BITHYNIA

(Bi·thynʹi·a).

A Roman province in the northern part of Asia Minor. It was located in what is now NW Turkey, extending eastward from Istanbul along the southern shore of the Black Sea. On Paul’s second missionary journey, after he and Silas had been joined by Timothy at Lystra, they endeavored to travel into Bithynia, but “the spirit of Jesus did not permit them.” (Ac 16:7) The area is not mentioned as being the scene of apostolic preaching, but there obviously were Christians there when Peter wrote his first canonical letter about 62-64 C.E. (1Pe 1:1) Pliny the Younger, writing from Bithynia to the Roman emperor Trajan while Pliny was special commissioner, makes mention of numerous Christians in the province, stating that at the beginning of the second century Christianity was not confined to the towns only, but had spread into “villages and rural districts too.”​—The Letters of Pliny, X, XCVI, 9.