The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries

by Adolph (von) Harnack
translated and edited by James Moffatt
Second, enlarged and revised English edition;
London: Williams and Norgate / New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1908 (from the 2nd German edition).
Theological Translation Library, volumes 19-20

From the German, Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten (1902, revised 1906, 1915, and finally 1924)

[experimental greek] 

[[Book 4, Chapter 3, section 3, location 9 (page 182 = 2nd German ed p. 153) (scanned and proofed, Elana Newberger 4/2004; subsections and some Greek scanned by Moises Bassan 8/2004), edited RAK 5-9/2004, Frank Lameiro 4/2005; some ETs still needed, names and American spellings, French accents, German umlauts, italics)]]

[[182]]

9. ASIA MINOR (excluding Cilicia)¹

CAPPADOCIA,
ARMENIA, DIOSPONTUS, PAPHLAGONIA, AND PONTUS POLEMONIACUS,
BITHYNIA,
ASIA, LYDIA, MYSIA, CARIA,
PHRYGIA, GALATIA, PISIDIA, LYCAONIA,
LYCIA, PAMPHYLIA, ISAURIA

Asia Minor, and indeed the majority of the above-named provinces, constituted the Christian country κατ' ἐξοχήν during the pre-Constantine era. This is a fact which is to be asserted with all confidence. Even the reasons for it can be discovered, although different considerations obtain with regard to the various sections of Asia Minor as a whole. Here Hellenism had assumed a form which rendered it peculiarly susceptible to Christianity. Here again were other provinces which were barely touched by it, possessing but an imperfect civilization, and therefore forming virgin soi1.² Here, in many provinces, a numerous body of Jews were to be found, who, though personally hostile to Christianity, had nevertheless prepared its entrance into many a heart and head. Here singular mixtures of Judaism and paganism were to be met with, in the realm of ideas (cp. the worship of θεός ὕψιστος) as well as in mythology; the population were open for a new syncretism. Here there were no powerful and unifying national religions to offer such a fanatical resistance to Christianity as in the case of the Syro-Phoenician religion, although there were strong local sanctuaries and several attractive cults throughout the country. The religious life of the land was cleft by as serious a fissure as was the provincial and national -- which must have been felt to be an anachronism in the new order of things, above [[183]] all, in the new order introduced by Augustus. The older national memories had almost died out everywhere. There was a total lack of any independent political life. Here³ the imperial cultus established itself, therefore, with success. But while the imperial cultus was an anticipation of universalism in religion, it was a totally unworthy expression of that universalism, nor could it permanently satisfy the religious natures of the age.⁴ Besides, ambition, conceit, and servility clung to it. Civilization and manners differed widely throughout these provinces, where, in the West, trade, manufactures, and commerce flourished down to the beginning of the third century. But so far as there was any civilization -- and in the West it was extremely high -- it was invariably Hellenic. Here, more than [[184]] in any other country, did Christianity amalgamate with Hellenism, and the result was that an actual transition and fusion took place, which, contrary to the development at Alexandria, affected, not merely religious philosophy, but all departments of life. This is evident from the Christian theology, the cultus, the mythology, and the local legends of the saints. The proof of it comes out in the fourth, and in fact at the end of the third century, in the way in which paganism was overcome. Here paganism was absorbed. There were no fierce struggles. Paganism simply disappeared, to emerge again, in proportion to the measure of its disappearance, within the Christian church. Nowhere else did the conquest and "extirpation" of paganism occasion so little trouble. The fact is, it was not extirpation at all. It was transformation.⁵ Asia Minor, in the fourth century, was the first purely Christian country, apart from some outlying districts and one or two prominent sanctuaries which managed to survive. The Greek church of to-day is the church of Constantinople and Asia Minor, or rather of Asia Minor. Constantinople itself derived its power from Asia Minor in the first instance, and from Antioch only in the second. The apostle Paul was drawn to Asia Minor. Ephesus became the second fulcrum of Christianity, after Antioch. That great unknown figure, John, resided here, and here it was that the deepest things which could be said of Jesus were composed. Besides John, other apostles and personal disciples of Jesus,⁶ among then Philip the evangelist, and certainly his daughters (who were prophetesses), all came to Phrygia. Nearly all the great developments of the Christian religion during the second century originated in Asia, and it was in Asia that all the great controversies were mainly fought out -- the conflict between the itinerant and the local organizations (cp. 3 John, etc.), the gnostic struggle, the Christological controversy (Praxeas, [[185]] Theodotus, and Epigonus all came from Asia), the Montanist controversy, which here and here alone assumed a popular form, etc. Here, too, the synodal and metropolitan constitution of the church was initiated.⁷ The worship of relics also received its initial impetus in Asia Minor.

