Asia
ASIA
oOne of the great divisions of the eastern continent, lying east of Europe. The Asia spoken of in the Bible is Asia Minor, a peninsula which lies between the Euxine or Black sea and the eastern part of the Mediterranean, and which formerly included the provinces of Phrygia, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Caria, Lycia, Lydia, Mysia, Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, Galatia, Lycaonia, and Pisidia. On the western coast were anciently the countries of Eolia, Ionia, and Doris, the names of which were afterwards retained, although the countries were included in the provinces of Mysia, Lydia, and Caria. Many Jews were scattered over these regions, as appears from the history in Acts, and from Josephus, the writers of the New Testament comprehend, under the name of Asia, either (1) the whole of Asia Minor, Mal 19:26,27 ; 20:4,16,18; or (2) only proconsular Asia, that is, the region of Ionia, of which Ephesus was the capital, and which Strabo also calls Asia, Mal 2:9 ; 6:9; 16:6; 19:10,22. Cicero speaks of proconsular Asia as containing the provinces of Phrygia, Mysia, Caria, and Lydia.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Asia
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Asia had a great variety of meanings in ancient writers. It might denote (1) the western coast-land of Asia Minor; (2) the kingdom of Troy (poetical); (3) the kingdom of the early Seleucids, i.e. Asia Minor and Syria (frequent in 1 and 2 Mac.); (4) the kingdom of Pergamum (Livy); (5) the Roman province Asia; (6) the Asiatic continent (Pliny). In Strabos time-the beginning of the 1st Cent. a.d.-the province was (Geog. p. 118), and in the NT (where the name is found 22 times-15 times in Acts , 4 times in the Pauline Epistles, once in 1 Peter, twice in Rev.) Asia almost invariably denotes proconsular Asia. St. Paul the Roman citizen naturally assumed the Imperial standpoint, and made use of Roman political designations, while the Hellenic Luke, though he frequently employed geographical terms in their popular non-Roman sense, was probably to some extent influenced by St. Pauls practice of using the technical phraseology of the Empire.
The province of Asia was founded after the death of Attalus III. of Pergamum (133 b.c.), who bequeathed his kingdom by will to the Roman Republic. The province was much smaller than the kingdom had been, until, on the death of Mithridates (120 b.c.), Phrygia Major was added to it. Cicero indicates its extent in the words: Namque, ut opinor, Asia vestra constat ex Phrygia, Caria, Mysia, Lydia (Flac. 27); but the Troad and the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Patmos, and Cos should be added. Pergamum, so long a royal city, naturally became the capital of the province, and officially retained this position till the beginning of the 2nd cent. a.d.; but long before that time Ephesus (q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] ) was recognized as the real administrative centre. When the provinces were arranged by Augustus in 27 b.c., Asia was given to the Senate; it was therefore governed by proconsuls (, Act 19:38). Its beauty, wealth, and culture made it the most desirable of all provinces.
The only passage in which St. Luke certainly uses Asia in the popular Greek sense is Act 2:9, where he names Asia and Phrygia together as distinct countries, whereas in Roman provincial language the greater part of Phrygia belonged to Asia. In such an expression as the places on the coast of Asia (Act 27:2) the sense is doubtful; but it is probable that, where the historian refers to Jews of Asia (Act 6:9; Act 21:27; Act 24:18), to all the dwellers in Asia (Act 19:10; cf. Act 19:26 f.), and to St. Pauls sojourn in Asia (Act 19:32; Act 20:16; Act 20:18), he has the province in view. St. Paul almost certainly uses the word in its Roman sense when he speaks of the firstfruits of Asia (Rom 16:5 Revised Version ), the churches of Asia (1Co 16:19), afflictions in Asia (2Co 1:8), apostates in Asia (2Ti 1:15).
Though the Roman meaning of Asia is generally assumed by adherents of the S. Galatian theory, it is not incompatible with the other view. Thus Lightfoot, an advocate of the N. Galatian theory, holds that, while St. Luke usually gives geographical terms their popular significance, the case of Asia is an exception. The foundation of this province dating very far back, its official name had to a great extent superseded the local designations of the districts which it comprised. Hence Asia in the NT is always Proconsular Asia (Gal.5 1876, p. 19, n. [Note: . note.] 6). Only those who find the Phrygian and Galatic region (Act 16:6) in the north of Pisidian Antioch are obliged (like Conybeare-Howson, i. 324) to assume that Asia is simply viewed as the western portion of Asia Minor, for the Paroreios belonged to proconsular Asia, in which preaching was expressly forbidden (Act 16:6). See Phrygia and Galatia.
1Pe 1:1 is a clear instance of the use of geographical terms in the Roman administrative sense. The four provinces named-Bithynia and Pontus, though here separated, being really one-sum up the whole of Asia Minor north of Taurus. The Seven Churches of Revelation were all in proconsular Asia (Rev 1:4; Rev 1:11), and it is possible that the so-called Epistle to the Ephesians was an encycla to a group of churches in that province.
For the Asiarchs (Revised Version margin) of Act 19:31, see following article.
Literature.-F. J. A. Hort, The First Epistle of St. Peter, London, 1898, p. 157f.; A. C. McGiffert, Apostolic Age, Edinburgh, 1897, p. 273f.; W. M. Ramsay, Church in Roman Empire, London, 1893, and St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, do. 1895, passim.
James Strahan.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Asia
In the present article it is intended to give a rapid survey of the geography, ethnography, political and religious history of Asia, and especially of the rise, progress, and actual condition of Asiatic Christianity and Catholicism. For further information concerning the religious conditions of the various Asiatic countries, the reader is referred to the special articles on the subject in this Encyclopedia.
Asia is the largest of the continents, having a geographic area of about 17,000,000 square miles, or about one-third of the whole of the dry land. It is also the oldest known portion of the globe, the earliest known seat of civilization, and, in all probability, the cradle of the human race, although scholars differ as to whether the primitive home of mankind should be located in South-western Asia, and more particularly in the Tigris-Euphrates valley, as the Biblical tradition of Genesis seems to indicate, or rather in Central Asia, and more particularly in the Indo-Iranian plateau. On the north, Asia is bounded by the Arctic Ocean; on the east, by the Pacific Ocean; on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the West by Europe, the Black Sea, the Greek Archipelago, the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea. It is united with Africa by the desert Isthmus of Suez, and with Europe by the Caucasus Mountains and the long Ural range.
The physical features of Asia, owing to its immense geographical area, are of great diversity. There we meet the most extensive lowlands, the most extensive table-lands, and at the same time with the highest chains of mountains, and the most elevated summits in the world. About two-thirds of its area is table-lands, and the other third mountainous regions, some of which are covered with perpetual snow. The lowland sections may be divided into six distinct regions, namely: (1) The Siberian lowland, which is by far the largest, and for the most part gloomy and barren; (2) the Bucharistan lowland, situated between the Caspian Sea and Lake Aral, a wide sterile waste; (3) the Syro-Arabian lowland, partly sterile and partly extremely productive and fertile; (4) the Hindustan lowland, of about 500,000 square miles, comprising the great valley of the Ganges, and very fertile; (5) the Indo-Chinese lowlands, including the regions of Cambodia and Siam; and (6) the Chinese lowland, extending from Peking as far as the Tropic of Cancer, with about 220,000 square miles, and extremely fertile. Asia is poor in lakes but very rich in rivers, the most famous of which are the Tigris and the Euphrates, the Indu with its many tributaries, the Brahmaputra, the Ganges, the Irrawaddy, the Sal-win, the Me-nam, the Me-kong, the Hong-kiang, the Yang-tze-kiang, , the Hwang-ho, or Yellow River, the Amur, and the many river-systems of Siberia. On account of its vast extent and diversity of climate, the mineral, vegetable, and animal products of Asia are naturally varied, rich, and almost unlimited.
Geographically, Asia may be divided into four great regions: (1) Northern Asia, or Asiatic Russia, which includes Siberia, Caucasia, and the Aral-Caspian Basin, i. e., Russian Turkostan, the Turkoman country, Kiva, Bokhara, and the region of the upper Oxus; (2) Eastern Asia, comprising China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan; (3) Southern Asia, comprising India, Indo-China, and Siam; (4) South-western Asia, comprising the famous historic lands of Persia, Media, Babylonia, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, and Arabia.
