PART I

CHAPTER - I

THE MILIEU OF THE NASCENT SYRIAC CHRISTIANITY

The m,orld Christian movement that started at Palestine in Syria began to

spread to the other parts of the Asian continent immediately after the death and

resurrection of Jesus Christ.. In the course of time, the message of Jesus

reached to the different parts of the world. The diversity of languages,

religions and cultures among humanity was much greater at the beginning of

the Christian movement. rllis movement went across political, cultural and

lir~guistic boundaries, which transcended all human limitations of geography

and culture reconciling itself with the corresponding native traditions. The

Christian mission thus continued to give rise to new articulations of belief and

ne:w institutional strategies.

Early Christianity in Syria

The foundation tradition of Christianity was formed among Aramaic and

Syriac speaking Jewish communities in Syria and Mesopotamia. Of all

imperial provinces. Syria was by far the richest and most important in Asia. It

was a Roman state in 27 H.C. It proved to be an important region1. Regarding

the nature of the Syriac ('hristianity. there are only details provided in the form

of legends and traditions or documents written later.

I Very uld trading patterns existed bet\%eun Syria and Mesopotamia, and these seem to have been exploited and expanded in the Roma~l cra Its governorship was the most honourable post that the entperor could confer.

: One reason for Syria's primacy was economic. Its natural resources made it invaluable as a producer o f food, and as a mar~ufacturing centre it had a peer in the Roman world and its products were marketed widely throughout the empire.

: Thc lirst ('hristian communjlics of any c<rnsidcrablc size had their house in the great Greek cities on the eastcrn shores or the Mcdiierrsnean. I t flourished in Jewish colonies. The type of Christianity rcprcscntcd in this area according to the carlier Syriac sources. reflectcd Jewish Christianity.

According to the Biblical narration, it was at Antioch, that the followers

of Christ were first called Christians'. There is no evidence either about the

size of this Christian community or its internal life. Of the subsequent history

of the early Church in Syria, the New Testament of the Bible tells us virtually

nothing except that Antioch was seemingly the headquarters for Paul and

~arnabas l . The Hellenistic character of the Church in Syria is illustrated by the

letters of lgnatius. thc Bishop o f ~ n t i o c h ~ .

Beginning of East Syriac Christianity

For the information about the beginning of the Syriac Christianity one

should have some idea of the early development of the church in Edessa, the

first centre of Christianit) in the Syriac-speaking world4. The Church in

Edessa was known also as East Syrian church. It had an apostolic origin with a

distinctive character of its own. It is genuinely an Asian Church and as in the

case of most of the Eastern churches5, the early period of its history is

shr.ouded in ambiguity6.

I . Accilrdlng 10 the NI ul the 13lhlc ;itier thc death of Stephen. Jesus' followers were somc what scattered. and a ti.,+ , > I them (.$nell of Cyprui and Cy~cnc ' ) caitte to Antioch preaching Jesus.

: Acts 11:26. 6:8 - 7 :60 . i 1.19-213. 13:l--3. et~..

2. Stewart, l / i .ssiona~~ 1~:nterpri.res. 31

3. These famous seven letters were: written in Greek to various churches in Asia Minor. That variant forms o f Christianity continued to trouble the Church in Syria is illustrated through the experience o f one o f lgnatius'5 later successors, Serapion (21 IAD). Eusebius reports that Serapion discovered that the Christians in the town of Rhosus ( on the coast, north-west o f Antioch) were using a document known as the Gospel o f Peter.

:: Eusebius. /:eel fiist. MPNI; l'l.xii 1-6

: An interesting side-light on Syrian Christianity, as seen by a pagan observer, comes to us from Lucian of Samosata ( c 120-80Al))

:: Eusebius. LcclHiur, .YP.VF. lli. xxxvi. 1-1 I

4 Burkit. ('iir.,.srio,,rn. 0

5 . i h r Churcl~ of thc i:asterns was the daughter. not of Antioch. but of Edessa It is said that one can hardl) crurh over tu Mcsopotaoiia without pasbing through Iidessa, l'hc Geographical position has got much impact on its political iiuations tliat in turn contributed a great deal on formulating religious ethos and ic\ponsch

6. Regarding tlic beginnins and u:rrIy IIR of the (:hr~stianity thcre, no authentic proofis available. The hist-rical \ources arc scant) Most oi' thc accounts of thc earlier periods that we possess are

conip~latl<~n\ in which at least iwo incons~slcnt lh~storical traditions have been blended.