¹ Cp. Map 6 -- Mommsen's Röm. Gesch. 5, pp. 295 f. (Eng. trans. 1,  pp. 320 f.), and the copious instructive article on "Asia Minor" by Joh. Weiss in the Prot: Real.-Encykl.³, vol. 10. The collocation of districts so heterogeneous as the above can only be justified on the ground that the results of Christian propaganda were fairly uniform. The collocation is thus at best provisional.

² One must also notice at how late a period the whole eastern section of the province became really Romanized. Avowedly by 100 B.C.E., but actually not for two centuries later, did the Romans win practical and entire possession of Cilicia. Cappadocia was not secured till the reign of Tiberius; Western Pontus was added under Nero, Commagene and Armenia Minor under Vespasian, etc.

³ Above all, in Asia proper, which had every reason to hail Augustus with real gratitude. Perhaps the most brilliant achievement of the imperial policy during the first century was the pacification and prosperity of Asia Minor; it was partly a renaissance, partly quite a new creation.

⁴ Thanks to the newly discovered inscriptions, we now know better than ever the character, the consolidation, the provincial organization (with the Ἀσιάρχης and an ἀρχιερεύς  under him in every leading temple of the towns), the language, and the influence of the imperial cultus in Asia. How much we can gather from the history of the church, from inscriptions such as those of Priene (Mitteil. D. Kais. Deutschen Archäol. Instit., Athen. Abteil. 23.3. pp. 275 f., and my Reden u. Aufs. 1, pp. 301 f.), or from Hadrian's title of " Ὀλύμπιος σωτὴρ καὶ κτίστης"! Lübeck (pp. 17 f., on the imperial cultus and the hierarchy of the church) rightly perceives that "in the end the Christian organization (in Asia) was obliged to resemble that of the imperial cultus in several, though not in many, respects: apparently it leant on the cultus, though it was quite unconscious of any such deliberate purpose[?]." Still, it cannot be proved that the seven churches addressed in John's Apocalypse were selected by John on account of their position and relation to the cultus of the ruling power and the emperor (so Lübeck pp. 26 f.). Ramsay has put forward a fresh and independent view of this choice ("The Seven Churches of Asia," in Expositor 9, pp. 20 f.), and in his large work on The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, 1904, pp. 171 f.). He regards each church as the representative of a group of adjoining churches, as in fact a sort of metropolitan church. This was not the original grouping of John, however; these seven churches must have been already recognized as "the seven churches of Asia." "The gradual selection of several representative churches in the province was in some way connected with the principal road-circuit of the province……They were the best points on that circuit to serve as centres of communication with seven districts: Pergamum for the north (Troas, Adramyttium, probably Cyzicus, etc.); Thyatira for an inland district on the north-east and east; Philadelphia for Upper Lydia, to which it was the door (3.8); Laodicea for the Lycus valley and for central Phrygia; Ephesus for the Cayster and lower Mæander valleys and coasts; Smyrna for the lower Hermas valley and the North Ionian coast, perhaps with Mitylene and Chios."

⁵ A good deal is to be learnt from Strzygowski's Kleinasien ein Neuland der Kuntgeschichte (1903) about the pre-Constantine church history of Asia.

⁶ Cp. Zahn's "Apostel u. Apostelschüler in der Provinz Asien" (Forschungen 6, 1900), which is not free from exaggerations and doubtful assertions. "The Asiatic presbyters who had seen the apostles" (so Papias, followed by Irenæus and the Muratorian canon) form a group which we can no longer make out clearly. Cp. my Chronologie 1, 320-381.

