Converstaion Early Christianity

Prelude:

Jewish diasphoras around the antiquity

Jesus:

12 Apostoles

In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the
Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New
Testament. During the life and ministry of Jesus in the 1st century AD, the apostles were his closest
followers and became the primary teachers of the gospel message of Jesus.[1] There is also an Eastern
Christian tradition derived from the Gospel of Luke of there having been as many as seventy apostles
during the time of Jesus' ministry

The commissioning of the Twelve Apostles during the ministry of Jesus is described in the Synoptic
Gospels. After his resurrection, Jesus sent eleven of them (as Judas Iscariot by then had died) by the
Great Commission to spread his teachings to all nations. This event has been called the dispersion of the
Apostles.

In the Pauline epistles, Paul, although not one of the original twelve, described himself as an apostle,[2]
saying he was called by the resurrected Jesus himself during his road to Damascus event. He later
describes himself as "an apostle to the Gentiles".[3]

The period of early Christianity during the lifetimes of the apostles is called the Apostolic Age.[4] During
the first century AD, the apostles established churches throughout the territories of the Roman Empire
and, according to tradition, through the Middle East, Africa, and India. Of the tombs of the apostles, all
but two are claimed by premises of the Catholic Church, half of them located in the Diocese of Rome.

Simon(=Peter),his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James,
Thadeus, Simon, Judas Iskariot, — Acts 1:15–22

So, between the Ascension of Jesus and the day of Pentecost, the remaining apostles elected a twelfth
apostle by casting lots, a traditional Israelite way to determine the will of God (see Proverbs 16:33). The
lot fell upon Matthias.
1, Peter According to Christian tradition, Peter was crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero. He is
traditionally counted as the first bishop of Rome‍—‌or pope‍—a‌ nd also as the first bishop of Antioch. The
ancient Christian churches all venerate Peter as a major saint and as the founder of the Church of
Antioch and the Church of Rome,[1] but differ in their attitudes regarding the authority of his successors.
According to Catholic teaching, Jesus promised Peter a special position in the Church.[7]

In the New Testament, the name "Simon Peter" is found 19 times. He appears repeatedly and
prominently in all four gospels as well as the Acts of the Apostles. He is the brother of Saint Andrew, and
both were fishermen. The Gospel of Mark in particular was traditionally thought to show the influence
of Peter's preaching and eyewitness memories. He is also mentioned, under either the name Peter or
Cephas, in Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians and the Epistle to the Galatians. The New Testament also
includes two general epistles, First Peter and Second Peter, that are traditionally attributed to him, but
modern scholarship generally rejects the Petrine authorship of both.[8] Evangelicals and Catholics have
always affirmed Peter's authorship, and recently there is a growing number of non-evangelical scholars
that have resuscitated the Petrine authorship of the Petrine epistles.[

2, Andrew Eusebius in his Church History 3.1 quoted Origen as saying that Andrew preached in Scythia.
The Chronicle of Nestor adds that he preached along the Black Sea and the Dnieper river as far as Kiev,
and from there he travelled to Novgorod. Hence, he became a patron saint of Ukraine, Romania and
Russia. According to Hippolytus of Rome, Andrew preached in Thrace, and his presence in Byzantium is
mentioned in the apocryphal Acts of Andrew. According to tradition, he founded the see of Byzantium
(later Constantinople) in AD 38, installing Stachys as bishop. This diocese became the seat of the
Patriarchate of Constantinople under Anatolius, in 451. Andrew, along with Stachys, is recognized as the
patron saint of the Patriarchate.[24] Basil of Seleucia also knew of Apostle Andrew's missions in Thrace,
Scythia and Achaea.[25]

Andrew is said to have been martyred by crucifixion at the city of Patras (Patræ) in Achaea, in AD 60.[22]
Early texts, such as the Acts of Andrew known to Gregory of Tours,[26] describe Andrew as bound, not
nailed, to a Latin cross of the kind on which Jesus is said to have been crucified; yet a tradition
developed that Andrew had been crucified on a cross of the form called crux decussata (X-shaped cross,
or "saltire"), now commonly known as a "Saint Andrew's Cross" — supposedly at his own request, as he
deemed himself unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross as Jesus had been.[b] The
iconography of the martyrdom of Andrew — showing him bound to an X-shaped cross — does not
appear to have been standardized until the later Middle Ages.[27][c]

