Christian History Home > Issue 57 > Evangelism in the Early Church: A Gallery of Key Converts
Evangelism in the Early Church: A Gallery of Key Converts
Rejecting paganism, these five Christians helped evangelize an empire.
Gregory P. Elder | posted 1/01/1998 12:00AM
Gregory Thaumaturgus
(c. 210-260)
"The Wonder Worker"
Parents today sometimes worry that their children will go off to college and return as converts to some strange new religion. That's exactly what happened 1,700 years ago to Gregory of Pontus, only the strange new religion was Christianity.
Born into an affluent pagan family in Neocaesarea (modern Turkey), Gregory studied law and the traditional Greek and Roman classics. Then he and his brother were sent for further study to Caesarea in Palestine, where they enrolled in the school of the great Christian thinker Origen. His teacher converted him (and his brother, Athenodorus) to Christianity.
When Gregory returned home, he found a Christian community of 17 people waiting for him. Soon afterward, Gregory was elected bishop. Although his training was in speculative theology, Gregory's pastoral work was concerned with practical applications of the faith. His pastoral skills were such that some of his flock soon attributed miracles to him—hence ...
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