In general, the conversion of the barbarians by the apostles was thought to be a purely symbolic enterprise. The barbarians had to come to God on their own, and the participation of Christians in this process was perceived as secondary, auxiliary. "Such is the true Word of the divine, O men of Hellenism and barbarian, Chaldean and Assyrian, Egyptian and Libyan, Indian and Ethiopian, Celtic and Latin... so that you, having run [to us], may be taught by us (προσδραμόντες διδαχθήτε παρ' ήμών)[50]. This fatalistic perception of Christianization did not encourage the establishment of real contact with the barbarians.

The early Christians did not have an answer to the simple question of how to treat the cruelty of the barbarians, their devastating raids. When the enemy of Christianity, Kelier, declares that the idea of the fraternal union of all mankind will lead to only one thing: "the whole earth will be under the rule of lawless and savage barbarians," Origen retorts to him as follows: "If the barbarians have recourse to the Word of God, they will become law-abiding and meek." And if they don't? Kelier is perplexed: "After all, it is impossible that Asia, and Europe, and Libya, Greeks and barbarians, up to the very ends of the universe, would agree to a single law! But Origen is imperturbable: "This is indeed impossible in the flesh (τάχα αληθώς αδύνατον... έν σώματι). But it is quite possible for those who have been freed from it"[51]. The disputants speak different languages: the harsh experience of Roman statehood speaks through the mouth of Celsus, and the eschatological aspirations of early Christianity through the mouth of Origen.

Thus, in the pre-state era, Christians created their own ideal of the missionary – the image of the "apostle among the barbarians", but this ideal was devoid of any features of any concreteness. Only much later was this image reinterpreted as missionary (see p. 142).

Chapter II: Missionary Work of the Late Roman Era (III-V Centuries)

I

In the early days of its existence, Christianity spread across the Empire implicitly, from person to person rather than as a result of missionary activity organized by the Church. There was no deliberate propaganda outside the Empire. And yet, no later than the second half of the third century, the process of Christianization of the barbarian principalities began[53]. According to the historian Sozomenos, "for almost all barbarians, the reason for the adoption of Christian teaching (πρεσβεύειν τό δόγμα των Χριστιανών) was the wars that occurred at times with the Romans and foreigners during the reign of Gallienus and his successors... When the church expanded to the whole Roman universe, faith also moved through the barbarians themselves (καί διά αυτών τών βαρβάρων ή θρησκεία έχώρει). The tribes around the Rhine, the Celts and the farthest of the Galatians, those who live by the Ocean, and the Goths, and those of their neighbors who formerly sat on the banks of the Ister River, had already been Christianized (έχριστιάνιζον) (Sozomeni II, 6).

The same situation developed in the East. In Persia, the appearance of Christianity is associated with Roman captives from Antioch, whom King Shapur settled in Khuzestan in 256, appointing the Greek Demetrius as bishop for them. It is in this sense that we must understand the words from the Syrian Chronicle of Saard, that "Christians spread throughout all countries and became very numerous in the East... The Romans spread Christianity in the East"[55]. We have no information about the dispatch of special missionaries from the Empire to preach to the barbarians. Church hierarchs embarked on a long journey only to minister to the already existing Christian communities, which consisted mainly of captives. For example, such was Averky, Bishop of Hierapolis, who, according to his life, in the second century "visited the churches throughout Mesopotamia and bequeathed to them a single rule." The hagiographer puts the following words about Averky into the mouth of the baptized Persian Barchasan: "We will speak out in favor of calling him Equal-to-the-Apostles (ίσαπόστολον). For we know of no one else who has traveled so much land and sea in the care of his brethren, except for those first disciples of Christ, whom this man evidently imitates. Thus, although Averky's concern is mainly for people who have already been baptized, he is equated with the apostles: such is the paradoxical reinterpretation of the apostolic heritage.

