502 Early Church History 20: Early African, Armenian, and Asian Christianity

This is part 20 of the Early Church History class.

So far we've been focusing primarily on Christianity within the Roman Empire in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East--the land surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. Nevertheless, Christianity also spread south to Africa, north to Armenia, and east to Asia where it reached Persia, India, and China. Hopefully this session will counterbalance the Mediterranean focus we've had so far, expanding your perspective to be a little more global.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni_EnPzxJ4k&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2lk3B0I7Pa77hfwKJm1SRI&index=20&t=2890s&pp=iAQB

—— Links ——

• See my lecture on YouTube: History of Christianity in Africa
• For more on Armenian Christianity, see The Key of Truth: A Monument of Armenian Unitarianism
• More Restitutio resources on Christian history
• See other classes here
• Support Restitutio by donating here
• Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF
• Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air
• Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.
• Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

—— Notes ——

Africa

First Century

• Jesus took refuge in Africa as a baby (Matthew 2:13-15)
• An African from Cyrene carried Jesus’ cross (Mark 15:21).
• At Pentecost, Jews from Egypt and Libya were present (Acts 2:10).
• At Antioch, Simeon called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene were part of the Jew-Gentile mixed church (Acts 13:1).

• Egypt
  • By the 2nd c., New Testament scriptures were translated into Coptic.
  • Alexandria was a center for Christianity (Clement, Origen, Arius, Alexander, Athanasius).
• Maghreb (North Africa)
  • Christianity attested from at least the second century through martyrs of Scilla in Numidia and Perpetua and Felicitas in Carthage.
  • Tertullian, Cyprian, Novatian, Donatus, and Augustine
• Ethiopia
  • Frumentius and Edesius became slaves to the King of Axum.
  • Athanasius of Alexandria ordained Frumentius a bishop.
  • King Ezana became a Christian between 330 and 350.
  • In the late 5th c., the nine saints came and founded monasteries, including at Debre Damo.
  • In the 6th c., King Kaleb crossed the Red Sea to defeat Du Nawas, king of Himyar (Yemen). He then rebuilt the churches there and spread Christianity in the region.
• Nubia
  • In the second half of the 6th c., Christian missionaries began converting key people in Makuria.
  • Makuria became a mighty kingdom that held off the Muslims