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030 - 29 The Expansion of Christianity · Short History of the Christian Church

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  Speaker 1: Book one, chapter twenty nine of Short History of the
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  Speaker 1: Christian Church by John Fletcher Hurst. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain, Chapter twenty nine. The expansion of
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  Speaker 1: Christianity the evangelization of the nations continued with unabated zeal,
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  Speaker 1: Whether in persecution or after the liberty given by Constantine.
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  Speaker 1: The work of missions was carried on with equal fervor.
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  Speaker 1: There were three such fields, one the poor within the
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  Speaker 1: central regions of the Empire, two the population of such
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  Speaker 1: farther provinces as were a firm part of the dominions.
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  Speaker 1: And three those more remote tribes which were hostile to
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  Speaker 1: Rome and were awaiting a good opportunity to satisfy their
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  Speaker 1: hunger for conquest by feeding on the dying Empire. The
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  Speaker 1: Church extended its boundaries by exile and all the other
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  Speaker 1: means employed to destroy it, both in Rome and in
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  Speaker 1: the life arger provincial towns. The conflict between the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: and pagan literature was intense and uninterrupted. The doctrines of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus gained steadily on the most finished products of pagan thought.
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  Speaker 1: Wordsworth's description of the conquest of the missionary over the
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  Speaker 1: Druids of Britain applies equally well to the whole battlefield
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  Speaker 1: of three continents. Hatti the bard can these weak doctrines
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  Speaker 1: blight his transports, whither his heroic strain, But all shall
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  Speaker 1: be fulfilled. The Julian spear away first opened, and with
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  Speaker 1: Roman chains the tidings come of Jesus crucified. They came,
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  Speaker 1: they spread the weak, the suffering. Here receive the faith
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  Speaker 1: and in the hope abide. When Athanasius was banished from
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  Speaker 1: Alexandria to northern Gaul ad. Three thirty five, not only
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  Speaker 1: did the young society in the latter country enjoy the
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  Speaker 1: presence of an heroic example, but the exile himself began
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  Speaker 1: his organizing work and established the Diocese of Trevez, at
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  Speaker 1: that time the capital of Gaul. The powerful expansion went
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  Speaker 1: on rapidly everywhere. Indeed, during the period of suffering, the
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  Speaker 1: only safety to the Christians lay in their distance from
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  Speaker 1: the persecuting centers. Tertullians said defiantly to the whole Roman world,
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  Speaker 1: we are of yesterday. Yet we have filled your empire,
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  Speaker 1: your cities, your islands, your castles, your towns, your assemblies,
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  Speaker 1: your very camps, your tribes, your companies, your palaces, your Senate,
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  Speaker 1: your forum and your temples alone are left you. Antioch
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  Speaker 1: was the center from which the light of the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: radiated eastward into the distant parts of Asia, and westward
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  Speaker 1: through Asia Minor. The pathway reached from the shore of
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  Speaker 1: the Ada and Sea to the west of China, a
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  Speaker 1: longer line of march than Alexander had made. Jerusalem lost
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  Speaker 1: its hold as a center of ecclesiastical power, and its
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  Speaker 1: spiritual dominion was divided between Antioch in the north and
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  Speaker 1: Alexandria in the south. Cappadocia and the entire coast of
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  Speaker 1: the Euxine Sea east of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus
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  Speaker 1: were early a mission field. Colchis, Iberia, and Georgia were
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  Speaker 1: overspread with missionary labors. Armenia was Christianized by Gregory the
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  Speaker 1: Illuminator in the beginning of the fourth century. He provided
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  Speaker 1: that country with monasteries and seminaries, and was consecrated Primate
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  Speaker 1: of Armenia by Leontius, Archbishop of Caesarea. The Bible was
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  Speaker 1: translated into Armenian and a large Christian literature was created.
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  Speaker 1: In the third century, Persia had so far become evangelized
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  Speaker 1: that Stut t Saphon became the seat of a flourishing
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  Speaker 1: society and a point of departure for the expansion of
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  Speaker 1: Christianity further east. The doctrines of Zoroaster, it has been claimed,
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  Speaker 1: were attacked by a converted magician mobed who in a
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  Speaker 1: special work, held up to his countrymen the excellence of Christianity.