⁷ Plainly this organization had not yet become naturalized in Northern Africa, or at least only in the local Montanist church, when Tertullian wrote (in de Jejunio13): "Aguntur praeterea per Graecias [under which we must include Asia] illa certis in locis concilia ex universis ecclesiis, per quae et altiora quaeque in commune tractantur, et ipsa representatio totius nominis Christiani magna veneratione celebratur" ("Besides, in definite localities throughout Greece there are held those councils of all the churches, by means of which deeper questions are treated for the church's common good, and the entire name of Christ is represented and celebrated with entire reverence"). In Asia the synods were framed on the pattern of the local diets, which were a special feature of Asiatic life (cp. Lübeck, pp. 32 f.). Their significance for the growth and strength of the Christian cause is brought out by the Licinian legislation, which prohibited them (Vita Constant. 1, 51: μηδαμῶς ἀλλήλοις ἐπικοινωνεῖν τοὺς ἐπισκόπους, μηδ’ ἐπιδημεῖν  αὐτῶν ἐξεῖναί τινι τῇ τοῦ πέλας ἐκκλησίᾳ, μηδέ γε συνόδους μηδὲ βουλὰς καὶ διασκέψεις περὶ τῶν λυσιτελῶν ποιεῖσθαι = " Bishops were never to hold the slightest intercourse with one another, nor were they permitted to be absent on a visit to some neighbouring church, nor were synods, councils, or conferences on economic questions to be held").

Even before Trajan's reign we come across Christian communities at Perge (Pamphylia), Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Derbe, and Lystra (Acts 13, 14), as well as at unnamed localities in Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia, at Ephesus, Colossæ, Laodicea, Phrygian Hierapolis (Paul's epistles), Smyrna, Pergamum, Sardis, Philadelphia, Thyatira (Apoc. John), and Troas (Acts, Paul, and Ignat., ad Phil. 11).⁸ The churches at Magnesia on the Mæander and at Tralles are also earlier than Trajan's reign, undoubtedly (see Ignatius). Nor does this exhaust the number of towns where Christian communities were to be found at that period.⁹ The vigour and the variety of the forms already assumed by Christianity in these quarters are shown by the seven epistles to the churches in the Johannine Apocalypse, by the whole tenor of the book, and by [[186]] the Ignatian writings. The epistle to Laodicea (Apoc. 3.17) sets before us a church which had already compromised with the world, and which felt itself to be rich and satisfied. For the John of the Apocalypse, for Ignatius, and for the unknown editor who called Paul's circular letter by the name of "Ephesians," Ephesus stood out pre-eminent among the churches of Asia. Ignatius mentions its populous character (πολυπληθία, Ephes. 1.3). He only speaks of πλῆθος  in connection with the others. Smyrna was originally a small church,¹⁰ oppressed by a powerful Jewish society, and so on. But by the time of Domitian the number of the Asiatic Christians was large. Thus the author of the Apocalypse depicts an ὄχλος πολύς, ὃν ἀριθμῆσαι αὐτὸν οὐδεὶς ἐδύνατο (7.9) standing before the throne of the Lamb. A generation earlier, Paul had written an epistle (the so-called "Ephesians") to Asia, whose historical outlook implies the glorious experience of Christ's power to unify mankind, and of that peace among men which the Saviour came to bring. Christ, not Augustus, is our peace. He it is who made out of twain one, and hath broken down the wall of partition. The language of imperial adoration is applied here to the Redeemer (Ephes. 2.14).

⁸ For the history of the founding of these churches, cp. especially the studies of Ramsay.

⁹ For the Apocalypse of John never mentions Tralles, Magnesia, or Colossæ. Consequently, it must have also omitted other cities, even although these had churches of their own. Ignatius, too, merely gives a selection. Both he (Trall. 12, Polyc. 8) and the address of 1 Peter point to the existence of other churches in Asia.

¹⁰ Paul did not found this church; it arose after several of the other Asiatic Christian communities (Polyc., Ep. 11.3).

This sketch may be rounded off by a piece of non-Christian evidence which, however familiar, cannot be valued too highly. It refers to Bithynia and Pontus, two provinces of Asia Minor, where (as the opening words of 1 Peter¹¹ already inform us) Christians were to be found at an early period, though no further details can be gathered on this point from the New Testament itself¹² Pliny's account of them, however (for it is Pliny to whom I allude), certainly relates to the provinces of [[187]] Asia and Phrygia alike. He informs the emperor Trajan (Ep. 96, c. 111-113 C.E.) that persons of all ages and ranks (even including Roman citizens) are implicated in the proceedings taken against the Christians, while several apostates had explained they had been Christians for many years, but were no longer so. One of them affirmed that he had been converted over twenty years ago. Pliny then goes on to say "Dilata cognitione ad consulendum te decucurri. Visa est enim mihi res digna consultatione, maxime propter periclitantium numerum. Multi enim omnis aetatis, omnis ordinis, utriusque sexus etiam, vocantur in periculum et vocabuntur. Neque civitates tantum sed vicos etiam atque agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est; quae videtur sisti et corrigi posse. Certe satin constat prope iam desolata templa coepisse celebrari et sacra sollemnia diu intermissa repeti pastumque venire victimarum, cuius adhuc rarissimus emptor inveniebatur. Ex quo facile est opinari quae turba hominum emendari possit, si sit paenitentiae locus" (cp. above, p. 3).

