The question of why Christianity, in just 300 years of its existence, spread so quickly around the world, worries many scientists. Why this faith became so attractive that it quickly supplanted other religions. Although there are no definitive answers to this question, several explanations are accepted that are closest to the truth.

The spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire was due more to its internal problems. Here there were no clear boundaries between different pagan cults, and various religious ideas constituted a single system of beliefs. The spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire did not have a pronounced political character, although the demand to abandon paganism was, in a sense, revolutionary. Meanwhile, the Romans perceived the idea of ​​one God as not contradicting paganism, because all the Gods obey one almighty God, about which Christians speak. Therefore, the idea of ​​monotheism began to gradually come to Roman homes. It was the religious tolerance and flexibility that prevailed in the Roman Empire that created an excellent basis for the development of the Christian cult.

But since Christianity was a new religion and not an ancient belief system, it was still regarded with suspicion, especially by the authorities. Active persecution of missionaries continued from the 2nd to the 4th century AD, when Christianity became a fully permitted religion. Meanwhile, in almost all segments of the population there was a certain dissatisfaction with mental and spiritual needs, which necessitated the search for a new religion, which became Christianity. It gave the most plausible answers to the most important questions that the pagan cults did not answer. This is what happens to the soul after death, who will be saved, whether there is divine justice, etc. In addition, the difficult economic situation of the Roman Empire and the threat from the attacking barbarian tribes only increased the Romans' sense of fear and need for consolation. The hope given by Christians that things would be better in the "other" world became the main instrument for promoting Christianity in the Roman Empire.

Meanwhile, the method of spreading the ideas of Christianity played no less a role in its development than the ideas themselves. The missionaries tried to promote them first among a poorly educated population, so until the 4th century they accepted few intellectuals. Most of the new converts did not know how to write and read, and also lived next to the pagans, ate meals with them and even performed some pagan rites. Only after several centuries of long work on improving the ideas of belief and worship did people begin to forget about pagan cults.

The main role in missionary activity was played by charismatic personalities who resembled the apostles and, in particular, Paul. With each time, the sermons became clearer and more demanding, for example, the pagan gods began to be considered insidious and harmful, and true religion is only monotheism. But it is interesting that in terms of rituals, Christianity absorbed a lot of paganism - Christians prayed on Sunday, turning to the east, just like the pagans, to the sun god. The birthday of Jesus, like the birth of the sun god, was celebrated on December 25, so in the eyes of the simplicity of the people, the old and the new cult merged into one.

The typical founders of the Christian missionary work of the Roman Empire are Anthony and Martin, who led the life of monks. In their sermons, they revealed the advantages of the Christian God in relation to the pagan ones - justice, the victory of the forces of good over the forces of evil, the forgiveness of sins, etc. Miracles and the promise of eternal happy life relieved people of the fear of death, and also became an incentive for those who led a meager a life. In essence, Christianity responded to the human thirst for true happiness.

Christian charity also played a significant role in the spread of this religion. The concern of Christians for the poor, the sick and the needy made a tremendous impression on their pagan neighbors, who, in the activities of the missionaries, were convinced of the good God alone. And the steadfastness of the Christian faith, despite persecution, for people testified to the truth of this faith.

Women especially liked the Christian religion, because it not only promoted the sanctity of marriage, but also promised salvation not only to men, but also to women. The new belief did not divide people by gender, class, social status and other characteristics, because before the Christian God both the slave and the aristocrat were equal, and Christianity was very opposed to slavery. The contempt of any power methods propagated by Christianity made this religion apolitical, so it became a certain danger to the existing political and social order. However, Christianity offered a single faith and a sense of security to people living in dangerous times, so it quickly took root in the Roman Empire. And after the adoption of Christianity by Emperor Constantine, this religion began to acquire splendor and wealth, since the greatness of the Christian religion began to be confirmed by the luxurious churches under construction and large monetary donations from each inhabitant, because. A considerable part of the payment of taxes went to the needs of worship.

Christianity and its

distribution in the world.

Plan.

Introduction

1. Origin of Christianity

3. Struggle for the image of Christ

4. Rivals of Christianity

5. Bishops and their authority

6. Emperor Constantine

7. Orthodoxy.

8. Catholicism.

9. Protestantism.

10. Spread of Christianity

11. Christianity in our days.

Conclusion

Introduction

On the origin of Christianity written a huge, essentially vast number of books, articles and other publications. Christian authors, philosophers of the Enlightenment, representatives of biblical criticism, and atheist authors worked in this field. This is understandable, since we are talking about a historical phenomenon - Christianity, which created numerous churches, has millions of followers, and has occupied and still occupies a large place in the world, in the ideological, economic and political life of peoples and states. Christianity - (from the Greek Christos - anointed one) is one of the so-called world religions (along with Buddhism and Islam). Christianity is widespread in Europe, America, Australia, and also as a result of active missionary activity - in Africa, the Middle East and a number of regions of the Far East. Accurate data on the number of followers of Christianity are not available. The main ideas of Christianity: the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ, the forthcoming second coming of Christ, the Last Judgment, heavenly retribution and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven. So what is Christianity. In short, it is a religion based on the belief that two thousand years ago God came into the world. He was born, received the name Jesus, lived in Judea, preached, suffered and died on the cross like a man. His death and subsequent resurrection from the dead changed the fate of all mankind. His preaching marked the beginning of a new, European civilization. For Christians, the main miracle was not the word of Jesus, but He Himself. The main work of Jesus was his being: being with people, being on the cross.

Christians believe that the world was created by one eternal God, and created without evil.

At the heart of the dogma and worship of Christianity is the Bible, or Holy Scripture. The experience of the prophets of the Jewish people, who communicated with God, and the experience of people who knew Christ in His earthly life, made up the Bible. The Bible is not a statement of doctrine and not the history of mankind. The Bible is the story of how God searched for man.

The Christian church incorporated the Jewish Old Testament into the Bible; the exclusively Christian part of the Bible is the New Testament (it includes 4 Gospels that tell about Jesus Christ, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of the Apostles and the Apocalypse). The common feature that unites Christian denominations, churches, sects is only faith in Christ, although even here there are disagreements between them.

Main branches of Christianity:

1. Catholicism;

2. Orthodoxy (there are 15 independent Orthodox churches and several autonomous churches.);

3. Protestantism (includes 3 main currents: Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism - and a large number of sects, of which many have turned into independent churches: Baptists, Methodists, Adventists and others.).

