Timeline of Eastern Orthodoxy in Greece (1204–1453)

This is a timeline of the presence of Eastern Orthodoxy in Greece from 1204 to 1453. The history of Greece traditionally encompasses the study of the Greek people, the areas they ruled historically, as well as the territory now composing the modern state of Greece.

Latin occupation and end of Byzantium (1204–1453)

1204 Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople, laying waste to the city and stealing many relics and other items;Brian Murphy. "East might meet West in ancient grave site Find may clarify a key period of Greek history, when the Christian Orthodox and Ottoman Empires met." The Globe and Mail [Toronto, Ont]. 12 July 1997. Page A.8.Thomas F. Madden. "Vows and Contracts in the Fourth Crusade: The Treaty of Zara and the Attack on Constantinople in 1204." The International History Review. 15.3 (Aug. 1993): pp.441–68. the Great Schism is generally regarded as having been completed by this act; Venetians use the imperial monastery of Christ Pantocrator as their headquarters in Constantinople. 1204 Latin Occupation of mainland Greece under Franks and Venetians begins: the Latin Empire of Constantinople, Latin Kingdom of Thessalonica, the Principality of Achaea, and the Duchy of Athens; the Venetians controlled the Duchy of the Archipelago in the Aegean; Othon de la Roche of Burgundy becomes Duke of Athens.Michael Llewellyn-Smith (2004). "Chronology". Athens: A Cultural and Literary History. USA: Interlink Books. p. xv. . 1205 Latins annex Athens and convert the Parthenon into a Roman Catholic church – Santa Maria di Athene, later Notre Dame d'Athene. 1211 Venetian crusaders conquer Byzantine Crete, retaining it until defeated by the Ottomans in 1669.

1224 The Byzantines recover Thessaloniki and surrounding area, under the Greek ruler of Epirus Theodore Komnenos Doukas. 1231 Burning of 13 monk-martyrs and Confessors of the Monastery of Panagia of Kantara, on Cyprus, defenders of leavened bread in the Eucharist, who suffered under the Latins.May 19/June 1. Orthodox Calendar (PRAVOSLAVIE.RU).Great Synaxaristes: Οἱ Ἅγιοι Βαρνάβας, Γεννάδιος, Γεράσιμος, Γερμανός, Θεόγνωστος, Θεόκτιστος, Ἱερεμίας, Ἰωάννης, Ἰωσήφ, Κόνων, Κύριλλος, Μάξιμος καὶ Μάρκος οἱ Ὁσιομάρτυρες . 19 Μαΐου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.The Thirteen Holy Martyrs of Kantara in Cyprus: Defenders of Leavened Bread in the Eucharist . Mystagogy Resource Center. 19 May 2010. 1234 Delegates of the two churches met first at Nicaea and then at Nymphaion (Asia Minor), negotiating the issues related to the union of the Churches, including dogmatic issues, however the dialogue came to a dead end.Banev Guentcho. John III Vatatzes . Transl. Koutras, Nikolaos. Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor (EHW). 12/16/2002. Retrieved: 7 November 2011. 1235 Venerable saints Olympiada, abbess, and nun Euphrosyne martyred by pirates on Lesbos.Great Synaxaristes : Οἱ Ἁγίες Ὀλυμπία καὶ Εὐφροσύνη οἱ Ὁσιομάρτυρες. 11 Μαΐου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.May 11/24 . Orthodox Calendar (PRAVOSLAVIE.RU). Retrieved: 10 July 2013. 1236 On the occasion of a joint Byzantine-Bulgarian siege of Latin Constantinople, Pope Gregory IX issued a crusading bull authorizing a crusade against the Byzantines under Emperor John Vatatzes. c. 1238–63 Construction of the Church of Hagia Sophia in Trabzon, capital of the Empire of Trebizond, regarded as one of the finest examples of Byzantine architecture.Eastmond, Anthony. "The Byzantine Empires in the Thirteenth Century". In: Art and Identity in Thirteenth-Century Byzantium: Hagia Sophia and the Empire of Trebizond. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004, p. 1.Erasing the Christian past: A fine Byzantine church in Turkey has been converted into a mosque . The Economist: Religion in Turkey. 27 July 2013. Retrieved: 3 September 2015. 1243 Decisive Mongol victory over the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum (with capital at Iconium), at the Battle of Köse Dağ.D.A. Zakythinós (Professor). The Making of Modern Greece: From Byzantium to Independence. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1976. p. 3. 1249 Mystras citadel built by Franks in the Peloponnese. 1258 Michael VIII Palaiologos seizes the throne of the Nicaean Empire, founding the last Roman (Byzantine) dynasty, beginning reconquest of Greek peninsula from Latins. 1259 Byzantines defeat Latin Principality of Achaea at the Battle of Pelagonia, marking the beginning of the Byzantine recovery of Greece. 1261 End of Latin occupation of Constantinople and restoration of Orthodox patriarchs; Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos makes Mystras seat of the new Despotate of Morea, where a Byzantine renaissance occurred.

