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The Orthodox Church has a rich and vibrant missionary tradition. Beginning with the Apostles, the Church sent out missionaries to spread the Christian faith to all peoples. The Church at [[Antioch]] sent the [[Apostle Paul]] and [[Apostle Barnabas]] on their first missionary journey to Asia Minor and Greece. The Apostle Paul completed three such journeys, each time extending further out and founding new churches. In addition to the missionary work of the Apostles (and later of bishops, priests, and monks), [[evangelization]] took place in a variety of other ways (through trade relations, personal friendships, [[philanthropic]] institutions and acts of [[charity]], the inspirational witness of the Church as a role model community, etc.). In other words, laypeople played a highly significant role at the local level of [[evangelization]].
Christian communities arose in major urban centers first, before spreading to rural areas through monasticism from 270 onward (first in Egypt and Syria, then elsewhere). The faith spread rapidly, helped by a number of external factors. First, Roman infrastructure greatly aided the speed of travel. Second, the conquests of Alexander the Great and his Hellenization campaign had made the Greek tongue a universal language throughout the Roman Empire, extending even into the Far East. Third, due to the Jewish Diaspora, there were synagogues strewn far and wide throughout the Mediterranean basin and penetrating into Asia and Africa. [[Image:Patrick of Ireland.jpg|right|frame|St. [[Patrick of Ireland]] ]] These pious monotheistic communities provided inroads for the [[Gospel]] to be preached, rendering many contexts compatible contexts for the new faith to be embraced.
The Christian faith took root in all corners of the Roman Empire, including Spain, France (Saints [[Irenaeus of Lyons]] and [[Martin of Tours]]), Britain (Saints [[Augustine of Canterbury]] and [[Aidan of Lindisfarne]]), and North Africa. The [[Apostle Mark]] had founded the Church in Egypt in the 1st century. In the 4th century, Saint [[Frumentius of Axum]] preached the [[Gospel]] to the Ethiopian royalty at Axum, and was later consecrated the first Bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church by Saint [[Athanasius of Alexandria]].
