Changes

Whilst the idea of a great and splendid Christian ruler somewhere in the East was only [[wishful thinking]] fed by the still unknown perpetrator(s) of one of the great hoaxes in history; there was truth in the idea of  flourishing Christian communities beyond the wall of Muslim dominance in the [[Middle East]] and [[North Africa]].

Whilst the idea of a great and splendid Christian ruler somewhere in the East was only [[wishful thinking]] fed by the still unknown perpetrator(s) of one of the great hoaxes in history; there was truth in the idea of  flourishing Christian communities beyond the wall of Muslim dominance in the [[Middle East]] and [[North Africa]].

    

    

*Tradition has it that the [[Apostle Thomas]] led a group of [[Syria]]n Christians to the west coast of India. Whatever the truth of the history, and the specifics of the geography, a large community still referred to as the “St. Thomas Christians” still worships along the [[Malabar Coast]] of India, having been converted from their original [[Nestorian]] form of the faith to [[Roman Catholicism]] by the [[Portuguese]] in the early 16th century.

*Tradition has it that the [[Apostle Thomas]] led a group of [[Syria]]n Christians to the west coast of India. Whatever the truth of the history, and the specifics of the geography, a large community still referred to as the “St. Thomas Christians” still worships along the [[Malabar]] coast of India, having been converted from their original [[Nestorian]] form of the faith to [[Roman Catholicism]] by the [[Portuguese]] in the early 16th century.

*The [[Nestorian]] churches in [[Persia]] began missionary activity along the trade routes of Asia from a relatively early date. A string of [[Diocese|Bishoprics]] along what is known as the [[Silk Road]] and as far as Yang-chou near the coast of the Yellow Sea testify to their success. Islamic intolerance brought on by the [[Crusades]] during the first 3 centuries of the second millennium did much to damage the central Asian churches, but some in [[China]] survived.

*The [[Nestorian]] churches in [[Persia]] began missionary activity along the trade routes of Asia from a relatively early date. A string of [[Diocese|Bishoprics]] along what is known as the [[Silk Road]] and as far as Yang-chou near the coast of the Yellow Sea testify to their success. Islamic intolerance brought on by the [[Crusades]] during the first 3 centuries of the second millennium did much to damage the central Asian churches, but some in [[China]] survived.