1265–1310 Arsenite Schism of Constantinople, beginning when Patr. Arsenius Autorianus excommunicated emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. 1274 Orthodox clergy attending the Second Council of Lyon, accept supremacy of Rome and filioque clause. 1275 Unionist Patr. of Constantinople John XI Beccus elected to replace Patr. Joseph I Galesiotes, who opposed Council of Lyon; Persecution of Athonite monks by Emp. Michael VIII and Patr. John XI Beccus. c. 1276–80 Venerable monk-martyrs of Iviron Monastery, martyred by the Latins.Great Synaxaristes : Οἱ Ἅγιοι Ἰβηρίτες Ὁσιομάρτυρες. 13 Μαΐου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.Martyrs killed by the Latins at the Iveron Monastery on Mt. Athos. OCA – Feasts and Saints. 1279 Hieromonk Ieronymos Agathangelos writes an Apocalypse dealing with the destinies of the nations. 1281 Pope Martin IV authorizes a Crusade against the newly re-established Byzantine Empire in Constantinople, excommunicating Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and the Greeks and renouncing the union of 1274; French and Venetian expeditions set out toward Constantinople but are forced to turn back in the following year due to the Sicilian Vespers. 1282 Death of 26 martyrs of Zografou monastery on Mount Athos, martyred by the Latins.Great Synaxaristes : Οἱ Ἅγιοι 26 οἱ Ὁσιομάρτυρες Ζωγραφίτες τοῦ Ἁγίου Ὄρους . 10 Οκτωβρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.26 Martyrs of the Zographou Monastery on Mt. Athos at the hands of the Crusaders. OCA – Feasts and Saints. 1285 Death of venerable martyrs Abbot Euthymius and twelve monks of Vatopedi, who suffered martyrdom for denouncing the Latinizing rulers Michael Paleologos (1261–1281) and John Bekkos (1275–1282) as heretics;Great Synaxaristes : Ὁ Ὅσιος Εὐθύμιος Ἡγούμενος Μονῆς Βατοπαιδίου και οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ μαρτυρήσαντες 12 Μοναχοί. 4 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.Venerable Euthymius Martyred at Vatopedi of Mt Athos. OCA – Feasts and Saints. Council of Blachernae, convened and presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory II the Cypriot, condemns the actions of the eastern delegation at the false council of Lyons (1274) and also condemns the Franko-Latins who use of the filioque clause, thus officially repudiating the accommodation with Rome.Dale T. Irvin and Scott Sunquist. History of the World Christian Movement: Volume 1: Earliest Christianity To 1453. A&C Black, 2002. p. 444. 1287 Last record of Western Rite Monastery of Amalfion (Monastery of Saint Mary of the Latins) on Mount Athos.Fr. Hieromonk Aidan Keller. Amalfion: Western Rite Monastery of Mt. Athos . A Monograph with Notes & Illustrations. St. Hilarion Press, 1994–2002. 1292 The monastery of St. Nicholas is founded on Ioannina Island by Michael Philanthropinos (who had served as the Metropolitan of Ioannina), being oldest of five Greek Orthodox monasteries established there between the 13th and 17th centuries.Fred A. Reed. "The Greece of Ali Pasha." The Globe and Mail [Toronto, Ont]. 10 February 1988. Page C.1. 14th century "Golden Age" of Thessaloniki in both literature and art, many churches and monasteries built.Byzantine churches (Unesco World Heritage Sites). Thessaloniki Convention & Visitors Bureau (TCVB). Retrieved 30 January 2013.