Politically, Asia is divided as follows: (1) Russian Empire, including Siberia and as far west as the borders of Turkey, Persia, and Turkistan, and as far south as the Chinese Empire; (2) Chinese Empire, including Mongolia, Manchuria, and Tibet; (3) Japanese Empire; (4) India proper, or British Empire; (5) Siam; (6) Indo-China under French dominion; (7) Afghanistan; (8) Persia; and (9) Asiatic Turkey, which comprises all Irak and Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, Armenia, Asia Minor, Syria and Arabia. The entire population of Asia (according to the statistics of 1900) is estimated at about 800,000,000, or more than half the entire population of the earth, and divided as follows: Asiatic Russia, 24,947,500; China, 330,829,900; Korea, 9,670,000; Japan, 46,494,000; Indo-China, 15,590,000; Siam, 6,320,000; India, 302,831,700; Afghanistan, 4,550,000; Persia, 9,000,000; Asiatic Turkey, including Arabia, 19,126,500.
Ethnographically, the population of Asia may be reduced to three great groups, or races, viz: (1) the Mongolian, or Turania, to which belong all the inhabitants of the whole Northern Asia, and as far south as the plains bordering the Caspian Sea, including China, Tibet, the Indo-Malayan peninsula, Japan, Korea, and the Archipelago, making by far the largest part of the population of Asia. The Mongolian race is characterized by its yellow skin, black eyes and hair, flat nose, oblique eyes , short stature with little hair on the body and face. (2) The Aryan, or Indo-Iranian group, to which the great majority of European peoples belong. It extends over the whole of Southern and part of Western Asia, embracing the Hindus, the Iranians, the Medo-Persians, the Armenians, the Caucasians, and the inhabitants of Asia Minor. (3) The Semitic, which extends over the whole of South-western Asia, and comprises the Arabs, the Assyro-Babylonians or Mesopotamians, the Syrians, the Jews, and the entire Mohammedan population of Asiatic Turkey.
The numerous languages spoken in Asia may be roughly classified as follows: (1) The Turanian branch, to which belong the Mongolian, the Manchu, the Chinese, the Japanese, the old Turkish, and Tatar. (2) The Aryan or Indo-Iranian, to which belong most of the hundred and twenty languages and dialects of India, especially the old Sanskrit, the Iranian, or old Persian, which is the language of the Avesta, and of the old Archemænian inscriptions, the Armenian, the Georgian, and a considerable part of modern Persian. (3) The Semitic group, to which belong the ancient languages of the Assyrians and Babylonians, the various, but mostly extinct, old Chanaanitish dialects, the Hebrew, the Phoenician, the numerous eastern and western Aramaic dialects, known as Syriac, and represented nowadays by the modern Chaldean and neo-Syrian dialects used by the Nestorians of Kurdistan, Persia, and Mesopotamia, and finally Arabic, which in various forms and dialects is spoken throughout Arabia and by the great majority of the Mohammedan populations of Hindustan, Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syria, as well as by most of the Christians of the two last-mentioned countries.
HISTORY OF ASIA
At what period man first made his appearance in Asia we do not know, although there have been various and conflicting theories as to when that even took place. The general opinion now entertained by scholars is that somewhere from the fifth and seventh millennium B. C., Asia was chiefly peopled by two great races, viz., the Semitic and the Mongolian or Turanian. The former occupied the south-west portion of Asia, that is to say, the lands lying on the south-east corner of the Mediterranean and contiguous to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, including Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, Arabia, and the extensive regions watered by the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris, afterwards composing the two mighty empires of Babylonia and Assyria; the latter occupied the regions of Northern and Eastern Asia, stretching inward from the coast of the Pacific Ocean, and including Japan, China, and the districts to the west and south contiguous to China. At about the same period some of the Turanian tribes of Northern and Central Asia pressed their way to the west, invaded Persia, and pushed as far south-west as the Persian Gulf and Babylonia, where they soon overcame the native Semites, subjugating them to their rule and power, and forcing upon them their own Turanian religion and civilization. The existence and supremacy of this Turanian element in the southern part of the Tigris-Euphrates valley is historically attested by the old Babylonian inscriptions, by their system of writing, language, civilization, and governing dynasties. Scholars have given the name Turanians, or Akkadians, or better Sumerians, to this foreign invading element, and they are all agreed that their power and authority remained uncontested for about a thousand years, i. e., till about the beginning of the third millennium B. C., when the native Semitic Babylonians, aided perhaps by numerous Semitic immigrants from Arabia and Chanaan into Babylonia, overthrew the Sumerian power, uniting North and South Babylonia into several Semitic confederations, and, later on, into one united Semitic Babylon.
At the same time various Semitic nationalities began to develop in Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Chanaan. Toward the second half of the first millennium B. C., Assyrian power made its first appearance, and successfully contested with Babylonia the supremacy over Western Asia. Toward 1200 B. C. the Israelitish tribe invaded and settled in Chanaan. In 605 B. C., Ninive, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, fell by the hands of Nabupalassar, of Babylonia, and Cyaxares, of Media; and with its fall the powerful Assyrian Empire came to an end. Less than a century later Babylon itself was captured by Cyrus (538 B. C.) and the whole of Western Asia passed under the Medo-Persian power of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius, till the time of the triumph of the Macedonian army under Alexander the Great (330 B. C.). After the Selucidæ, Western Asia passed into the power of the Parthian, Arsacid, and Sassanian dynasties of Persia, and remained so until the advent and the seeping triumph of the Mohammedan armies in the seventh century of the Christian era. While the Sassanian kings held their power and authority over the whole region east of the Euphrates, the Romans had absolute power over Syria, parts of northern Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor. Arabia, on the other hand, had successfully resisted permanent foreign encroachments, and the numerous tribes of that peninsula continued to be governed by their own sheikhs, princes, and kings. The Southern Arabia kingdoms, those of Yemen, Himyar, Saba, and Ma’an, were in continuous struggle against one another and especially against the Abyssinians of Ethiopia. Towards the middle of the seventh century of the Christian era, the Mohammedan armies, having united the numerous Arab tribes into one Mohammedan Arabia, crossed into Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Persia. In less than fifty years the whole of Western Asia was completely reduced by the Moslem armies, and remained so until about the middle of the thirteenth or the opening of the fourteenth century, when Tatar and Mongolian armies of the terrible Ghengis Khan, Temur Lang, and their successors swept over all Western Asia, overthrowing the Abbasic dynasty in Irak, and that of the Seljuks in Asia Minor. Soon after, Western Asia passed into the power of the Ottoman Turks who have succeeded in maintaining their authority intact over the same regions till our own day.
The Mongolian tribes of Northern Asia seem to have grown as early as the second millennium B. C. into various kingdoms and nationalities, such as the Chinese, the Japanese, the Tatars, with their distinct kingdoms and dynasties. The history and the development of these north and east Asiatic kingdoms are, comparatively speaking, of little importance for the international history of civilized Asia, inasmuch as their power and influence did not materially or permanently affect the development and the destinies of the near East. Even the Tatar and Turcoman hordes, who for the last six centuries have held under their sway the destinies of Western Asia, soon adopted the Mohammedan religion and civilization.
Unlike their European brethren, the Aryan tribes of Southern Asia and Iran did not play a very important part in the pages of history. With the exception of the conquest of Babylonia by the Iranian conqueror Cyrus and the supremacy of Sassanian dynasties over the east half of Western Asia the Indo-Iranian tribes of South and west-Central Asia developed no particularly remarkable kingdoms or power. The earliest event of Hindu historical chronology does not date farther back than 1400 B. C., and possibly later. It is the war of Mahabharat, the story of which is contained in a poem written about 500 B. C., that forms a part of the epic literature of ancient India. The accounts of antecedent periods are manifestly mythical, and merely indicate the probability of the gradual process of conquering Brahmanic races from west to east. From that time down to the beginning of the nineteenth century, India was governed by various native and Mogul dynasties; and toward the beginning of the last century it passed into the power of England.
RELIGIONS OF ASIA
The principal religions of Asia are: Brahmanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Zorastrianism, Mohammedanism, Judaism and Christianity.
Brahmanism is the oldest known and prevailing religious system of India, counting 210,000,000 Hindu adherents. Buddhism (from Buddha, the “wise”, the “enlightened”), owes its origin to Gautama, otherwise called Sakya Muni (i. e. the Sakya sage), who flourished toward the middle of the sixth century B. C. It is by far the widest-spread religion in Asia, counting more than 400,000,000 adherents, 300,000,000 of whom are in China, where it is the chief of the three recognized religions. Its other followers are found in Siberia, Korea, Japan, and India (Ceylon and Burma). Reformed Buddhism is a recent development in China and Japan, and it plainly shows the influence of Christianity. Confucianism is one of the three chief religions of China, the other two being Buddhism and Taoism. Confucianism is a system of philosophy rather than religion. It is the official religion of the State, and the basis of the social and political life of the Chinese nation. Taoism is the third recognized religion of China. It takes its name from that of its founder, Lauo-tsze, or Lâo-tse, which lived in the sixth century before the Christian Era. Taoism as a religious system has degenerated from its high original mysticism into a system of superstitious observances, and so forms the accepted religion of the lowest and most ignorant class of Chinese, counting about 100,000,000 adherents. It also has many followers in Cochin-China and Japan. Zoroastrianism is the religion of the ancient Iranians and Persians. Its founder was Zoroaster, the great prophet of Iran, who flourished toward the sixth century B. C. Once a very powerful religion, Zoroastrianism has almost vanished before Islamism, counting nowadays only a few thousand followers in Persia and India.
