How to win new followers for Christianity?: The origins of eastern and western missions in early medieval 'younger Europe'

Abstract

The Christianisation of eastern Europe started later than in western Europe and faced challenges not faced by the West in late antiquity. In those eastern lands occupied by Slavs and others, formerly under control of the Byzantines or others, the process of re- Christianising those lands and bringing Christianity for the first time to the occupiers, was done gradually and often with cultural concessions, like the preservation of language. In Bulgaria there was an acceptance of Christianity in former Byzantine territory often associated with increasing political ties. In Frankish lands, however, where there was a push for Christianisation there was often more conflict. The pace of this increased in the ninth century with Cyril and Methodius as missionaries, whose new style of spreading Christianity and the development of a written Slavic language brought permanent success.