Thursday, May 29, 2025

It is the 29th of May 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

It is a red-letter day in the van Voorhis household. Why, you ask? And what’s a red letter day? Historically, just as the words of Christ were marked in red along with important liturgical moments, so too were festivals written in red on the calendar. A “red letter” day means a special day- and it was on the 29th of May in 2009 that Beth Anne and I welcomed our first born- Walter Coert van Voorhis- 16 years old today, and does NOT want to drive because he is his fathers son and no one should ever drive if they don’t need to.

But it’s red letter day- perhaps in the “significant” but “not-so-happy” world of Church history. And you can ask the Four Lad’s who wrote the song that asked the question, followed by They Might Be Giants who covered the song that asked “why did Constantinople get the works? That’s nobody’s business by the Turks…” and now ours here on the Christian History Almanac as this event- the fall of Constantinople on May 29th 1453 would forever alter the church.

Constantinople was the Greek city of Byzantium until Constantine the Great renamed the city when he made it the new capital of the Roman Empire, and then one of the great centers of the church with his conversion in the 300s.

With the expansion of Islam throughout the Middle East, the other major capitals of the church were overthrown in the early Middle Ages —Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria —leaving Constantinople and Rome as the two centers left standing, which would then divide in 1054. But what led to its demise?

First, the Crusades. You might remember that the Crusades began as an attempt to help the church in Constantinople, which was under threat. And those dumb things eventually turned on themselves, and the 4th crusade saw Western Christians attacking Christians in Constantinople (consider this your regular reminder of how bad the power of the state is in the hands of the church and the folly of the Crusades).

After being weakened by the 4th Crusade in the 1200s, the Black Death then spread throughout the Empire, further weakening Constantinople, making it a prime target for the Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire, who first took control of the Bosphorus- the strait dividing the West from the Middle East.

Secondly, he employed an Eastern European iron founder and engineer who had offered his services to the Byzantine emperor, but was rebuffed and instead sold his cannon to Mehmed.  This was crucial as the walls of Constantinople were considered unbreachable, but Orban’s cannon could do the trick. It was the cannon, but also the sheer number of troops amassed by the Sultan.

The Emperor in Constantinople, Constantine XI, had asked for assistance from the West but was denied. He had maybe 7,000 troops, whereas the Ottomans may have had upwards of 100,000. It was on this day that the Janissaries- the Ottoman special forces broke through the weakened walls, and the city fell. Constantine XI was seen fighting and was likely killed in the melee. After a few days, Mehmed restored order, and the Hagia Sophia- the center of the Eastern church was converted to a mosque, and Constantinople would become Istanbul.

What began with the Crusades- that ill-planned attempt to help Constantinople, which became the catastrophic series of events fracturing the region, led to what would be one of the last events of the Middle Ages- the sacking of Constantinople. Where there were once five centers, now Rome stood alone. The Renaissance and Reformation would challenge this hegemony, but the Christian world was forever altered with the fall of one of its great capitols on this, the 29th of May in 1453.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary, and as it is the 40th day since Easter, and 10 Days before Pentecost, so it is Ascension day, and we hear from Acts 1:1-11:

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach ² until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. ³ After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. ⁴ On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

⁶ Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷ He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

¹⁰ They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 29th of May 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by the blue canary in the outlet by the light switch, who watches over you - he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who doesn’t want the whole world- just your half… I’m  Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.