ASIA
780
ASIA
the Jewish communities furnished the first nucleus
of Christian proselytes. From Syria, Christian
propaganda spread into Phcenicia and Asia Minor,
and through the effective preaching of St. Paul,
it penetrated into the principal cities of the Medi-
terranean coa.st and Asia Minor, crossing the borders
of Asia and reacliing into the very lieart of the
Roman Empire. From the Acts of the Apostles it
can be conclusively shown that as early as the second
half of the first century of the Christian Era, Christian
<'omm\mities existed in the following Asiatic cities:
Jerusalem (Acts, passim). Damascus (Acts, ix),
Samaria and Samaritan villages (Acts, viii), Lydda
{ix), Joppe (ib.), Saron (ib.), Cjesarea in Palestine
■(Acts, x), Antioch in Syria (xi), Tyre (xxi), Sidon
■(xxvii), Tarsus (ix,xi, xv), Salamina in Cyprus (xiii),
Paphos in Cyprus (xiii), Perge in Pamphylia (xiii,
xiv), Antioch in Pisidia (xiv), Iconium (xiii, xiv),
Lystra (xiv), Derbe (xiv), several unnamed localities
in Galatia (Gal., i, I Peter, i), in Cappadocia (I Peter,
i), Ephesus (Acts, and Paul's Epp.), Laodicea
(Paul's Epp.), Hierapolis in Phrj'gia (Paul's Epp.),
Smyrna (Apoc), Sardis (ib.), Philadelphia in
Lydia (ib.), Thyatira in Lydia (ib.), etc., and very
probably also in Ashdod in Philistia, Seleucia,
Attalia in Pamphylia, Amphipolis, Apollonia, Assus,
Malta, and other islands of the Mediterranean.
From Syria and Asia Minor the activity of the early
Christian missionaries spread north, south, east, and
■west through Edessa, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Assyria,
Babylonia, Media, Persia, Arabia, Ethiopia, Egypt,
Africa, Greece, Italy, and the West. As regards
Asia, we have historical evidence that, towards the
middle of the second century, Christian communities
were established also in Edessa, various cities of
Mesopotamia, along the Tigris and the Euphrates,
Melitene, Magnesia, Tralles in Caria, Philomelium
in Pisidia, Parium in Mysia, Nicomedia, Otrus,
Hierapolis, Pepuza, Tymion, Ardaban, Apamea,
Cumane, and Eumenea in Phrygia, Ancyra in Gala-
tia, Sinope, Amastris in Pontus, Debeltum in Thrace,
Larissa in Thessalia, Myra in Lycia, etc. (See
Hamack, Expansion of Christianity in the First
Three Centuries, II, 240 sqq.) From the signatures
of the various Asiatic bishops who assisted at the
Council of Nicsa (325) we have conclusive evidence
that towards the year 300, and in fact considerably
earlier, there existed in the following Asiatic pro-
vinces and cities not only Christian communities,
but also well-organized churches, dioceses, and ec-
clesiastical centres: Jerusalem, Ceesarea, Samaria-
Sebaste, Lydda-Diospolis, Joppe, Saron, Emmaus-
Nicopolis, Sichem-Neapolis, Scythopolis, Jamnia,
Azotus, Ascalon, Gaza, Gadara, Capitolias, Bethle-
hem, Anea, Anim and Jattir, Bethabara, Sichar-
Asker, Batanea, Pheno, and many other episcopal
sees in Asia Minor, Cyprus, Syria, Palestine, Arabia,
Edessa, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, etc. In the last
three mentioned regions, in fact, we have posi-
tive traces of fully organized dioceses and churches
as early as tlie first half of the third century, with
many illustrious saints and martyrs.
