The blossoming religious following of Christianity was evident in Anatolia during the beginning of the 1st century. The letters of St. Paul in the New Testament reflect this growth, particularly in his home province of Asia. From his home in Ephesus from 54 AD to 56 AD he noted that "all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word" and verified the existence of a church in Colossae (Colossians, now abandoned; inland, near Denizli) as well as Troas. Later he received letters from Magnesia and Tralleis, both of which already had churches, bishops, and official representatives who supported Ignatius of Antioch. After the references to these institutions by St. Paul, the Book of Revelation mentions the Seven Churches of Asia: Ephesus, Magnesia, Thyatira, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Pergamon, and Laodicea.[23] Even other non-Christians started to take notice of the new religion. In 112 the Roman governor in Bithynia writes to the Roman emperor Trajan that so many different people are flocking to Christianity, leaving the temples vacated.[24]
The New Testament mentions Miletus as the site where the Apostle Paul in AD 57 met with the elders of the church of Ephesus near the close of his Third Missionary Journey, as recorded in Acts of the Apostles (Acts 20:15–38). It is believed that Paul stopped by the Great Harbour Monument and sat on its steps. He may have met the Ephesian elders there and then bid them farewell on the nearby beach. Miletus is also the city where Paul left Trophimus, one of his travelling companions, to recover from an illness (2 Timothy 4:20). Because this cannot be the same visit as Acts 20 (in which Trophimus accompanied Paul all the way to Jerusalem, according to Acts 21:29), Paul must have made at least one additional visit to Miletus, perhaps as late as AD 65 or 66. Paul's previous successful three-year ministry in nearby Ephesus resulted in the evangelization of the entire province of Asia (see Acts 19:10, 20; 1 Corinthians 16:9). It is safe to assume that at least by the time of the apostle's second visit to Miletus, a fledgling Christian community was established in Miletus.
The tradition of John the Apostle was strong in Anatolia (the near-east, part of modern Turkey, the western part was called the Roman province of Asia). The authorship of the Johannine works traditionally and plausibly occurred in Ephesus, c. 90-110, although some scholars argue for an origin in Syria.[31] According to the New Testament, the Apostle Paul was from Tarsus (in south-central Anatolia) and his missionary journeys were primarily in Anatolia. The Book of Revelation, believed to be authored by John of Patmos (a Greek island about 30 miles off the Anatolian coast), mentions Seven churches of Asia. The First Epistle of Peter (1:1–2) is addressed to Anatolian regions. On the southeast shore of the Black Sea, Pontus was a Greek colony mentioned three times in the New Testament. Inhabitants of Pontus were some of the very first converts to Christianity. Pliny, governor in 110, in his letters, addressed Christians in Pontus. Of the extant letters of Ignatius of Antioch considered authentic, five of seven are to Anatolian cities, the sixth is to Polycarp. Smyrna was home to Polycarp, the bishop who reportedly knew the Apostle John personally, and probably also to his student Irenaeus. Papias of Hierapolis is also believed to have been a student of John the Apostle. In the 2nd century, Anatolia was home to Quartodecimanism, Montanism, Marcion of Sinope, and Melito of Sardis who recorded an early Christian Biblical canon. After the Crisis of the Third Century, Nicomedia became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire in 286. The Synod of Ancyra was held in 314. In 325 the emperor Constantine convoked the first Christian ecumenical council in Nicaea [in northwestern Anatolia], and in 330 moved the capital of the reunified empire to Byzantium (also an early Christian center and just across the Bosporus from Anatolia, later called Constantinople), referred to as the Byzantine Empire, which lasted till 1453.[32] The First seven Ecumenical Councils were held either in Western Anatolia or across the Bosphorus in Constantinople.
And even that map has a Palestinian bias due mainly to the fanciful Acts narrative. (I mean, does Gaza really deserve to be on there because of the apocryphal Ethiopian eunuch story?)
Let's not forget that the first secular mention of Christians is probably that of Pliny the Younger in Bithynia, and that Marcion was active in Pontus next door. (Whereas, the author of Acts would have you believe the "Holy Spirit" specifically made Paul avoid that one particular province of Anatolia.) Edit: Doh, I see you covered that in your Wikipedia quote.
What's interesting is that if you plot the physical evidence of Mithraism (they built structures) in the third century against the indications for Christianity, you will see that they had claimed different parts of the empire. Mithraism became prominent in the west, which is primarily Latin-speaking, while Christianity became dominant in the east, which is primarily Greek-speaking. The main overlap is Rome (where, however, the Jews and subsequently the Christians primarily spoke Greek) and northern Africa (and it is with the latter that we get the earliest extant Latin Christian author--i.e., Tertullian).
Not by accident, Justin Martyr (in Rome) and Tertullian (in northern Africa) provide some of the precious literary evidence for Mithraism.
"... almost every critical biblical position was earlier advanced by skeptics." - Raymond Brown
Yes, that East-West division is interesting, as is Tertullian's origin in Carthage in "Roman Africa". It is hard to know if Tertullian lived elsewhere. His Apologeticus is supposedly addressed to [the] Roman magistrates. It's interesting that Praxeas was originally from Asia Minor, and supposedly went to Carthage to preach Monarchian doctrine*, so it would seem Tertullian's Adversus Praxean (Against Praxeas) would have been written there.
* though Monarchianism is supposed to have been proposed by people (i) younger than Praxeas (fl. ca. 200) was supposed to have been, and (ii) from quite different places ie. Paul of Samosata (200 to 275 AD; Antioch), and Sabellius (a supposed Lybian teaching in Rome; fl. ca. 215)
Last edited by MrMacSon on Tue May 26, 2015 4:38 pm, edited 3 times in total.
It would be interesting to look at the spatial distribution of these people and events over different time periods eg. 50-100AD; 100-150AD; 150-200AD, etc