Origin of Christianity

Christianity originated in Palestine in the 1st century. AD, which, like, indeed, the entire Mediterranean, was part of the Roman Empire. Its kinship with Judaism, as already mentioned, is manifested in the fact that the first part of the Bible, the Old Testament, is the holy book of both Jews and Christians (the second part of the Bible, the New Testament, is recognized only by Christians and is the most important for them). The undoubted proximity of the original Christianity to the Jewish community of the Essenes is also evidenced by the scrolls found in 1947 in the area of ​​the Dead Sea. The commonality of worldview principles among the Essenes and the original Christians can be traced in messianism - the expectation of the imminent coming of the Teacher of righteousness, in eschatological ideas, in the interpretation of the ideas of human sinfulness, in rituals, in the organization of communities and attitudes towards property. The relatively rapid spread of Christianity in the Asia Minor provinces of the Roman Empire and in Rome itself was due to a number of socio-historical factors. The crisis of the ancient order that had begun gave rise to a general uncertainty about the future, a feeling of apathy and hopelessness. Antagonism intensified not only between slaves and freemen, but also between Roman citizens and subjects of the provinces, between the Roman hereditary nobility and enriched horsemen.

The Roman religion, like various religious teachings of the East, could not give consolation to the destitute and, due to its national character, did not allow the idea of ​​universal justice, equality, and salvation to be affirmed. Christianity proclaimed the equality of all people as sinners. It gave the slave consolation, the hope of gaining freedom in a simple and understandable way - through the knowledge of the divine truth that Christ brought to earth in order to atone forever for all human sins and vices.

Christian apologetics claims that, unlike all other religions of the world, Christianity is not created by people, but is given to mankind by God in a finished and finished form. However, the history of religious teachings shows that Christianity is not free from religious, philosophical, ethical and other influences. Christianity assimilated and rethought the previous ideological concepts of Judaism, Mithraism, ancient Eastern religions, and philosophical views. All this enriched and cemented the new religion, turning it into a powerful cultural and intellectual force capable of opposing itself to all national and ethnic cults and turning into a mass national movement. The assimilation of the previous religious and cultural heritage by early Christianity did not at all turn it into a conglomeration of disparate ideas, but contributed to a fundamentally new teaching to gain universal recognition.

The Neoplatonism of Philo of Alexandria (c. 25 BC - c. 50 AD) and the moral teaching of the Roman Stoic Seneca (c. 4 BC - 65 AD) had a particularly noticeable influence on the foundations of Christian doctrine. ). Philo connected the concept of the Logos in the biblical tradition, which considers the Logos as an internal law that directs the movement of the Cosmos. Philo's Logos is the sacred Word, which allows one to contemplate Existing. There is no other way to know God, only through the Logos - the Word. Philo's teaching about the innate sinfulness of all people, about repentance, about Being as the origin of the world, about ecstasy as a means of approaching God, about logoi, among which the Son of God is the highest Logos and other logoi called angels - served as one of the ideological prerequisites for Christian ideas about the hierarchy of spiritual principles, had a significant impact on the formation of Christianity.

The moral teaching of Christianity, especially about the achievement of virtue, is close to the views of Lucretius Annei Seneca. Seneca considered the achievement of freedom of the spirit through the realization of divine necessity to be the main thing for every person. If freedom does not follow from divine necessity, then it will turn out to be slavery. Only obedience to fate gives rise to equanimity of spirit, conscience, moral standards, universal values. The affirmation of universal human values ​​does not depend on state requirements, but entirely on sociability. By sociability, Seneca understands the recognition of the unity of human nature, mutual love, universal compassion, the care of each person for others like him, regardless of social status. Seneca recognized the golden rule of morality as a moral imperative, which sounded as follows:

“Treat those below the way you would like to be treated those above”

A similar wording is found in the Gospel of Matthew:

“And so in everything, as you want people to do to you, so do you to them.”

Christianity was consonant with Seneca's attitudes about the transience and deceitfulness of sensual pleasures, caring for other people, self-restraint in the use of material goods, preventing rampant passions that are disastrous for society and man, modesty and moderation in Everyday life. He was also impressed by the principles of individual ethics formulated by Seneca. Personal salvation involves a strict assessment of one's own life, self-improvement, and the acquisition of divine mercy.

Assimilation of Christianity various elements Eastern cults, Hellenistic philosophy did not impoverish, but enriched the new religion. That is why it relatively quickly entered the general stream of Mediterranean culture.

As long as Christianity exists, so many disputes about the identity of its founder continue. Stories about Jesus Christ, described in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as in the epistles and deeds of the apostles about God the Son, who appeared into the world in the form of a perfect man to take on the sins of people and save them for eternal life, raised many doubts. It turned out that even the information they reported was questionable. After all, it has been established that they are not first-hand, although the persons considered to be their authors should have known everything told there from personal observations. Meanwhile, these alleged eyewitnesses of the events, as well as their friend and chronicler Luke - they all used other people's sources. For example, Matthew and Luke included almost the entire text of Mark in their Gospels, and so on.

Today we already know how to explain it. The gospels were not written by Matthew, not by Mark, not by John, and perhaps not even by Luke. They were created or collected from various written sources and oral traditions by other authors unknown to us, whose real names we must never know. Even the Catholic Church had to admit that the question of the authorship of the Gospels was by no means closed, and one could not object to further scientific study of this problem. The participants of the 2nd Vatican Council, discussing the “Constitution on Revelation”, rejected by a majority of votes the following point: “ God's Church always maintained and maintains that the authors of the Gospels are those whose names are named in the canon of sacred books, namely: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Instead of listing these names, they decided to enter - “holy authors”.

Today I had a conversation with a colleague who is Jewish by origin about what we Christians believe and what they believe about God. He confessed that he did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but that he was still waiting for the Messiah. I explained that we are also waiting for His coming for the 2nd time for judgment, and especially in order to bring salvation to those who believe in Him, and that this is the only way that God offers us - being born again in the Name of the Messiah Jesus Christ. He said that Christians were at first a sect, like the Jews, but which has grown very much to this day due to the fact that it was tolerant with all people in order to attract them to Christianity. What would you say to my Jewish colleague?

I am glad to hear about your conversation with a Jewish colleague and what you told him about salvation in Christ Jesus.

Sect or not...

