Sentence:  There began to appear from the East, cropping up now here, now there, but in general along lines of advance towards the West, individuals or small communities who proposed and <WSD>propagated</WSD> a new and, as they called it, a purified form of religion. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To spread from person to person; to extend the knowledge of; to originate and spread; to carry from place to place; to disseminate