If we talk about the agents of the real Christianization of the barbarians, then they were primarily "displaced persons": Roman captives living in barbarian lands[57], or, conversely, barbarian hostages and emigrants who had visited the Empire. These bearers of Christianity, who were not "professional" missionaries, as a result of some circumstances, achieved success and only then turned to the Church for help. So, according to legend, Georgia was turned by Nina, who was taken there as a girl as a captive from the Empire. This event is described in a number of monuments dating back to the surviving source[58]. What is important for us now is not so much to reconstruct this original as to see what the imperial authors paid attention to. It is curious that the very name of Nina remained unknown to them. Rufinus, Socrates Scholasticus, Sozomenos, Gelasius of Cyzicus, and Theodoret of Cyrrhus[59] all assert that the barbarians, among whom the captive lived, were amazed at her ascetic way of life, but it did not occur to her to propagate Christianity among them, nor to them to inquire about the essence of her religion; when, in explanation of her asceticism, the woman "innocently said (άπλούστερον λεγούσης) that Christ, the Son of God, should be venerated in this way, both the name of the venerated and the method of veneration seemed strange to them (ξένον) (Sozomeni II, 7, 1). Only after Nina became famous for her miraculous healings, and especially after the cure of the local queen, did she gain great fame and only then, at the insistence of the tsar, did she begin her mission. According to a valuable testimony preserved by Socrates alone, the Georgian king and Nina "together became messengers of Christ: the king for the men, and she for the women" (Socratis I, 20). So a woman couldn't preach to men! [60]

The "apostle of the Goths" Ulphilas was the child of Roman captives who were taken away by the Goths during a raid on the Empire in 257. among others, those who were numbered among the clergy... A host of pious captives, finding themselves among the barbarians (συναναστροφέντες τοΤς βαρβάροις), persuaded a considerable number of them to piety and led them from the pagan faith to the Christian faith. From this full were also the parents of Urquila (Ulfila)" (Philostorgii HE, II, 5). This process is described in more detail in Sozomen: "When an indescribable multitude of mixed peoples... devastated Asia... Many priests were taken captive and began to live among them. Since the captives there healed the sick and cleansed the possessed, calling on the name of Christ and calling him the Son of God, and moreover led a blameless life and by their virtues conquered all evil speech (μώμον), the barbarians, marveling at their life and extraordinary deeds (παραδόξων έργων), came to the realization that it would be wise to imitate people who turned out to be better than themselves, and to serve the Highest, like those. Having chosen [Christians] as their guides in what should be done, they received instruction, were baptized, and began to attend churches" (Sozomeni I, 6). We will talk about the fate of Gothic Christianity later (see pp. 87, 127 ff.).

II

The most exotic is the history of the mission in Ethiopia. This distant country was connected with the Hellenistic world by centuries-old ties. At first they were supported by the state of Meroe, and later by the state of Axum, which replaced it. Therefore, it is not surprising that Christianity also penetrated the Abyssinian highlands very early. The tradition of the Ethiopian Church calls the baptizer of the country a certain Abba Salam, who converted the kings Ezana and Sazana. Byzantine tradition, on the other hand, considers Frumentius and his relative Edesius, Roman subjects, to be the apostle of Ethiopia to be from Tyre. Whether the name Abba Salama is another name for Frumentia is difficult to say. Here, as in the future, the two pictures of the Christianization of Ethiopia, external and internal, imperial and local, do not agree on everything. At the same time, as we will see, the Ethiopian version is much richer than the Greek version itself. The difference between the two is that the Greco-Roman sources focus on the initial phase of the mission, while the Ethiopian sources focus on the subsequent phases. Our earliest, almost modern source is the writings of Athanasius of Alexandria, who ordained Frumentius as the "apostle of Ethiopia"; a whole series of narrative monuments of the IV-VI centuries, which are in a relationship of complex dependence with each other, tells about it. Their story apparently goes back to some work of Edesius himself[63]. The closest to this missing source was the Latin story of the church historian Rufinus, on which Socrates Scholasticus relied, who somewhat abridged the original, and Sozomen, who restored the abridged [64]. Later, the same tradition is somewhat embellished by Theodoret and Gelasius of Cyzicus. But in general, the stories of these authors are very close to each other. The problem is that it is impossible to be completely sure whether the Greco-Roman sources really have Ethiopia in mind: F. Altheim believes that in fact the "Far Indies" originally meant Yemen and only later was Frumentius reinterpreted as the "apostle of Ethiopia"[66]. We will continue to adhere to the traditional view, but we are nevertheless aware of how shaky any hypotheses about this initial period of the mission are.