Mohammedism in Asia
Mohammedanism, or Islamism, is one of the three great Semitic religions, the other two being Judaism and Christianity. No accurate statistics have as yet been taken of the Mohammedan population of the world. The latest approved estimate, however, places the number at a little over two hundred millions. Of these, sixty million are in Africa, and most of the rest in Asia as follows: 18,000,000 in Asiatic Turkey; 30,000,000 in China; 60,000,000 in India and Burmah; 31,000,000 in the Malay Archipelago; and the rest in Persia, Afghanistan, Caucasia, and Russian Turkistan. In the Mindanao kingdom and in the Sulu group of the Philippine Islands there are about 360,000 and 250,000 Mohammedans, respectively. The relations of Mohammedanism to Oriental Churches and Christianity are discussed in the article MOHAMMEDANISM, and in the articles on the various Oriental Churches. (See also ARABIA.)
Judaism in Asia
Towards the twelfth century before the Christian Era, we find the Hebrews permanently settled in Palestine. The earliest known Hebrew migrations from Palestine occurred during the reign of Sargon, King of Assyria (722-705 B. C.), who having in 722 captured Sumeria, the capital of the northern Israelitish kingdom, transported 27,000 Samaritan Hebrews to Syria and the frontiers of Media. A century and a half later, Nabuchodonosor, King of Babylon (605-562 B. C.) carried off from Jerusalem into Babylonia some twenty thousand Jews. Soon after his capture of Babylon, Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Palestine. The poorest class returned, but the most prosperous families remained in the land of their exile, where they soon rose to great social and financial prosperity. Towards 350 B. C. Artaxerxes Ochus deported to Hyrcania a group of Jews that had revolted. Upon the triumph of the Macedonian army, and under the successors of Alexander the Great, great numbers of Jews migrated into Egypt. After the overthrow of the last Jewish kingdom, and following the fall of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the temple at the hands of the Romans, Judaism at large passed beyond the limits of its ancient centres, and began to spread over Egypt, North Africa, and Western Asia. During the first five centuries of the Christian era, we find numerous Jewish colonies scattered all over Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Assyria, Babylonia, Media, and as far as South Arabia. In the last-mentioned country they obtained political supremacy for a while, under the Himyarire King Dhú-Nuw´s. In Southern Babylonia, especially during the Sassanian dynasty of Persia, they acquired great ascendancy, with very flourishing religious and educational centres, such as the famous academies of Sura, Nehardea, Pumbadita, and Mahuza, whence sprang the Babylonian Talmud.
With the advent of Islam, however, and the rapid conquest of the Mohammedan armies, Judaism suffered greatly in Arabia, and in all the newly conquered provinces. Its followers were almost always harshly and severely dealt with by the Moslems, although under the reign of several Abbasid caliphs they were kindly treated. The Byzantine emperors, on the one hand, were anything but friendly to them; and its noteworthy that, although in the first three centuries of Christianity the Jews were the first to become Christian proselytes, nevertheless the two religions developed afterwards the most lamentable antagonism which lasted for a great many centuries. Notwithstanding the many persecutions to which they had to submit, the Jews have persevered their racial and religious unity in various countries in Asia, where they are divided as follows: 65,000 in Asia Minor; 90,000 in Syria and Palestine; 70,000 in Mesopotamia and Irak; 60,000 in Arabia; 58,000 in the Caucasus; 35,000 in Siberia; 8,000 in Ferghana; 9,000 in Bokhara; 2,000 in Khiva; 3,000 in Aden; 15,000 in British India; 2,000 in Afghanistan; 25,000 in Persia; 1,000 in China, and 500 in various other countries, making a total of about 450,000, or less than half a million.
Christianity in Asia
Asia is the cradle and the primitive home of Christianity; for it was in its extreme south-western borders, i. e., in Palestine, the home of the Chosen People, that the Founder of Christianity chose to appear, to live, and to preach the New Dispensation. Soon after Jesus’ death, his Apostles and Disciples actively began the evangelization of the world, and tradition tells us that the Apostles went to different localities; some to Palestine, others to Asia Minor, some to Greece and Rome, others to Mesopotamia, Armenia, Babylonia, Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and even as far as India. Palestine and Syria, however, were naturally the first recipients of the new religion, and here, the Jewish communities furnished the first nucleus of Christian proselytes. From Syria, Christian propaganda spread into Phoenicia and Asia Minor, and through the effective preaching of St. Paul, it penetrated into the principal cities of the Mediterranean coast and Asia Minor, crossing the borders of Asia and reaching into the very heart of the Roman Empire. From the Acts of the Apostles it can be conclusively shown that as early as the second half of the first century of the Christian Era, Christian communities existed in the following Asiatic cities: Jerusalem (Acts, passim), Damascus (Acts 9), Samaria and the Samaritan villages (Acts 8), Lydda (ix), Joppe (ib.), Cæsarea in Palestine (Acts 10), Antioch in Syria (xi), Tyre (xxi), Sidon (xxvii), Tarsus (ix, xi, xv), Salamina in Cyprus (xiii), Perge in Pamphilia (xiii, xiv), Iconium (xiii, xiv), Lystra (xiv), Derbe (xiv), several unnamed localities in Galacia (Galatians 1, 1 Peter 1), in Cappadocia (1 Peter 1), Ephesus (Acts and Paul’s Epistles), Laodicea (Paul’s Epp.), Hierapolis in Phygia (Paul’s Epp.), Smyrna (Apoc.), Sardis (ib.), Philadelphia in Lydia (ib.), Thyatira in Lydia (ib.), and very probably also in Ashdod in Philistia, Seleucia, Attalia in Pamphilia, Amphipolis, Apolonia, Assus, Malta, and other islands of the Mediterranean. From Syria and Asia Minor the activity of the early Christian missionaries spread north, south, east, and west through Edessa, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Assyria, Babylonian, Media, Persia, Arabia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Africa, Greece, Italy, , and the West. As regards Asia, we have historical evidence that towards the middle of the second century, Christian communities were established also in Edessa, various cities of Mesopotamia, along the Tigris and the Euphrates, Melitene, Magnesia, Tralles in Caria, Philomelium in Pisidia, Parium in Mysia, Nicomedia, Otris, Hierapolis, Pepuza, Tymion, Ardaban, Apamea, Cumane, and Eumanea in Phrygia, Ancyra in Galatia, Sinope, Amastris in Pontus, Debeltum in Thrace, Larissa in Thessalia, Myra in Lycia, etc. (See Harnack, Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, II, 240, sqq.). From the signatures of the various Asiatic bishops who assisted at the Council of Nicea (325) we have conclusive evidence that towards the year 300, and in fact considerably earlier, there existed in the following Asiatic provinces and cities not only Christian communities, but also well organized churches, diocese, and ecclesiastical centres: Jerusalem, Cæsarea, Samaria-Sebaste, Lydda-Diospolis, Joppe, Saron, Emmaus-Nicopolis, Sichem-Neapolis, Scythopolis, Jamnia, Azotus, Ascalon, Gaza, Gadara, Capitolias, Bethlehem, Anea, Anim and Jattir, Bethabara, Sycar-Asker, Batanea, Pheno, and many other episcopal sees in Asia Minor, Cyprus, Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Edessa, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, etc. In the last three mentioned regions, in fact, we have positive traces of fully organized dioceses and churches as early as the first half of the third century, with many illustrious saints and martyrs.
