“ 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. ”
त्याचप्रमाणे, सिरीयाची राजधानी असलेल्या या शहरावर लष्करी हुकूमत असल्यामुळे तेथे सुव्यवस्था होती. जेरूसलेममध्ये तर यहुदीयाच्या रोमन अधिकाऱ्‍यांना (या वेळी तरी) धर्मवेड्या यहुद्यांना आटोक्यात आणणे शक्य नव्हते.