Christianity is a faith with a long and detailed history, with numerous events of lasting significance occurring throughout the ages.
Each week brings the anniversaries of great milestones, horrid tragedies, amazing triumphs, telling tribulations, inspirational progress, and everything in between.
Here are just a few things that happened this week, June 24-30, in Church history. They include the birth of the author of “Dark Night of the Soul,” the First Crusade advancing into Asia Minor, and the Lutherans presenting the Augsburg Confession.
Lutherans Present the Augsburg Confession – June 25, 1530
This week marks the anniversary of when the early Protestants presented their confession of faith before Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
Comprised of 28 Articles and primarily authored by Philipp Melanchthon, the Augsburg Confession chiefly served as an explanation of Lutheran theology and a refutation of misrepresentations of Protestant teachings.
“Lutherans sought to show that their faith was not only drawn from Scripture, but had been the basic teachings of the Christian Church throughout the ages. It was only later that the medieval Church had corrupted the true faith through unbiblical and uncatholic innovations,” explained theology professor Jack D. Kilcrease.
“With a few exceptions, most of the reforms proposed by Melanchthon involve rolling back changes that had been made to Church teaching and practice in the eleventh century by Pope Gregory the VII and his followers during a period often called the ‘Gregorian Revolution’ by Church historians.”
John of the Cross Born – June 24, 1542
This week marks the anniversary of the birth of influential Spanish Catholic mystic and saint, John of the Cross, author of the famous “Dark Night of the Soul.”
A native of Fontiveros, Spain, John became a Carmelite monk in 1563 and later an ordained priest in 1567. He was made a saint by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726.
His most enduring work is a poem titled “Dark Night of the Soul,” which was defined as a sense of perceived spiritual abandonment that ultimately leads to unity with God.
“The dark night that St John describes is not abandonment by God but special consideration from Him for those who desire to purify and perfect their souls,” explained one book analyzing the poem.
“By accepting the desolation and difficulty of this process, the soul cooperates with God and opens itself to receiving and revealing more perfectly God’s glory.”
Crusaders Invade Asia Minor – June 26, 1097
This week marks the anniversary of when the Christian armies of the First Crusade entered Asia Minor, days after taking the strategically important city of Nicaea.
Begun less than a year earlier in Western Europe, the Crusaders laid siege to Nicaea from May 14 to June 19, eventually taking the city despite heavy losses.
A week after Nicaea was taken, the various armies comprising the First Crusade set out in two large groups across the large peninsula, defeating Islamic forces on their way to Antioch.
“For the next four months, the crusaders made their way across Anatolia under horrible conditions. The heat was brutal, water scarce, and food scarcer,” noted about-history.com.
“Repeatedly, the enterprise seemed doomed, yet in each case something allowed it to continue, if only just a little farther. For the crusaders, these were the miracles that God performed for those who marched to the land of his Son.”