DATES BCE (BC)

?

Creation Week

2450

The Flood (see Genesis 7)

1950

>

1775

Abraham keeps God's commandments, statutes, and laws (Genesis 26)

2000

Seven-day week in Sumerian civilization prior to this date

1450

The Exodus

1011

>

971

David rules Israel

626

>

586

Jeremiah, the prophet - years of ministry

620

>

530

Daniel, the prophet

605

>

536

Jewish nation in exile

600

Birth of Zoroastrianism in Persia

551

>

479

Confucius, Chinese wise man

500

Birth of Buddhism

445

Nehemiah returns to rebuild Jerusalem

331

Alexander the Great overthrows the Persian Empire

170

Antiochus IV persecutes Jews who won't give up their religion

30

Roman Emperor Octavian dedicates Egyptian obelisk to the sun god

4

Birth of Jesus

DATES CE (AD)

31

Crucifixion of Jesus

64

Nero burns Rome, persecutes Christians

70

Jerusalem destroyed by Roman army under Titus

79

Vesuvius erupts

115

Epistle of Barnabas written in Alexandria

120

Christians in Alexandria replace Sabbath observance with Sunday worship

135

Jerusalem destroyed again - Jewish religion banned

144

Marcion, first great "Christian" heretic

150

Justyn Martyr reports on Sunday observance in Rome

218

>

222

Elagabalus, emperor of Rome - brings Syrian sun worship to Rome

270

>

275

Aurelian, emperor of Rome - establishes sun worship as the state religion

284

>

305

Diocletian, emperor of Rome - worships the sun and persecutes Christians

306

>

337

Constantine emperor of Rome - first "Christian" emperor

313

Constantine legalizes Christian religion

314

>

335

Sylvester I is pope - promotes anti-Jewish Sabbath fast

321

Edict of Constantine - first law concerning Sunday observance

343

>

381

Council of Laodicea - condemns Sabbath observance

364

Ambrose (Bishop of Milan) - observes the Sabbath without fasting

389

>

461

Patrick - Celtic Christian missionary to Ireland

521

>

597

Columba - Celtic Christian missionary leader to Scotland

570

>

632

Muhammed, founder of Islam

590

>

604

Pope Gregory I (the Great) identifies Sabbathkeepers with the anti-christ

692

Quinisext Council (Council in Trullo) - condemns the Sabbath fast

800

"Epistle of Jesus" arrives in Ireland - warns against desecration of Sunday

867

Patriarch Photius denounces Roman Catholic promotion of Sabbath fast

1054

Roman Catholic - Eastern Orthodox Schism

1070

Margaret becomes queen of Scotland - tries to reform Sunday observance there

1201

Eustace of Flay takes "Epistle of Jesus" to England to reform Sunday keeping

1231

Pope Gregory IX establishes the medieval Inquisition

1350

Strigolniks in Novogorod, Russia, observe the seventh-day Sabbath

1414

>

1418

Council of Constance - orders burning of John Hus

1428

John Wycliffe's bones dug up and burned

1431

Pope Eugenius IV

1431

>

1445

Council of Basel - condemns Sabbathkeeping by Jewish converts

1435

Forced conversion of Jews in Spain

1435

Church council in Bergen, Norway, condemns Sabbath observance

1469

Marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella unites Aragon and Castille into one nation

1480

>

1502

Novgorod-Moscow reform movement - includes Sabbath observance

1478

Pope Sixtus IV authorizes Spanish Inquisition

1481

First "auto de fe" (public trial) of Spanish Inquisition

1482

Pope Sixtus IV protests against Spanish Inquisition

1492

Expulsion of Jews from Spain

1492

Christopher Columbus "discovers" America

1497

Forced conversion of Jews in Portugal

1497

>

1499

Vasco da Gama opens the sea route from Europe to India

1504

Ivan Kuritsin and other Russian reformers are burned in cages in Red Square

1517

Luther nails his 95 Theses to chapel door, thus starting the Reformation

1525

Anabaptist Movement begins

1529

Andreas Fischer, Anabaptist Sabbatarian preacher, miraculously survives hanging

1536

Portuguese Inquistion begins

1540

Andreas Fischer is murdered in Slovakia

1542

Francis Xavier, a Jesuit missionary, arrives in Goa

1544

Christian III of Denmark prohibits Sabbathkeeping

1545

>

1563

Roman Catholic Council of Trent

1546

Oswald Glaidt, one-time proponent of the Sabbath, is executed in Vienna

1541

Christavao da Gama and 400 Portuguese come to the aid of the Ethiopian Emperor

1551

Russian Orthodox council authorizes Sabbath worship in Russian churches

1560

Branch of the Portuguese Inquistion is established in Goa

1560

Constantino Ponce de la Fuente dies in prison under the Spanish Inquisition

1617

John Traske, an early "Seventh Day Man," is arrested in London

1628

Theophilus Brabourne publishes first English book promoting seventh-day Sabbath

1622

Emperor Susenyos declares Ethiopia a Catholic country; civil war ensues

1650

Parliament orders burning of Ockford's book advocating the seventh-day Sabbath

1684

Charles Dellon publishes his Account of the Inquisition at Goa