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  Speaker 1: He suffered martyrdom eighty three hundred, but was followed by
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  Speaker 1: laborers of equal ardor Edessa in Persia became an important
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  Speaker 1: center of Christian learning. The Nestorian Christians, who were compelled
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  Speaker 1: to leave the Roman Empire, took refuge here and laid
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  Speaker 1: the foundations of a rich and influential Syrian literature. Missionary
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  Speaker 1: operations were carried along all the lines of Eastern travel,
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  Speaker 1: from the valley of the Tigris and the Euphrates. The
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  Speaker 1: indications are strong that missionaries went far into the interior
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  Speaker 1: of India. Bitter persecutions befell the person Christians in the
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  Speaker 1: fourth century, but they remained faithful. The Church in Africa
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  Speaker 1: developed with amazing rapidity. Alexandria was the literary center for
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  Speaker 1: the evangelization of the entire delta of the Nile. Missions
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  Speaker 1: were planted along either bank, and soon extended far up
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  Speaker 1: towards the first cataract at Folet and to the oases
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  Speaker 1: on either side of the river. Carthage, the ancient Punic capital,
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  Speaker 1: was intimately connected with Western Christendom. Many Christians came to
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  Speaker 1: both these cities, but in larger numbers to Alexandria from
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  Speaker 1: distant regions, where they became acquainted with the theology and
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  Speaker 1: life of the Church, and bore back again the fruits
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  Speaker 1: of their study and observation. The whole of proconsular Africa,
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  Speaker 1: including Goetulia, Mauritania and Numidia, whose western bounds were washed
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  Speaker 1: by the waves of the Atlantic, was event angelized by
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  Speaker 1: Roman and Carthaginian Christians. The great number of bishops in
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  Speaker 1: the third century dependent on the patriarchate of Carthage, furnishes
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  Speaker 1: strong evidence of the extent to which Christianity had been
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  Speaker 1: propagated in the whole of Western Africa and of its
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  Speaker 1: stronghold upon the people. At the Synod of Labis near
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  Speaker 1: Carthage AD two forty or two forty two ninety bishops
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  Speaker 1: were present, while two hundred and seventy bishops signed the
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  Speaker 1: conclusions of the council of Carthage eighty three hundred eight.
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  Speaker 1: Abyssinia was converted through two young men, Frumentius and Nadesius,
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  Speaker 1: who alone survived the massacre of the members of a
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  Speaker 1: scientific expedition conducted by Meuropius, a Syrian philosopher. About the
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  Speaker 1: end of the fourth century, a translation of the Bible
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  Speaker 1: was made from the received Greek Testament of the Alexandrian
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  Speaker 1: Church into the old language of Abbysis. The Abyssinian Church
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  Speaker 1: has always remained in connection with Alexandria, its boast being
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  Speaker 1: we drink from the fountain of the Patriarch of Alexandria.
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  Speaker 1: Feeble as Abyssinian Christianity is, it has preserved its existence
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  Speaker 1: through an unbroken succession of Christian governors from the fourth
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  Speaker 1: century to the nineteenth With all its error, it may
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  Speaker 1: in truth be called the Waldensian Church of the Switzerland
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  Speaker 1: of Africa. The central field of interest was the continent
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  Speaker 1: of Europe. Christian missionaries continued the labors of Paul and
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  Speaker 1: carried the Gospel through Mosia to the Danube. Macedonia had
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  Speaker 1: numerous Christian societies, while even Allyricum had two dioceses. By
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  Speaker 1: eight three ten, three bishops lived in Philipopolis in Thrace.
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  Speaker 1: The contact of the Goths north of the Danube in
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  Speaker 1: Dacia with Christianity was a most important event. It was
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  Speaker 1: the opening of a new field of evangelistic labor and
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  Speaker 1: had the important effect of bringing the Gospel into relation
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  Speaker 1: with the many Teutonic tribes which constituted the Eastern Germany.