In the fourth, fifth, and sixth, and the beginning of the seventh century, until the rise of Islam, Christianity became the dominant and generally accepted religion of Western Asia, with the exception of Arabia. The Christian Church, however, was subject politically to two mighty rival powers, the Roman and the Persian. To the first of these, the whole of Palestine, Syria, North-west Arabia, west-Euphratean Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor were subject; while to the latter belonged east-Euphratean Mesopotamia, North-east Arabia, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Media. The endless rivalries and wars of these two powers proved indeed fatal to the progress of Christianity and to the permanent unity of the two great Christian Churches, the Roman and the Persian. These obstacles notwithstanding, the Christian Church of Persia, from its very beginning down to the middle of the fifth century, was dependent on the Patriarch of Antioch and consequently in communion with Rome, although it had its own metropolitan, the great Catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in Babylonia. But the Nestorian and Monophysite heresies of the fifth centuries broke this union asunder. Nestorianism, unable to gain any permanent footing in Syria, Asia Minor, and the West, found a strong ally and defender in the Sassanian kings of Persia and in the Mesopotamia Church, which, towards the end of the fifth century, had already completely estranged itself from Antioch and Rome, and had become an independent national church, having as its ecclesiastical head the great Catholicos of the East, i. e., of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. In the meanwhile, Monophysitism began to rage in Syria, Armenia, Arabia, and Mesopotamia alike, forming thus another independent heretical Church. Soon after, the Nestorian and Monophysite churches of Western Asia prospered and developed to such an extent as to complete in greatness and influence with most Christian churches, the Roman excepted.
With the advent is Islam, however, and the rapid conquest of the Mohammedan armies (seventh century), Christianity in Arabia, Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, Syria, and Asia Minor suffered most severely. Soon after the death of Mohammed, all these provinces fell, one after the other, into the hands of the Moslems, who threatened, for a while, the entire extinction of Christianity in Western Asia. Thanks however, to the tolerant attitude of the majority of the Umayyad, and the Abbasid caliphs of Damascus and Bagdad respectively, Christianity in the Mohammedan empire rose gradually to a new and unprecedented life and vigour, and in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries the Nestorian and Monophysite churches, but especially the first, reached their highest degree of prosperity. Nestorian and Jacobite theologians, philosophers, and men of letters soon became the teachers of the conquering Arabs, and the pioneers of Islamo-Arabic science, civilization, and learning. Nestorian physicians became the attending physicians of the court, and the Nestorian patriarch and his numerous bishops were regarded in Asia as second to none in power and authority. From Western Asia, Nestorianism spread into India, Ceylon, Socotra, and the Malabar Coast, China, Mongolia and Tatary, where it soon became extremely influential and possessed numerous churches and well-organized bishoprics. So that as early as the ninth and tenth centuries, the jurisdiction of the Nestorian Catholicos of Seleucia extended over Central, Southern, west-Central and South-western Asia, as far as Syria, Arabia, Cyprus, and Egypt, and had more than two hundred subordinate bishops and metropolitans. In the meanwhile, the Monophysite church held sway in Syria, Egypt, north Mesopotamia, and Armenia, where it developed strength, if not equal, certainly not very inferior, to that of the Nestorian.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Tatar invasions and devastations in Central and Western Asia put an end to Arabic domination, dealing, at the same time, a deadly blow to both the Nestorian and the Jacobite Churches, and causing havoc and consternation among Asiatic Christians in general. Hundreds and thousands of these Christians were massacred, their churches and monasteries ruined, and a great number of the wavering compelled to renounce their faith and embrace Mohammedanism. The weakened condition of both the Nestorian and Jacobite Churches paved the way to their return to the Catholic Faith, and many of their patriarchs and bishops, thanks to the incessant and salutary work of early Catholic missionaries, asked to be once more united with Rome as of old. The stream of conversions became more pronounced and rapid during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and has continued so till our own day. Franciscan, Dominican, Carmelite, and Jesuit missions were established all over Asia with the result that a large number of Nestorians and Monophysites have long since renounced their heretical creeds and embraced Catholicism. The same gratifying movement took place in the schismatic Greek Church of Syria and Asia Minor, as well as in the Monophysite Church of Armenia.
Actual Condition of the Christian Church
The history of Catholicism in Asia is intimately connected with the rise and progress of the Asiatic missions. The merit of first having disclosed to the West, and to Rome in particular, the mysterious and impenetrable East as well as the conditions of Oriental Christianity undoubtedly belongs to the Crusades. Profiting by this information, and ever solicitous of the welfare of the Church of Christ, the popes were the first to seize the opportunity for a propaganda in the Far, as well as in the near East. Towards the end of the fourteenth century, Innocent IV, Gregory X, and Honorius II, sent the Franciscan missionaries, Lorenzo of Portugal, Giovanni Piano de Carpine, Wilhelm Ruysbrock (de Rubuquis), Giovanni of Cremona, and others, as their representative delegates to the great Mogul, Kublai Khan, on behalf of the Oriental Christians. In 1306, the Franciscan, Giovanni di Montecorvino, was sent by Benedict IX on a similar mission to China, where he was subsequently appointed bishop with seven auxiliary bishops by Clement V, and where he died in 1330. In 1318, the Dominican Francesco di Peruga was appointed Bishop of Sultania, in Tatary, by Pope John XXII, and in 1321-28, another Dominican missionary, Giodano Catalini, accompanied by three Franciscan friars, made two successful journeys to India, to the coast of Malabar, the Ceylon, and to China. In 1323 the Franciscan, Odorico di Pordenone, visited Ceylon, Java, Borneo, Kahn-Balikh, Tibet, and Persia, returning in 1331, after having baptized more than 20,000 pagans. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Franciscan friars who were appointed by the popes as the official guardians of the sanctuaries of Jerusalem, and of the Holy Land, began to extend their missionary activity to North Syria, North-west Mesopotamia, and Egypt, while the Carmelites advanced into Mesopotamia, Babylonia and Persia. In 1501, the Franciscan, Enrico of Coimbra, accompanied the Portuguese, Alvarez Cabral, into Calicut, Cochin, Goa, and Cranganore; and in 1521 Catholic missionaries first penetrated into the Philippine Islands. During the years 1541-45, St. Francis Xavier evangelized India, the coasts of Malabar and Travancore, and Ceylon; in 1545, Malacca; in 1546 the Moluccas; from 1549-51, Japan, and in 1551, on his way to China, he died, after an apostolic career not less wonderful and unique than successful and rich in results.
With the mission of St. Francis Xavier in India, and the founding of the Society of Jesus, there began a new era for Catholic missionary enterprise, an era of indomitable zeal and exceptional success. Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans and Carmelites were now eagerly vying with one another for the Christianization of Asia. Naturally enough, the numerous Nestorian, Jacobite, Armenian, and Greek schismatic communities and churches scattered through the Turkish dominion in Syria, Asia Minor, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and through Persia attracted their attention; and thanks to their noble missionary effort and their zeal, great numbers of schismatic Orientals with their bishops, priests, and monks joined the Catholic Church. Catholic missions and schools, seminaries and churches, hospitals, and other charitable institutions were established among all these schismatic Oriental Churches in Asiatic Turkey and Persia, as well as among the heathen in China, India, Korea, Siam, Cochin-China, and Japan. Soon after, Catholic dioceses of the Latin Rite, Apostolic Prefectures and Apostolic delegations were created and permanently established, with the gratifying result that now, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Catholic Church is seen firmly established in every Asiatic region, side by side with Brahminism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Mohammedanism, Judaism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism, the schismatic Greek Church, and Protestantism.
The Oriental Churches of Western Asia (Turkey and Persia), however, are for us of particular interest, as they represent old and venerable national Churches, having their own hierarchy, rites, liturgical languages and usages, and ecclesiastical discipline, which had, as early as the fifth century, separated themselves from the church of Rome. They represent what we usually call the oriental churches, and are divided as follows: (1) The Nestorian church, extended over Babylonia and Chaldea, Mesopotamia and Assyria, Kurdistan, Persia, and the coast of Malabar in India. (2) The Jacobite Church (Monophysite) which extends over Syria, North-west Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Malabar. (3) The Armenian Church (Monophysite) which extends over the whole of Assyria, Persia, Asia Minor, and part of Syria. (4) The Maronite church, which is a branch of the Syrian Church, and extends over Mount Lebanon and Syria. (5) The Greek Church, scattered over Syria, Phoenicia, and Asia Minor. Another church, generally referred to as an Oriental church, is the Coptic, or Abyssinian, which, being restricted to African soil, must be here omitted. It must be noted, however, that each of the above-mentioned Oriental Churches, the Maronite excepted, which is entirely Catholic, is divided into two independent branches, or Churches; the one Catholic and in communion with Rome; the other schismatic and separated from Rome; each, however, having its own patriarch, bishops, priests, and local churches. They may be classified as follows:
I. Nestorian Church Schismatic Nestorians, or simply Nestorians. Catholic Nestorians, commonly called Chaldeans. II. Jacobite Church (Monophysite) Schismatic Jacobites, or simply Jacobites Catholic Jacobites, commonly called Catholic Syrians, or simply Syrians. III. Armenian Church (Monophysite) Schismatic Armenians Catholic Armenians IV. Maronite Church (All Catholic) V. Greek Church Schismatic Greeks, or Orthodox Greek Catholic Greeks, commonly called Græco-Melchite Church, or simply Melchite
The Catholic branch of each of these Oriental Churches, although united with Rome, preserves, in common with its sister schismatic branch, its own primitive, original rite, liturgy, and its own ecclesiastical discipline and privileges, the maintenance of which has been scrupulously prescribed and insisted upon by the Roman pontiffs, under penalty of suspension and excommunication; no clerical or lay member being allowed to change his rite without a special dispensation of the Holy See.