¹¹ This epistle shows unquestionably that Christianity had spread to some extent throughout these provinces. The counsels of the author definitely presuppose certain relations between the Christian and the non-Christian population. Not so the Pauline epistles. The local Christians have obviously excited a disagreeable interest in their affairs; they are exposed to the hostility of the provincials, although the authorities still refrain from any action. The epistle may belong to the earlier years of Domitian.

¹² In an ancient preface to John's Gospel (cp. the old manuscript of Toledo) we hear of brethren from Pontus. The preface is not entirely valueless. -- Ramsay is probably right in holding that Bithynia was hardly reached by Christianity by land. Similarly, the Pontic towns on the Black Sea had Christian communities at an early date, whilst the interior of Pontus still remained pagan throughout.

There were reasons why Pliny¹³ should represent the spread of the movement in as strong terms as possible;¹⁴ but, even after allowance has been made for this, his testimony remains sufficiently remarkable. He cannot have invented the spread of the Christian religion in the lowlands, or the grip which it had taken of all classes in the population. But who the missionaries were by whose efforts this had been accomplished, we cannot tell. How well prepared, too, must have been the soil, if the Christian crop sprang up so luxuriantly! In short, we may claim this letter of Pliny as the most outstanding piece of evidence for the advance of Christian missions along the whole of the western coast.

¹³ This letter to Trajan was probably written in the east of Bithynia-Pontus, as the letters near it in the collection are dated from this district (Amastris? Amasia?).

¹⁴ He wanted the emperor to approve of his comparatively lenient treatment of the Christians.

Pliny does not name any city or locality; evidently he would [[188]] have had to mention too many. And the Christian writers are so reticent that these gaps in our knowledge remain unfilled. Amisus in Pontus is the only place at which we can prove from Christian sources, with some show of probability, that Christians existed about 100 C.E. (cp. Ramsay's The Church in the Roman Empire, 1893, pp. 211, 225).

Between Trajan and the death of Marcus Aurelius,¹⁵ our sources supply fourteen fresh names of Asiatic towns containing Christian communities, in addition to the seventeen already noted -- an infinitesimally small number in view of the numerous new churches which must have been planted throughout Asia Minor during these eighty years. Those named are Sinope on the Black Sea (the home of Marcion, whose father is said to have been the local bishop; Hippol., in Epiph., Hœr. 42.1); Philomelium in Pisidia (cp. the epistle. of the Smyrniote church upon Polycarp's death), Parium in Mysia (for in this connection we may trust the Acta Onesiphori),¹⁶ Nicomedia (cp. the epistle of bishop Dionysius of Corinth to the local church in Eus., H.E. 4.23), Amastris "and the other churches in Pontus" (the epistle of Dionysius to them, loc. cit.; here the metropolitan organization was in working order by the reign of M. Aurelius), and Hieropolis in Phrygia (however one may view the famous inscription of Abercius, we may infer from it that Christianity had by that time reached Hieropolis).¹⁷ The other eight towns are known to us from sources connected with the Montanist movement, viz., Ancyra in Galatia (Eus., 5.16), Otrus, Pepuza, Tymion [=Dumanli?], (Ardabau) [ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὴν Φρυγίαν Μυσίᾳ  = Kardaba?],¹⁸ Apamea (Kibotos), Cumane, and Eumenea, all in Phrygia (cp. Eus., H.E., 5.16. 18). So far as we know, the first synods in connection with the [[189]] Montanist controversy were held in Asia Minor, although they did not confine themselves strictly to one province.

¹⁵ In this connection one must also recall the rescript of Hadrian to Minucius Fundanus and the interpolated rescript of Pius to the diet of Asia (Texte u. Unters. 13.4), both of which presuppose no inconsiderable extension of Christianity in Asia. The local diet has already to deal with Christians. On the other hand, no weight is to be attached to the story told by Lampridius in his Vita Alex. Severi, 43, about Hadrian and Christianity.

¹⁶ Cp. also Acta SS. Fbr. 2, p. 42.

¹⁷ The Acta Pauli probably testify also to the existence of a church at Myrrha in Lycia, during the second century.

