Isaacology
Happened in this day
The Churches of the East and West Reconcile (519)

Under Emperor Justinian, the churches of the East and West reconcile. They had been separated for thirty-five years during the Acacian Schism, which revolved around whether or not Christ had two natures—the human and the divine. This had been the first significant break between the churches of East and West.

Bar Sauma Attended Easter Services (1288)

This day, March 28, 1288 was Easter. Rome was electric with a sense of importance of the occasion and of the presence of Rabban Bar Sauma, an enthusiastic envoy from the Far East. Bar Sauma was a Nestorian, a member of an ancient sect of Christians. In the Mideast, Bar Sauma was delegated to act as ambassador for newly-elected Patriarch Mar Yabahalla III. Nicholas the Pope received him with open arms and allowed Bar Sauma to celebrate the Eucharist. On Palm Sunday, the pope gave Bar Sauma the Eucharist in front of tens of thousands, roaring their amens. Back in Persia, Bar Sauma, with the help of the king, built a church to house the relics. When he died, his body was buried beside that church.

Birth of Teresa of Avila (1515)

Spanish mystic Teresa of Avila, founder of a reformed Carmelite order, is born. Though her contemporaries noted her practicality and administrative skills, her legacy stems from her mysticism, evidenced in her Autobiography, Way of Perfection, Book of Foundations, and Interior Castle.

Pope Leo X Condemns Luther By Name (1521)

Pope Leo X condemns Luther by name on Maundy Thursday in the bull In Coena Domini, along with all his adherents.

Seven Frieborg Merchants Stop the Romanists from Massacring the Genevan Protestants (1533)

On March 28th, 1533 Geneva was on the brink of Reformation, and a massacre. The priests and some leaders of the town led by Canon Wernli, a devout Roman Catholic, gathered together at St. Peter’s church to murder the Reformers. Romanist crowd grew to around 2,500 as they marched toward the 400 or so Reformed believers who resolved to stand their ground with guns and spears rather than meekly be murdered. Yet, God averted this crisis without any bloodshed thanks to seven merchant men from Friburg, a neighboring Swiss canton. These men went back and forth serving as mediators. They told the Roman Catholics that despite what the priests said, shedding the blood of their countrymen accomplished nothing. And they told the Reformed that 400 against 2,500 was suicide. Both sides agreed to back down and put up their weapons.

Geneva’s Catholic Citizens Enter a Protest (1538)

A number of Geneva’s Catholic citizens, under the lead of François Chamois, enter a protest against the ordinance by which the city’s Protestant Confession of Faith had been adopted the year before.

Callao’s First Jesuit Missionaries (1568)

Father Geronimo Ruiz Portillo, with six companions, arrives at Callao, Peru, the country’s first Jesuit missionaries. They will propagate the Christian faith among Indian populations, open churches, build schools, and develop a missionary training center.

Birth of Jan Comenius (1592)

Czech theologian Jan Comenius, educator of the Bohemian (or Moravian) Brethren, is born in Nivnice, Czechoslovakia. As today, the region was tormented by warfare, and Comenius believed the only way to bring peace was through education. He designed a plan for educating every province and country, which he presented in The Great Didactic (1632). Education, he believed, should be more than just learning facts and languages (as was the case in his day), it should mold Christian character and should be marked by observing the physical world. He is called "the father of modern education".

Scottish Parliament Passes the Rescissory Act (1661)

Scottish Parliament passes the Rescissory Act, repealing all church-state legislation created since 1633 (Charles I's reign). In essence, the act restored the Anglican episcopacy to Scotland and quashed Presbyterianism, which had been the national church since 1638. In 1690 Parliament again established the Church of Scotland as Presbyterian.

David Brainerd’s Statement (1747)

Colonial missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd wrote in his journal: 'Oh, how happy it is, to be drawn by desires of a state of perfect holiness.'

A Committee Gathers to Raise Money to Support William Lloyd Garrison (1866)

A committee gathers to raise money to support William Lloyd Garrison who had dedicated his life and energy to the effort to abolish slavery. Rev. Samuel May, Jr., will do more than anyone else to raise the funds.