3, James the Great(Older) He had been executed in Jerusalem AD 44 by Herodes Agrippa. Tradition he
converted in Hispany-and Santiago de Compostella is his burial place

4, John the Apostle[7] (Ancient Greek: Ἰωάννης; Latin: Iohannes[8] c. 6 AD – c. 100 AD) or Saint John the
Beloved was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as
the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee and Salome. His brother was James, who was another
of the Twelve Apostles. The Church Fathers identify him as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the
Elder, and the Beloved Disciple, and testify that he outlived the remaining apostles and was the only one
to die of natural causes, although modern scholars are divided on the veracity of these claims. According
to tradition, after the Assumption of Mary, John went to Ephesus. Irenaeus writes of "the church of
Ephesus, founded by Paul, with John continuing with them until the times of Trajan."[62] From Ephesus
he wrote the three epistles attributed to him. John was allegedly banished by the Roman authorities to
the Greek island of Patmos, where, according to tradition, he wrote the Book of Revelation. According to
Tertullian (in The Prescription of Heretics) John was banished (presumably to Patmos) after being
plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it. It is said that all in the audience of
Colosseum were converted to Christianity upon witnessing this miracle. This event would have occurred
in the late 1st century, during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, who was known for his persecution of
Christians.

When John was aged, he trained Polycarp who later became Bishop of Smyrna. This was important
because Polycarp was able to carry John's message to future generations. Polycarp taught Irenaeus,
passing on to him stories about John. Similarly, Ignatius of Antioch was a student of John. In Against
Heresies, Irenaeus relates how Polycarp told a story

A kereszt alatt Jézus az ő gondjaira bízta édesanyját, Máriát.[9] Jézus feltámadását követően az
asszonyok híradása nyomán Péterrel együtt futott az üres sírhoz, hogy megbizonyosodjon a Mester
feltámadásáról.[10]

A Szentlélek eljövetele (Pünkösd) után a hagyomány szerint Szűz Mária haláláig Jeruzsálemben maradt, s
ott a környéken és Szamáriában apostolkodott.[11] Pál apostol Péterrel és Jakabbal az egyház oszlopai
közé sorolja.[12] Pál halálát követően Epheszoszban folytatta életét. Ő tanította a második
apostolnemzedék több jelentős képviselőjét: Pápiász hierapoliszi, Polikárp szmirnai, Ignác antiókhiai
püspököt. Domitianus császár Pátmosz szigetére száműzte. Itt részesült azokban a látomásokban,
amelyeket a Jelenések könyvében leírt. Nerva uralkodása alatt visszatért Epheszoszba, és már közel száz
éves lehetett, amikor Traianus uralkodásának idején meghalt, az apostolok közül egyedüliként
természetes halállal

5, Philip the Apostle (Greek: Φίλιππος; Aramaic: ‫ ;ܦܝܠܝܦܘܣ‬Coptic: ⲫⲓⲗⲓⲡⲡⲟⲥ, Philippos) was one of the
Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Later Christian traditions describe Philip as
the apostle who preached in Greece, Syria, and Phrygia.

Journey of Philip the Apostle: From the Fifteenth Act Until the End, and Among Them the Martyrdom."
This appendix gives an account of Philip's martyrdom in the city of Hierapolis.[13] According to this
account, through a miraculous healing and his preaching Philip converted the wife of the proconsul of
the city. This enraged the proconsul, and he had Philip, Bartholomew, and Mariamne all tortured. Philip
and Bartholomew were then crucified upside-down, and Philip preached from his cross. As a result of
Philip's preaching the crowd released Bartholomew from his cross, but Philip insisted that they not
release him, and Philip died on the cross. Another legend is that he was martyred by beheading in the
city of Hierapolis.

