DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14563#0347
CHAPTER
XXXVIII.
eaklt christianity in egypt — persecutions and
triumphs-destruction op idolatry.
Egypt was once a Christian country. Not that its
inhabitants were ever thoroughly christianized; but in the
reign of Constantine the Great, the Christian religion was
established in Egypt, as it was throughout the Roman Em-
pire, and it continued to be' the established religion of the
country when, after the division of the Roman Empire,
Egypt remained an appendage of the eastern or lower
empire, under Theodosius and his successors, until the Arab
invasion in the beginning of the seventh century.
The Gospel was introduced into Egypt in the time of the
apostles. Among the multitude who witnessed the miracu-
lous manifestation of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost,
and who heard in their native tongues the wonderful works
of God, were " dwellers in Egypt," who had come up from
Alexandria and other parts of Egypt, to the great yearly
festival at Jerusalem. The city of Alexandria, at that time
the great depot of the commerce of Arabia, of Ethiopia, and
of the Indies, and inferior only to the Roman capital — was
a favorite residence of the Jews, who had already become
the brokers, or the money-changers, of the commercial world.
At the commencement of the Christian era there were
residing in Alexandria a hundred thousand Jews, or one third
of the free population of the city, and one sixth of the whole
population. So late as the seventh century, when Ainer took
XXXVIII.
eaklt christianity in egypt — persecutions and
triumphs-destruction op idolatry.
Egypt was once a Christian country. Not that its
inhabitants were ever thoroughly christianized; but in the
reign of Constantine the Great, the Christian religion was
established in Egypt, as it was throughout the Roman Em-
pire, and it continued to be' the established religion of the
country when, after the division of the Roman Empire,
Egypt remained an appendage of the eastern or lower
empire, under Theodosius and his successors, until the Arab
invasion in the beginning of the seventh century.
The Gospel was introduced into Egypt in the time of the
apostles. Among the multitude who witnessed the miracu-
lous manifestation of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost,
and who heard in their native tongues the wonderful works
of God, were " dwellers in Egypt," who had come up from
Alexandria and other parts of Egypt, to the great yearly
festival at Jerusalem. The city of Alexandria, at that time
the great depot of the commerce of Arabia, of Ethiopia, and
of the Indies, and inferior only to the Roman capital — was
a favorite residence of the Jews, who had already become
the brokers, or the money-changers, of the commercial world.
At the commencement of the Christian era there were
residing in Alexandria a hundred thousand Jews, or one third
of the free population of the city, and one sixth of the whole
population. So late as the seventh century, when Ainer took