The story of the expansion of Eastern Christianity is a long one indeed The faith probably was spread mainly by countless ordinary Christians living in pagan lands. Established missionaries did expand Christianity, however, and one of the earliest recorded stories occurred in the last days of the Roman Empire when Emperor Constantius sent missionaries to the Germanic tribes outside the empire's borders. The most important of these missionaries was Ulfilas (ca. 3 1 1 — 383 ). Ulfilas's grandparents were taken prisoner by the Goths on one of their campaigns in Cappadocia His mother, who was probably a Christian, married a Goth. Ulfilas was baptized as an infant He later was forced by persecution to move into areas protected by the empire He became a monk and eventually was sent by the emperor as a missionary to the Goths
Ulfilas translated a Greek Bible into the Gothic language, and in so doing he invented a Gothic alphabet. He also translated liturgy into the Gothic language. His work allowed missionaries to communicate and worship in the language of the people, and by the time the Goths invaded the Roman Empire many of them were converted to the faith.
Constantius was Arian. The form of Christianity that spread among the Germans also was Arian, which allowed it to survive and compete with the Nicene faith for a long time after the Germanic invasions. 4 Arian Christianity survived among the Germanic groups for several centuries It was an alternative to the Nicene faith that was now orthodox
Even with these beginnings, the greatest success of Eastern Christianity was not among the Germans but was among the Slavs of Eastern Europe and Russia. The most important missionaries to these groups were two brothers, Cyril ( 826 - 869 ) and Methodius (ca. 815 - 885 ). In 863 , Rostilav, the ruler of Moravia (roughly the former Czechoslovakia), requested missionaries to preach and conduct worship services in his peoples' language The patriarch of Constantinople sent Cyril and Methodius The two brothers developed the first usable Slavic (Cyrillic) alphabet and translated the Bible and other liturgical books into Slavonic.
In Moravia the mission met with some success, but the Eastern Christians soon clashed with German Latin Christians also working there One area of conflict was what language to use in worship The Germans conducted services in Latin while the Greeks used the language of the people As conditions worsened, Cyril and Methodius went to Rome to place their mission under the protection of the pope. The pope did grant recognition for the mission, though the permission was later withdrawn
Cyril died in Rome, but Methodius returned to his work Upon arrival in Moravia, he was again persecuted by the Germans He was imprisoned and eventually died and his followers were driven from Moravia The country ended up firmly in the camp of the Latins The followers of Methodius and Cyril were driven into Bulgaria, where Eastern Orthodoxy took over Because of Methodius's followers, Eastern Christianity gained a firm hold in Serbia Eventually it would dominate Latin influence. Another country in the region, Romania, was originally Latin but was heavily influenced by the Eastern churches on its borders. Its present-day religion identifies with Eastern Christianity, but to some extent it is a blend of Greek and Latin characteristics
By far the greatest conquest of Eastern Christianity was Russia. Conversion from paganism to Eastern Christianity began in the late tenth century and was completed in the late Middle Ages Russia is discussed in greater detail in Chapter 7.