October 16
1009: (or October 18th) Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the ruler of Egypt, destroys the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Holy Steps) in Jerusalem.
1311: Pope Clement V convenes the Council of Vienne, which was effective in suppressing the Knights Templars – the principal military-religious order of the Middle Ages.
1555: Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer, two English reformers, are burned at the stake under Queen Mary.
1649: The American colony of Maine passes a legislation granting religious freedom to all its citizens.
1752: Birth of Johann G. Eichhorn, German Old Testament scholar, a pioneer in “higher criticism,” which evaluated Scripture through literary analysis and historical evidence, rather than mere religious authority.
1789: The second general convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia comes to a close. It had adopted a constitution for the church, ratified the Canons of the new denomination and authorized a revised version of the “Book of Common Prayer.”
1812: Demise of Henry Martyn, an Anglican missionary to Persia, who had translated the New Testament into Hindustani, later into Arabic and Persian, during his short life of 31 years.
1861: Murder of Che Jinguang, an elderly Chinese Christian in Boluo, since he refused to renounce his faith. He became the first-known Protestant martyr in China.
Edited by: T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: https://studylight.org