CATHOLICISM IN ASIA
Asiatic Turkey. The entire Christian population of Asiatic Turkey is 3,649,882, of which 692,431 are Catholics, 97,370 Protestants, and the remaining schismatics. They may be classified as follows: Asia Minor: 6,423 Catholic Armenians; 193,416 Schismatic Armenians; 994,922 Schismatic Greeks; 2,079 Jacobites; 5,838 Latins, and 3,400 Protestants. Armenia and Kurdistan: 51,306 Catholic Armenians; 712,842 Schismatic Armenians; 8,600 Chaldeans; 92,000 Nestorians; 572 Jacobites; 353,762 Schismatic Greeks; 2 Latins, and 61,256 Protestants. Mesopotamia: 36,320 Chaldeans; 13,990 Syrians; 27,754 Jacobites; 11,670 Catholic Armenians; 61,590 Schismatic Armenians; 1,993 Latins; 340 Greek Melchites; 9,325 Schismatic Greeks, and 11,194 Protestants. There are also 308,740 Maronites; 141,219 Melchites; 304,230 Schismatic Greeks; 19,459 Catholic Armenians; 23,834 Schismatic Armenians; 1,865 Chaldeans; 25,632 Syrians; 47,805 Jacobites; 39,034 Latins; and 21,520 Protestants in Palestine, Phoenicia, and Syria as far north and west as the Euphrates, or a total of 308,740 Maronites; 141,559 Melchites; 1,662,239 Schismatic Greeks; 88,858 Catholic Armenians; 991,682 Schismatic Armenians; 46,785 Chaldeans; 92,000 Nestorians; 39,622 Syrians; 78,210 Jacobites; 46,867 Latins, and 97,370 Protestants. The population of Arabia is entirely Mohammedan, except in the sea port of Aden, where there is an Apostolic vicariate with about 1,500 Christians.
Persia. There are in Persia 20,000 Chaldeans; 50,500 Nestorians; 5,035 Catholic Armenians; 81,654 Schismatic Armenians; 200 Latins; and about 2,670 Protestants. In Afghanistan there is not a single Christian church or any organized Christian community.
India. The number of Catholics in India, including Ceylon, is about 2,069,791, with 4,938 churches and chapels; 105 seminaries and colleges; 2,312 schools; 37 hospitals; 2,190 European missionaries; 1 patriarch (in Goa); 7 archbishops; 26 bishops; 3 Apostolic vicars and 3 Apostolic prefects. The number of the Jacobites is about 120,000, the Chaldeans (independent of the Chaldean Patriarch of Babylonia, although formerly dependent on him) about 100,000. The number of Protestants in India is about 700,000 (1889).
China. The Catholic population of China is about 820,000, governed by 39 Apostolic vicars, and 2 Apostolic prefects, with 955 European missionaries, having 4,067 churches and chapels, 90 colleges and seminaries, 4,067 schools and orphan asylums, and 62 hospitals. The number of Protestants, in 1900, is given by Warneck as 200,000.
Korea. There are in Korea 45,000 Catholics, with 1 bishop and 42 priests; Protestants (Methodists and Baptists) 7,000.
Japan. In Japan the Catholics number 60,500, with 1 archbishop (Tokio), 3 bishops (Nagasaki, Osaka, and Hakodate), and about 130 missionary priests. The number of Protestants is about 50,000 and that of the Orthodox Greek Russians, about 5,000 with 1 bishop.
Indo-China. (French Colony) 820,000 Catholics, with 410 missionary priests; 3,304 churches and chapels; 24 seminaries and colleges; 2,349 schools and orphan asylums, and 38 hospitals.
Philippine Islands. (American Colony). The entire population of the Philippines Islands is estimated at about seven millions, of which about 600,000 are wild tribes and pagans, about six millions Catholics, and the rest Mohammedans and pagans. The Catholic Church is governed by an Apostolic delegate, 1 archbishop, and 4 bishops with numerous secular and regular priests.
Asiatic Russia. The Christian population of Asiatic Russia is estimated at about fourteen millions, 75,000 of whom are Catholics, and the rest schismatic Greeks (Græco-Russian Church).
All of the above statistics are only approximately correct, as the various censuses so far as published are often doubtful, contradictory, and misleading. According to P. Pisani (Vacant, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, I, coll. 2096-2097), the entire population, according to their various religions and creeds, may be approximately classified as follows:
I.—Buddhists, 400,000,000; Brahmins, 200,000,000; Mohammedans, 100,000,000; other heathen religions, 80,000,000; Christians, 20,000,000; total 800,000,000. II.—Protestants: In Western Asia, 85,000; India, 817,000; China and Korea, 210,000; Japan, 50,000; total, 1,162,000. III.—Catholics: Asiatic Russia, 70,000 to 75,000; Asiatic Turkey and Persia, 700,000; India, 2,140,000; China, Korea, Japan, and Indo-China, 1,710,000; Philippine Islands, 6,000,000; total, 10,625,000.
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GABRIEL OUSSANI Transcribed by M. Donahue
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Asia
(, referred by the Greeks to a person, Herod. 4:45, but by moderns to an Eastern, usually Shemitic etymology, comp. Bochart, Phaleg, 4:33, p. 3379; Sickler, Alte Geogr. p. 89; Wahl, in the Hall. Encycl. 6:76 sq.; Forbiger, Alte Geogr. ii, 39; Hitzig, Philist. p. 93), a geographical name which is employed by the writers of. antiquity to denote regions of very different extent, designating as early as the time of Herodotus (iv, 36) an entire continent, in contrast with Europe and Africa (comp. Josephus, Ant. 14:10, 1), the boundaries of which have been clearly defined (Forbiger, Alte Geogr. ii, 39) since the descriptions of Strabo (i, 35) and Ptolemy (iv, 5); in the Roman period, however, it was generally applied only to a single district of Western Asia (Asia Minor). It is in the latter sense alone that the word occurs in the Apocrypha (1Ma 8:6; 1Ma 11:13; 1Ma 12:39; 1Ma 13:32; 2Ma 3:3; 2Ma 10:24) and New Test. (Act 2:9; Act 6:9; Act 16:6; Act 19:10; Act 19:22; Act 19:26-27; Act 20:4; Act 20:16; Act 20:18; Act 21:27; Act 27:2; Rom 16:5 [where the true reading is ‘]; 1Co 16:19; 2Co 1:8; 2Ti 1:15; 1Pe 1:1; Rev 1:4; Rev 1:11).
1. CONTINENT OF ASIA. The ancient Hebrews were strangers to the division of the earth into parts or quarters, and hence we never find the word Asia in any Hebrew book. It occurs first in Biblical writers in the books of the Maccabees, and there in a restricted sense. In its widest application, however, as designating in modern geography a leading division of the globe, it is of the deepest interest in sacred literature. This part of the world is regarded as having been the most favored. Here the first man was created; here the patriarchs lived; here the law was given; here the greatest and most celebrated monarchies were formed; and from hence the first founders of cities and nations in other parts of the world conducted their colonies. In Asia our blessed Redeemer appeared, wrought salvation for mankind, died, and rose again; and from hence the light of the Gospel has been diffused over the world. Laws, arts, sciences, and religions almost all have had their origin in Asia. SEE ETHNOLOGY.
I. Geographical Description.-Asia, which forms the eastern and northern portion of the great tract of land in the eastern hemisphere, is the oldest known portion of the globe, and is usually called the cradle of the human race, of nations, and of arts. It is separated from Australia by the Indian and Pacific Oceans; from America on the north-east by Behring’s Straits, and on the east by the great Eastern or Pacific Ocean; from Africa by the Arabian Sea (at the west by the Mediterranean Sea) and by the Arabian Gulf, or Red Sea, with the Straits of Babelmandeb; from Europe by the Kaskaia Gulf (at the extreme north-west), by the Caspian Sea and the River Ural, by the Black Sea and the Bosphorus, by the Sea of Marmora and the Dardanelles, and by the Grecian Archipelago. It is united with Africa by the desert Isthmus of Suez, and with Europe by the lofty Caucasian Mountains and the long Ural range. The area is, about 16,175,000 square miles.
