The remaining case is not so clear. In Ac 2' among the Jews and proselytes in Jerusalem at the Feast of Pentecost are mentioned ' dwellers in Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia.' That list presents many difliculties, and is probably not composed by the author of Acts, but quoted by him from an older authority to whom he was indebted for the account of an incident which he himself had not seen (see PlIRVGiA, vol. iii. p. 867). Hence it is not possible to say whether Pontus there means the Roman province united with Bithynia, or the whole country with its three distinct parts. But the former is much more probable, for Jews tended to prefer the peaceful and ci\Tlized countries, finding them much more suitable for trade and residence ; and therefore it is exceed- ingly unlikely that there were many, if any, Jews in Polemoniacus in the year A.D. 29 or 30. Ponttis Galaticus with the great city of Amasia would be more likely to contain Jews. But there is no possibility of reaching certainty about that unique and peculiar passage ; and, being unique, it is less important.
iv. Spread of Christianity in Pontus.— The Churches of Pontus addressed by St. Peter (1 P 1') were evidently mainly composed of converted pagans. \\ hen that Epistle was composed, it must be concluded that Christianity had already taken strong root in Pontus, as contrasted with its feeble hold on Lycia and Pamphylia, which are not addressed in the Epistle.t Pontus lay so far from the earliest lines of the Christian propa- ganda that the strength of the new religion in it is, certainly, to be regarded as an argument in favour of a date later than A.D. 64. J It is highly probable that Christianity spread thither by sea from the Asian coasts, and even from Rome (as Hort in the remarkable essay appended to his posthumous edition of 1 Peter is inclined to believe), for it is im- probable that any missionary movement occurred at so early a date on the lines leading north from Syria or Cilicia tlirough the barbarous lands of Cappadocia and Pontus Polemoniacus. Thus it was the cities of the Ora Pontvn or Pontic coast lands which earliest received the new religion ; and probably Amastris was its chief centre at first. By A.D. 111-113 it had spread so strongly in the province Pontus that Pliny, governor of llilliiinui ct Fo/itus, when making a ino^ress through Pontus, \vrote to Trajan Ep. 96 (probablj' from Amastris, where he wrote the following letter, 98), giving a remarkable account of the spread of Christianity He says that manj' persons, men and women, of all ages and every rank in the stale, not merely in the great cities, but also in the villages and on farm lands, were aflected by the new superstition, the temples were to a great extent deserted, the sacri- ficial ritual had been for a long time interrupted,
* Many excellent authorities, in defiance of this obvious and inevitable fact, re^^ard him as a freedman. See Sanday- lleadlam. Jiomatig, p. 418 fl.
t The failure of Cilicia is due to its being i>art of the pro- vince Syha-Cilicia, and not Included In U»o special group of provinces contemplated, viz, Asia Minor.
I See The Church in the Homan Empire b^ort 170, p. 284.
18
PONTUS
POOL
and few persons were found to buy animals for Bacrilice. This state of the province was of long standing {diii), and some wlio were accused de- clared that tliey had abandoned Christianity 20 or '25 years ago.* Hence we cannot believe that less tlian 40 to 50 yeais had elapsed since the evangelization of the province began. While it is evident that I'liny is .speaking of the province in general, it is notewortliy tliat it was in Ponlus tliat lie hnally became so strongly impressed with the evil, and wrote to Trajan for advice about it. Towards the middle of the 2nd cent. Lucian con- lirms the testimony of Pliny (not that any conhr- mation is needed to establish the truth of that oiKcial report), alluding incidentally to Pontus, the native country of Alexander the impostor of Abo- nouteichos, as ' filled full with Epicureans and atheists and Christians' (Alex. 25). Like Phrygia, Pontus appears in the 2nd cent, as a region where Christianity was so strong that its history was no longer thatof a militant religion against paganism, but rather of a contest of sect against sect. The heretic Marcion was born at Sinope in Pontus about 120. Aquila, the translator of the OT into Greek, was also a native of Pontus.
From the coast lands of the province, however, Christianity spread inland only slowlj'. Incident- ally we observe here that it is necessary to distin- guish carefully between the diflerent meanings of the name Pontus, for neglect to do so has led some good scholars into needless difficulties. Thus, when Gregory Thaumaturgus was made bishop of Neo- cajsareia in Pontus about A.D. 240, he is said to have found only seventeen Christians in the country ;t and, though no reliance can be placed on the exact number, still a clear tradition, doubt- less trustworthy, is implied that Gregory had gone to a practically pagan country. This has been often set in opposition to the facts implied in 1 P I' and in Pliny. But Gregory preached in Pontus Polenioniacus, whose capital was Neoca?saieia, while the older authorities speak of the province ; and the contrast between the rapid spread in the one and the failure in the other is due to the tendencj' of the new religion to be restricted to the imperial bounds, to prefer civilized regions to uncivilized (Polemoniacus being remote and back- ward compared to the province), and to flourish be>t in districts where there had long been a strong ■Jewish clement to prepare the soil.