¹⁸ Cp. Ramsay's Phrygia, p. 573.

Before entering into the evidence available for the several provinces of Asia Minor, I shall briefly put together some data which prove the wide diffusion of Christianity by the close of our epoch, circa 325 C.E.

(1) The edicts of Maximus Daza against Christians, with their declarations that almost all "men" have gone over to Christianity (Eus., H.E. 9.9),¹⁹ refer mainly to the situation in Asia Minor (and Syria). From the servile petitions of the cities, even of Nicomedia (loc. cit., and 9.2 f.), asking the emperor to issue a command that no Christian should reside within their bounds or even in their surroundings, we must not conclude that the local Christians were, relatively speaking, a small body. As for Bithynia in particular, this edict of Daza implies the existence of a particularly large number of Christians. The petition sent up by the cities had simply the effect of prohibiting public worship within the city walls. Perhaps it was not meant to be serious at all; the idea of such petitions was to curry favour with the emperor.²⁰

¹⁹ ἡνίκα συνεῖδον σχεδὸν ἅπαντας ἀνθρώπους καταλειφθείσης τῆς τῶν θεῶν θρῃσκείας τῷ ἔθνει τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἑαυτοὺς συμμεμιχότας (cp. vol. 1,  pp. 271, 495 f.); also the edict in 9.7.9: σχεδὸν εἰπεῖν τὰ πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης αἰσχύναις ἐπίεζεν ("Christianity, it may almost be said, crushed the whole world with its shame"). The designation of Christians as τὸ ἔθνος τῶν Χριστιανῶν occurs pretty frequently in the imperial rescripts of that period.

²⁰ Even if one assumes that the petitions were really meant to be taken seriously, with their demand for the formal ejection of all Christians, no light is yet thrown upon the number of Christians. We must remember, by way of comparison, how strong the Huguenots were in France, when the general policy was to root them out. One always reckons in such cases upon the majority abandoning their faith.

(2) In the speech already quoted (p. 16), which was delivered in Nicomedia, Lucian of Antioch declares that "pars paene mundi iam maior huic veritati adstipulatur, urbes integrae; aut si in his aliquid suspectum videtur, contestatur de his etiam agrestis manus, ignara figmenti."

(3) The expression, "urbes integrae," is corroborated, so far as regards Phrygia, by Eus., H.E. 8.11.1, where we read how an entire town (Ramsay, Letters to Seven Churches of Asia, [[190]] pp. 426 f., thinks of Eumenea) in this province, which was Christian, was burnt during Diocletian's persecution  ( Ἤδη γοῦν ὅλην Χριστιανῶν πολίχνην αὔτανδρον ἀμφὶ τὴν Φρυγίαν ἐν κύκλῳ περιβαλόντες ὁπλῖται πῦρ τε ὑφάψαντες κατέφλεξαν αὐτοῖς ἅμα νηπίοις καὶ γυναιξὶ τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν [variant, τὸν Χριστὸν] ἐπιβοωμένοις).²¹ Even eighty years earlier (for so, I take it, we must understand the authority cited in Epiph., Hœr. 51.33), Thyatira was practically a Christian (i.e., a Montanist) city.

²¹ "A whole town of Christians, in Phrygia, was surrounded by soldiers when its citizens were inside. Fire was flung into it, and the troops burned it up, with men, women, and children, all calling upon Christ." The sequel is particularly instructive, as showing the extent to which Christianity had become naturalized in the country; even the authorities of the town were Christians (ὅτι δὴ πανδημεὶ πάντες οἱ τὴν πόλιν οἰκοῦντες λογιστής τε αὐτὸς καὶ στρατηγοὶ σὺν τοῖς ἐν τέλει πᾶσιν καὶ ὅλῳ δήμῳ Χριστιανοὺς σφᾶς ὁμολογοῦντες, οὐδ’ ὁπωστιοῦν τοῖς προστάττουσιν εἰδωλολατρεῖν ἐπειθάρχουν [= ΕΤ], cp. p. 40). Lactantius also (Instit. 5.11) mentions the incident: "Unus in Phrygia universum populum cum ipso pariter conventiculo concremavit" ("One burned up a whole town in Phrygia, with its assembly and all").