John Joseph Ignatius von Döllinger Refuses the Dogma of Papal Infallibility (1871)

John Joseph Ignatius von Döllinger addresses a letter to his archbishop refusing to subscribe to the newly defined dogma of papal infallibility, saying, “As a Christian, as a theologian, as a historian, as a citizen I cannot accept this dogma.” As a consequence Döllinger will be excommunicated in 1873.

Death of Theologian Richard Chenevix Trench (1886)

Death of theologian Richard Chenevix Trench, archbishop of Dublin and student of Bible words, noted for his work New Testament Synonyms.

William Christie Sails for Buddhist Tibet (1892)

William Christie sails from the United States bound for Buddhist Tibet. “By the grace of God I will spend and be spent for my Savior and the salvation of those who are sitting in awful darkness and sin and misery,” he writes. He will become known as the “Apostle of Tibet.”

Death of Elizabeth Rundle Charles (1896)

Death of author, painter, linguist, and hymnwriter Elizabeth Rundle Charles in London, England. One of her better-known hymns was “Never Farther than Thy Cross.”

Boreham’s Series of Sermons (1911)

F. W. Boreham, a Baptist pastor, held the record as Australia's most prolific author. He published many sermons as essays such as: Texts that Made History, The Luggage of Life, Mountains in the Mist, and about ninety other titles. These books brought him an international reputation. On this day, March 28, 1911, while pastoring in Tasmania, he began preaching a series of sermons that won more souls to Christ than any of his other themes. Boreham searched out the scripture texts that had inspired the lives of great men such as Luther, Cromwell, Hannington and over 120 others. In addition to his religious work, he wrote regularly for two secular papers, The Hobart Mercury and The Melbourne Age.

Birth of Kurt Aland (1915)

Birth of Kurt Aland, New Testament textual scholar. He co-edited the two most definitive modern critical editions of the Greek Scriptures: the United Bible Society's "Greek New Testament" and Eberhard Nestle's "Novum Testamentum Graece."

Death of Katherine L. Bates (1929)

Death of hymn writer Katherine L. Bates, author of the patriotic hymn “America the Beautiful.”

Death of Frederick Brotherton Meyer (1929)

Death of evangelist and devotional writer Frederick Brotherton Meyer, an English Baptist clergyman.

Birth of Bill Gaither (1936)

Birth of Bill Gaither, contemporary Gospel songwriter and vocal artist. Together with his wife Gloria, he wrote some of the most popular Christian songs of the 1960s-1970s, including "Because He Lives," "The King is Coming," "The Longer I Serve Him" and "Something Beautiful."

Billy Graham Gets His First Opportunity to Preach (1937)

Billy Graham gets his first opportunity to preach when his teacher John Minder unexpectedly assigns him the Easter evening sermon. Graham tried to get out of it, saying he was unprepared, but Minder persisted. Desperately nervous, Graham raced through four memorized sermons, originally 45 minutes each, in eight minutes.

Death of Robert Parmalee Wilder (1938)

Death of Robert Parmalee Wilder, who had been an organizer of the Princeton Foreign Missionary Society and other mission societies. He had also been influential in the formation of the Student Volunteer Movement that advocated the “evangelization of the world in this generation,” and he authored several books on missions.

C. S. Lewis’ Statement (1961)

English apologist C. S. Lewis wrote in "Letters to American Lady": 'The main purpose of our life is to reach the point at which one's own life as a person is at an end. One must in this sense "die," relinquish one's freedom and independence... "He that loses his life shall find it."'

The Simon Wiesenthal Center Awards Hiram Bingham IV Their Medal of Valor (2011)

The Simon Wiesenthal Center posthumously awards Hiram Bingham IV their medal of valor. Bingham, an Episcopalian, had been an American diplomat in France during the early years of the Nazi occupation and violated State Department protocol by arranging escapes for persecuted Jews. He will be remembered with other Righteous Gentiles in the Episcopal Church calendar on July 19.