The place of Edessa in the formation of the Syriac Christianity

Both the kingdoms Osrhoene and Adiabene figured prominently in the

traditions of the early Asian Christianity. Osrhoene with its capital of Edessa

guarded the crossing of the Euphrates at its great northern bend. Edessa was

re-founded by the Seleucids (Greek) and was called by them Edessa. But the

Aramaic speaking people continued to call it Urhai ( ~ r f a ) ' . During the

beginning of the first century, the Kingdom of Osrhoene was an independent

state in between various hostile imperialistic powers2.

The external history of Edessa followed the usual fortunes of a border

state. It was the misfortune of Edessa not her fault, that she was unable to

maintain her intellectual freedom through the shock of Persian wars. The city

was not cut off from a wide intercourse with surrounding communities.

During the commtncement of the Christian Era, Edessa was an

independent kingdom ruled by a Beduin King, Abgar. It was a city built by

trade. Through it passed the western extension of the Silk Road that ran

between China and the Mediterranean world '. By reasons of its location, on

the east west trade routes. Iidlessa was of considerable economic importance.

The kingdom of Adiabene, its capital Arbela (Erbil), stood on the upper

waters of the Tigris liiver. hhich was the most important city of that area. The

region ot Adiabene lay north east of Osrhoene on the eastern side of the river -- - .- -- -- - -

1. A name of uncertain meaning, fiom which the Greeks formed Osrhoene (or Orrhoene) for the name of the district The ~r~odern name tor the town Urfa is derived from this root. Osrhoene was on the east al'the Roman Empirc nhich lies i n hctween Roman Empire and Parthian Empirc.

: In milst ol the cities o t the provircc of S y ~ a 111~1uding Antioch, Edessa was a place of cultural mixing Among the upper class of thc city the Hellenistic inlluences were strong, but elsewhere in the city and surrounding countryside Aramaic cultural traditions were dominant.

2. Identilying with any of hostilc in~perialistic powers necessarily brought the wrath of the other. Even if they did not identify. the imperialists suspected them of identifying with their enemies, they were at the receiving. This is because of their geographical position in between the mighty Roman and the warring Persian Empire. When Trajan (98.1 17AII) was fighting the Persian counterpart the Romans stormed Edessa and destroyed i t in I IhAI).

3 . North and South o f it ran the inzjor road leading from Arabia and Syria to Armenia. It is placed on a great caravan route, which passes between the Armenian mountains and the great desert to the South.

Tigris. This area was a part of the Parthian Empire. Arbela became the center

for Christian missionary advance into central Asia. Adiabene was a Jewish

centre and the local king of that region during the first century was converted

to Judaism. They had c~~ltural ties and no~ninal political leaning towards

Prrsia.

The language : Syriac

The indigenous language of Syria was a dialect of Aramaic related to

other dialccls used in Nabataea, Jewish Palestine, Palmyra and Mesopotamia.

It was used as an administrative language in the Achaemonid Empire. In pagan

inscriptions during the first three centuries of A.D., Aramaic was used. The

language Aramaic was also used in the commercial field along the Euphrates

valley. The .4ramaic speaking Christians who possessed 'the Lingua franca' of

the contemporary orient carried out the pioneer work in the expansion of the

Christian faith in the lands of 13uphrates and Tigris. Important Jewish

communities in Mesopotamia must have performed a significant function in

the process of initiating thc Christian l'aith in the Syrian orient.

In bdessa, Syriac. a dialect of Aramaic became the principal languagei.

It was a dialect understood where ccer Aramaic was spoken. Syriac became

the language of choice 01' Christians in Syria, Persia and Mesopotamia and

thereafter in India and China. It was into Edessan Syriac that the scriptures in

H~:brew were translated and this translation gave Christian writers and

speakers a ready-made paradigm of both vocabulary and style for their native

tongue2.

I . The languages, Hebrew, i\laniaic, S y r i a ~ and Arabic are known as Semetic languages. Hebrew is the classical language in Israel. Aramaic was the vernacular language in Palestine at the time of Christlt had been spoken b! the Arameans in the North Syria and Mesopotamia. The Hebrew scriptures were in the form uf Aramaic paraphrases known as Targums . The Syriac language is a branch or Aramaic which was spoken in Edessa and its neighbourhood shortly before the beginning uf the Christian Lra. Mandaic is closely allied to it. Quran is written in Arabic language popularly used among the Muslims in their religious matters.