The inhabitants of Asia (whose number is variously estimated at from 500,000,000 to 800,000,000) are divided -into three great branches: The Tatar-Caucasian, in the Western Asia, exhibits the finest features of our race in the Circassian fom; the Mongolian race is spread through Eastern Asia; the Malay in Southern Asia and the islands. The north is inhabited by the Samoiedes, Tchooktches, and others. The following tribes, of different language and origin, may be distinguished, some of which are relics of scattered tribes of nomades: Kamtschatdales, Ostiacs, Samoiedes, Koriacks, Kurilians, Aleutians, Coreans, Mongols, and Kalmucks, Mantchoos (Tungoos, Daurians, and Mantchoos Proper), Finns, Circassians, Georgians, Greeks, Syrians and Armenians, Tatars and Turks, Persians and Afghans, Thibetans, Hindoos, Siamese, Malays, Annamites (in Cochin China and Tonquin), Burmese, Chinese and Japanese, besides the indigenous inhabitants of the East Indian islands, Jews and Europeans. The principal languages are the Arabian, Persian, Armenian, Turkish, Tatar, Hindoo, ,Malayan, Mongol, ai antchoo, Chinese, and Sanscrit. The principal reliions which prevail are Mohammedanism in the western parts, the worship of the Lama of Thibet in the central region, Buddhism in the Burmese territory, and Hindooism or Brahminism in India. For farther details and statistics of the Asiatic countries, see each in its alphabetical place, especially Turkey, Persia, China, and India.
From this great continent must undoubtedly have issued at some unknown period that extraordinary emigration which peopled America. It cannot be questioned that the inhabitants of the north-eastern parts of Asia, little attached to the soil, and subsisting chiefly by hunting and fishing, might pass either in their canoes in summer, or upon the ice in winter, from their own country to the American shore. Or a passage of this kind may not be necessary, for it is by no means unlikely that the Straits of Behring were formerly occupied by the land, and that the isthmus which joined the old world to the new was subverted and overwhelmed by one of those great revolutions of nature which shake whole continents, and extend the dominion of the sea to places where its waters are unknown. Dr. Prichard, in his Researches into the Physical History of Man, is decidedly of opinion that America was peopled by an Asiatic migration; and in the examples he gives of the coincidences of words, he has fully established the fact of an intercourse between the nations of Northern Asia and those of America, long before the very existence of the latter continent was known to modern Europe. Later investigations have, almost without exception, tended to confirm this conclusion.
The Scriptures make no mention of many of the empires and nations of Asia, such as the Chinese empire, the Hindoos, and the numerous tribes inhabiting the extensive region of Siberia or Asiatic Russia. India is mentioned in the Book of Esther, but only in reference to- the extensive dominions of Ahasuerus. The Medo-Persian branch of the Indo-European nations who inhabited Asia, of whom were-the Medes and ancient Persians, Parthians, and Armenians, are, however, mentioned in sacred history; and among the nations of Asia Minor we have the Phrygians, the Mysians, and the Bithynians. Of the ancient western Asiatic nations, those connected with sacred history are the Elamites, or descendants of Elam; the Assyrians, or descendants of Ashur; Hebrews and Idumaeans, or Edomites; Beni-Jaktan, or Arabs; the Chasdim, or Chaldaeans; the Aramaeans, who inhabited Syria and Mesopotamia; the Phoenicians, or descendants of Canaan; the Mizraim, or the Egyptians; the Cushites, or Ethiopians; and the Philistines. Of the ancient empires mentioned in the Scriptures, the Assyrian is the earliest, so called from Asshur, the son of Shem. Out of the empire founded by Naimrod at Babylon sprung the Babylonian or Chaldaean, the capital of which was Babylon, while that of Assyria was Nineveh. The empire of the Medes also sprung, from the Assyrian, and was at length united by Cyrus with Persia, a country which, previous to the reign of that great prince, did not contain more than a single province of the present extensive kingdom, and a hich continued to rule over Asia upward of two centuries, until its power was overthrown by Alexander the Great. Elam, which originally denoted the country of the Elymaei in the modern Khusistan, afterward became the Hebrew term for Persia and the Persians, who were allied to the Madai or Medes. The other nations of Asia mentioned in the Scriptures have each their appropriate designations, such as the Arphaxad, or Arph-Chesad, supposed to be the Chaldzeans; the Lud or Ludim, alleged by Josephus and Bochart to be the Lydians; and the Aramites or the Syrians. The Asiatic countries more especially mentioned as the scenes of great events and important transactions are Arabia, Armenia, Assyria, Babylonia, Syria, and Judaea or Palestine, Phoenicia and Persia. See each in its alphabetical order.
II. Church History.-Christianity spread rapidly in the first centuries in Western Asia, which, after the times of Constantine, belonged among the Christi n countries. The apostolic churches of Antioch (q.v.) and Jerusalem (q.v.) received along with Rome and Alexandria the rank of patriarchates. The diocese of Asia, of which Ephesus was the metropolis, was reckoned next in rank to the four patriarchates up till the council of Chalcedon, which subordinated the diocese to the Patriarch of Constantinople. In the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries the Nestorians and Monophysites were excluded by ecumenical synods from the Church, and organized themselves as independent denominations, which still exist. SEE NESTORIANS; SEE ARMENIANS; SEE JACOBITES.
Down to the twelfth century the churches of Western Asia were still in a moderately flourishing condition; but about that time the Saracens succeeded in establishing several principalities, which were the cause of sad desolation to the Church. The Turks, who succeeded, completed the wreck. For the Church history of the following centuries, we refer, besides to the articles already mentioned, to SEE TURMEY; SEE GREEK CHURCH.
Also in other portions of Asia the Gospel was early proclaimed, and Christianity flourished for some time in Persia, till it succumbed to the rising power of Mohammedanism. The outposts of Christianity in China and India, which probably reach back to an early period, were lost sight of by the Latin and Greek churches. The Roman Church, in the Middle Ages and modern times, made great effort to unite with itself the churches of Western Asia, and to convert the pagans in various Asiatic countries. She succeeded in most of the Portuguese and Spanish possessions, and founded a number of dioceses in other countries. The history of Protestantism begins with the establishment of the rule of the East India Company; and in the nineteenth century its missions have developed on so large a scale that the time appears to be near when it will have the ascendency in a large portion of Eastern Asia. For more details on the history of both the Roman and the Protestant churches, we refer to the articles SEE PERSIA; SEE CHINA; SEE INDIA; SEE FARTHER INDIA; SEE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO; SEE JAPAN.
III. Ecclesiastical Statistics.-The following tabular survey of the total Christian population is taken from the latest accessible sources (1880), the number of Mohammedans in Asia being about 115,144,000.
CountriesSum.Rom.CathProtestantEastern
Russia13,471,00051,00015,0005,941,000
Turkey16,170,000260,00025,0003,000,000
Persia7,000,00010,0003,00050,000
China and Depend-encies435,000,000483,00050,0005,000
Japan34,338,00021,0004,0006,000
Burmah21,000,000480,000
Siam5,750,00025,0004,0006,000
British possessions243,898,0001,264,0002,600,000400,000
French 2,770,000300,000
Spanish 6,300,0005,501,000
Portuguese 882,000350,000
Dutch 26,745,00080,000170,000
Other Countries17,443,000
Totals834,767,0008,830,0002,868,0009,402,000
The Greek Church is the largest Christian body in Asiatic Russia and Asiatic Turkey, and is at present spreading, together with Russian influence, in Central Asia and China. Armenians are numerous in Russia, Turkey, and Persia, and scattered in India. Nestorians and Jacobites are mostly found in Turkey and India, the former also in Persia. By many it is believed that there are still numerous descendants of Christians in various parts of Asia as yet unknown to the rest of the Christian world. In 1859 it was asserted that 30,000 native Christians had been discovered in the island of Celebes. Buddhism, Brahminism, and the other religious systems of India, China, and Japan, count together a population of about 600 millions. Mohammedanism prevails in Asiatic Turkey, Arabia, Persia, Afghanistan, Beloochistan, and Tartary, and is, in general, professed by a population of about 50 millions. The Jews in Asiatic Turkey are estimated at about 350,000; small numbers live scattered in nearly every country. The rest belong to a great variety of pagan systems.
