Which countries have been the most influential in spreading Christianity?

[JohnB445]

Greece is a country I believed was used to carry God's will, I don't know a whole lot about Church history, but I think Greece has been the most influential. Along with England as well.

 

[Apologetic_Warrior]

European countries would be my guess. Which were most influential, probably depends on the time in history, or pre-post Reformation. During the Reformation and moving forward a few that come to mind...Germany, England, France, Switzerland, and Scotland. Largely wherever leaders of the Reformation were dominant.

 

[Radagast]

Which countries have been the most influential in spreading Christianity?

Look for footprints. Here is a Presbyterian church in Africa. It shows the influence of Scottish missionaries.

Here is an Anglican church in Africa. It shows the influence of English missionaries:

Here is a Russian Orthodox church sign. The Russian alphabet was invented by Greek missionaries (especially St Cyril, which is why it is called Cyrillic) based on the Greek alphabet, and shows the influence of Greece.

 

[dzheremi]

Most countries as we know them of course did not exist during the time of Christianity's coming fully into the world, but of the ones that did I would pick Greece and Egypt. Greece for providing the common language to be shared between peoples of various nations (in the sense of 'ethnikos') whereby the gospel could spread far and wide (and a healthy amount of the philosophical ideas and terms that would be baptized into the Church to express its theology, of course), and Egypt for igniting the world with the flame of Christian monasticism which drew so many into the deserts and caves of the world to build new ways of life completely dedicated to the worship of God and the transformation of mankind and the world through prayer.

 

[Radagast]

Egypt for igniting the world with the flame of Christian monasticism which drew so many into the deserts and caves of the world to build new ways of life completely dedicated to the worship of God and the transformation of mankind and the world through prayer.

Egypt sent missionaries as well (to Ethiopia, for example), but here's an Egyptian footprint: a carved stone cross in Ireland, showing at the top a raven bringing bread to the Egyptian hermit saints Paul and Anthony in the desert:

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

I'd say the Roman Empire for facilitating the spread of the early Church via the Pax Romana, and later by its conversion. Later the Eastern half of the Empire (Byzantines) would go on to convert much of the Eastern and Southern Slavs.

Britain for the Mission Societies that converted vast swathes of Africa and South Seas Islands. English missionaries like Boniface were instrumental in converting the various Germanic peoples, too. Of course, they themselves were converted by Irish and Italian ones. Scottish missionaries were especially active in parts of Africa. People like William Moffat went out and created isolated missions there, and the Dutch Reformed Church in the Cape Colony frequently used Scottish ministers.

Spain and Portugal for converting much of the Americas, Philippines, East Timor and the heroic attempt on Japan.

There are missionaries from all the nations though. French missions to the Indians in the Great Lakes area were extensive, and various 'German' groups like Moravian Brethren also played their part in certain areas.

 

[Radagast]

Scottish missionaries were especially active in parts of Africa.

When you consider the size of Scotland (less than one tenth of a percent of the world), they certainly had a big influence across the world.

 

[dzheremi]

Egypt sent missionaries as well (to Ethiopia, for example)

Yes it did, though I didn't want my post to turn into an in-depth lesson on the history of the Egyptian Church.

but here's an Egyptian footprint: a carved stone cross in Ireland, showing at the top a raven bringing bread to the Egyptian hermit saints Paul and Anthony in the desert:

Beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Yes, the connections between the Irish and the Egyptians are very old, and somewhat still shrouded in mystery and debated, but there are some very compelling possible evidences of Egyptian monastic contact being made sometime circa early 7th century (before the Islamic conquest of Egypt in the 640s), if not perhaps even earlier, if I remember correctly from the article I read a few years ago in the Glastonbury Review (the publication on Orthodoxy in the Isles that was published by the British Orthodox Church when it was still a part of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate in Europe, which it sadly is not anymore). It's fascinating stuff.

 

[Jonaitis]

It may have not been a particular country, but I would say the Roman Empire.

 

[Radagast]

Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

Yes, the connections between the Irish and the Egyptians are very old, and somewhat still shrouded in mystery and debated, but there are some very compelling possible evidences of Egyptian monastic contact being made sometime circa early 7th century

The influence need not have been direct. Augustine was converted in part by reading the life of St Anthony, for example.

And, btw, there are some very interesting parallels between the lives of St Frumentius and St Patrick.

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

If we're talking about nation states, historically empires have facilitated the most when compared to smaller nation states in the spread of Christianity.

