Reformed Anglicans

7 October 336 A.D.   Mark, Bishop of Rome, Dies Graves, Dan. “Mysterious Pope St. Mark.”   Christianity.com. Apr 2007.   http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/mysterious-pope-st-mark-11629657.html .   Accessed 30 May 2014. Constantine the Great was ruler of the Roman Empire. Persecution against the church had ceased. In spite of this aura of peace, the life of the church was often poorly recorded. Take, for example, the life of the bishop of Rome, Pope St. Mark. We think he was born a Roman and that his Father's name was Priscus, but little more than that is known about his personal life. We cannot even venture a reasonable guess as to when he was born. But we know that he was consecrated pope on January 18, 336. One of Mark's undertakings was to compile stories of the lives of martyrs and bishops before his time. It is too bad that someone didn't do the same for him, because his activities as pope are cloudy. There is some reas...

19 April 526 A.D. John 1, Bishop of Rome, a Pawn of Powers Graves, Dan. “Pope John 1 a Pawn of Powers.” Christianity.com. Apr 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/pope-john-i-a-pawn-of-powers-11629707.html . Accessed 17 Apr 2015. John, Bishop (pope) of Rome, did not want to travel to Constantinople. But Theodoric, the Gothic ruler of Italy, insisted he must. An Arian, Theodoric had become suspicious of the recent thaw between the eastern and western branches of the church. Not long before, bishops in the two halves of the empire had been at odds over the Monophysite heresy. Most eastern bishops had accepted the Henoticon, a statement of faith carefully crafted by bishop Acacius and promulgated by emperor Zeno to allow the Monophysite heresy to persist without seeming to violate any orthodox tenets. Western bishops, led by Rome, repudiated the Henoticon because it ignored statements made by the Council of Chalcedon regarding the relationshi...