2. ASIA MINOR was the name anciently given to the region nearly inclosed by the Euxine, AEgaean, and Mediterranean Seas, and now forming a part of Turkey. Respecting the Biblical notices of this district we have to remark:
(a) Antiochus the Great is called king of Asia in 1Ma 8:6; a title that he assumed as master (not only of Syria, but also) of the greater part of Asia Minor (which had passed over to the Macedonian princes as a Persian province), but was compelled (B.C. 189) to relinquish all the Asiatic districts west of the Taurus to the Romans (Liv. 38:38; 1Ma 8:8), who committed Mysia, Lydia, and Phrygia to Eumenes (II), king of Pergamus (Liv. 37:55; 38:39). Hence
(b) the kingdom of Pergamus was called the Asiatic empire, although the Syrian Seleucidae, who only occupied Cilicia, likewise (perhaps only out of empty pretence) assumed this title (1Ma 12:39; 1Ma 13:32; 2Ma 3:3), and so the empires of Egypt and Asia are found in contrast (1Ma 13:13).
(c) By the will of Attalus (III) Philometor (q.v.), the kingdom of Pergamus passed over (B.C. 133) as a province into the hands of the Romans, in whose diplomatic phraseology Asia was now termedc simply ‘Asia cis Tanurum” (comp. Cicero, Flacc. 27; Nep. Attic. 54; Plin. 40), i.e. including the districts Mysia, Lydia, Phrygia, and Caria (which last the Rhodians obtained after the conquest of Antiochus the Great). It was governed by a praetor until the Emperor Augustus made it a proconsular province. In this extent it is styled Asia Proper ( , Ptolem. v, 2; comp. Strabo, 12:577). To this connection appear to belong the following passages of the N.T. Act 6:9 (where Asia and Cilicia are names of Roman provinces in Asia Minor); 20:16; 1Pe 1:1 (see Steiger, in loc.); Rev 1:4; comp. 2 and 3, where letters to the Christian communities in the seven cities of (proconsular) Asia designate those in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (q.v. severally) (see Lucke, Ofenbar. Joh. p. 201; comp. T. Smith, Septemn Asice ecclesiar. notitia, Lond. 1671, Utr. 1694; Arundell, Visit to the Seven Churches of Asia, Lond. 1828). On the other hand, in Acts ii, 9 (comp. 16:6; see Wiggers, in the Stud. u. Krit. 1838, i, 169), it appears to denote Phryia, or, as the commentators will have it, only Ionia (see Kuinol, in loc.); but it is not certain that in Roman times Ionia was called Asia by pre-eminence (see Pliny, v, 28; comp. Solin. 43). The extent in 2Co 1:8, is uncertain, and, moreover, the boundaries of Asia Minor varied at different periods (see Mannert, VI, ii, 15 -sq.; Wetstein, ii, 464). Thus it may be retarded as pretty well settled:
(1.) That “Asia” denotes the whole of ASIA MINOR, in the texts Act 19:26-27; Act 21:27; Act 24:18; Act 27:2; but
(2.), that only ASIA PROPER, the Roman or Proconsular Asia, is denoted in Act 2:9; Act 6:9; Act 16:6; Act 19:10; Act 19:22; Act 20:4; Act 20:16; Act 20:18 [Rom 16:5]; 1Co 16:19; 2Co 1:8; 2Ti 1:15; 1Pe 1:1; Rev 1:4; Rev 1:11. ASIA MINOR comprehended Bithynia, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Mysia, Troas (all of which are mentioned in the New Testament), Lydia, Ionia, AEolis (which are sometimes included under Lydia), Caria, Doris, and Lycia. ASIA PROPER, or Proconsular Asia, comprehended the provinces of Phrygia, Mysia, Caria, and Lydia (Cicero, Ep. Fam. ii, 15). But it is evident that Luke uses the term Asia in a sense still more restricted; for in one place he counts Phrygia (Act 2:9-10), and in another Mysia (Act 16:6-7), as provinces distinct from Asia. Hence it is probable that in many, if not all, of the second set of references above, the word Asia denotes only Ionia, or the entire western coast, of which Ephesus was the capital, and in which the seven churches were situated. See generally, Usher, De Asia proconsulari (Lond. 1681); id. De episcop. metropol. in Asia proconsulari (Lond. 1687); Carpzov, De Asice ecclesis (Lips. 1698); Cellarius, id. (Hal. 1701); Conybeare and Howson’s St. Paul, i, 237; Penny Cyc. s.v. Anatolia; Smith’s Diet. of Class. Geogr. i, 232 sq., 238 sq.; Texier, Asie Mineure (Paris, 1863); Le Bas and Cbheron, Hist. Ancienne de I’As. Min. (Par. 1864); Perrot, Voyage en As. Min. (Paris, 1864).
3. PROCONSULAR ASIA, therefore, seems to be usually that designated in the New Test., being a Roman province which embraced the western part of the peninsula of Asia Minor, and of which Ephesus was the capital. This province originated in the bequest of Attalus, king of Pergamus, or king of Asia, who left by will to the Roman Republic his hereditary dominions in the west of the peninsula (B.C. 133). Some rectifications of the frontier were made, and “Asia” was constituted a province. Under the early emperors it was rich and flourishing, though it had been severely plundered under the republic. In the division made by Augustus of senatorial and imperial provinces, it was placed in the former class, and was governed by a proconsul. (Hence , Act 19:38, and on coins.) It contained many important cities, among which were the seven churches of the Apocalypse, and it was divided into assize districts for judicial business. (Hence , i.e. , Acts, ibid.) It is not possible absolutely to define the inland boundary of this province during the life of the’ Apostle Paul; indeed, the limits of the provinces were frequently undergoing change; but generally it may be said that it included the territory anciently subdivided into AEolis, Ionia, and Doris, and afterward into Mysia, Lydia, and Caria. SEE MYSIA; SEE LYCIA; SEE BITHYNIA; SEE PHRYGIA; SEE GALATIA. These were originally Greek colonies (see Smith’s Smaller Hist. of Greece, p. 40 sq.). Meyer (in his Comment. on Act 16:6) unnecessarily imagines that the divine intimation given to Paul had reference to the continent of Asia, as opposed to Europe, and that the apostle supposed it might have reference simply to “Asia cis Taurum,” and therefore attempted to penetrate into Bithynia. The view of Meyer and De Wette on Act 27:2 (and of the former on Act 19:10), viz. that the peninsula of Asia Minor is intended, involves a bad geographical mistake; for this term “Asia Minor” does not seem to have been so applied till some centuries after the Christian era. Neither is it strictly correct to speak of Asia in the N.T. as being at that time called A. proconsularis; for this phrase also was of later date, and denoted one of Constantine’s subdivisions of the province of which we are speaking. (See Conybeare and Howson’s Life and Epistles of St. Paul, ch. xiv; Marquardt’s Roim. Alterthiimer, iii, 130-146.) SEE ASIARCH. 4. SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. These, celebrated in the Apocalypse, in the apostolic times, and in ecclesiastical history, were, as they are classified by the writer of the book of Revelation (ch. i-iii), Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, which see under the respective names. SEE ASIA MINOR (No. 2, above); see REVELATION.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Asia
is used to denote Proconsular Asia, a Roman province which embraced the western parts of Asia Minor, and of which Ephesus was the capital, in Acts 2:9; 6:9; 16:6; 19:10, 22; 20:4, 16, 18, etc., and probably Asia Minor in Acts 19:26, 27; 21:27; 24:18; 27:2. Proconsular Asia contained the seven churches of the Apocalypse (Rev. 1:11). The “chiefs of Asia” (Acts 19:31) were certain wealthy citizens who were annually elected to preside over the games and religious festivals of the several cities to which they belonged. Some of these “Asiarchs” were Paul’s friends.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Asia
In the New Testament not the continent, nor Asia Minor, but the W. of Asia Minor, with Ephesus as its capital, including Mysia, Lydia, Caria. Attalus, king of Pergamus, left it to the Romans 138 B.C. It was placed by Augustus among the senatorial provinces, as distinguished from the imperial provinces. Hence it was governed by a “proconsul,” as Act 19:38 (anthupatos), with the minute propriety which marks truth, incidentally intimates. It had its “assize days” (agoraioi, margin “the court days are kept.”) Here were the seven churches addressed in the Revelation. In the Old Testament “Asia” does not occur.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
ASIA
Over the centuries leading up to the New Testament era, the numerous independent states of Asia Minor had been brought under the control of firstly the Greeks, then the Romans. In the New Testament period a number of them were joined together to form what became known as the province of Asia. The local people, however, continued to use the names of the former states when referring to certain regions.
In the north-west of the newly formed province was the former region of Mysia, which included the towns of Troas, Assos, Adramyttium and Pergamum. In the south-east was part of the former region of Phrygia, the other part of which was in the neighbouring province of Galatia. The towns of Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis fell within the part of Phrygia that was in the province of Asia.
Phrygia was the region where Paul first entered the province of Asia (during his second missionary journey), but God did not allow him to preach there. Paul therefore headed north towards the province of Bithynia, but he was forbidden to preach there also. He then headed west across Mysia to Troas, from where he sailed for Europe (Act 16:6-11).