2. For tilore details

: Philips .flordes, 39 : Wood ,Greek~, 4.1: 130 : (iroussd. Asia 5 : Frye, Heritage, 208

Gestation and the Nascent period of East Syrian Church

The church in this area came to be known by different names, such as

Assyrian Church, Babylonian Church. Chaldean Church and Persian Church.

It was also named after Mesopotamia and the Euphrates-Tigris Valley. They

call themselves 'the Church of the East" or 'the Catholic Apostolic Orthodox

Church'. Western historiar~s generally call this church the 'Nestorian

Church'. This stigmatic label 'Nestorian' was first given to the East Syrian

Church by its opponents. Western historians started using this name habitually.

In this way deliberately ur not, they confused the East Syrian Church with

Nestorians.

a. Biblical foundation of the East Syrian Church

Some historians attribute the foundation of the East Syrian Church

(Persian church) to various instances depicted in the New Testament.

(i) VLvit of wisemenjrom the cust and hirth o f Jesus Christ

The Magi, otherwise known as Wiseman, visited Jesus at the time of His

birth. There is an Assyrian tradition that the wise men who came from the East

to worship the infant Jesus were from Edessa, and that they went to Bethlehem

in fulfilment of the prophccy made by Zoroaster in the seventh century BC.

They belonged to a priesllj caste, one of the six tribes of Media'.

1 St. Mathew. Ch. 2.1 1 1

: It is interesting to note that according to tradition Zoroaster, the great religious leader of Persia was a disciple of Jeremiah. Popi~lar tradition among the inhabitants of Media says something more about this. They annually celebrated this visit of the Magi to Jesus.

: Tradition further gives the exact place from which the Magi travelled. It says that the wise men were from Urmaiah, a city of hdede, and this visit is supported by predictions of Zoroaster. On their return to Edessa they narrated the wonderful things they had seen and heard,and this prepared the minds of the Edessians for tke reception of the Gospel.

: L.C.Barnes hinted about a church in Urumiah. It is said to have been erected by the Wiseman. In this church the tomb of one of the wise men is still visible. Patriarch Timothy I, meant this when he wrote about the visit of the wise meli.

: For mure details :

: Dawis, li err M;n!.slrr , 376 : (;ronl. .Si.slor-rons.256 : Barnes. Thousand Yenrs .73

: Lighr f>urrr ~ h r /;o.sr Vol. I \ No. 6. quoted from Young, Porriarch 1, 15 letters.

ii Jesus' Mission atended fo the diusporu Jews through his disciples,

Jesus' ministry was meant to be first to the Jews in Judea and later

shifted his concentration to the Galilean side. He was conscious that His

ministry in its first stage was meant for all Jews. So there is every possibility to

assume that he tried Lo reach all the Jews through his disciples. There is a view

among the Last Syrians that the disciples of Christ visited the region of Persia

duiring the lifetime of Jesus. This might have made intimate relationship I belween the Persians and Jesus .

iii Visit oj certain Greeks lo meet Jesus

SI. John speaks of' certain Greeks who approached Philip of Bethsaida

to see Jesus. Commercially. Persian people had much connection with

Pa:lestine. since Edessa was il city on the great trade routes. Not only Jews but

also the people at large in Persia . especially in Edessa, had opportunity to

come across the life and acrivities of' Jesus and his disciples.

It may be worthy to note in this context that there were certain Greeks

anlong those who came up to worship at the great festival of Passover. Then

they came to Philip who wals from Bethsaida of Galilee, and expressed their

desire to see Jesus. These 'certain Greeks' are supposed to be Edessans. It

may have been in thls way that the king of Edessa came to know about Jesus

and his n~iracles and wanted to meet hlm2

I . L.atourc1lc. I l i i l o r ~ . Voi. I i I! I

2. 101111. ( 7 , 12:20

: f h c Wcsiminister dictionar! rays that the (irccks who wished to see Jesus were foreigners, they were not of (,reek race

: The Nru bible corninentar) in interpret~ng these incidents states that, what Jesus saw in the approach of thc (rreeks was the first fruit of the harvest to be rcapcd through his death.

