ABSTRACT
The spread of Christianity from Byzantium to the outer world saw two main peaks: the first was in the sixth century, when the empire brought its religion to Sudan, Persia, Arabia, Abkhasia and beyond; the second fell in the ninth and tenth centuries when Great Moravia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Alania, Hungary and Rus' were brought within the orbit of imperial Christianity. There exists a Byzantine ivory plaque of the eleventh century depicting the Pentecost. Much of the twelfth century was propitious for Byzantium. Consequently, the rhetoric of subduing barbarians largely displaces the rhetoric of converting them. Some revival of missionary activity can be traced during the reign of Manuel Komnenos. The belief that the imperial faith went hand in hand with membership of the empire led to positive reluctance to propagate the faith among independent barbarians, in spite of all declarations to the contrary.