1300–1400 The "Chronicle of Morea" (Το χρονικό του Μορέως) narrates events of the establishment of feudalism in mainland Greece, mainly in the Morea/Peloponnese, by the Franks following the Fourth Crusade, covering a period from 1204 to 1292.French of Outremer: The Chronicle of Morea. Fordham University. Retrieved: 28 January 2013.Teresa Shawcross. The Chronicle of Morea: Historiography in Crusader Greece. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Ζέπος Π. "Το δίκαιον εις το Χρονικόν του Μορέως." Επετηρίς Εταιρείας Βυζαντινών Σπουδών. 18(1948), 202–220. (P. Zepos. "The Law in the Chronicle of the Morea." Annals of the Society for Byzantine Studies. 18(1948), 202–220.) 1309 Rhodes falls to the Knights of St. John, who establish their headquarters there, renaming themselves the "Knights of Rhodes". 1310 Arsenite Schism of Constantinople is officially ended by the reconciliation of the Arsenites to the Josephites, in a dramatic ceremony at Hagia Sophia on 14 Sep 1310.Alexander P. Kahzdan (Ed). "Arsenites." The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press, 2012. 1311 Battle of Kephissos: Athens was conquered by the Catalan Company, a band of mercenaries called Almogavars, who made Catalan the official language and replaced the French and Byzantine-derived laws of the Principality of Achaea with the laws of Catalonia.William Miller. The Latins in the Levant: A History of Frankish Greece 1204–1566. Cambridge, Speculum Historiale, 1908. pp. 225–232.Kenneth Meyer Setton. Catalan Domination of Athens: 1311–1388 . Revised. Variorum Reprints, 1975. 323 pages.

1314 Foundation of the Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Kleisoura, Kastoria. ΙΕΡΑ ΜΟΝΗ ΓΕΝΕΘΛΙΟΥ ΘΕΟΤΟΚΟΥ ΚΛΕΙΣΟΥΡΑΣ ΚΑΣΤΟΡΙΑΣ . Μοναστήρια της Ελλάδας. Sunday, 9 September 2012. Retrieved: 22 December 2013. c. 1320 Death of Righteous Gerasimos, Ascetic of Euboea, Orthodox missionary in Greece in the period of the Frankokratia.Great Synaxaristes: Ὁ Ὅσιος Γεράσιμος ὁ ἐξ Εὐρίπου (Εὐβοίας). 7 Δεκεμβρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ. Συναξαριστής. 7 Δεκεμβρίου. ECCLESIA.GR. (H ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ). 1321–28 Byzantine civil war.Angeliki E. Laiou. "The Byzantine empire in the fourteenth century." In: Michael Jones (Ed.). The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume VI c.1300 – c.1415. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008. p. 804. 1326 The city of Prussa in Asia Minor falls to the Ottomans after a nine-year siege. c. 1326–1330 The Ottoman Janissary corps is first created by Sultan Orhan I, under the patronage of the Sufi Mystic Haji Bektas, converting many to Islam.David Nicolle. The Janissaries. London: Osprey Publishing. pp.9–10. Benjamin Vincent. Haydn's Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. 17th Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1884. p.702. 1329 Greek monk and wonderworker St. Sergius of Valaam co-founded the Valaam Monastery (along with Herman of Valaam), in Russian Karelia on Valaam island, and is credited with bringing Orthodox Christianity to the Karelian and Finnish people. 1331 The city of Nicaea, capital of the Empire only 100 years previously, falls to the Ottomans.Gábor Ágoston and Bruce Masters. Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2009. p. 612. 1336 Meteora in Greece are established as a center of Orthodox monasticism, with the founding of the Great Meteoron Monastery.Dana Facaros, Linda Theodorou. Greece. Country and Regional Guides – Cadogan Series. New Holland Publishers, 2003. p. 510. 1337 Nicomedia captured by Ottomans. 1338 Gregory Palamas writes Triads in defense of the Holy Hesychasts, defending the Orthodox practice of hesychast spirituality and the use of the Jesus Prayer."Palamas, Saint Gregory." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2009. 1341–47 Byzantine Civil war between John VI Cantacuzenus (1347–54) and John V Palaeologus (1341–91), sometimes referred to as the Second Palaiologan Civil War.Reinert, Stephen W. (2002). "Fragmentation (1204–1453)", in Mango, Cyril, The Oxford History of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 263, 265.