6, Bartholomew (Aramaic: ‫ ;ܒܪ ܬܘܠܡܝ‬Ancient Greek: Βαρθολομαῖος, romanized: Bartholomaîos; Latin:

Bartholomaeus; Armenian: Բարթողիմէոս; Coptic: ⲃⲁⲣⲑⲟⲗⲟⲙⲉⲟⲥ; Hebrew: ‫תולמי‬-‫בר‬, romanized: bar-
Tôlmay; Arabic: ‫بَرثُولَما ُوس‬, romanized: Barthulmāwus) was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according
to the New Testament. He is said to have been martyred for having converted Polymius, King of
Armenia, to Christianity. He has also been identified as Nathanael or Nathaniel,[1] who appears in the
Gospel of John when introduced to Jesus by Philip (who also became an apostle; John 1:43–51),
although some modern commentators reject the identification of Nathanael with Bartholomew. Apokrif
iratok és az Arany legenda tudósítása szerint Bertalan előbb Itáliában, majd Örményországban hirdette
az evangéliumot. Az utóbbi helyen lett Krisztus vértanúja, mégpedig úgy, hogy megnyúzták, majd
lefejezték 60 körül.

Bertalan apostol ereklyéi a 6. században kerültek Lipari szigetére. 983-ban II. Ottó német-római császár
Beneventóból Rómába vitette az ereklyéket, ahol a Tiberis-szigeten templomot épített az apostol
tiszteletére. E szigeten a pogány Rómában a gyógyítás istenségének, Aesculapiusnak volt a szentélye, a
keresztény Rómában pedig Bertalan lett a gyógyítások égi pártfogója

7, Thomas the Apostle (Aramaic: ‫תאומא‬, Tʾōmā, meaning "twin"; Koinē Greek: Θωμᾶς; Coptic: ⲑⲱⲙⲁⲥ;
Classical Syriac: ‫)ܬܐܘܡܐ‬,[a] also known as Didymus ("twin"), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus
according to the New Testament. Thomas is commonly known as "Doubting Thomas" because he
initially doubted the resurrection of Jesus Christ when he was told of it (as is related in the Gospel of
John alone); he later confessed his faith ("My Lord and my God") on seeing the wounds left over from
the crucifixion.

Keleti térítése

Szerkesztés

III. századi apokrif irat a Tamás cselekedetei, amely az apostol későbbi életét meséli el. Ebben pünkösd
után megjelent neki az Úr, és Indiába küldte őt.

Nem bizonyított legendák alapján Tamás először a Pártus Birodalomban térített, majd 45 körül érkezett
az indopártus uralkodó, IV. Gondofarész (az apokrif iratokban Gondofer) udvarába, ahol meggyógyította
a király öccsét, majd segített felújítania a palotáját, mivel a legenda szerint tanult ács volt. Későbbi
legendák alapján ezután a király engedélyével sikerrel térített India nyugati partvidékén. A déli Kerala
tartomány lakosságát 55 körül Tamás térítette meg a szír-malabár kereszténységre. Téríteni próbált a
keleti partvidéken is, de Madrasz környékén vértanúhalált szenvedett. Itt Majlapurban temették el.[1]
A történészek között értékelhetetlenek ezek a kései hittérítő legendák, amely szerint Indiában élt és
térített volna.[2]

Nyughelye és hagyománya

Szerkesztés

Szent Tamás 52-ben érkezett meg Indiába hogy terjessze a kereszténységet, és 72. július 3-án halt
mártírhalált a Szent Tamás hegyen Chennai városában, Indiában.

Chennai-ban található többek között a Kis Hegy, ahol a legenda szerint Szent Tamás Apostol élt egy
bizonyos ideig egy kis barlangban, amely felett a portugál gyarmatosítók egy templomot is emeltek.

Chennai-ban egy katedrálist emeltek (Szent Tamás-bazilika) a sírja felett – amely egyike a világon lévő
három katedrálisnak, amelyet Krisztus Apostolának sírja felett építettek. Ezt a katedrálist II. János Pál
pápa is meglátogatta 1986. február 5-én.[3]

Holttestét 232 körül szír keresztények Szíriába, Edessza (Urfa) városába vitték, és ott temették el.[4]

1258. szeptember 6-án kerültek a relikviák végső nyughelyükre Olaszországba, Ortona városába a Szent
Tamás bazilikába.

Attribútumai: öv, mérőléc és tőr vagy lándzsa, amellyel leszúrták.

