia’s rock-cut churches and underground cities

Where: Göreme, Uçhisar, Ihlara Valley, Derinkuyu, Kaymaklı

• Soft volcanic tuff let monks and villagers carve homes, monasteries and hundreds of churches straight into the rock, with columns, domes and altars cut rather than built.
• Underground cities like Derinkuyu and Kaymaklı go down several levels, with rolling stone doors and air shafts. Their origins may be older, but they were greatly enlarged in Byzantine times as refuges during Arab raids (7th–10th c.).

On our trip: Cappadocia

726–843

Iconoclasm

Where: Byzantine Empire

• Emperor Leo III began a ban on religious images (c. 726–730). Icons and mosaics were destroyed or covered.
• The Second Council of Nicaea (787, İznik) restored icons. A second ban followed (815–843).
• Icons were restored for good in 843 under Empress Theodora. Orthodox churches still celebrate this as the “Triumph of Orthodoxy” on the first Sunday of Lent.
• Some Cappadocian chapels are decorated only with crosses and geometric patterns in red ochre. A few may date from these years.
• Hagia Sophia’s figure mosaics all date from after 843. The apse Virgin and Child was unveiled in 867.

On our trip: Hagia Sophia · Cappadocia

10th–12th century

Golden age of the Göreme frescoes

Where: Göreme Open-Air Museum and nearby valleys

• After iconoclasm, Cappadocia’s rock churches were painted with full Bible cycles in bright color.
• Tokalı (Buckle) Church, 10th century, is the largest in Göreme, known for its deep blue background.
• In the Dark Church (Karanlık Kilise), so little light got in that its frescoes are the best preserved. The Apple (Elmalı) and Snake (Yılanlı) churches are close by.
• The Seljuk Turks won at Manzikert in 1071 and took most of Anatolia. Greek-speaking Christian villages stayed in Cappadocia until the 1923 population exchange.

On our trip: Cappadocia (Göreme)

1054

The Great Schism

Where: Hagia Sophia, Constantinople

• On 16 July 1054 the pope’s legate, Cardinal Humbert, laid a bull excommunicating Patriarch Michael Cerularius on the altar of Hagia Sophia. The patriarch excommunicated the legates in return.
• The split had been growing over papal authority, the “filioque” added to the creed in the West, and leavened vs unleavened bread. It became the lasting divide between the Catholic West and the Orthodox East.
• Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras lifted the mutual excommunications in 1965.

On our trip: Hagia Sophia

1204–1261

Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople

Where: Constantinople

• Crusaders bound for the Holy Land were diverted to Constantinople and sacked it in April 1204. A Latin (Western) empire ruled the city until the Byzantines retook it in 1261.
• The bronze horses now at St Mark’s in Venice were taken then. Venice’s Doge Enrico Dandolo is buried in Hagia Sophia, and a marker in the upper gallery shows the spot.
• Hagia Sophia’s Deësis mosaic (Christ between Mary and John the Baptist) was made after the 1261 recovery.
• The sack hardened the East–West split. In 2004, on the 800th anniversary, Pope John Paul II expressed sorrow for it.

On our trip: Hagia Sophia, upper gallery

1453

Fall of Constantinople

Where: Constantinople becomes Istanbul

• Mehmed II took the city on 29 May 1453. The last emperor, Constantine XI, died in the fighting.
• Hagia Sophia became a mosque. Minarets were added over time, and the figure mosaics were later plastered or covered.
• Mehmed let the Orthodox Church continue, installing Gennadios Scholarios as patriarch in 1454 to lead the Orthodox community.

On our trip: Hagia Sophia · Topkapı (begun 1459)

1601 – today

Christianity in Turkey today

Where: Istanbul (Fener) and scattered communities

• The Ecumenical Patriarchate, spiritual “first among equals” of the Orthodox churches, has been at the Church of St George in the Fener (Phanar) district on the Golden Horn since about 1601.
• The 1923 Greek–Turkish population exchange sent about 1.2 million Orthodox Christians from Anatolia to Greece (Istanbul’s Greeks were exempt). It emptied Kayaköy and Cappadocia’s Greek villages.
• Hagia Sophia became a museum (decree 1934, opened 1935), then a mosque again in 2020.
• Christians are now well under 1% of Turkey’s population: mostly Armenian Apostolic, Greek Orthodox, Syriac and Catholic.

On our trip: Kayaköy · Hagia Sophia