As regards the arguments or objections that your colleague presented, it is true that the Jews viewed Christianity as a sect. By the way, even today, there are few true Christians and nominal Christians (which are usually found in most denominations) look at them as a sect. Usually, people consider as a sect a small heretical community, that is, leading to an erroneous doctrine. Christians were in the beginning in a minority, but as far as doctrine is concerned, they were the ones who believed and followed the promises given by God in the Old Testament. Those who rejected these promises and the Lord Jesus Christ deviated from sound doctrine and thus became a sect, even if they were then in the majority. Scripture tells us why this happened. In the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul wrote:

Brethren! my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel for salvation. For I testify to them that they have a zeal for God, but not for reason. For, not understanding the righteousness of God and striving to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God, because the end of the law is Christ, to the righteousness of everyone who believes. (Romans 10:1-4)

The Jews rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and did not recognize Him as the Messiah because:

1. have a zeal for God, but not for reason
2. do not understand the righteousness of God
3. trying to put their own righteousness
4. did not submit to the righteousness of God (through faith in Jesus Christ)

About tolerance

It is true that Christianity was a tolerant religion and accepted all who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

There are many other religions in the world that are open to all people and are not limited to any one people, and the truth is that all have spread very much. Thus, we cannot neglect this fact mentioned by your Jewish colleague.

But if we are talking about tolerance, we must also mention that the world was completely intolerant of Christianity and that there is no other religion in the world that has been subjected to such great persecution throughout its history. There are big world religions that have been propagated by the sword, wars and violence. But it was not so with Christianity at the beginning of its spread. When you read the History of Christianity, you are amazed at how much persecution the believers were subjected to, and how much persecution there was, so much more did the faith spread. Even then, when the persecution by the Jews began, the Apostles Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin and they were forbidden to preach the Christian doctrine under pain of death:

But Peter and the Apostles said in reply: One must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging on a tree. He was exalted by God at His right hand to be the Head and Savior, in order to give Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. We are His witnesses in this, and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him. Hearing this, they were torn with anger and plotted to kill them. Standing up in the Sanhedrin, a certain Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, ordered the Apostles to be brought out for a short time, and he said to them: Men of Israel! think with yourselves about these people, what you should do with them. For not long before this Theevdas appeared, posing as someone great, and about four hundred people stuck to him; but he was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and disappeared. After him, during the census, Judas the Galilean appeared and carried away with him quite a crowd; but he perished, and all who obeyed him were scattered. And now, I say to you, depart from these people and leave them; for if this enterprise and this work is from men, then it will be destroyed, but if from God, then you cannot destroy it; beware lest you turn out to be enemies of God. They obeyed him; and calling the apostles, they struck them, and forbidding them to speak of the name of Jesus, let them go. (Acts of the Apostles 5:29-40)

I want to draw your attention to what Gamaliel said, namely, that “if this enterprise and this business (Christianity) are from men, then it will be destroyed, but if from God, then you cannot destroy it; beware lest you turn out to be enemies of God.” Christianity is from God and the teaching of God for the salvation of every person. Therefore, none of the people, with all the persecution organized against Christians, could not destroy it, because no one could and will not be able to resist God.

Your Jewish colleague, every Jew and every other person in this world, must know and believe the words of Jesus, who said: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” God brought salvation to the Jews and to all people.

Translation: Moses Natalia

Stronger than any other religion and contributed to the emergence of the modern Western world. Even the modern way of chronology is one of the consequences of the penetration of Christianity into world culture.

How Christianity Spread

For a long time, Christianity remained a marginal stream of Judaism. It arose in Palestine in the 1st century AD, first spreading among the local population as one of the currents of Judaism, which at that time were numerous. Already in the first half century of its existence, Christianity became a popular creed among the many who inhabited the Roman Empire. This was greatly facilitated by the adherents of the new doctrine who traveled around the Roman Empire and those closest to it. According to legend, the disciples of Jesus Christ were directly involved in spreading the teachings. Active preachers of the new religion were not stopped even by persecution and threats death penalty.

Contrary to popular belief, the Roman Empire was not the first Christian state, despite the fact that Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity shortly before his death and contributed to its spread throughout the country. The first was Great Armenia.

However, the role of Rome in the spread of Christianity is very great. It was thanks to the size of the empire that the territory of influence of the new religion expanded so rapidly.

How Armenia adopted Christianity

Before the adoption of Christianity by Armenia, the locals were more than wary of the new religion. Christians, as well as those who helped them hide, were executed, since, according to the authorities, this creed could undermine the foundations of state system and paganism.
According to Armenian legend, the pagan king Trdat, who executed the holy Hripsimean women after one of them refused to become his wife, became seriously ill from the shock caused by their execution.

His sister Khosrovadukht saw in a dream that only his release from the dungeon of St. Gregory could cure him. After the liberated Gregory was received into, the king was healed. Chapels were erected on the places of the death of the Hripsimean women. Impressed by these events, King Trdat adopted Christianity along with his entire country.

church hierarchy- an Armenian invention. In each land subject to Trdat and his vassals, a bishop was appointed.

Thus, Greater Armenia became the first Christian state, ahead of Rome, Greece and Ethiopia.

Sources

There are no statistics or exact information, there are only individual hints from the following authors: Pliny (107): Er. X. 96 sq. (Epistle to Trajan). Ignatius (near PO): Ad Magnes., With. 10. Er. ad Diogn.(about 120) p. 6.

Justin Martyr (about 140): Dial. 117; apol. I.53.

Irenaeus (about 170): Adv. haer. I. 10; III. 3, 4; v. 20, etc.

Tertullian (about 200): apol. I. 21, 37, 41, 42; Ad Nat. I. 7; Ad Scap., c. 2, 5; Adv. Jud. 7, 12, 13.

Origen (died 254): contr. Cels. I. 7, 27; II. 13, 46; III. 10, 30; De prince. 1. IV, p. 12; Com.

in Matt., p. 857, ed. Delarue.

Eusebius (died 340): Hist. Eccl. III. one; v. one; vii, 1; viii. 1, also books ix. and x. Rufin: Hist. Eccles. ix. 6.

Augustine (died 430): De Civitate Dei. English translation: M. Dods, Edinburgh 1871; new ed. (Schaffs "Nicene and Post-Nicene Library"), N. York 1887.

Proceedings

Mich. Le Quien (learned Dominican, died 1783): Orlens Christianus. Par. 1740. 3 vols. fol. Complete church geography of the East, divided into four patriarchates - Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.

Mosheim: historical commentary, etc. (ed. Murdock) I. 259–290.

gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Chap. xv.

A. Reugnot: Histoire de la destruction du paganisms en Occident. Paris 1835, 2 vols. Awarded Academie des inscriptions et belles-letters.

