Among all world religions, Christianity is the most widespread, with more than 2.5 billion adherents – about one-third of the Earth’s population.
Christians form the majority on four of the world’s five continents – North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Australia. Only in Asia do other faiths prevail. Yet it was precisely in Asia, two thousand years ago, that the religion was born – founded, according to the Holy Scripture, by Jesus Christ Himself.
The path of the first Christians was arduous and cruel. For several centuries, the followers of Christ were persecuted throughout the Roman Empire. Emperor Diocletian even set a date for the complete eradication of Christianity – February 23, 303 AD.
It was in these harsh circumstances that, two years earlier – in 301 AD, near the borders of the mighty and seemingly invincible Roman Empire – the first Christian state in the world emerged.