Pentecost, which took place 50 days after the Resurrection, is the day when about 3,000 people were baptized into the Christian faith (Acts 2:41).
Historically speaking, Christianity grew rapidly. By AD 60, the faith had already spread throughout the Middle East, much of the Mediterranean, and possibly as far as the Caucuses. About 300 years after Christ, Christianity would become the dominant religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine. Today, there are about 2.2 billion Christians on the planet, making Christianity the world's largest religion. Islam is second with about 1.6 billion.
As a side note, the Eastern Orthodox Church says a special prayer for those in Hell during Vespers on Pentecost. This would seem to suggest that at least one major branch of traditional Christianity is open to the possibility that Christ's mercy and redemptive power can even reach into Hell, a concept that is consistent with both ancient and contemporary Christian Universalism.
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