“ Practical reasons for the success of the early mission at Antioch, ” suggests historian Downey, “may have been that in this city the missionaries had not to fear Jewish fanatics such as they encountered in Jerusalem; also that the city, as the capital of Syria, was governed by a legate, and so enjoyed a greater degree of public order, with less opportunity for mob violence such as had occurred in Jerusalem, where the procurators of Judaea seem (at this period at least) not to have been able to restrain the Jewish fanatics. ”
इतिहासकार डाउनी का कहना है, “अन्ताकिया में, प्रचार काम सफल होने की कई वज़हें हो सकती हैं । एक तो यह कि वहाँ यरूशलेम की तरह यहूदी कट्टरपंथी नहीं थे जो चेलों को धमका सकें; साथ ही उस शहर पर एक मिलिट्री कमांडर की हुकूमत चलती थी इसलिए दंगे - फसाद होने की गुंजाइश कम रहती थी ।