Tamás apostol mint egyházalapító

Szerkesztés

Tamás Indiában végzett apostoli tevékenysége révén a dél-indiai keresztények az úgynevezett szíriai
irányzatot követik, amelynek két ága alakult ki: a keleti (káldeus) és a nyugati (antiochiai) kereszténység.
Az általa alapított egyik legnagyobb mai egyház neve a szír-malabár katolikus egyház és az indiai
Malankara Ortodox egyház.Szent Tamás apostol az építőmunkások, pallérok, építészek, földmérők,
valamint a vakok, továbbá India és Pakisztán keresztényeinek védőszentje.According to Eusebius' record,
Thomas and Bartholomew were assigned to Parthia and India.[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][9] The
Didascalia (dating from the end of the 3rd century) states, "India and all countries condering it, even to
the farthest seas... received the apostolic ordinances from Judas Thomas, who was a guide and ruler in
the church which he built."

Thomas is believed to have left northwest India when an attack threatened and traveled by vessel to the
Malabar Coast, possibly visiting southeast Arabia and Socotra en route, and landing at the former
flourishing port of Muziris (modern-day North Paravur and Kodungalloor)[35] (c. AD 50) in the company
of a Jewish merchant Abbanes/Habban (Schonfield, 1984,125). From there he is said to have preached
the gospel throughout the Malabar coast. The various churches he founded were located mainly on the
Periyar River and its tributaries and along the coast, where there were Jewish colonies. In accordance
with apostolic custom, Thomas ordained teachers and leaders or elders, who were reported to be the
earliest ministry of the Malankara Church. According to Syrian Christian tradition, Thomas was killed
with a spear at St. Thomas Mount in Chennai on 3 July in AD 72, and his body was interred in Mylapore.
[45] Ephrem the Syrian states that the Apostle was killed in India, and that his relics were taken then to
Edessa. This is the earliest known record of his death.[46]

The records of Barbosa from the early 16th century record that the tomb was then maintained by a
Muslim who kept a lamp burning there.[47] The St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica, Chennai, Tamil Nadu,
India presently located at the tomb was first built in the 16th century by the Portuguese, and rebuilt in
the 19th century by the British.[48] St. Thomas Mount has been a revered site by Muslims and Christians
since at least the 16th century.[49]

Later, in the Nomocanon of Abdisho bar Berika (metropolitan of Nisibis and Armenia, died in 1318) and
the breviary of the Chaldean Church[52] it is written:

1. Through St. Thomas the error of idolatry vanished from India.

2. Through St. Thomas the Chinese and Ethiopians were converted to the truth.

3. Through St. Thomas they accepted the sacrament of baptism and the adoption of sons.

4. Through St. Thomas they believed in and confessed the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.

5. Through St. Thomas they preserved the accepted faith of the one God.
6. Through St. Thomas the life-giving splendors rose in all India.

7. Through St. Thomas the Kingdom of Heaven took wing and ascended to China.

— Translated by Athanasius Kircher in China Illustrata (1667), Office of St. Thomas for the Second
Nocturn, Gaza of the Church of St. Thomas of Malabar, Chaldean Breviary

In its nascent form, this tradition is found at the earliest in the Zuqnin Chronicle (AD 775) and may have
originated in the late Sasanian period.[53][54] Perhaps it originated as a 3rd-century pseudepigraphon
where Thomas would have converted the Magi (in the Gospel of Matthew) to Christianity as they
dwelled in the land of Shir (land of Seres, Tarim Basin, near what was the world's easternmost sea for
many people in antiquity).[55] Additionally, the testimony of Arnobius of Sicca, active shortly after AD
300, maintains that the Christian message had arrived in India and among the Persians, Medians, and
Parthians (along with the Seres).[56]

8, Mattew The New Testament records that as a disciple, he followed Jesus, and was one of the
witnesses of the Ascension of Jesus. Later Church fathers such as Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria
claim that Matthew preached the Gospel to the Jewish community in Judea, before going to other
countries. Ancient writers are not in agreement as to which other countries these are.[8] The Catholic
Church and the Orthodox Church each hold the tradition that Matthew died as a martyr and the
Babylonian Talmud appears to report his execution in Sanhedrin 43a[15][16] although this was rejected
by Heracleon, a Gnostic Christian viewed as a heretic, as early as the second century.[17].

