The church survived in spite of state interference in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in large part because the peasant classes were devoted to the traditions of the faith, great writers like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky advanced the need for salvation in their works, and dedicated ministers quietly served unofficial flocks.
The seventh century saw the rise of Mohammedanism when Mohammed made Mecca the center of his new cult. Believing that a new religious era had been established in 622, the year Mohammed fled for his life from Mecca, his followers carried on a militant crusade from country to country throughout the Near East. Their steady progress against all opposition resulted in the loss to the empire of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa, and Spain.