Etienne Chastel: Histoire de la destruction du paganisme dans L "empire d" Orient. Paris 1850. Essay awarded by the Academy.

Neander: History of the Christian Religion. and Church(tr. Torrey), I. 68–79.

Wiltsch: Handbuch der kirchl. Geography and. Statistik. Berlin 1846.1, p. 32 sqq.

Chs. Merivale: Conversion of the Roman Empire(Boyle Lectures for 1864), republ. N. York 1865. See also his History of the Romans under the Empire, Lond. & N. York, 7 vols, (from Julius Caesar to Marcus Aurelius).

Edward A. Freeman: The Historical Geography of Europe. Lond. & N. York 1881. 2 vols. (vol. I, chs. II. & III, pp. 18–71.)

Compare with Friedlander, Sittengesch. Roms. III. 517 sqq.; and Renan: Marc-Aurele. Paris 1882, ch. xxv, pp. 447–464 (Statistique et extension geographique du Christianisme).

V. Schultze: Geschichte des Untergangs des griech romischen. Heidenthums. Jena 1887.

During the first three centuries, Christianity developed under the most unfortunate circumstances, whereby it was able to demonstrate its moral strength and defeat the world exclusively with spiritual weapons. Until the reign of Constantine, it had no right to legally exist in the Roman Empire, but at first it was ignored as a sect of Judaism, then blasphemed, banned and persecuted as a treacherous innovation, and the adoption of Christianity was punishable by confiscation of property and death. In addition, Christianity did not allow the slightest indulgence, which Mohammedanism subsequently gave to the vicious inclinations of the human heart, but put forward against the backdrop of Jewish and pagan ideas of that time such impracticable demands for repentance and conversion, renunciation of oneself and the world, that people, according to Tertullian, kept away from the new sect, not so much for the love of life as for the love of pleasure. The Jewish origin of Christianity, the poverty and ignorance of the majority of its adherents seemed especially offensive to the pride of the Greeks and Romans. Celsus, exaggerating this fact and not paying attention to many exceptions, mockingly remarks that "weavers, shoemakers and fullers, the most illiterate people" preach "unreasonable faith" and know how to make it attractive especially "for women and children."

But in spite of these extraordinary difficulties, Christianity achieved a success that could be considered as a striking evidence of the divine origin of this religion and the fact that it responded to the deepest needs of man. Irenaeus, Justin, Tertullian and other church fathers of that period point to this. Difficulties themselves became in the hands of Providence the means of spreading the faith. Persecution led to martyrdom, and martyrdom not only inspires fear, but also has an attraction, awakens the most noble and selfless ambitions. Every real martyr was a living proof of the truth and holiness of the Christian faith. Tertullian could exclaim, referring to the pagans: “All your ingenuous cruelties will not give anything; they are but a temptation to our church. The more you destroy us, the more we become. The blood of Christians is their seed." The moral sincerity of Christians contrasted sharply with the perversity that prevailed in that age, and Christianity, with its condemnation of frivolity and voluptuousness, simply could not fail to make a great impression on the most serious and noble minds. The fact that the Good News was primarily intended for the poor and oppressed gave it a special comforting and redeeming power. But among the adherents of the new religion, from the very beginning there were also, albeit in small numbers, representatives of the higher, more educated classes, such as Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, the Apostle Paul, Proconsul Sergius Paul, Dionysius of Athens, Erast of Corinth and representatives imperial house. Among the victims of Domitian's persecution were his close relative Flavia Domitilla and her husband Flavius ​​Clement. Representatives of the famous Gens Pomponia and possibly the home of Flavius. Overt or covert converts were among the senators and equestrians. Pliny complains that in Asia Minor people of all classes are converting to Christianity. (omnis ordinis). Tertullian claims that Christianity was professed by a tenth of the inhabitants of Carthage, among whom were senators, the noblest ladies and the closest relatives of the proconsul of Africa. Many church fathers of the middle of the second century, such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Clement, Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian, surpassed the most prominent pagan contemporaries in talent and education, or at least were equal to them.

This success of Christianity was not limited to any particular locality. It extended to all regions of the empire. “Yesterday we were not yet,” Tertullian says in his Apology, “and today we have already filled all the places that belong to you: cities, islands, fortresses, houses, assemblies, your camp, your tribes and communities, palace, senate, forum ! We have left you only your temples. We can compete in numbers with your army: there will be more of us even in one province. All these facts show how unfairly odious the accusation of Celsus, repeated by a modern skeptic, that the new sect consisted entirely of the lower strata of society - peasants and artisans, children and women, beggars and slaves.

The main positive reason for the rapid spread and final victory of Christianity lies in its own inherent value as a universal religion of salvation, in the perfect teaching and example of its God-human Founder, who for the heart of every believer is the Savior from sin and the Giver of eternal life. Christianity adapts to the position of any class, to any conditions, to any relationship between people, suits all peoples and races, people of any cultural level, any soul that longs for the sanctity of life and redemption from sin. The value of Christianity is in the truth and power of its teaching, which testifies for itself; in the purity and sublimity of his precepts; in a regenerating and sanctifying influence on the heart and life; in the exaltation of woman and the life of the house she rules; in improving the condition of the poor and suffering; in faith, brotherly love, charity, and the triumphant death of those who profess it.

To this internal moral and spiritual evidence was added powerful external evidence of the divine origin of Christianity - the prophecies and omens of the Old Testament, so amazingly fulfilled in the New, and finally, evidence of miracles, which, according to the unequivocal statements of Quadratus, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen and others , were sometimes accompanied during that period by the sermons of missionaries who were trying to convert the Gentiles.

Especially favorable external circumstances were the extent, orderliness and unity of the Roman Empire, as well as the predominance of the Greek language and culture.

Apart from these positive reasons, a significant negative advantage of Christianity was the hopeless position of Judaism and the Gentile world. After a terrible punishment - the destruction of Jerusalem, the persecuted Jews wandered, not finding peace and no longer existing as a nation. Paganism was outwardly widespread, but internally rotten and heading towards inevitable decline. Popular faith and public morality were undermined by skepticism and materialistic philosophy; Greek science and art have lost their creative power; The Roman Empire rested only on the power of the sword and vital interests; the moral bonds that hold society together are loosened; unbridled greed and vices of every kind, even in the opinion of such people as Seneca and Tacitus, reigned in Rome and in the provinces, stretching from palaces to shacks. Virtuous emperors like Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius were the exception, not the rule, and could not stop moral degradation.

