1569 - St. Philip of Moscow, primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, was murdered by Czar Ivan IV ("Ivan the Terrible").
1777 - Pioneer American Methodist bishop Francis Asbury wrote in his journal: 'My soul lives constantly as in the presence of God, and enjoys much of His divine favor. His love is better than life!'
1836 - The first Roman Catholic college to be founded in the Deep South, Spring Hill College was established in Spring Hill, Arkansas.
1924 - Death of British Armenian scholar F. C. Conybeare, 68. His researches did much to relate the Armenian language and culture to the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint).
1970 - After 140 years of unofficial racial discrimination, the Mormons issued an official statement declaring that blacks were not yet to receive the priesthood "for reasons which we believe are known to God, but which He has not made fully known to man."
© 1987-2011, William D. Blake. Used by permission of the author, from
Almanac of the Christian Church
