Author: Cédric Placentino
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A European Journey #96 – Oberndorf bei Salzburg (Austria)
In the nineteenth century, an Austrian priest wrote a poem beginning with the words Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht, Silent Night, Holy Night. Little did he know that his poem of six stanzas would become a carol sung in many languages all over the world. At first, the circumstances that gave birth to this famous Christmas carol…
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A European Journey #95 – Urfa (Turkey)
Scholars like Vishal Mangalwadi or Tom Holland have demonstrated that the Western legal tradition finds its roots in the Bible. But how could a law that God gave to Moses in a remote land by the Red Sea possibly have such an impact? After Pentecost, when the first Christians began to spread the Gospel beyond…
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A European Journey #94 – Artashat (Armenia)
In the first three centuries, Christianity advanced through much bloodshed in Armenia. Nevertheless, these persecutions could not prevent the country from becoming the first official Christian nation and one of the earliest educated nations in the world. Artashat is an Armenian town which can tell us more about these early developments. It is located 30…
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A European Journey #93 – Baku (Azerbaijan)
Azerbaijan is a predominantly Muslim nation nowadays. But even though this is an undisputed fact, a closer look into the history of this land reveals that before the Muslim invasions, a flourishing church once existed here. The neighbouring nations of Georgia and Armenia are known to be among the oldest Christian lands in the world,…
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A European Journey #92 – Urfa (Turkey)
In 301 AD, Armenia became the first kingdom in the world to adopt Christianity as its official faith. But it was several centuries of Christian influence that led to this watershed moment, and the process may have actually started during the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. So how did the Gospel first…