Nothing created by classical ancient culture in its heyday was able to heal the mortal wounds of the era, or even bring temporary relief. The only star of hope in the coming night was the young, fresh, fearless religion of Jesus, not afraid of death, strong in faith, spreading love; it was destined to attract all thinking people to itself as to the only living religion of the present and future. While the world was constantly shaken by wars and upheavals, and dynasties rose and fell, the new religion, despite terrifying opposition from without and internal dangers, quietly but steadily strengthened its position, relying on the invincible power of truth, and gradually penetrated into the very flesh and blood humanity.

The great Augustine says: “Christ appeared to the people of a decaying, declining world, so that through Him they could receive a new life full of youth, while everything around was withering.”

Gibbon, in his famous fifteenth chapter, explains the rapid spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire by five reasons: the zeal of the early Christians, faith in future reward and punishment, the power of miracles, the severity (purity) of Christian morality, and the compact church organization. But these causes are in themselves the effects of a cause to which Gibbon pays no attention, namely, the divine truth of Christianity, the perfection of Christ's doctrine, and the example of Christ. See the critique of Dr. John Henry Newman, Grammar Of Assent, 445 sq.) and Dr. George II. Fisher (George P. Fisher, The Beginnings of Christianity, p. 543 sqq.). “This zeal [of the early Christians],” Fisher says, “was a zealous love for the Person and for His service; faith in the life to come flowed from faith in Him who died and rose again and ascended into heaven; the miraculous abilities of the first disciples were consciously associated with the same source; the moral purity and fraternal unity that underpinned ecclesiastical ties among the early Christians were also the fruit of their relationship with Christ and their common love to him. The victory of Christianity in the Roman world was the victory of Christ, who ascended to draw all people to Himself.

Lecky (Lecky, Hist, of Europ. morals, I. 412) looks deeper than Gibbon and attributes the success of early Christianity to its internal superiority and excellent adaptation to the needs of the ancient Roman period. “Among this movement,” he writes, “Christianity rose, and it will not be difficult for us to discover the reasons for its success. No other religion under such circumstances has ever combined so many powerful and attractive moments. Unlike the Jewish religion, it was not associated with any locality and was equally suitable for representatives of any people and any class. Unlike Stoicism, it touched the senses in the strongest way and possessed all the charm of a divine service imbued with empathy. Unlike the Egyptian religion, it added a pure and noble ethical system to its unique teachings and proved that it was able to put it into practice. At the moment of the process of social and national fusion unfolding everywhere, it proclaimed the universal brotherhood of man. In the midst of the corrupting influence of philosophy and civilization, she taught the supreme holiness of love. For the slave, who never played a big part in the religious life of Rome, it was the religion of the suffering and oppressed. For the philosopher, this was at the same time an echo of the highest ethics of the late Stoics and the development of the best teachings of the Platonic school. For a world hungry for miracles, she offered a history full of miracles no less extraordinary than those performed by Apollonius of Tyana; Jews and Chaldeans could hardly compete with Christian exorcists, and legends about the constant performance of miracles spread among the followers of this faith. For a world that is deeply aware of political decay and eagerly and impatiently directed to the future, it proclaimed with disturbing force the imminent destruction of the globe - the glory of all its friends and the condemnation of all its enemies. For a world fed up with the cold and dispassionate grandeur conceived by Cato and sung by Lucan, she offered the ideal of compassion and love - an ideal called upon for centuries to attract to itself all the greatest and noblest on earth - a Teacher who was touched by the sight of our infirmities and who could weep over the grave of his friend. In short, to a world tormented by contradictory beliefs and philosophies at war with each other, Christianity offered its teaching not as a human invention, but as a divine revelation, confirmed not so much by reason as by faith. "Because with the heart they believe unto righteousness"; "Whoever wants to do His will, he will know about this teaching, whether it is from God"; "if you don't believe, you won't understand"; "truly Christian heart"; "become theologians from the heart" - these expressions best convey the essence of the initial impact of Christianity on the world. Like all great religions, Christianity was more concerned with the way of feeling than with the way of thinking. The main reason for the success of Christianity was the correspondence of its teachings to the spiritual nature of mankind. Christianity was so deeply rooted in the hearts of people precisely because it exactly corresponded to the moral experiences of the age, because ideally it represented that highest type of perfection to which all people aspired, because it coincided with their religious needs, goals and feelings, and because under its influence the whole spiritual essence of man could freely spread and develop.

Merivale (Merivale, conversions. of the Rom. Emp., Preface) explains the conversion of the Roman Empire mainly by four reasons: 1) external evidence of the truth of Christianity, expressed in the obvious fulfillment of recorded prophecies and miracles; 2) inner testimony, expressed in the satisfaction of the recognized need for a redeemer and sanctifier; 3) the goodness and holiness of the life and death of the early believers; 4) the temporary success of Christianity under Constantine, « who, by means of an all-encompassing upheaval, directed the human masses towards the rising sun of the truth revealed in Christ Jesus.”

Renan discusses the reasons for the victory of Christianity in the thirty-first chapter of his Marcus Aurelius (Renan, Marc-Aurele, Paris 1882, pp. 561-588). He explains it primarily by the "new discipline of life" and the "moral reform" that the world needed and which neither philosophy nor any of the existing religions could give it. The Jews really rose high above the filth of that era. Gloire eternelle et unique, qui doit faire oublier bien des folies et des violence! Les Juifs sont les revolutionnaires de 1 er et du 2 e siecle de notre ere". They gave Christianity to the world. "Les populations se precipiterent, par une sorte du mouvement instinctif, dans une secte qui satisfaisait leur aspirations les plus intimes et ouvrait des esperances infinies" . Renan emphasizes the belief in the sinfulness of people and the forgiveness offered to every sinner as attractive features of Christianity; like Gibbon, he is oblivious to the real power of Christianity as a religion salvation. Namely, this force explains the success of Christianity not only in the Roman Empire, but also in all other countries and peoples where it spread.

It is a remarkable fact that, after the apostolic period, mention of great missionaries disappears until the beginning of the Middle Ages, when the conversion of entire nations was carried out or initiated by individual personalities, such as St. Patrick in Ireland, St. Columba in Scotland, St. Augustine in England, St. Boniface in Germany , Saint Ansgar in Scandinavia, Saints Cyril and Methodius among the Slavic peoples. In the ante-Nicene period, there were no missionary communities, missionary organizations, organized attempts to evangelize; however, less than 300 years after the death of St. John, the entire population of the Roman Empire, which represented the civilized world of that era, was nominally converted to Christianity.

