Most histories cover the Church's expansion into Europe, America and the rest of the world. Yet Christianity also developed in the East: in Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, India, China and also Africa.

1. Material from Wikipedia and The Lost History
of Christianity by Philip Jenkins.
Page 1

2. Most Church Histories look at the expansion of the
Church into the Roman Empire, into Europe, America
and then to the rest of the world.
Yet Christianity also developed in the East: in
Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, into India and China
and also Africa. Perhaps the reason why this is ignored
is because it was the “Nestorian” or Jacobite Church
which spread into these areas predominantly.
Nestorius was excommunicated in 431 for views which
were later upheld by the Orthodox Council of
Chalcedon and largely his excommunication was for
political rather than theological reasons. His followers
went east.
However there were already multitudes of believers to
the east at this time. And 800 years after Christ while
Europe was still barely Christian, the east was largely
Christianized with many metropolitan sees overseeing
millions of believers.
Material from Wikipedia and The Lost
History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins.
Page 2

3. In its first millennium many of the
largest centers of Christendom were
located in the Middle East, Asia, and
Africa. Christianity spread to
Armenia, Georgia, Iran,
Turkmenistan, across the Silk Road to
the Pacific Rim in China, the Tibetan
Himalayas, the Ganges River of
India, Bahrain, Yemen, Ethiopia,
Sudan, and of course central and
southern Egypt.
In Africa, Ethiopia and Nubia would
both become Christian kingdoms in
the fourth century.
Review of book by Jono & Shari Hall
In 800AD, their influence was such that the Nestorian Patriarch Timothy was said to
be more influential than the Pope.
Even Kublai Khan was renowned for his tolerance of Christians, and many of them
rose to prominence in his court and administration.
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4. The Christian Church of the East, also known as the Nestorian Church,
is part of the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity.
By the 6th century it had spread widely through Asia.
Material from Wikipedia and The Lost
History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins.
Between the 9th and
14th centuries it was
the world's largest
Christian church in
terms of geographic
size, stretching from
the Mediterranean
to India and China.
Eastern churches also
contextualized the
gospel in unique ways
as they encountered
other religions like
Buddhism (e.g. the
Jesus Sutras in China )
Page 4

5. The church grew rapidly, and following the Islamic conquest of Persia,
it was designated as a protected dhimmi community under Muslim rule.
From the 6th century, it expanded greatly, establishing ties with the Saint Thomas
Christian community which existed in India, having evangelical success among
the Mongol tribes in Central Asia. In China it became home to a thriving
Nestorian community under the Tang Dynasty from the 7th to the 9th century.
In the 13th and 14th century the church experienced a final period of expansion
under the Mongol Empire.
Material from Wikipedia and The Lost
History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins. Page 5

6. In the early days of Islam many of the leaders
of the church simply saw Islam as a Christian
heresy, in much the same way that Arianism
had been a few centuries earlier. It is
interesting to note that much of today’s
Islamic practices are very similar to the
Christian practice of the lands where Islam
developed.
The assumption that much learning in
science, literature and maths came from
Islamic sources has been debunked with
many scholars being of Christian origin under
Islamic rule.
Other influences include the construction of
the pulpit, the fasting practices of Ramadan,
the Judaic customs of circumcision and strict
food regulation, and imitation of Byzantine
church architecture for the construction of
mosques.
Review of book by Jono & Shari Hall
Page 6

7. Islamic hierarchy ruled largely eastern
Christian populations for many centuries.
During the first few centuries of Muslim rule,
persecution of Christians was local, sporadic,
and without official support.
Christians served in the highest levels
government and were known as the best
scholars in the land. However, they were
increasingly subjected to harsher dhimmi
laws, and outbreaks of widespread,
organized persecution began to be
sanctioned by the government in the late
tenth and early eleventh centuries.
Review of book by Jono & Shari Hall Page 7

8. The church experienced a rapid period of decline starting in the
14th century.
The Mongol Empire dissolved into civil war, the Chinese Ming Dynasty
overthrew the Mongols and ejected Christians and other foreign
influences from China, and many Mongols in Central Asia converted
to Islam.
Material from Wikipedia and The Lost History
of Christianity by Philip Jenkins.
The Muslim Mongol leader Timur
(1336–1405) nearly eradicated
the remaining Christians in Persia;
thereafter, Nestorian Christianity
was largely confined to upper
Mesopotamia and the Malabar
Coast of India.
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9. After the Mongol invasions and the persecutions of the Mamluk
dynasty in the fourteenth century, Christianity would disappear in
Nubia, China, Iraq, and Persia and would enter into significant
decline in Armenia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Georgia.
Most remaining churches did not survive the massacres of an
estimated 800,000 Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Review of book by Jono & Shari Hall
A main reason that Christianity died out in
the Near East but not in the west is
because of the close affiliation between
state and religion. Arabic and Ottoman
forces who promoted Islam, while
European forces promoted Christianity.
Page 9

10. Q: But what about the old saying, "The blood of
the martyrs is the seed of the church"?
• Tertullian said that from the church in North
Africa, before the church vanished.
• In 698 AD, the Muslim Arabs conquered
Carthage.
100 years later only a tiny number of Christians
remained. That church died.
Interview of Philip Jenkins by Stan Guthrie.
Paraphrased here for brevity.
Q: What causes church death?
• I’ve never heard of a church simply fading away
through indifference. Persecution kills a church.
• Armed force, usually in the interest of another
religion or an antireligious ideology.
• Sometimes that may mean the destruction or
removal of a particular ethnic Christianity
community. Churches die by force. They are killed.
Page 10

11. Q: How do history’s lessons apply to Iraq,
where Christians are under pressure from
Muslims?
• Iraq is a classic example of a church that
is killed over time.
• The church will probably cease to exist
within our lifetime.
• In the last 50 years it has dropped from
about 5% to 0.5%. - You can't continue
losses like that forever.
• Christian communities will be all but
eliminated.
• Even the small communities living on the
Nineveh plains are mainly waiting for visas
to allow them to leave the country.
Interview of Philip Jenkins by Stan Guthrie.
Paraphrased here for brevity.
Page 11

12. Q: Why does persecution sometimes
strengthen a church and other times
wipe it out?
• It depends on how far a church
establishes itself among the masses
and not just of a particular class or
minority.
• Christianity established itself in North
Africa as a religion of the Egyptian
people.
• After almost 1,400 years under
Muslim rule, there was until very
recently, a thriving Coptic church
that represented 10 percent of the
Egyptian people.
• This is perhaps the greatest example
of Christian survival in history.
Interview of Philip Jenkins by Stan Guthrie.
Paraphrased here for brevity. Page 12