February 23
155: Martyrdom of Polycarp, an early Church Father, a disciple of the Apostle John. Jailed at the age 86, he was burned at the stake for refusing to deny the Christian faith.
1719: Death of Bartholomew Ziegenbalg at 36, a missionary to India, who established a seminary, translated the New Testament into Tamil, built a church and converted over two hundred Indians. Dutch missionaries even imprisoned him once, fearing the rage of the Hindus they administered.
1744: David Brainerd, Colonial missionary to the American Indians, confesses in his journal, “There is a God in heaven who over-rules all things for the best; and this is the comfort of my soul.”
1775: John Newton, Anglican hymn-writer, reflected in a letter, “How great and honourable is the privilege of a true believer! That he has neither wisdom nor strength in himself is no disadvantage, for he is connected with infinite wisdom and almighty power.”
1834: Robert Murray McCheyne, a Scottish clergyman declares in his journal, “Rose early to seek God and found Him whom my soul loveth. Who would not rise early to meet such company?”
1846: John Henry Newman leaves Oxford as a result of the outrage caused by the publication of his article “Remarks on Certain Passages in the Thirty-Nine Articles,” in which he tried to reconcile the teachings of Church of England with Roman positions, and he consequently migrates to the Roman Catholic Church.
1918: The body of the Orthodox priest George Porgachevsky, who was arrested a few days back by Soviets, is found near a village of Ivanovskoye in Amur region.\
1929: Consecration of Lindel Tsen as Assistant Bishop of Honan, China, the first native bishop in an established Anglican diocese. He later had to undergo persecution at the hands of the government as the principal leader of Chinese Anglicanism.
1970: The Holy Eucharist was distributed by women for the first time in a Roman Catholic mass. Mrs. Cornell. Deeny of Eagle Grove and Mary Sandmann of New Vienna of the diocese of northeast Iowa, US, are considered the pioneers in this historical change.
Edited by: T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: www.studylight.org