In order to comprehend this amazing fact, we must remember that the firm and deep foundations of this process were laid by the apostles themselves. The seed they carried from Jerusalem to Rome, watered with their blood, produced a bountiful harvest. The word of our Lord was fulfilled again, but on a larger scale: “One sows, and the other reaps. I sent you to reap that which you have not labored for; others have labored, but you have entered into their labors” (John 4:38).

Once established, Christianity itself was its best preacher. It naturally grew from within. It attracted people by its very existence. It was a light that shines in the darkness and dispels the darkness. And although there were no professional missionaries who would devote their whole lives to this particular ministry, every community was a community of preachers and every Christian believer was a missionary, burning with love for Christ and thirsting to convert others. The example was set by Jerusalem and Antioch and by those brethren who, after the martyrdom of Stephen, "went scattered and preached the word." Justin Martyr was converted by a venerable old man whom he met while walking along the seashore. “Every Christian minister,” says Tertullian, “both finds God and reveals Him, although Plato argues that it is not easy to find the Creator, and when He is found, it is difficult to reveal Him to everyone.” Celsus mockingly notes that the fullers and tanners, simple and ignorant people, were the most zealous propagandists of Christianity and carried it primarily to women and children. Women and slaves brought him into the family circle. The glory of the gospel was that it was preached to the poor and the needy, making them rich. Origen tells us that city churches sent missionaries to the countryside. The seed germinated while people were still sleeping and bore fruit - first a stalk, then an ovary, then a full ear. Every Christian told his neighbor the story of his conversion, as a sailor tells the story of his salvation in a shipwreck: a worker to a worker nearby, a slave to another slave, a servant to his master and mistress.

The gospel spread mainly through live preaching and personal conversation, although to a large extent also through the scriptures, which from the very beginning were translated into various languages: Latin (North African and Italian translations), Syriac (Curetonian ancient Syriac text, Peshito) and Egyptian ( into three dialects: Memphis, Thebaid and Basmur). Communication between different regions of the Roman Empire, from Damascus to Britain, was relatively easy and safe. The roads built for trade and the movement of the Roman legions also served as evangelizers of peace, who won invisible victories for the sake of the Cross. Trade itself in those times, as now, contributed to the spread of the gospel and the seed of Christian civilization to the farthest corners of the Roman Empire.

The exact manner and exact timing of the penetration of Christianity into some countries during this period is largely unknown. We know basically only the fact of penetration. There is no doubt that the apostles and their immediate disciples accomplished much more than is told to us in the New Testament. But, on the other hand, medieval tradition ascribes to the apostles the foundation of many national and local churches that could not have arisen before the 2nd or 3rd century. Tradition made missionaries in distant lands even Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Dionysius the Areopagite, Lazarus, Martha and Mary.

Justin Martyr, about the middle of the 2nd century, says: “There is no such tribe, Greek or barbarian people, no matter how they are called and no matter what customs they differ, no matter how poorly they are familiar with the arts or agriculture, no matter how they live, in tents or in covered wagons - where prayers and thanksgiving would not be offered up to the Father and Creator of all things in the name of the crucified Jesus. And half a century later, Tertullian already decisively declares to the pagans: “Yesterday we were not there yet, and today we have already filled all the places that belong to you: cities, islands, fortresses, houses, assemblies, your camp, your tribes and communities, palace, senate, forum! We have left you only your temples.” Of course, these two and similar passages from Irenaeus and Arnobius are clear rhetorical exaggerations. Origen is more cautious and restrained in his statements. However, it can be definitely said that by the end of the 3rd century, the name of Christ was known, revered and persecuted in all provinces and cities of the empire. Maximian, in one of his edicts, says that "almost everyone" abandoned the faith of their ancestors for the sake of a new sect.

In the absence of statistics, we can only speculate about the number of Christians. Probably, at the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century, about one tenth or one twelfth of the subjects of Rome, that is, about ten million people, received Christ.

But the fact that the Christians were one body, new, strong, hopeful, and growing daily, while the Gentiles were for the most part disorganized and decreasing in number every day, made the church much stronger in the long run.

The spread of Christianity among the barbarians in the provinces of Asia and in the northwest of Europe, outside the Roman Empire, at first had no tangible significance due to the great remoteness of these areas from the places where the main historical events unfolded, nevertheless it prepared the way for the penetration of civilization into these regions and determined their subsequent position in the world.

Gibbon and Friedlander (III. 531) estimate the number of Christians at the beginning of the reign of Constantine (306) as too small, one-twentieth of the population; Matter and Robertson - as too large, one-fifth of his subjects. Some past writers, bewildered by the exaggerated claims of ancient apologists, even claim that there were as many Christians in the empire as there were pagans, or even more. But in this case, a simple precaution would have prompted that the policy of religious tolerance began to be carried out long before the accession of Constantine. Mosheim in his Historical Commentaries (Mosheim, Hist. comments, Murdock's translation, I, p. 274 sqq.) analyzes in detail the information about the number of Christians in the 2nd century, without, however, coming to definite conclusions. Chastel determines their number at the time of Constantine as one fifteenth in the West, one tenth in the East and one twelfth on average (Hist, de la destruct. du paganisme, p. 36). According to Chrysostom, the Christian population of Antioch in his time (380) was about 100,000, that is, half of the total population.

Asia has become not only the cradle of mankind and civilization, but also the cradle of Christianity. The apostles themselves spread the new religion in Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor. According to Pliny the Younger, the temples of the gods in Asia Minor were almost abandoned, and almost no animals were bought for sacrifice. In the second century, Christianity entered Edessa in Mesopotamia, and also, to some extent, Persia, Media, Bactria, and Parthia; in the III century - to Armenia and Arabia. Paul himself spent three years in Arabia, but most likely in meditative seclusion, preparing for his apostolic ministry. There is a tradition that the apostles Thomas and Bartholomew brought the Good News to India. But it is more plausible that the Christian teacher Panten of Alexandria made a journey to this country about 190, and that churches were founded there in the 4th century.

The transfer of the capital from Rome to Constantinople and the foundation of the Eastern Roman Empire under Constantine I led to the fact that Asia Minor, and especially Constantinople, played a leading role in the history of the church for several centuries. Seven ecumenical councils, from 325 to 787, were held in this city or its vicinity, and doctrinal disputes over the Trinity or the Person of Christ were mainly fought in Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt.