In the fourth, fifth, sixth, and the beginning of the seventh century, until the rise of Islam, Christianity became the dominant and generally accepted re- ligion of Western Asia, with the exception of Arabia. The Christian Church, however, was subject politi- cally to two mighty rival powers, the Roman anti the Persian. To tlie first of these, the whole; of Pales- tine, Syria, North-w-est Arabia) wcst-ICviphratcan- Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor, were subject; while to the latter belonged esist-lMiphratean-Mesopotamia, rortli-east Arabia, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, iind Media. The endle.ss rivalry and wars of these two powers proved indeed fatal to the progress of Christi- anity and In the permanent unity of the two great Christian Churches, the Roman and the Persian.
These obstacles notwithstanding, the Christian Church
of Persia, from its very beginning down to the middle
of the fifth century, was dependent on the Patri-
arch of Antioch and consequently in communion
with Rome, although it had its own metropolitan,
the great Catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, in Baby-
lonia. But the Nestorian and Monophysite heresies
of the fifth century broke this union asunder. Nes-
torianism, vmable to gain any permanent footing in
Syria, Asia Minor, and the W'est, found a strong ally
and defender in the Sassanian kings of Persia and
in the Mesopotamian Church, which, towards the
end of the fifth century, had already completely
estranged itself from Antioch and Rome, and had
become an independent national Church, having
for its ecclesiastical head the great Catholicos of
the East, i. e. of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. In the mean-
while, Monophysitism began to rage in Sj-ria, Ar-
menia, Arabia, and Mesopotamia alike, forming thus
another independent heretical Church. Soon after,
the Nestorian and the Monophysite Churches of
Western Asia prospered and developed to such an
extent as to compete in greatness and influence with
most Christian Churches, the Roman excepted.
With the advent of Islam, however, and the rapid conquest of the Moliammedan armies (seventh century), Christianity in Arabia, Mesopotamia, Per- sia, Armenia, Syria, and Asia Minor suffered most severely. Soon after the death of Mohammed, all these provinces fell, one after the other, into the hands of the Moslems, who threatened, for a while, the entire extinction of Christianity in Wes- tern Asia. Thanks, however, to the tolerant atti- tude of the majority of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs of Damascus and Bagdad respecti\ely, Christianity in the Mohammedan Empire rose gradu- ally to a new and unprecedented life and vigour, and in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries the Nestorian and the Monophysite Churclies, but especially the first, reached their highest degree of prosperity. Nestorian and Jacobite theologians, philosopheis. and men of letters soon became the teachers of the conquering Arabs and the pioneers of Islamo-Arabic science, civilization, and learning. Nestorian physi- cians became the attending physicians of the court, and the Nestorian patriarch and his numerous bishops were regarded in Asia as second to none in power and authority. From Western Asia, Nes- torianism spread into India, Ceylon, Socotra, and the Malabar coast, China, Mongolia, and Tatary, where it soon became extremely infiuential and pos- sessed numerous churches and well-organized bishop- rics. So that as early as the ninth and tenth cen- turies, the jurisdiction of the Nestorian Catholicos of Seleucia extended over Central, Southern, west- Central, and Sovith-western Asia, as far as Syria, Arabia, Cyprus, and Egypt, and had more than two hundred subordinate bishops and metropolitans. In the meanwhile, the Monophysite Church held sway in Syria, Egypt, North Meso])iitamia, and Armenia, where it develoi)e<l strength, if not equal, certainly not very inferior, to that of the Nestorian.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Mongolian and Tatar invasions and devastations in Central and Western Asia put an end to Arabic dominion, dealing, at the same time, a deadly blow- both to the Nestorian and the Jacobite Churches, and causing havoc and consternation among Asiatic Christian.^ in general. Hvmdreds of thousands of these Christians were massacred, their churches and moniisleries ruined, and a great number of the waver- ing coriipellc<l to renoimce their faith and embrace Mohaniinedanism. The weakened condition of both the Nestorian and Jacobite Churches paved the way to their return to the Catholic I'aith, and many of their patriarchs and bisbops thanks to the incessant and salutary work of the early Catholic Miissionaries.