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  Speaker 1: Of those times, a Gothic bishop, Theophilus, was a member
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  Speaker 1: of the Nicene Council. It was, however, through the labors
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  Speaker 1: of Ulphilas, a Gothic convert to Christianity, that the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: spread widely among his people. He invented the Gothic alphabet,
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  Speaker 1: brought the Goths into literary relations with Roman culture, and
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  Speaker 1: opened up the pathway for Christian truth into all parts
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  Speaker 1: of the Ostrogothic territory. In Greece, it was not Athens
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  Speaker 1: but Corinth which became the ecclesiastical center of operations. Athens, however,
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  Speaker 1: constituted a diocese, and the third bishop resident there suffered
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  Speaker 1: martyrdom eighty one seventy nine. Aqualaia, at the head of
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  Speaker 1: the Adriatic Sea, became a point of influence for the
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  Speaker 1: propagation of Christianity among the peoples of the eastern Alps.
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  Speaker 1: Rome was the heart and hand of a vigorous and
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  Speaker 1: aggressive Christianity. The entire Italian peninsula had grown into episcopates.
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  Speaker 1: The first provincial synod was eighty three O three, but
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  Speaker 1: before this there had been seventeen smaller synods and councils
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  Speaker 1: attended by bishops of all Italy. Rome converted all Spain
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  Speaker 1: and Gaul into a missionary field. The Roman bishop was
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  Speaker 1: supreme As early as the end of the second century.
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  Speaker 1: Christian societies existed throughout Spain, and by the beginning of
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  Speaker 1: the fourth century churches had been established in all the
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  Speaker 1: Gallic provinces. Vienne was an episcopal residence eighty one eighteen,
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  Speaker 1: log dunam Leon about eighty one seventy nine, and Travez
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  Speaker 1: In the first half of the fourth century. Christianity was
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  Speaker 1: at first communicated to Germany, most likely by soldiers in
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  Speaker 1: the Roman army, where colonies were planted as provincial centers
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  Speaker 1: of Roman authority. The Gospel soon acquired a foothold colonia.
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  Speaker 1: Cologne became a bishopric about the end of the third century.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time, the Gospel was introduced into Ritia
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  Speaker 1: by the bishop Narcissus Christianity was also planted far in
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  Speaker 1: the north, along the coast of the North Sea. The
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  Speaker 1: apostle to Scandinavia was Ansgar, who was born eighty eight
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  Speaker 1: hundred one and whose remarkable triumphs belonged to the medieval period.
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  Speaker 1: It cannot be doubted that the Gospel entered Britain at
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  Speaker 1: an early period, or about the middle of the second century.
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  Speaker 1: Rome under Julie Leias Caesar, had conquered the country and
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  Speaker 1: brought it into close relationship with Italy. In the Council
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  Speaker 1: of Arl eighty three fourteen, three bishops from Britain signed
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  Speaker 1: to the decrees Iboreus of Eparacum York, Restitutus of Londinium
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  Speaker 1: London and Colonia Londoniensium Lincoln. The location of these bishops
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  Speaker 1: proves that the whole of England was organized into a
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  Speaker 1: complete ecclesiastical system Sucket, the original name of Saint Patrick
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  Speaker 1: or Patricius, was born in Scotland about eighty four hundred
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  Speaker 1: of Christian parents of high rank. At the age of sixteen,
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  Speaker 1: he was taken captive by the Pirates of the Scots
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  Speaker 1: and carried to Ireland, where he was employed as a shepherd.
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  Speaker 1: His confessions, written in rude style, reveal his remarkable religious history.
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  Speaker 1: He devoted himself to the evangelization of Ireland. Through his influence,
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  Speaker 1: societies were planted, schools were organized, Christian literature was cultivated,
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  Speaker 1: and missionaries went out from that island to the continent. Columbanus,
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  Speaker 1: with twelve companions, went to France eighty five eighty and
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  Speaker 1: began a thorough evangelistic work in the neglected parts of Gaul.
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  Speaker 1: He maintained independence of Rome and would not submit to
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  Speaker 1: her authority with respect to Easter. When people quoted to
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  Speaker 1: him the name of the great Leo Lion, he replied,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps in this case a living dog may be greater
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  Speaker 1: than a dead lion. Gallis made Gaul the field of
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  Speaker 1: his labors. Willebrad, an Englishman, went to Ireland for his
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  Speaker 1: Christian education, and then gave his life to missionary labors
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  Speaker 1: among the Phrisians along the coast of the North Sea.
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  Speaker 1: Boniface born near Exeter about eighty six eighty went to
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  Speaker 1: Germany and spent his life in that country. End of
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  Speaker 1: chapter twenty nine