December 17
630: Demise of Modestus of Jerusalem, who served as the acting Patriarch of Jerusalem. Later became the patriarch in his own right as the Persians captured Jerusalem and slaughtered or imprisoned many Christians, including Patriarch Zacharias.
693: Repose of Begga, who became a nun after the death of her husband, founded seven churches, and founded a convent where she was abbess.
1559: Matthew Parker is installed as the Archbishop of Canterbury. A strong supporter of Reformation under Elizabeth I, he implemented her policies, and was very cruel with Puritans and other dissenters. Catholics later declared his consecration invalid, hoping to undermine the legitimacy of his apostolic succession and the validity of Anglicanism.
1801: Ordination of William Bengo Collyer, who with his preaching was effective against the followers of Arian teaching.
1843: The first publication of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”.
1912: William Borden (Borden of Yale), a rich young man, sails to Africa to work as a missionary among Muslims; he died in Egypt before beginning his work.
1917: The Bolshevik government confiscates the property of the Russian Orthodox Church and announces the abolishment of religious instruction in schools.
1920: The first orphanage founded by the Church of God opens in Cleveland, Tennessee, as the result of the vision and efforts of A.J. Tomlinson, a Church of God pioneer.
1934: Birth of Kurt Kaiser, a contemporary American Christian hymn-writer and composer.
1949: Czechoslovakian bishops reject the new law regarding religion because it contradicts the law of God.
1961: Death of Lillian Trasher, a missionary from Assemblies of God church, who was also known as the “Mother of the Nile” for her development of a large orphanage complex in Egypt which also sheltered widows and blind people.
1976: the beginning of the first synod of the Moravian Church in Southwest Tanzania o at Utengule.
1999: Addressing an international symposium, Pope John Paul II expresses regret “for the cruel death inflicted on Jan Hus,” praising Hus’s “moral courage in the face of adversity and death.”
Edited by: T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: https://studylight.org