(4) From the Vita Constantini 2.1-2, it follows that there were several churches at Amasia in Pontus during the reign of Licinius. If there were several in a town like this, which was not in the front rank, we may safely assume that many towns of Asia Minor already contained not one church but many.²²

²² Throughout the towns it is obvious that the churches generally were quite small; for Licinius (Vita Constantini 1.53), pleading hygienic reasons, decreed that Christians were to conduct their worship in the open air. On his part, this was purely a pretext for either ridding the towns of their presence or throwing obstacles in the way of their worship.

(5) Dionysius of Alexandria (Eus., H.E. 7.7) had already described the churches of Phrygia and the adjoining provinces as "the most populous churches." These districts had the largest number of bishoprics and the largest churches in the East -- a fact which is confirmed by the council of Nicæa. For although attendance at the council depended upon all sorts of accidental circumstances, so that inferences from it are not quite certain, still the loca1 strength of Christianity in a province which was, comparatively speaking, so remote and wild as Isauria, is clearly shown by its representation at Nicæa, of thirteen bishops and four chor-episcopi, drawn from all parts of the country. [[191]]

(6) Besides the mere number of chor-episcopi attending Nicæa, the Christian inscriptions from the small townships of Phrygia, which were publicly erected and bore the name of Χριστιανός,  the story of Gregory Thaumaturgus (see below), the evidence of Lucian, and other sources as well, show still more forcibly that Christianity during the third century had penetrated deeply into the population of the towns and country districts throughout Asia Minor, partially absorbing into itself the native cults.²³

²³ An admirably comprehensive work upon the Christian inscriptions of Asia Minor has been written by Cumont: Les Inscr. Chrét. De l'Asie mineure, Rome, 1895 [Extr. des Mélanges d'Archéologie et d'Histoire, t. 15). True, we cannot verify more than nine dated inscriptions for the pre-Constantine period (besides the inscription of Arycanda, which refers to Christians), but Duchesne and Cumont have shown that internal evidence justifies us in claiming a considerable number of undated inscriptions as pre-Constantine (cp. Renan's Paul, Germ. ed., 323 f.). The dated inscriptions come from Hieropolis, Eumenea, Sebaste, Apamea, Pepuza, and Trajanopolis. On the position of Christians in Asia, Cumont rightly observes (pp. 26 f.): "La paix relative où vécurent ces communautés, n'y laissa pas grandir comme ailleurs la haine contre l'État romain. On pouvait devenir chrétien et rester bon citoyen; on aimait à faire l'eloge de sa ville natale, on y exerçait des fonctions publiques, on déposait aux archives la copie de son testament, on stipulait contre les violateurs de son tombeau des amendes au profit de la caisse municipale ou du trésor publique…..Rien d'étonnant que dans un pareil milieu les idées et les coutumes antiques se soient plus qu'ailleurs mêlées aux convictions nouvelles, que dans la vie journalière on ait cherché un compromis entre le passé et le présent."

(7) Palpably, the reaction under Julian failed to get any footing in Asia Minor, owing to the strong hold of the country already won by Christianity. This explains, among other things, why the names of the bishoprics, which we can verify for Asia Minor, determine the actual number of these bishoprics still less accurately than is the case with the other provinces. If a large number of the Eastern provinces generally fell under the verdict -- a verdict which cannot, of course, be strictly proved -- that by about 325 C.E. the network of the episcopal hierarchy had been completed, leaving few meshes to be added at a later period,²⁴ then Asia Minor comes pre-eminently within the sweep [[192]] of such a judgment. Still, to avoid the introduction of uncertain data, I shall refrain from adducing, byway of evidence, the diocesan distribution of the Asiatic provinces, since our knowledge of this dates only from a later period. I shall merely add in this connection an allusion to such towns and localities as can be clearly proved to have had Christian communities up to 325 C.E.²⁵

²⁴ Cp. above, p. 158, on Egypt. There are but few traces of new bishoprics having been founded in the East by Constantine or his sons. Most of the sees had evidently been created previously. The main concern of the first Christian emperor was the building of churches (i.e., new buildings or the enlargement of old ones), and their equipment.

²⁵ Hilary, who wrote during his exile in Asia, declares (in de Synodis) that, "apart from Eleusius of Cyzicus and a few of his company, the ten Asiatic provinces in which I stayed had really no knowledge of God." If this was the state of matters, it is a melancholy testimony against the real Christianity of the Asiatic Christians, but the passage must not be connected with the problem of the spread of Christianity. Augustine (Ep. 93.31 f.) properly brushed aside the Donatist Vincentius in Mauretania, who concluded from the passage that there were practically no Christians in these ten provinces, and thus tried to give it an anti-catholic bearing.