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The Orthodox Church has a rich and vibrant missionary tradition. Beginning with the Apostles, the Church sent out missionaries to spread the Christian faith to all peoples. The Church at [[Antioch]] sent the [[Apostle Paul]] and [[Apostle Barnabas]] on their first missionary journey to Asia Minor and Greece. The Apostle Paul completed three such journeys, each time extending further out and founding new churches. In addition to the missionary work of the Apostles (and later of bishops, priests, and monks), [[evangelization]] took place in a variety of other ways (through trade relations, personal friendships, charity, the inspirational witness of Christians as a role model community, etc.). In other words, laypeople played a highly significant role at the local level of [[evangelization]].
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The Orthodox Church has a rich and vibrant [[missionary]] tradition. Beginning with the Apostles, the Church sent out missionaries to spread the Christian faith to all peoples. The Church at [[Antioch]] sent the [[Apostle Paul]] and [[Apostle Barnabas]] on their first missionary journey to Asia Minor and Greece. The Apostle Paul completed three such journeys, each time extending further out and founding new churches. In addition to the missionary work of the Apostles (and later of bishops, priests, and monks), [[evangelization]] took place in a variety of other ways (through trade relations, personal friendships, charity, the inspirational witness of Christians as a role model community, etc.). In other words, laypeople played a highly significant role at the local level of [[evangelization]].
==Early Church==
Christian communities arose in major urban centers first, before spreading to rural areas through monasticism from 270 onward (first in Egypt and Syria, then elsewhere). The faith spread rapidly, helped by a number of external factors. First, Roman infrastructure greatly aided the speed of travel. Second, the conquests of Alexander the Great and his Hellenization campaign had made the Greek tongue a universal language throughout the Roman Empire, extending even into the Far East. Third, due to the Jewish Diaspora, there were synagogues strewn far and wide throughout the Mediterranean basin and penetrating into Asia and Africa. These pious monotheistic communities provided inroads for the [[Gospel]] to be preached, rendering many compatible contexts for the new faith to be embraced.
