Early Medieval Missions and
Conversion
Missions and Conversion
Common themes emerging?
 Who were some of the people leading
missionary efforts, conversion?
 Strategies employed?

Missions and Conversion

The Great Commission
• “Go therefore and make
disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them
in the name of the
Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that
I commanded you…”
(Matthew 28:19-20).
Missions and Conversion

St. Patrick
(ca. 390 – ca. 461)
• “Apostle of Ireland”
• From Britain
• Captured 
Ireland, escaped
• Returned, brought
Roman Christianity
• Legends!
Missions and Conversion
Missions and Conversion

The Visigoths
• Evangelized by Ulfilas
(d. ca. 381)
• Shared Iberia with
Catholics
• Reccared (r. 586-601)
adopted Catholicism
(587)
• Third Council of Toledo
(589): Catholicism
declared religion of
Visigoths
Reccared reading confession of faith
at Third Council of Toledo (589)
Missions and Conversion

The Franks
• Allied to Byzantine
Empire
• Pagans, Arians,
Catholics
• Clovis I (r. 481-511/13)


Baptism of Clovis
Raised pagan, flirted
with Arianism?
Converted to
Catholicism
• Franks adopted
Catholicism en masse
Missions and Conversion

The English Mission
• Initiated by Gregory I,
probably Bertha
• Augustine dispatched
596, arrived 597
• Had audience with
Aethelberht at Thanet
• Faced tenacious
paganism
• Missionary strategies:
preaching, their
lifestyle, “miracles”
Image of Gregory and Augustine,
S. Gregorio Magno, Rome
Missions and Conversion

The English Mission
• Aethelberht and others
converted, baptized
• Gregory remained
involved via letters
• English church structure



Image of Gregory and Augustine,
S. Gregorio Magno, Rome
Augustine  1st
archbishop of
Canterbury
Provinces established
Bishops consecrated
Missions and Conversion
Gregory the Great and an Angle slave boy in Rome,
St. Thomas’s Roman Catholic Church, Canterbury
Missions and Conversion
St. Martin’s Church, Canterbury
Missions and Conversion
Stained-glass image of Queen Bertha, St. Martin’s
Missions and Conversion
Ruins of St. Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury
Missions and Conversion
Augustine’s grave site
Missions and Conversion

Cyril and Methodius
(826-869; 815?-885)
• Brothers from
Thessalonika
• Spoke Slavonic
• Dispatched to Moravia
to convert Slavs (863)
• Translated Bible, service
books into Slavonic
• Mission ultimately
unsuccessful?
Missions and Conversion

The Rus
• Formed by East
Slavs, Vikings
• Ruled by princes
• Center: Kiev
• Pagan, animists
• Christians sought to
make inroads
Missions and Conversion

Prince Vladimir
The Conversion of
the Rus
• Vladimir the Great
(r. 980-1015)
converted (988)
• Launched
Christianization of
Rus
• Rus dependent on
Byzantines for
clergy, Slavonic
liturgy
Missions and Conversion

Questions?
Missions and Conversion
Common themes emerging?
 Who were some of the people leading
missionary efforts, conversion?
 Strategies employed?

Primary Source

Leo the Great’s “Petrine Doctrine”
– What kind of source is this?
– What did Leo teach about St. Peter’s relationship to
the eleven other apostles?
– What titles did Leo use while describing Peter?
– According to Leo, how was St. Peter still at work?
What does this say about Leo’s beliefs regarding
papal authority?
Primary Source

Gregory the Great and “Papal Activity”
– What kind of source are these? To whom
were they addressed?
– What was the purpose of each?
– How did Gregory relate to the recipients?
– What insight do these documents give us
regarding papal authority, and papal
concerns, during Late Antiquity?
Primary Source

The Christianization of Russia
• What kind of source might this be?
• What does the text claim was the issue at
first?
• How can we describe the Russian reaction to
Byzantine Christianity?
• Based on the document, what might have been
the very practical reason behind Vladimir’s
conversion?
• What is recorded about Vladimir’s
Christianization efforts?