Jézus halála után ő is elhagyta Palesztinát, és Etiópiában hirdette az örömhírt. Később hitének
megtagadását követelték tőle, de ő ezt nem tette meg, és ezért halálra kínozták. Emléknapja:
szeptember 21.

9, James, son of Alphaeus (Greek: Ἰάκωβος, Iakōbos; Aramaic: ]2[;‫ ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܚܠܦܝ‬Hebrew: ‫יעקב בן חלפי‬
Ya'akov ben Halfay; Coptic: ⲓⲁⲕⲱⲃⲟⲥ ⲛⲧⲉ ⲁⲗⲫⲉⲟⲥ) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, appearing
under this name in all three of the Synoptic Gospels' lists of the apostles. He is often identified with
James the Less (Greek Ἰάκωβος ὁ μικρός Iakōbos ho mikros, Mark 15:40) and commonly known by that
name in church tradition. He is also labelled "the minor", "the little", "the lesser", or "the younger",
according to translation. He is distinct from James, son of Zebedee and in some interpretations also from
James, brother of Jesus (James the Just).[3] He appears only four times in the New Testament, each time
in a list of the twelve apostles.[4]
James was arrested along with some other Christians and was executed by King Herod Agrippa in his
persecution of the church (Acts 12:1,2). However, the James in Acts 12:1,2 has a brother called John.
James, son of Zebedee has a brother called John (Matthew 4:21) and we are never explicitly told that
James son of Alphaeus has a brother. Robert Eisenman [27] and Achille Camerlynck[28] both suggest
that the death of James in Acts 12:1–2 is James, son of Zebedee and not James son of Alphaeus.

In Christian art, James the Less is depicted holding a fuller's club.[29] Tradition maintains that he was
crucified at Ostrakine in Lower Egypt, where he was preaching the Gospel.[30]

Paul the Apostle, in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, appears to give the first historical reference to
the Twelve Apostles: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died
for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in
accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve

The Council of Jerusalem (around 50 AD), according to Acts 15, agreed that lack of circumcision could
not be a basis for excluding Gentile believers from membership in the Jesus community. Rather, they
instructed new believers to avoid "pollution of idols, fornication, things strangled, and blood" (KJV, Acts
15:20–21), expecting them to hear Moses read on the Sabbath days. These clarifications were put into
writing, distributed (KJV, Acts 16:4–5) by messengers present at the Council, and were received as an
encouragement to the growth of these gentiles' trust in the God of Israel as revealed in the Gospel. The
Apostolic Decree thus helped to establish nascent Christianity as a unique alternative among the forms
of Judaism for prospective Proselytes. The Twelve Apostles and the Apostolic Fathers initiated the
process of transforming the originally Jewish sect into a diaspora of communities composed of both
Jews and gentiles, united by their trust in Jesus.

s of imposition of Christianity by sovereign rulers predating the council of Nicaea. The initial conversion
of the Roman Empire occurred mostly in urban areas of the Middle East, North Africa and
Mediterranean Europe, where the first conversions were sometimes among members of the Jewish
population. Later conversions happened among other populations over centuries, often initially among
its urban population, with rural conversions taking place some time later. The term "pagan" is from Latin
and means "villager, rustic, civilian." It is derived from this historical transition. The root of that word is
present in today's word "paisan" or "paisano".

As late as the later Parthian period, Armenia was predominantly Zoroastrian.[10] However, this was
soon to change. In 301, Saint Gregory the Illuminator converted king Tiridates III and members of his
court to Christianity[11] traditionally dated to 301 according to historian Mikayel Chamchian's
"Patmutiun Hayots i Skzbane Ashkharhi Minchev tsam diarn" (1784).[12]

The Armenian alphabet was created by Saint Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD for the purpose of Bible
translation, and Christianization as thus also marks the beginning of Armenian literature.

According to Movses Khorenatsi, Isaac of Armenia made a translation of the Gospel from the Syriac text
about 411. This work must have been considered imperfect, because soon afterward John of Egheghiatz
and Joseph of Baghin, two of Mashtots' students, were sent to Edessa to translate the Biblical scriptures.
They journeyed as far as Constantinople, and brought back with them authentic copies of the Greek
text. With the help of other copies obtained from Alexandria the Bible was translated again from the
Greek according to the text of the Septuagint and Origen's Hexapla. This version, now used by the
Armenian Church, was completed about 434.

