The Church
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Sources & method

Source basis: Road steps, councils, faces, and claims cite their source records inline; dark chapters are stated beside bright ones. Sources

Current roomThe tree
Sources & method

Source basis: Road steps, councils, faces, and claims cite their source records inline; dark chapters are stated beside bright ones. Sources

Worlds

The Church

The tree

One trunk, from the upper room. Four great forks — 431, 451, 1054, 1517 — and every limb still bearing leaves. The divisions are real and the dates are hard; so is this: nothing on this tree has died.

Swipe horizontally to follow every living branch, then choose one below to read its story.

100500100015002000The one church — from AD 33The one churchChurch of the East — split from The one church in AD 431431Church of the EastOriental Orthodox — split from The one church in AD 451451Oriental OrthodoxEastern Orthodox — split from The one church in AD 10541054Eastern OrthodoxCatholic — split from The one church in AD 10541054CatholicLutheran — split from Catholic in AD 15171517LutheranReformed — split from Catholic in AD 15361536ReformedAnglican — split from Catholic in AD 15341534AnglicanAnabaptist — split from Catholic in AD 15251525AnabaptistBaptist — split from Anglican in AD 16091609BaptistMethodist — split from Anglican in AD 17841784MethodistPentecostal — split from Methodist in AD 19061906Pentecostal

Choose a branch above. Every branch on this tree is alive today — the tree loses no living wood.

Read the same tree as a table
Every living branch of the church, what it split from, and when
BranchFromSplit fromWhat it is
The one churchAD 33—From Pentecost, one communion — spreading from Jerusalem through the whole Mediterranean world, in Greek, Syriac, Latin, Coptic, and Armenian voices.
Church of the EastAD 431The one churchAfter the Council of Ephesus (431) condemned Nestorius, the church of the Persian Empire went its own way — formalized at the Synod of Beth Lapat (484). Its missionaries reached India and Tang-dynasty China centuries before the West did.
Oriental OrthodoxAD 451The one churchThe churches that could not accept the Council of Chalcedon (451). They confess one united divine-human nature in Christ (miaphysitism) — not the "monophysite" caricature long pinned on them. Armenia's church formally rejected Chalcedon at the councils of Dvin in the 6th century.
Eastern OrthodoxAD 1054The one churchThe Great Schism: centuries of drift over papal authority, the filioque clause, and culture ended with mutual excommunications in 1054 — aimed at individuals, but never healed. The sack of Constantinople by crusaders in 1204 sealed it.
CatholicAD 1054The one churchThe Western church under the bishop of Rome — after 1054, a distinct communion; after 1517, the branch the Reformation left. Today the largest single Christian body.
LutheranAD 1517CatholicLuther's protest against indulgences (1517) became a communion of its own once Rome and the reformers could not be reconciled.
ReformedAD 1536CatholicThe Swiss reformation of Zwingli and Calvin — Geneva's Institutes date from 1536. Presbyterian and Reformed churches worldwide descend from it.
AnglicanAD 1534CatholicEngland's Act of Supremacy (1534) put the crown, not the pope, at the head of the English church — a split born of politics that grew its own theology.
AnabaptistAD 1525CatholicThe radical reformation: believer's baptism, separation from the state — persecuted by Catholics and Protestants alike.
BaptistAD 1609AnglicanEnglish separatists in Amsterdam (1609) formed the first Baptist congregation; today one of the largest Protestant families.
MethodistAD 1784AnglicanJohn Wesley's revival movement inside the Church of England became a church of its own after 1784.
PentecostalAD 1906MethodistThe Azusa Street revival (1906) — a one-eyed African-American preacher's mission in Los Angeles — became the fastest-growing Christian stream on earth.

Walk the whole story on the road — each fork happens somewhere along it, and the road tells you why.