<P> The presence of Arabians at Pentecost and Paul's three - year sojourn in Arabia suggest a very early gospel witness . A 4th - century church history, states that the apostle Bartholomew preached in Arabia and that Himyarites were among his converts . The Al - Jubail Church in what is now Saudi Arabia was built in the 4th century . Arabia's close relations with Ethiopia give significance to the conversion of the treasurer to the queen of Ethiopia, not to mention the tradition that the Apostle Matthew was assigned to this land . Eusebius says that "one Pantaneous (c . A.D. 190) was sent from Alexandria as a missionary to the nations of the East", including southwest Arabia, on his way to India . </P> <P> Christianity arrived early in Nubia . In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, a treasury official of "Candace, queen of the Ethiopians" returning from a trip to Jerusalem was baptised by Philip the Evangelist: </P> <Dl> <Dd> Then the Angel of the Lord said to Philip, Start out and go south to the road that leads down from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is desert . And he arose and went: And behold, a man of Ethiopia, an Eunuch of great authority under Candace, Queen of E-thi - o'pi - ans, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem to worship . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> Then the Angel of the Lord said to Philip, Start out and go south to the road that leads down from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is desert . And he arose and went: And behold, a man of Ethiopia, an Eunuch of great authority under Candace, Queen of E-thi - o'pi - ans, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem to worship . </Dd>

The bishop of one of the major ancient sites of christianity