So, according to Rufinus and the tradition that followed him, the Tyrian philosopher Meropius set out on a journey across the Red Sea (not for missionary purposes, but for educational purposes!), taking with him his young disciples, Frumentius and Edesius. Their ship was captured by barbarians during a stop, who killed everyone except the children. The boys were presented to the local king, and they grew up in the palace. When the old king died and his heir (King Ezana of the Ethiopian springs?) was in infancy, the queen mother entrusted Frumentius and Edesius with the government of the country. It was then that they showed their Christian zeal. Here is how the church historian of the fifth century, Gelasius of Cyzicus, describes their activities: "They ordered everyone who lived around to bring to them all those Romans who got there (έπιξενουμένους), hoping to sow with their help (δι αυτών... έγκατασπειραι προμηθούμενοι) among the "Indians" (i.e., Ethiopians? — S.I.) the knowledge of God. Chance also favored them: having found some [Romans] at the same time, they induce those who lived according to Roman customs to build temples, and if these people did not have the right to erect altars because they did not have permission to the priesthood (θυσιαστήρια πηγνύναι τώ μή παρείναι αύτοίς αύθεντίαν ίερωσυνης), then to erect church buildings (οικους έκκλησιών) for the assemblies of those who have taken the path of knowing God. Hence the custom (πρόφασις) of the surrounding "Indians" of knowing God, while Frumentius influenced their ambition (φιλοτιμως αύτοις προσόντος) by resorting to beneficence, flattery, and exhortation" (Gelasius, p. 149, cf. Socratis I, 19). It is curious that Sozomen hesitates in determining whether there was a personal initiative in Frumentius' activity: "Probably, he was prompted [to this] by divine signs, or God himself arranged all this (θείαις ίσως προτραπείς επιφάνειας ή καί αυτομάτως του Θεου κινουντος)" (Sozomeni II, 2, 4; 8). Theodoret reports a little more about Frumentius' methods of preaching: "He received the uncultivated people (άγεώργητον έθνος) and undertook to cultivate them with enthusiasm, having God-given grace as a companion. Using the apostolic miracles, he caught those who tried to contradict him with the help of arguments. Miracles (τερατουργία), which showed the testimony [of the truth] to those who argued [against him], won multitudes [souls] every day" (Theodoreti NOT in p. 73).

After some time, the brothers asked to go home. Aedesius returned to Tyre, and Frumentius, as Gelasius says, "came to Alexandria, thinking that it would be expedient not to overlook the work of God among the barbarians (ακόλουθον ειη τό γενόμενον παρα τοίς βαρβάροις εργον θεΙον μή περιϊδεΤν). Having come to the Bishop of Alexandria Athanasius... Frumentius told him all that had happened, prompting (ύπομιμνήσκει) the idea of sending bishops to them. Athanasius... said to Frumentius: "What other person can we find in whom the spirit of God dwells as in you, brother, who would know how to govern and dispose of the churches there in the best possible way?" Having ordained him bishop, he commanded him to go back to the "Indians" to consecrate the churches there and take care of the people there. After the ordination of this man, emitting apostolic rays (άποστολικας άφιέντι ακτίνας), the great grace of God descended (προσετέθε). Arriving in the above-mentioned inner India, he strengthened the [Christian] gospel by signs and [himself] efforts. He attracted to the true faith of Christ a great multitude of "Indians," who through him received the divine word in its purest form. For this reason the number of churches and ordinations among these peoples has increased considerably" (Gelasius, pp. 149.4-150.17).

In any case, it should be remembered that whatever region is referred to here, Ethiopia, as traditionally believed, or Yemen, where F. Altheim places this story, only the most primary, superficial Christianization could have taken place there in the fourth century. In reality, in both regions, missionary work did not acquire any mass character until the fifth century (cf. pp. 41, 75).