Amongst the different colonies which the liberal ordinances of the Seleucidæ had attracted to the capital of Syria, that of the Jews was one of the most numerous;[12.33] it dated from the time of Seleucus Nicator, and was governed by the same laws as the Greeks.[12.34] Although the Jews had an ethnarch of their own, their relations with the pagans were very frequent. Here, as at Alexandria, these relations often degenerated into quarrels and aggressions.[12.35] On the other hand, they afforded a field for an active religious propagandism. The polytheism of the officials becoming more and more insufficient to meet the wants of serious persons, the Grecian and Jewish philosophies attracted all those whom the vain pomps of paganism could not satisfy. The number of proselytes was considerable. From the first days of Christianity, Antioch had furnished to the Church of Jerusalem one of its most influential members, viz. Nicolas, one of the deacons.[12.36] There existed there promising germs, which only waited for a ray of grace to burst forth into bloom and bear the most excellent fruits which had hitherto been produced. The church of Antioch owed its foundation to some original believers from Cyprus and Cyrene, who had already been zealous in preaching.[12.37] Up to this time they had only addressed themselves to the Jews. But in a city where pure Jews--Jews who were proselytes, "people fearing God"--or half-Jews, half-pagans and pure pagans, lived together,[12.38] confined preachings, restricted to a group of houses, became impossible. That feeling of religious aristocracy on which the Jews of Jerusalem so much prided themselves, had no existence in these large cities, where civilization was altogether of the profane sort, where the atmosphere was more expanded, and where prejudices were less firmly rooted. The Cypriot and Cyrenian missionaries were then constrained to depart from their rule. They preached to the Jews and to the Greeks indifferently.{12.39}