May 12: Today in Christian History

May 12, 403

Burial of St. Epiphanius of Salamis in a new church he had built. An Orthodox bishop, he had opposed the use of icons that was creeping into the church, famously tearing down a curtain that depicted one. In his writings he had rejected Arianism and cataloged eighty other heresies. He also wrote directives for the translation of the Bible. The Seventh Ecumenical Council (787) while authorizing the use of icons, will name him a father and teacher of the Church.

May 12, 563

Columba and twelve companions, sailing in a currach of wickerwork covered with hides, land at Iona on the eve of Pentecost. Iona will become a center of evangelization for Scotland and Northern England.

May 12, 1003

Death of Pope Sylvester II. Because of his interest in science, he had been accused of being in league with Satan. He had tutored the young Otto III, who upon ascending to power elevated Sylvester to the papacy—the first Frenchman to become pope. Sylvester’s main political achievement had been to form an alliance that drove the Saracens out of Italy.

May 12, 1792

William Carey publishes An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians, to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens.... The pamphlet forces many Protestants to rethink missions and becomes their manifesto.

May 12, 1795

Death in New Haven, Connecticut, of Ezra Stiles, a Congregationalist pastor, theologian, and the seventh president of Yale. He had been an advocate of Hebrew studies.

May 12, 1838

Death in Windsor, New South Wales [Victoria], of Samuel Marsden, missionary to New Zealand known as “Greatheart of the Maori.”

May 12, 1982

Pope John Paul II is approached at Fatima by a bayonet-wielding priest.

May 12, 1986

Christians of the Nazarene Church of Maputo, Mozambique take literally 2 Chronicles 6:28-30 and humble themselves and pray for their nation, plagued by war and famine. Led by Salomão Macie, they will continute their intercession each evening through the 18th. The civil war will continue six more years. However the church will experience a large increase in members.