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When the Romanians formed as a people, it is quite clear that they already had the Christian faith, as proved by tradition, as well as by some interesting archeological and linguistic evidence. Basic terms of Christianity are of Latin origin: such as ''church'' (''biserică'' from ''basilica''), ''God'' (''Dumnezeu'' from ''Domine Deus''), ''Pascha'' (''Paşti'' from ''Paschae''), ''Pagan'' (''Păgân'' from ''Paganus''), ''Angel'' (''Înger'' from ''Angelus''). Some of them (especially ''Biserica'') are unique to Orthodoxy as it is found in Romania.
Very few traces can be found in the Romanian names that are left from the Roman Christianity after the Slavic influence began. All the names of the saints were preserved in Latin form(the following are archaic versions of the words; ie. Sampietru is formally reffered to as Sfantul Petru [St. Peter], which is more common): ''Sântămăria'' (the [[Theotokos]]), ''Sâmpietru'' ([[Apostle Peter]]), ''Sângiordz'' (St. [[George]]) and ''Sânmedru'' (St. [[Demetrius]]). The non-religious onomastic proof of pre-Christian habits, like ''Sânziana'' and ''Cosânzeana'' (from ''Sancta Diana'' and ''Qua Sancta Diana'') is only of anecdotal value in this context. Yet, the highly spiritualized places in the mountains, the processions, the calendars, and even the physical locations of the early churches were clearly the same as those of the Dacians. Even the Apostle Andrew is known locally as the Apostle "of the wolves"—with very old and large connotations, whereby the wolf's head was an ethnicon and a symbol of military and spiritual "fire" for Dacians.
===Christianity in Scythia Minor===
