time line \Key dates

For about 1,000 years — until 1054 — Orthodoxy and Catholicism were one church grounded in the apostolic tradition. Key dates in the history of the Orthodox church:

150 A.D.: Liturgical church worship begins to take shape.

325 A.D.: First Ecumenical Council held. Christianity becomes the official religion of Rome.

787 A.D.: The dispute over whether the veneration of icons, part of Orthodox worship, is idolatry is resolved when the Seventh Ecumenical Council approves icons for worship.

988 A.D.: Conversion of Russia — then called Rus’ — to Orthodox Christianity begins.

1,000: Orthodoxy spreads into Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

1054: The Great Schism: Orthodoxy and Catholicism split.

1204: Catholic Crusaders sack Constantinople, the center of Orthodoxy during the Byzantine Empire.

1794: Missionaries arrive in Kodiak Island, Alaska, marking the arrival of Orthodoxy in North America.

2006: Pope Benedict XVI meets with Archbishop Christodoulos, head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Greece, to discuss relations between the two churches. Nothing substantive came of the talks.

Source: Collier Press and Gazette research