Christianization_of_Iberia(Georgia)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianization_of_Iberia

By Apostole Andrew(Jesus Christ)

Christianization by an Apostle

Edit

Even though Iberia officially embraced Christianity in the early 4th century, the Georgian Orthodox
Church claims apostolic origin and regards Andrew the Apostle as the founder of the Georgian church,
also supported by some Byzantine sources. Ephrem Mtsire would later explain Saint Nino's role with the
necessity of Iberia's "second Christening". The archaeological artifacts confirm the spread of Christianity
before the conversion of King Mirian in the 4th century. Some of the third-century burials in Georgia
include Christian objects such as signet rings with a cross and ichthys or anchor and fish, clearly attesting
their Christian affiliation. These can mean that the upper class Iberians had embraced Christianity much
earlier than its "official Christianization" date

Estimates of the conversion date by historians have ranged over much of King Mirian's long reign.
Foreign and Georgian scholars' proposed dates are the following: AD 312, 317, 318, 320, 323, 325/6/7/8,
330/1/2/3/4/5/6/7. Once widely accepted AD 337 for Iberia's conversion, is favored nowadays by many
scholars to be AD 326,[62] possibly a "third Sunday after Easter" per John Zosimus, that was on 1 May,
[63] the year traditionally held by the Georgian Orthodox Church.[64]
Apart from the historians, Iberia's conversion is of greater interest during decades of debates, to the
astronomy scholars – who maintain that there is a high possibility that the total solar eclipse of AD 319,
6 May is the exact date of the Georgian conversion, an eclipse that reached eastern Georgia, and this
"eclipse hypothesis" is not new.[65] An eclipse per model ΔT≈7500 with solar azimuth angle being about
290°[66] would make king and his fellow hunters – or royal entourage – witness the totality of it, but not
the townspeople nearby.[67] The visibility conditions for the king on the Tkhoti mountain could have
been similar to the Solar eclipse of 11 July 2010 as seen at sunset from the mountainous terrain of
Patagonia.[68] During the eclipse of AD 319, observers at lower elevations near Mtskheta, would have
seen the sky grow prematurely dark and then slightly brighter, without the Sun reappearing over the
horizon. At higher elevations nearby such as where the king might have been, totality of an eclipse may
indeed have been a remarkable sight. L. V. Morrison and F. R. Stephenson according to their geophysical
model ΔT≈7450±180°, do not contradict this scenario and an intriguing possibility,[69] but it remains an
open question whether the ancient and medieval written accounts are trustworthy, if they are really
based on actual facts.[70]

According to The Georgian Chronicles it was "one day of Summer, July 20, a Saturday."[71]

The Christianization of Iberia (Georgian: ქართლის გაქრისტიანება, romanized: kartlis gakrist'ianeba)

[a] refers to the spread of Christianity in the early 4th century by the sermon of Saint Nino in an ancient
Georgian kingdom of Kartli, known as Iberia in classical antiquity, which resulted in declaring it as a state
religion by then-pagan King Mirian III of Iberia. Per Sozomen, this led the king's "large and warlike
barbarian nation to confess Christ and renounce the religion of their fathers",[1] as the polytheistic
Georgians had long-established anthropomorphic idols, known as the "Gods of Kartli".[2] The king would
become the main sponsor, architect, initiator and an organizing power of all building processes.[3] Per
Socrates of Constantinople, the "Iberians first embraced the Christian faith"[4] alongside the
Abyssinians, but most probably Kartli would become a second state after the Kingdom of Armenia, its
longtime southern neighbor, that officially embraced the new religion.[5] Armenian and Georgian
monarchs were among the first anywhere in the world to convert to a Christian faith.[6] Prior to the
escalation of Armeno-Georgian ecclesiastical rivalry[7] and the christological controversies their
Caucasian Christianity was extraordinarily inclusive, pluralistic and flexible that only saw the rigid
ecclesiological hierarchies established much later, particularly as "national" churches crystallized from
the 6th century.[8] Despite the tremendous diversity of the region, the christianization process was a
pan-regional and a cross-cultural phenomenon in the Caucasus,[9] Eurasia's most energetic and
cosmopolitan zones throughout the late antiquity, hard enough to place Georgians and Armenians
unequivocally within any one major civilization.[10] The Jews of Mtskheta, the royal capital of Kartli, that
did play a significant role in the Christianization of the kingdom, would give a strong impetus to deepen
the ties between the Georgian monarchy and the Holy Land leading to an increasing presence of
Georgians in Palestine, as the activities of Peter the Iberian and other pilgrims confirm, including the
oldest attested Georgian Bir el Qutt inscriptions found in the Judaean Desert alongside the pilgrim
graffiti of Nazareth and Sinai.
Iberia was a factor in a competitive diplomacy of the Roman and Sasanian Empires, and on occasion
became a major player in proxy wars between the two empires. Iberia, a Georgian monarchy, that
shared many institutions and concepts with the neighboring Iranians, being physically connected to their
"Iranian Commonwealth" since the Achaemenid period through commerce, war or marriage,[13] its
adoption of Christianity meant that King Mirian III made a cultural and historical choice with profound
international implications, though his decision was never tied with the Roman diplomatic initiatives.
Iberia, architecturally and artistically rooted in Achaemenid culture,[14] from its Hellenistic-era
establishment to the conversion of the crown,[15] embarked on a new multi-phased process that took
centuries to complete,[16][17] .

