The History of the Christian Orthodox Church

Protopriest Pyotr Alekseevich Smirnov (1831-1907) — historian of the Church, biblicist, and theologian. After graduating from the Moscow Theological Academy, he delivered sermons and engaged in teaching activities, during which he wrote textbooks on the Law of God and the... history of the Church, translated into foreign languages. Together with the Moscow Commission, he organized public readings, taught the Law of God in courses for teachers of public schools, and led theological readings in the Moscow City Duma. He was the rector of the St. Petersburg Cathedral of St. Isaac. He held the position of editor at the "Church News" and prepared articles on issues of church life and thought. Due to his significant contribution to the teaching of the Law of God, he was appointed chairman of the School Council under the Holy Synod. The present work of Protopriest Pyotr Smirnov, serving as a textbook, includes an introduction that defines the main aspects of the history of the Church and discusses the history of Christianity, divided into several milestones: the Apostolic period, the period of the Flourishing of Christianity and Ecumenical Councils, the Separation of the Roman Church and the Emergence of Protestantism, the Christianization of the Slavic Peoples and the Russian Church, the Synodal Period.  Printed according to the 1916 edition (The History of the Christian Orthodox Church / Protopriest Pyotr Smirnov. — Petrograd: Typo-lithography M. P. Frolova, 1916. — 295 p.).