December 24
361 Assassination of George of Cappadocia , a despotic bishop, at Alexandria, Egypt. He had tried to force Arian theology on Alexandrians. The furious mob burned his body and casted the ashes into the Mediterranean Sea.
1515 Bartolomé Las Casas, a Dominican monk from Spain and a well known theologian, and historian, has an audience with Ferdinand of Spain, who then commissioned him to act on behalf of the Indians of the New World.
1784 Founding of Methodism in the newly-independent United States of America, in Baltimore. Francis Asbury became the first Methodist bishop there.
1818 Franz Gruber, the church organist of St. Nicholas Church at Oberndorf, Austria, composes the melody for the poem, “Stille Nacht,” written by pastor Joseph Mohr, and the world heard “Silent Night” sung for the very first time.
1849 Dostoevsky, who had been condemned for participating in a rebel plot, goes on exile in the Omsk. A woman gifted him a Bible on the way, which helped him to become a Christ.
1912 Demise of Charlotte Diggs “Lottie” Moon in Japan, a Baptist missionary in China, who had influenced the formation of the Women’s Missionary Union.
1951 “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” a Christmas musical written by composer Gian Carlo Menotti broadcasted on TV for the first time.
2003 Buddhists in Sri Lanka attack and burn Christian churches, (falsely) blaming Christians for the death of a popular Buddhist monk. The riot led to the closure of 140 churches.
2010 Muslims terrorists of Boko Haram murder Pastor Bulus Marwa in Alamuderi, Nigeria, along with other Christians, and burn down the church.
Edited by: T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: https://studylight.org