By the will of the mysterious Providence of God, these lands of the Bible and the early church were subsequently captured by the prophet from Mecca, the Koran supplanted the Bible there, and the Greek Church was doomed to slavery and stagnation; but those times are near when the East will be reborn under the influence of the undying spirit of Christianity. Peaceful crusade faithful missionaries preaching a pure gospel and leading a holy life will reconquer the Holy Land, and the Eastern question will be settled.

In Africa, Christianity gained a foothold first of all in Egypt, and this probably happened already in the apostolic period. The country of pharaohs, pyramids and sphinxes, temples and tombs, hieroglyphs and mummies, sacred calves and crocodiles, despotism and slavery has been closely associated with sacred history since patriarchal times and is even immortalized in the text of the Ten Commandments under the name of "the house of slavery." Egypt was the home of Joseph and his brothers, the cradle of Israel. In Egypt, the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into another language more than two hundred years before our era, and this translation into Greek was used even by Christ and His apostles; with his help, Jewish ideas spread throughout the Roman world, and he can be considered the "mother" of the specific language of the New Testament. There were many Jews in Alexandria. It was the literary and commercial center of the East, the link between East and West. The largest library was assembled there; there Jewish thinking came into close contact with Greek, and the religion of Moses with the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Philo wrote there while Christ was teaching in Jerusalem and Galilee, and his writings, through the Alexandrian Church Fathers, were destined to have a great influence on Christian exegesis.

An ancient tradition says that the Church of Alexandria was founded by the evangelist Mark. The Copts of ancient Cairo, Egyptian Babylon, claim that it was there that Peter wrote his First Epistle (1 Pet. 5:13); but it must be that Peter still either has in mind Babylon on the Euphrates River, or figuratively calls Rome Babylon. Eusebius mentions the names of the first bishops of the Alexandrian Church: Annian (62 - 85 A.D.), Avilius (before 98) and Kerdon (before 110). Here we observe a natural growth in the importance and dignity of the city and the patriarchate. Already in the 2nd century, a theological school flourished in Alexandria, taught by Clement and Origen, the first experts in the Bible and Christian philosophy. From Lower Egypt, the Gospel spread to Middle and Upper Egypt and adjacent provinces, possibly (in the 4th century) to Nubia, Ethiopia and Abyssinia. The Council of Alexandria in 235 was attended by twenty bishops from different regions of the country of the Nile.

In the 4th century, Egypt gave the church the Arian heresy, the orthodoxy of Athanasius, and the monastic piety of St. Anthony and St. Pachomius, which had a strong influence on the entire Christian world.

The theological literature of Egypt was mostly in Greek. Most of the early manuscripts of the Greek Scriptures—including the probably priceless Sinai and Vatican manuscripts—were produced in Alexandria. But already in the II century, the Scriptures were translated into local languages, three different dialects. What remains of these translations helps us to a large extent to establish what the original text of the Greek New Testament was.

Egyptian Christians are the descendants of the Egyptians who obeyed the pharaohs, but with a large admixture of Negro and Arab blood. Christianity never became a universal faith in this country and was almost exterminated by Muslims under the caliph Omar (640), who burned the magnificent libraries of Alexandria, believing that if the contents of the books correspond to the Koran, then they are useless, if not, then they are harmful and subject to destruction. Since then, Egypt has hardly been mentioned in the history of the church and still groans, remains the house of slavery under the new masters. The majority of its population is Muslim, but the Copts - about half a million of the five and a half million inhabitants - continue to call themselves Christians, like their ancestors, and form a missionary field for the most active churches of the West.

Bottiger: Geschichte der Carthager. Berlin 1827.

Movers: Die Phonizier. 1840–56, 4 vols, (exemplary work).

th. Mommsen: Rom. Geschichte, I. 489 sqq. (book III, chs. 1–7, 6th ed.).

N. Davis: Carthage and her Remains. London & N. York 1861.

R. Bosworth Smith: Carthage and the Carthaginians. Lond. 2nd ed. 1879. His own: Rome and Carthage. N. York 1880.

Otto Meltzer: Geschichte der Karthager. Berlin, vol. I. 1879.

These books deal with the secular history of ancient Carthage, but they help to understand the situation and background.

Julius Lloyd: The North African Church. London 1880. Before the Muslim conquest.

Provincial population North Africa was of Semitic origin, its language was like Hebrew, but during the period of Roman rule they adopted Latin customs, laws and language. Therefore, the church of this region belongs to Latin Christianity, and it played a leading role in its early history.

The Phoenicians, descendants of the Canaanites, were English ancient history. They traded with the whole world, while the Israelites brought faith to the world, and the Greeks - civilization. Three small peoples living in small countries did more important things than the colossal empires of Assyria, Babylon, Persia, or even Rome. The Phoenicians, living on a narrow strip of land along the Syrian coast, between the Lebanese mountains and the sea, sent their merchant ships from Tire and Sidon to all regions of the ancient world, from India to the Baltic, rounded the Cape of Good Hope two thousand years before Vasco da Gama and brought back sandalwood from Malabar, spices from Arabia, ostrich feathers from Nubia, silver from Spain, gold from Nigeria, iron from the Elbe, tin from England and amber from the Baltic. They supplied Solomon with cedar wood from Lebanon and helped him build a palace and a temple. More than eight hundred years before the birth of Christ, they founded the colony of Carthage on the northern coast of Africa. Thanks to the favorable location of the colony, they established control over the northern coast of Africa from the Pillars of Hercules to the Great Sirte, over southern Spain, the islands of Sardinia and Sicily and the entire Mediterranean Sea. Hence the inevitable rivalry between Rome and Carthage, separated from each other by three days' journey by sea; hence three Punic Wars, which, despite the brilliant military talents of Hannibal, ended in the complete destruction of the capital of North Africa (146 BC). Delenda est Carthago - such was the short-sighted and cruel policy of Cato the Elder. But under Augustus, who carried out the wiser plan of Julius Caesar, a new one arose on the ruins of the former Carthage, it became a rich and prosperous city, first pagan, then Christian, until it was captured by the barbarian vandals (439 AD) and finally destroyed by the people , akin to its original founders, the Mohammedan Arabs (647). Since then, "mournful and devastated silence" again reigns over its ruins.

