{"id":31657,"date":"2022-09-10T15:39:01","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/unearthed-ancient-church-confirms-christianitys-rapid-spread-to-africa\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:39:01","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:39:01","slug":"unearthed-ancient-church-confirms-christianitys-rapid-spread-to-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/unearthed-ancient-church-confirms-christianitys-rapid-spread-to-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Unearthed Ancient Church Confirms Christianity\u2019s Rapid Spread to Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Baptism of the Eunuch, c. 1631 – Wiki Commons<\/div>\n

By Aaron Earls<\/em><\/p>\n

Around the same time Constantine legalized Christianity across the Roman Empire in A.D. 313, another ancient empire experienced an explosion of Christian growth.<\/p>\n

In a paper published on December 10 in Antiquity<\/em>, archaeologists revealed the discovery of a Christian church building in sub-Saharan Africa that coincides with the influential Aksumite kingdom.<\/p>\n

The structure dates back to the fourth century and confirms local Ethiopian and Christian tradition of Christianity moving into the region at an early date.<\/p>\n

Historically, Ethiopia is the second country to have officially proclaimed Christianity as its state religion, having done so in A.D. 333.<\/p>\n

Church tradition says that the Ethiopian eunuch evangelized by Philip in Acts 8 spread the gospel as he returned to Africa.<\/p>\n

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Church fathers as early as Irenaeus in A.D. 180 mention the eunuch evangelizing his homeland.<\/p>\n

A team of archaeologists began exploring the ancient settlement called Beta Samati (\u201chouse of audience\u201d in the local Tigrinya language) in 2011.<\/p>\n

Their biggest discovery was the 60 feet long and 40 feet wide church building resembling a Roman basilica.<\/p>\n

Aaron Butts, a professor of Semitic and Egyptian languages at Catholic University in Washington D.C., told the Smithsonian magazine, the find \u201cis to my knowledge the earliest evidence for a church in Ethiopia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within and near the ruins, archaeologists discovered religious and cultural artifacts such as figurines, rings, and a stone pendant inscribed with a cross and the term \u201cvenerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about the size that you could hang around your neck, so maybe a priest would have worn this,\u201d Michael Harrower of John Hopkins University, the archaeologist who led the team at Beta Samati, told Live Science<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Stone pendant found just outside the eastern basilica wall (I. Dumitru)<\/div>\n

The town itself spans the Aksumite kingdom\u2019s official conversion from polytheism to Christianity into the ride of Islam across Arabia and Africa.<\/p>\n

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See also  What Sparks Evangelical Generosity? Discipleship<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe Empire of Aksum was one of the world\u2019s most influential ancient civilizations, but it remains one of the least widely known,\u201d Harrower told CNN.<\/p>\n

At its height, the Aksumite kingdom rivaled Rome, Persia, and China as a world power, according to New Scientist<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The region remained predominantly Christian even as the kingdom began its decline and despite the growing influence of Islam across the region, according to the Smithsonian magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Nearly half of all modern Ethiopians are members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church with another almost fifth of the population identifying as a Protestant or Catholic Christian.<\/p>\n

Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia continue to take their faith very seriously.<\/p>\n

A 2017 Pew Research study found majorities say religion is very important in their lives (98%), attend church weekly (78%), and pray daily (65%).<\/p>\n

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Aaron Earls<\/h2>\n

@WardrobeDoor<\/p>\n

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Aaron is a writer for LifewayResearch.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n