encompassing the entire 5th, 6th and early 7th centuries,[18] resulting in the emergence of a strong
Georgian identity.[19]

On the eve of the historic christianization, the king and the queen were quickly acculturated
Georgianized foreigners,[20] the physical fusion of Iranian and Greek cultures, Saint Nino, also a
foreigner,[21] the earliest first two chief bishops of Kartli, also foreigners, the Greeks, sent by the
emperor Constantine the Great.[22] Only in the first half of the 6th century, the Georgians would
permanently seize the highest ecclesiastical posts, but outsiders like Greeks,[23] Iranians, Armenians
and Syrians would continue playing a prominent role in the administration of the Georgian church.[24]

Ethiopia

Ethiopian Church tradition tells that Bartholomew accompanied Matthew in a mission which lasted for
at least three months..

The earliest account of an Ethiopian converted to the faith in the New Testament books is a royal official
baptized by Philip the Evangelist (distinct from Philip the Apostle), one of the seven deacons (Acts, 8:26–
27):

Then the angel of the Lord said to Philip, Start out and go south to the road that leads down from
Jerusalem to Gaza. So he set out and was on his way when he caught sight of an Ethiopian. This man was
a eunuch, a high official of the Kandake (Candace) Queen of Ethiopia in charge of all her treasure. (Acts,
8:26–27)

The passage continues by describing how Philip helped the Ethiopian treasurer understand a passage
from the Book of Isaiah that the Ethiopian was reading. After Philip interpreted the passage as prophecy
referring to Jesus Christ, the Ethiopian requested that Philip baptize him, and Philip did so. The Ethiopic
version of this verse reads "Hendeke" (ህንደኬ); Queen Gersamot Hendeke VII was the Queen of Ethiopia
from c. 42 to 52. Where the possibility of gospel missions by the Ethiopian eunuch cannot be directly
inferred from the Books of the New Testament, Irenaeus of Lyons around 180 AD writes that "Simon
Backos" preached the good news in his homeland outlining also the theme of his preaching as being the
coming in flesh of God that "was preached to you all before."[18] The same kind of witness is shared by
3rd and 4th century writers such as Eusebius of Caesarea[19] and Origen of Alexandria.[14]

Early Christianity became the established church of the Ethiopian Axumite Kingdom under king Ezana in
the 4th century when priesthood and the sacraments were brought for the first time through a Syrian
Greek named Frumentius, known by the local population in Ethiopia as "Selama, Kesaté Birhan" ("Father
of Peace, Revealer of Light"). As a youth, Frumentius had been shipwrecked with his brother Aedesius
on the Eritrean coast. The brothers managed to be brought to the royal court, where they rose to
positions of influence and baptized Emperor Ezana. Frumentius is also believed to have established the
first monastery in Ethiopia, named Dabba Selama after him. In 2016, scientists excavated a 4th-century
AD basilica (radio-carbon dated) in northeastern Ethiopia at a site called Beta Samati. This is the earliest
known physical evidence of a church in sub-Saharan Africa.[6]