The earlier states would be the Roman Empire, The Carolingian empire, Kievan Rus (and all subsequent Slavic states).Later states which facilitated the spread of Christianity were the British, French and Spanish Empires which have left their impact still felt in former colonies.

Aside from the Papal States which sought the conversion of Kings and supported missionary efforts in Europe and elsewhere I can't think of many smaller nations which compare to the Old empires. Did the dutch actively try to spread Christianity in their colonies?

 

[dzheremi]

There was the Netherlands Missionary Society established in 1797 to send missionaries to Indonesia and elsewhere, but I dunno what kind of impact they had, or how soon they may have closed up shop. It is my understanding that most Christian Indonesians come from various distinct ethnic minorities, like the Chinese or the various Moluccans.

 

[Radagast]

There was the Netherlands Missionary Society established in 1797 to send missionaries to Indonesia and elsewhere

They had a big impact on parts of Indonesia, such as the Moluccas (which you mentioned), Papua, parts of Sulawesi, and Flores and nearby islands. They had a minor impact on what is now Sri Lanka.

They never actually closed up shop, but were merged into what is now the "Protestant Church in the Netherlands."

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

The Heeren XVII, who controlled the Dutch East India Company (the VOC), actively discouraged proselytising in their territories. The problem was that it was customary to free slaves that converted to Christianity and there was some question as to their status as Christian freeburghers in such territories.

In South Africa for instance, they encouraged the continuation of the Malayan slaves' Islamic practice and did not actively convert the other groups. Individuals still converted and private mission activity took place, but the official Company policy opposed it, or at least did not actively aid it.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Yes it did, though I didn't want my post to turn into an in-depth lesson on the history of the Egyptian Church.



Beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Yes, the connections between the Irish and the Egyptians are very old, and somewhat still shrouded in mystery and debated, but there are some very compelling possible evidences of Egyptian monastic contact being made sometime circa early 7th century (before the Islamic conquest of Egypt in the 640s), if not perhaps even earlier, if I remember correctly from the article I read a few years ago in the Glastonbury Review (the publication on Orthodoxy in the Isles that was published by the British Orthodox Church when it was still a part of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate in Europe, which it sadly is not anymore). It's fascinating stuff.

There are some weird and wonderful mediaeval legends to that effect - part of the Matter of Britain. For instance, Pharoah's daughter Scota was supposed to have taken the Stone of Scone to Ireland, from where it crossed to Scotland with the establishment of Dal Riada - and ultimately being why the Scottii were called such.

 

[Bob Crowley]

Irish monks did a lot to spread Christianity in Europe during the Middle Ages.

The Coming of Christianity: 400AD - 800AD

This was a time when in the rest of Europe there was a certain lack of intellectual activity as the fall of the Roman Empire took its toll. Irish monks travelled Europe spreading their knowledge and keeping alive many European centres of learning. This dual approach, austerity on the one hand and scholarship on the other, to the practice of Christianity led to Ireland developing a reputation as the Island of Saints and Scholars.

They also took their Catholic Church traditions with them to Australia and the USA when the Irish were being persecuted by the English, and many migrated overseas.

 

[mindlight]

Greece is a country I believed was used to carry God's will, I don't know a whole lot about Church history, but I think Greece has been the most influential. Along with England as well.

In the early church the Greek part of the Roman empire was central and indeed dominated Christendom for much of its first thousand years which included the forming of the canon and the creeds.

Something special has been going on in Britain for 1500 years now, at least until recently, and missionaries from there have been converting countries like Germany, large swathes of Africa , Oceania, north America and even parts of Asia. Sometimes this has been through empire and sometimes not. Britain has seen 3 major empire phases rise and fall in that time period.

The Spanish and Portugese empires were the effective agents of the spread of Christianity to the whole of Central and South America.

The Russians conquered many pagan and Muslim countries and converted them deep into Asia.

France was great under Charlemagne and just past the crusades but it lost it completely with the French revolution. Its secularism does not work from a Christian point of view and North Africa is a perfect example of that.

So my favourite Christian countries historically would be Greece, Britain, Russia and Spain.

 

[mathinspiration]

Spain and Portugal.

 

[JackRT]

Egypt sent missionaries as well (to Ethiopia, for example), but here's an Egyptian footprint: a carved stone cross in Ireland, showing at the top a raven bringing bread to the Egyptian hermit saints Paul and Anthony in the desert:

Yes, Egyptian monks were in Ireland before St Patrick.