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• But the idea that the Gospel spread east is not so well known. This is partly because that history is only mentioned in passing in the New Testament. But it is also because history is always the history of the dominant, or winning side. And the Roman Catholic Church has been the dominant and winning church throughout most of the history of Christianity. Therefore, the history of Christianity has a tendency to be the history of western Christianity, that of the Roman Catholic Church.
• And so, when many people think of the history of eastern Christianity, most people will immediately think of the Eastern and Western legs of the Roman Empire. Again, from history, it is well known that ultimately the Roman Empire was split into two parts. The western half of the Roman Empire was centred in Rome, to become the Holy Roman Empire. The eastern half of the Roman Empire later became centred around Constantinople, around the time of the Emperor Constantine - in fact, Constantinople (or ‘City of Constantine’) was named after Constantine ‘The Great’.