Christianity reached Proconsular Africa in the 2nd century, and possibly as early as the end of the 1st century. We don't know when or how. This area constantly interacted with Italy. The Christian faith spread very quickly over the fertile plains and hot sands of Mauritania and Numidia. Cyprian in 258 was able to assemble a synod of eighty-seven bishops, and in 308 a council of schismatic Donatists was held in Carthage, in which two hundred and seventy bishops participated. Dioceses in those days were, of course, small.

The oldest translation of the Bible into Latin, misnamed Italy(which became the basis for Jerome's Vulgate) was probably made in Africa and for Africa, and not in Rome and for Rome, where at that time the Christians spoke predominantly Greek. Latin theology also originated not in Rome, but in Carthage. His father was Tertullian. Minucius Felix, Arnobius and Cyprian testify to the activity and prosperity of African Christianity and theology in the 3rd century. It culminated in the first quarter of the fifth century in the person of St. Augustine, whose great mind and ardent heart make him the greatest of the Church Fathers, but soon after Augustine's death (430) it was buried, first under the onslaught of barbarian vandals, and in VII century - Mohammedans. But the writings of Augustine led the Christians of the Latin Church into the dark ages, inspired the leaders of the Reformation, and have life-giving power to this day.

The laws of history are also the laws of Christianity. The apostolic church advanced from Jerusalem to Rome. Then the missionaries moved further and further west.

The Church of Rome was the most significant of all the churches of the West. According to Eusebius, in the middle of the 3rd century it had one bishop, forty-six presbyters, seven deacons and the same number of their assistants, forty-two acoluths, fifty readers, exorcists and porters, she took care of one and a half thousand widows and beggars. From this we can conclude that the number of its members was approximately fifty to sixty thousand people, that is about a twentieth of the population of the city, the number of which cannot be precisely determined, but which during the reign of Antoninus must have exceeded a million people. The influence of Christianity in Rome is also confirmed by the incredible length of the catacombs where Christians were buried.

From Rome, the church spread to all the cities of Italy. The first Local Synod of Rome, of which we have information, was attended by twelve bishops, presided over by Telesphorus (142-154). In the middle of the 3rd century (255) Cornelius of Rome assembled a council of sixty bishops.

The persecution of 177 shows that in the second century the church had already taken root in the south of Gaul. Christianity probably came there from the East, because the churches of Lyon and Vienne were closely connected with the churches of Asia Minor, to whom they informed about the persecutions that befell them, and Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon, was a student of Polycarp of Smyrna. Gregory of Tours states that in the middle of the 3rd century seven missionaries were sent from Rome to Gaul. One of them, Dionysius, founded the first church in Paris, was martyred in Montmartre, and became the patron saint of France. Popular tradition later combined his image with the image of Dionysius the Areopagite, converted by Paul in Athens.

Spain probably became acquainted with Christianity also in the 2nd century, although we do not find clear evidence of the existence of churches and bishops in it until the middle of the 3rd century. Nineteen bishops participated in the Council of Elvira in 306. The apostle Paul planned to make a missionary journey to Spain and, according to Clement of Alexandria, preached there, if this country is understood by the “western limit”, where, according to him, Paul brought the Good News. But we have no evidence of his activities in Spain. Tradition, contrary to all chronology, claims that Christianity was brought to this country by the elder Jacob, who was executed in Jerusalem in 44, and that he was buried in Campostela, a famous place of pilgrimage, where his bones were discovered already in the reign of Alphonse Alphonse II [Alphonse II ] II, at the end of the VIII century.

When Irenaeus spoke of the preaching of the gospel among the Germans and other barbarians who, "having no paper and ink, carry in their hearts salvation sealed by the Holy Spirit," he meant only those parts of Germany that belonged to the Roman Empire. (Germania cisrhenana).

According to Tertullian, Britain also submitted to the power of the cross at the end of the second century. The Celtic Church existed in England, Ireland, and Scotland independently of Rome long before the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons by the Roman mission of Augustine; it continued to exist for some time after that, spreading to Germany, France and the Netherlands, but eventually merged with the Roman Church. She probably took origin from Gaul, and then from Italy. Tradition traces its history back to St. Paul and the other founding apostles. Bede the Venerable (died 735) says that King Lucius of the Britons (circa 167) asked the Bishop of Rome Eleutherus to send him missionaries. At the council of Arles, in Gaul, in 314, three British bishops were present, from Eboracum (York), Londinium (London), and the colony of Londinensium (either Lincoln or, more likely, Colchester).

The conversion of the barbarians of Northern and Western Europe only began in full measure in the 5th-6th centuries, and we shall speak from it when we consider the history of the Middle Ages.

Phoenician or Punic name - Karthada, Greek - Karchedon(????????), Latin Carthago. This means New town (lat."Naples"). Word Kereth or carth is also included in the names of other cities of Phoenician origin, for example, Cirta(Cirta) in Numidia.

See a scholarly comparison of Rome and Carthage in Mommsen, Book III, ch. 1 (vol. I. 506), on the destruction of Carthage see: Book IV, ch. 1. (vol. II. 22 sqq.).

"Carthage must be destroyed." - Approx. ed.

For a description of the ruins of Carthage see N. Davis and B. Smith (Rome and Carthage, ch. xx. 263-291). The recent conquest of Tunisia by France (1881) aroused new interest in the past of this country and opened new page her future. Smith describes Tunisia as the easternmost of the eastern cities, in which an impressive mixture of peoples - Arabs, Turks, Moors and Negroes - are united together by the Islamic religion.

Gibbon in the thirty-first chapter and Milman put the population of Rome at 1,200,000; Heck (based on the Ankir inscription), Zumpt and Howson, two million; Bunsen is slightly smaller; and Durot de la Malle thinks that it amounted to only half a million, on the ground that the walls of Sergius Tullius surrounded an area of ​​​​only one-fifth of the territory of Paris. But these walls no longer marked the boundaries of the city, because when it was rebuilt after the fire of Nero, the suburbs extended beyond the walls into an unlimited territory. See vol. I, r. 359.

Rome. 15:24; Clem. R. Ad Cor., p. 5 (?? ????? ??? ??????).

See J. B. Gams (R. C): Die Kirchengeschichte von Spanien, Regensburg 1862–1879, 5 vols. The first volume (422 pages) is devoted to the legendary history of the first three centuries of the church. 75 pages are devoted to a discussion of Paul's journey to Spain. Gamay declares the founders of Christianity in this country to be Paul and the seven disciples of the apostles sent to Rome, namely, Torquatus, Ctesiphon, Secundus, Indaletius, Cacilius, Hesychius, and Euphrasius (according to the Roman Martyrology, published by Baronius, 1586).

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