When returning to Syria from Europe at the end of the journey, Paul called at Ephesus, chief city of the province of Asia, where he left Aquila and Priscilla. This marked the beginning of Christian work in the province. Only a few months later, Paul returned to Ephesus, and over the next three years carried on an extensive work of evangelism in and around the city (Act 18:18-21; Act 19:1-20; Act 20:31; see EPHESUS).
It was probably during this time that churches were founded in neighbouring districts at Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis, possibly by disciples whom Paul had taught in Ephesus (Act 19:8-10; Col 1:2; Col 1:7; Col 2:1; Col 4:13). Churches were probably established also at Smyrna, Sardis, Philadelphia and Thyatira, which were towns not far to the north of Ephesus (Rev 2:8; Rev 2:12; Rev 2:18; Rev 3:1; Rev 3:7).
The Jews of Asia were bitterly opposed to Paul and were a source of constant persecution (Act 21:27; Act 24:18; 2Co 1:8-9; 2Ti 1:15). The condition of the churches in Asia at the end of the first century is reflected in the letters that John wrote to seven churches there (Revelation 2; Revelation 3; see entries under the respective towns).
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Asia
ASIA.In the NT this word invariably means the Roman province Asia, which embraced roughly the western third of the peninsula which we call Asia Minor. It was bounded on the N.E. by the province of Bithynia, on the E. by the province of Galatia, on the S. by the province of Lycia, and had been ceded to the Romans by the will of the Pergamenian king Attalus III. in b.c. 133. The following ethnic districts were in this provinceMysia, Lydia, Western Phrygia, and Caria. The province was the richest, and, with the one exception of Africa, its equal, the most important in the Roman Empire. It was governed by a proconsul of the higher grade, with three legati under him. Ephesus, Pergamum, and Smyrna were its principal cities. St. Pauls preaching in Ephesus was the most powerful cause of the spread of the gospel in this province, and the Epistle to the Ephesians is probably a circular letter to all the churches in it. Seven are enumerated in Rev 1:1-20; Rev 2:1-29; Rev 3:1-22, which is post-Pauline.
A. Souter.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Asia
ashi-a (, Asa): A Roman province embracing the greater part of western Asia Minor, including the older countries of Mysia, Lydia, Caria, and a part of Phrygia, also several of the independent coast cities, the Troad, and apparently the islands of Lesbos, Samos, Patmos, Cos and others near the Asia Minor coast (Act 16:6; Act 19:10, Act 19:27). It is exceedingly difficult to determine the exact boundaries of the several countries which later constituted the Roman province, for they seem to have been somewhat vague to the ancients themselves, and were constantly shifting; it is therefore impossible to trace the exact borders of the province of Asia. Its history previous to 133 bc coincides with that of Asia Minor of which it was a part. However, in that year, Attalus III (Philometer), king of Pergamos, bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman Empire. It was not until 129 bc that the province of Asia was really formed by Rome. Its first capital was Pergamos, the old capital of Mysia, but in the time of Augustus, when Asia had become the most wealthy province of the Empire, the seat of the government was transferred to Ephesus. Smyrna was also an important rival of Ephesus. The governor of Asia was a pro-consul, chosen by lot by the Roman senate from among the former consuls who had been out of office for at least five years, and he seldom continued in office for more than a single year. The diet of the province, composed of representatives from its various districts, met each year in the different cities. Over it presided the asiarch, whose duty it was, among other things, to offer sacrifices for the welfare of the emperor and his family.
In 285 ad the province was reduced in size, as Caria, Lydia, Mysia and Phrygia were separated from it, and apart from the cities of the coast little remained. The history of Asia consists almost entirely of the history of its important cities, which were Adramyttium, Assos, Cnidus, Ephesus, Laodicea, Miletus, Pergamos, Philadelphia, Sardis, Smyrna, Thyatira, Troas, etc.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Asia
The ancients had no divisions of the world into parts or quarters; and hence the word Asia, in the modern large sense, does not occur in Scripture. Indeed it does not at all occur, in any sense, in the Hebrew Scriptures, but is found in the books of the Maccabees and in the New Testament. It there applies, in the largest sense, to that peninsular portion of Asia which, since the fifth century, has been known by the name of Asia Minor; and, in a narrower sense, to a certain portion thereof which was known as Asia Proper. Thus, it is now generally agreed, 1. That ‘Asia’ denotes the whole of Asia Minor, in the texts Act 19:26-27; Act 20:4; Act 20:16; Act 20:18; Act 27:2, etc.: but, 2. That only Asia Proper, the Roman or Proconsular Asia, is denoted in Act 2:9; Act 6:9; Act 19:10; Act 19:22; 2Ti 1:15; 1Pe 1:1; Rev 1:4; Rev 1:11.
Asia Minor comprehended Bithynia, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cicilia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Mysia, Troas (all of which are mentioned in the New Testament), Lydia, Ionia, olis (which are sometimes included under Lydia), Caria, Doris, and Lycia.
Asia Proper, or Proconsular Asia, comprehended the provinces of Phrygia, Mysia, Caria, and Lydia. But it is evident that St. Luke uses the term Asia in a sense still more restricted, for in one place he counts Phrygia (Act 2:9-10), and in another Mysia (Act 16:6-7), as provinces distinct from Asia. Hence it is probable that in many, if not all, of the second set of references the word Asia denotes only Ionia, or the entire western coast, of which Ephesus was the capital, and in which the seven churches were situated. This is called Asia also by Strabo.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Asia
[A’sia]
This term in the N.T. does not refer to the portion of the earth now called Asia, nor does it include the whole of Asia Minor; but applies simply to the western part of Asia Minor, which was bequeathed to Rome by Attalus III. Philometor, king of Pergamus or king of Asia, B.C. 133. The province, with Ephesus as its capital, included Caria, Lydia, and Mysia, which were anciently called Doris, Ionia, and AEolis. It was governed by a proconsul. In Act 2:9-10 ‘Asia’ does not include Cappadocia, Pontus, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, which are all included in Asia Minor. Again, in Act 16:6, Phrygia and Galatia are distinct from Asia: see also 1Pe 1:1. It will be seen in a map that all the seven churches of Asia, mentioned in the Revelation, are in the above named district. As Paul laboured in other parts of Asia Minor, and there being frequent intercourse between the various places and Ephesus, it may be that a wider area is in some passages referred to as ‘Asia,’ as in Act 19:10; Act 19:26-27.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Asia
G773
Inhabitants of, in Jerusalem, at Pentecost
Act 2:9; Act 21:27; Act 24:18
Paul and Silas forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach in
Act 16:6
Gospel preached in, by Paul
Act 19; Act 20:4
Paul leaves
Act 20:16
Churches of
1Co 16:19; Rev 1:4; Rev 1:11
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Asia
Asia (‘sh-ah). This word in scripture never means the continent, as with us. In the Old Testament it is not found; in the New Testament it means a small Roman province, in Asia Minor, in the northwest corner of Asia. Its boundaries were often changed; but generally it may be said to have comprised Phrygia, Mysia, Lydia, and Caria, in Asia Minor, and thus it must be understood in Act 6:9; Act 19:10. Sometimes, however, the name is used in a more restricted sense; and Phrygia is distinguished from Asia. Act 2:9-10; Act 16:6. Asia was made by Augustus one of the senatorial provinces, and was governed, therefore, by a proconsul. It prospered under the emperors; and the gospel was preached there by Paul. Act 19:10; 1Co 16:19. The “seven churches” to which messages were sent, in Rev 1:4, were in Asia.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Asia
A’sia. (orient). The passages in the New Testament where this word occurs are the following; Act 2:9; Act 6:9; Act 16:6; Act 19:10; Act 19:22; Act 19:26-27; Act 20:4; Act 20:16; Act 20:18; Act 21:27; Act 27:2; Rom 16:5; 1Co 16:19; 2Co 1:8; 2Ti 1:15; 1Pe 1:1; Rev 1:4; Rev 1:11.
In all these, it may be confidently stated that the word is used for a Roman province which embraced the western part of the peninsula of Asia Minor and of which Ephesus was the capital.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
ASIA
a district of Asian Minor
Act 2:9; Act 16:6; Act 19:10; 1Co 16:19; 2Co 1:8; 2Ti 1:15; 1Pe 1:1
Fuente: Thompson Chain-Reference Bible
Asia
one of the four grand divisions of the earth. It is also used in a more restricted sense for Asia Minor, or Anatolia. In the New Testament it always signifies the Roman Proconsular Asia, in which the seven Apocalyptic churches were situated.