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'''Early Church'''
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, charity, the inspirational witness of Christians 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. These pious monotheistic communities provided inroads for the [[Gospel]] to be preached, rendering many 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]].
Large parts of Asia were also evangelized [[evangelize]]d very early on, including Georgia (Saint [[Nino of Cappadocia]]), Armenia (Saints [[Gregory the Enlightener]], [[Mesrob Mashtots]], and Isaac the Armenian), Syria and the Middle East, Persia, and even India ([[Apostle Thomas]] evangelized the Hindus; and later Saint [[Pantanaeus of Alexandria]]).
In Europe, the situation became dire for converts as early as the 2nd century. The Romans began major campaigns of persecution against Christians in France in the 2nd century and in Spain in the 3rd century. Britain’s first martyr, Saint [[Alban]], died in 303. However, with the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the Empire in 380, Christian [[evangelists ]] were given free reign to spread the faith.
'''Medieval Church'''
As the power of the Roman Empire declined, the faith of the Church deepened, in large part due to monastic influences. Beginning in the 5th century, monasteries in Ireland became training centers for missionaries, who evangelized Britain more extensively. From Ireland and Britain, missionary monks were sent to mainland Europe. In this way, France was more thoroughly evangelized, and the Christian faith reached pagan tribes in modern-day Holland and Germany (Saints [[Willibrord]] and [[Boniface]]). In the ninth century, bishops played a key role in pioneering the [[evangelization ]] of Scandinavia as well as Central and Eastern Europe.
The ninth century was the century of the most famous missionary saints of the Orthodox Church: Saints [[Cyril and Methodius]]. The Patriarch of Constantinople, Saint [[Photius the Great]], sent the Thessalonian brothers to [[evangelize ]] the Slavs of Moravia, thus following in the footsteps of Saint [[John Chrysostom]], who as Archbishop of Constantinople had sent missionaries to preach Christ to many pagan peoples, including the Slavs, the Goths, the Phoenicians, the Scythians, and the Persians.
Saints Cyril and Methodius devised an alphabet for the Slavic people and translated the Scriptures, the Divine Liturgy, and other liturgical texts into Slavonic. In the end, their work in Moravia did not survive them, as the Pope of Rome ruled against the use of Slavonic in the Church. The brothers’ disciples were expelled. In 907, Moravia was invaded and conquered by the pagan Magyars. The Slavonic language died out among the Moravians, and within two centuries the Slavonic mission in Moravia was all but gone. However, by divine providence, the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius (including Saint [[Clement of Ohrid]]) had fled to Bulgaria, whose king had adopted the Christian faith. There the Slavonic translation work of Saints Cyril and Methodius bore much fruit. Within almost a century of Methodius’ death in 885, the nations of Bulgaria, Serbia, and Kievan Rus’ (Russia) converted to the Christian faith.
With the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Byzantine Church faced economic pressure, discrimination, and outright persecution from their Islamic overlords. Missions fell by the wayside in this new state of affairs, as Greek Christians strove to preserve the faith and pass it on to the next generation. This struggle lasted until 1821, when Greece gained its independence. But due to continuing pastoral needs as well as issues of nationalism, missionary work remained a low priority for the Greek Church until the 20th century.
With the decline of Byzantium came the ascendancy of the Russian Church. From its inception, the Russian Church had embodied the apostolic zeal of the Early Church. The vast stretches of the Russian lands called for continuous missionary endeavors, especially in the harsh Arctic terrains in the North and the trackless East. Even during the Mongol occupation, Russian Orthodox missionaries strove to convert pagan tribes (Saint [[Stephen of Perm]]), including the Mongols themselves (Bishop Mitrophan of Sarai). The Russian approach to missions reflected the Orthodox Church's incarnational missiology and methodology epitomized by the Apostles to the Slavs, Saints Cyril and Methodius. First, Russian missionaries used the vernacular language as much as possible in [[evangelism]], instruction, and worship, transmitting the Scriptures and the full dogmatic heritage of the Orthodox Church in a language the people could understand. Second, they worked hard to make the faith indigenous so as to ordain native clergy as soon as possible. Third, they labored towards establishing a functional regional Church that could sustain and rule itself (rather than being subjugated to a distant authority figure such as the Pope of Rome).
'''Modern Church'''
The seventeenth century saw Russian missionaries go to China. The Chinese Orthodox Church would produce a number of martyrs during the Boxer Rebellion (St [[Mitrophan Yang]] of Beijing) in 1900. On the whole, however, the Russian Church’s missionary fervor languished during Russia’s period of westernization in the 17th and 18th centuries.
A remarkable revival took place in the 19th century, corresponding to widespread spiritual renewal in the Church (due in large part to the translation of the Philokalia into Slavonic by St [[Paisius Velichkovsky]]). At the Kazan Academy, established in 1842, numerous translation projects were undertaken and native clergy received training (Ilminsky). In 1793, a small group of monks from Valaam monastery was sent to [[evangelize ]] Alaska, a Russian territory since 1867. The most famous members of this small group are Saint [[Herman of Alaska]] and Saint [[Juvenal of Alaska]]. Saint Juvenal was martyred by a heathen Alaskan tribe whom he sought to convert. Most of the company died or returned to Russia, and in the end only Saint Herman remained, choosing to stay in Alaska out of love for the native inhabitants, the Aleuts. He lived as a hermit on Spruce Island and cared for the poor Aleuts, guiding them to Christ and raising many orphans. Saint Herman’s missionary career spanned 40 years.
