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THE PRIMITIVE

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 584 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THE See also:

PRIMITIVE See also:PERIOD There can be little doubt that the See also:Christian See also:Church derived its missionary impulse from the teaching of its founder. Even though we may .feel some hesitancy, in the See also:light of See also:modern See also:criticism, about accepting as See also:authentic the specific injunctions ascribed to Jesus by See also:Matthew (ch. See also:xxviii. 19) and See also:Luke (ch. See also:xxiv. 47; Acts i. 8), it must be admitted that the teaching of Jesus, in the emphasis which it laid on the Fatherhood of See also:God and the brotherhood of See also:man, was See also:bound sooner or later to break away from the trammels of Judaism, and assert itself in the See also:form of Christian See also:missions. The See also:triumph of this " universalistic " See also:element in the teaching of See also:Christ is vividly portrayed in the Acts of the apostles. At the beginning of the Acts the Christian Church is a little Jewish See also:sect; See also:long before the end is reached it has become a See also:world-conquering spiritual force. The transformation was due in its initial stages to broad-minded men like See also:Stephen, See also:Philip and See also:Barnabas who were the first pioneers of missionary See also:work. Their efforts, however, were soon completely eclipsed by the magnificent achievements of the apostle See also:Paul, who evangelized large See also:part of See also:Asia See also:Minor and the most important cities of See also:Greece. The success which attended the work of the See also:great apostle to the Gentiles stamped See also:Christianity as a missionary See also:religion for ever. From this point onwards Christianity pushed its way into all the great centres of See also:population. We know very little about the missionaries of the first three centuries.

We suddenly find See also:

province after province christianized though there is nothing to show how and by whom the work was done. The See also:case of See also:Bithynia is an excellent See also:illustration of this. When See also:Pliny wrote his famous See also:letter to See also:Trajan (A.D. 112), Christianity had taken such a See also:firm hold of the province that its See also:influence had penetrated into remote See also:country districts, See also:pagan festivals were almost entirely neglected, and animals for See also:sacrifice could scarcely find purchasers. Yet the See also:history of the See also:conversion of Bithynia is absolutely buried in oblivion. By the See also:time of See also:Constantine, Christianity had practically covered the whole See also:empire. See also:Harnack has tabulated the results which our scanty data allow us to reach in his Expansion of Christianity. He divides the countries which had been evangelized by the See also:close of the 3rd See also:century into four See also:groups: (1) Those countries in which Christianity numbered nearly one-See also:half of the population and represented the See also:standard religion of the See also:people, viz. most of what we now See also:call Asia Minor, that portion of See also:Thrace which See also:lay over against Bithynia, See also:Armenia, the See also:city of See also:Edessa. (2) Those districts in which Christianity formed a very material portion of the population, influencing the leading classes and being able to hold its own with other religions, viz. See also:Antioch and Coele-See also:Syria, See also:Cyprus, See also:Alexandria together with See also:Egypt and the Thebais, See also:Rome and the See also:lower parts of See also:Italy, together with certain parts of See also:middle Italy, Proconsular See also:Africa and See also:Numidia, See also:Spain, the maritime parts of Greece, the See also:southern coasts of See also:Gaul. 584 (3) Those districts in which Christianity was sparsely scattered, viz. See also:Palestine, See also:Phoenicia, See also:Arabia, certain parts of See also:Mesopotamia, the interior districts of Greece, the provinces on the See also:north of Greece, the See also:northern districts of middle Italy, the provinces of See also:Mauretania and Tripolis.

(4) Those districts in which Christianity was extremely weak or where it was hardly found at all : the districts to the north and north-See also:

west of the See also:Black See also:Sea, the western See also:section of upper Italy, middle and upper Gaul, Belgica, See also:Germany, Rhaetia, the towns of See also:ancient Philistia. It is not possible to obtain even an approximate estimate of the See also:numbers of the Christians at the time of Constantine. Friedlander, for instance, does not think that they exceeded by much See also:Gibbon's estimate for the reign of See also:Decius, viz. one-twentieth of the population. La Bastie and See also:Burckhardt put the ratio at one-twelfth, See also:Matter at a fifth and Staudlin even at a half (see Harnack ii. 453). After the end of the 3rd century missionary enterprise was mainly concentrated on the outlying See also:borders of the empire. . In the 4th and 5th centuries may be mentioned See also:Gregory the Illuminator, the " apostle of Armenia (about 300), See also:Ulfilas, the " apostle of the Goths," about 325; See also:Frumentius,' a See also:bishop of See also:Abyssinia, about 327; Nino, the Armenian girl who was the means of converting the See also:kingdom of Iberia (now See also:Georgia), about 330; 2 See also:Chrysostom, who founded at See also:Constantinople in A.D. 404 an institution in which Goths might be trained to preach the See also:Gospel to their own people;$ See also:Martin of See also:Tours, who evangelized the central districts of Gaul; See also:Valentinus, the " apostle of See also:Noricum," about 440; Honoratus, who from his monastic See also:home in the islet of Lerins, about 410, sent missionaries among the masses of heathendom in the neighbourhood of See also:Arles, See also:Lyons, See also:Troyes, See also:Metz and See also:Nice; and St See also:Patrick, who converted See also:Ireland into " the isle of See also:saints " (died either in 463 or 495).

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