Greeks and Greek speaking Christians constituted the greater
part of the early Christian Church. Although Rome had achieved
the political unity of the whole world, it was the Greeks who
who had a achieved a cultural unity throughout the Mediterranean
world and beyond. It was their language, ideas and outlook that
swept a good part of the known world. The first contact of the
Greeks with Christ was related in the Gospel of John (Jn
12.20-24). Some Greeks approached Phillip and Andrew and asked
to meet with Jesus. They were eager to hear the new ideas
espoused by this new teacher. Greeks have always been travelers;
cosmopolitan wanderers, like Homer's Odysseus, searching and
restless for new experiences and ideas. Thucydides described the
Ancient Greeks as "people who could not rest or permit others to
rest." Jesus realized that these Greeks with "a searching spirit
and troubled mind" represented an opportunity to spread his
message beyond the boundaries of Israel. The Greeks had
established cities throughout A