April 22: Today in Christian History

April 22, 536

Death of Agapetus I, bishop of Rome, while in Constantinople, where he had been sent on an embassy to avert war. He had used the occasion of his visit to depose Bishop Anthimus as a monophysite.

April 22, 1538

John Calvin and William Farel are fired by the town council of Geneva and ordered to leave the city within three days. They had refused to administer the Lord’s Supper the day before in part because of notorious sins among the city’s folk, and in part because they did not want to follow the lead of Bern in serving unleavened bread.

April 22, 1663

King Charles II charters the Royal Society of London by that name, “for improving Natural Knowledge.” Most of its initial members are Christians and it will become a leading force for scientific inquiry.

April 22, 1918

Patriarch Tikhon raises Justin Lvovich Olshevksy to the rank of Archbishop of Omsk. He takes the name Sylvester. He opposes the Soviets and blesses the White Army that resists Soviet control. Eventually the Soviets will defeat the Whites and arrest and torture Archbishop Sylvester for two months before killing him.

April 22, 1922

Baptist leader Olisemeke Samuel Wadei “Martin” opens the first of several schools. In his long and useful life, he will also establish a teacher training college and health centers for his Nigerian people.

April 22, 1934

Five thousand pastors and laypeople gather in Ulm where they  create the “Confessing Church,” relying on the Reformation confessions in interpreting Scripture, rather than Nazi racial theories and propaganda.

April 22, 1960

At a constitutional convention in Minneapolis, three major Lutheran bodies in the U.S. merge to form the American Lutheran Church, with a combined membership of about two million.

April 22, 1987

Death in North Carolina of J. Edwin Orr, revival historian. His research had showed him that all revivals had sprung from prayer meetings, and he preached and spoke throughout the world to share this vision.