Perhaps the most famous missionary of 19th century Russia is Saint [[Innocent of Alaska]]. A simple parish priest, he moved to Alaska with his family in 1824 and began ministering to the Aleuts. From the outset of his missionary career in Alaska, the saint studied the languages and cultures of the Alaskan native peoples with the scholarly acumen of an anthropologist. In 1832, he was transferred to Sitka, where he ministered to the Tlingit people. He undertook many long missionary journeys by ship or kayak, preaching, catechizing, and providing the sacraments to the faithful. Having mastered a number of Alaskan dialects, the saint provided invaluable translations of Holy Scripture as well as liturgical service texts. After the death of his wife, he took monastic vows in 1840, receiving the name Innocent in honor of Saint Innocent of Irkutsk. He was appointed Bishop of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands in Russia and the Aleutian Islands in Russian America. In 1850, he was elevated to Archbishop. His diocese expanded to include Yakut, located in the Russian Far East. There he traveled immense distances by dog sled to minister to the Yakut peoples. In 1867, Saint Innocent was appointed Metropolitan of Moscow. In his new position, the saint founded the Russian Orthodox Missionary Society in 1870. He died in 1879.
Saint Innocent of Alaska mentored two other great missionary saints: Saint [[Jacob Netsvetov]] of Alaska and Saint [[Nicholas of Japan]]. Saint Jacob was born in Alaska to a Russian father and an Aleut mother. Thus, he grew up knowing both the Russian and the Aleut languages and cultures. After completing his studies at a seminary in Russia, he was ordained to the priesthood by the same Archbishop who had ordained St Innocent a priest. St Jacob longed to return to his native Alaska to preach Christ to his own people. He and his wife traveled to Alaska in 1828. His first parish encompassed five islands. In this role, he founded a school and trained the future leaders of the Aleut Church. He corresponded with St Innocent regarding translation issues, and himself undertook the translation of the Scriptures into the language of his parishioners. After the death of his wife, he requested permission to join a monastery. Instead, by God’s providence, he met Saint Innocent, Bishop of Kamchatka at the time, who counseled him during this difficult time. In the end, Saint Innocent appointed him head of the new Kvikhpak Mission. Saint Jacob traveled hundreds of miles along the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers to proclaim Christ to the Yupik Eskimos and the Athabascan peoples. Over the course of 20 years, he learned various Alaskan languages, invented a new alphabet, baptized hundreds, built churches, and developed Christian communities. Yet towards the end of his life, the saint was slandered and had to undergo ecclesiastical investigation at Sitka. While at Sitka, Saint Jacob served at the Tlingit chapel. Though he was cleared of charges, he died before he could return to the mission field, in 1864.
Saint Innocent of Alaska also directly inspired and personally guided another extraordinary missionary: Saint [[Nicholas of Japan]]. While at St Petersburg Theological Seminary, Saint Nicholas volunteered for the request of the Russian Consulate in Japan for a priest. He providentially met St Innocent on his way to Japan in 1860 (and again in Japan in 1861). Saint Innocent graciously mentored Saint Nicholas, counseling him to absorb the language, religious ethos, and culture of Japan with studious dedication. When Saint Nicholas arrived at Hakodate in 1861, Japanese society was hostile towards [[evangelization]], so he spent the next eight years learning the language, customs, and history of the Japanese people. This time was foundational for his work of translating the Scriptures and the liturgical services of the Church into classical Japanese. His small congregation grew slowly. In 1869, Saint Nicholas reported on his work to the Holy Synod of Russia, who decided "to set up a special Russian Ecclesiastical Mission to preach God's Word among pagans," with Father Nicholas as head. The saint returned to Japan and moved to Tokyo, the new center of his missionary endeavors. There he established a number of schools, including a theological school, which became a seminary in 1878. Raising up native clergy was a high priority for Saint Nicholas, and his method was always to catechize converts in such a way that they could effectively share the [[Gospel]] with their countrymen as lay catechists. In 1880, he was consecrated bishop of Tokyo. Shortly after his consecration, he ordained the first Chinese Orthodox priest, Saint [[Mitrophan Yang]], who would be martyred in the Boxer Rebellion. Saint Nicholas completed the construction of the Holy Resurrection Church in 1891. By 1911, there were 266 Orthodox parishes; the Orthodox faithful numbered 30,000. The Archbishop, revered by many in Japan and abroad, died in 1912.
With the Communist Revolution of 1917, the Russian Church was forced into a similar situation as the captivity of the Byzantine Church from 1453 to 1821. Discrimination, persecution, and intimidation were the new order of the day for Russian Orthodox Christians. As a result, the mission work of the Russian Church all but ceased, and the energy of the clergy was focused on the preservation of the faith.
'''Noteworthy uncanonized missionaries of the Orthodox Church:'''
* Hieromartyr [[Daniel Sysoev]] ([[evangelist ]] in Moscow; martyred by Muslim fanatic in 2009)
* Archbishop [[Dmitri (Royster) of Dallas]], Apostle of the South (convert to the Orthodox Church; active in Texas, Mexico, and the American South; reposed in 2011; body was discovered to be incorrupt)
* Father [[Kosmas of Zaire]] (missionary to modern-day Congo; reposed in 1989)