: Until the end of thc becond ccntury Edcssa was outsidc the Roman Empirc and within the sphere of influcncc of Parthia(Persia1. one of Rurne's lnost formidable rivals.

: Darncs. li~ouscrnd Years 741 : Davidson. Yew Bible. 389 : Burkit, Chrisfianily. 22, 34 -36

According to Latourette, Edessa was an important centre of Greek

culture wh~ch adds some validity to this conjecture. The course of history has

proved this to be true. 11 is assumed that the Edessan field for Christianity was

prepared and that the first fruit of the harvest was reaped in the winning of

Edessan ~ i n ~ ' .

iv. The Persiuns ut the duy ofthe Pettterost.

According to St. Luke's account, Aramaic and Syriac speaking Jewish

communities from varlous parts of the world especially Syria and

Mesopotamia assembled on i.he day of Pentecost at Jerusalem.

Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome,both Jews and proselytes,Cretans and Arabs-we hear them speaking in our own tongues the uonderful works of God '

There seems to be iio problem in ~nferring that the first messengers of

Chistianit) in this region would be some of Parthians, Medes and the

inhabitants of Mesopotamla who were in .lerusalem.The historians like Gibbon

Atiya and ljrock, agree that the East Syrian Church originated from the above

Pentecostal experience. Moreover. men and women from both Jewish and

Christian co~nrnunity are satd to have fled eastwards after the destruction of

the Jerusalem temple in 7 0 . 'l'hroughout the vast area they went literally

everywhere. inspired by the Holy Spirit. Thus the inauguration of the Church

of Christ in Jerusalem and Ps~rthia took place almost simultaneously.

The scholars, like Latourette, speak of Pentecostal experience as follows:

'It is possible that even before the first generation after Jesus, the faith reached

the: region ol'Edessa. Mesopotan~ia and to the edges of Persia; for the account

of Pentecost experience, mentions among those who heard the Christian

illessage, Parthians,Medes. Elamites and the dwellers in ~ e s o ~ o t a m i a ' ~ .

- -

1 . L,atourals, lIisto,y . I O I : ? . ,\cts of Aportlcs.2:l- [ I : 3 Latouratte, Hirlory

Barncs desribes the Pentecostal experience of Babylonians thus

'waiting and expectant.. .the waters of Babylon caught up the glad tidings that

the hope ol Israel had come'. From these we can conclude that Pentecost

marked the starting point in organizing the Persian churchi.

I . The Persiritt Church and St. Peter

The Persian or Babylonian church claims its apostolic succession from

St. Peter besides St. Thornas and Mar Addai. As an evidence of this they

quote that St. Peter wrote his epistle from Babylon. 'The chosen church which

is Babylon.. .. salutes you' '. Some are of opinion that Babylon in Peter's epistle was used figuratively

to denote Kome in its climax of worldly splendour. But many scholars

question this and they statc that Babylon mentioned in Peter's Epistle is literal

Balbylon because there was a country, which has its historical name Babylon3.

Barnes conclusively says that there are good reasons to think that St.

Peter carried out the missionary work to the Jewish world in the Euphrates

valley (Babylon).There was the possibility of Jewish people in Diaspora just

lik~: in any other part of the world.

This same Babylon was later called by the name Seleucia Ctesiphone.

Babylon was the ancient metropolis of Assyria, which is the present Seleucia

on the banks of Tigris, near which is the great village called Ctesiphone where

the kings ol' Persia used to spend the winter4. Seleucia, the capital and

metropolis of the Persian empire, was considered to be the eastern counterpart

of the city of Rome. the capital of the Roman empire. So Babylon was chosen

to be the headquarters of the whole Church of the Persian Empire or East

Syrian Church5.

I . Barns. Ili,r,uond Yea~r 742.

2. Pe ter , ( ' 1 1 5 13

3. Barnes . .\li.~siuns . 27

4. I3ritislr Mu\cum, Piole Nos l i I 4 93-91

5. Young. Suilrces. . I 1.119

b. The Traditional Christian view

The East Syrian Church and St. Thomas

In the early centuries of Christianity the tradition, which arose, was that

the twelve Apostles went to preach unto the ends of the world. One of the

traditions was that Thomas preached to the Parthians.. Edessens believed that

their church stood in a peculiarly close relationship to St. Thomas. One of the

most valued treasures of the Edessan Church was a letter that they claim to

have received from St. Thorr~as from India. In a special sense they look upon

St. Thomas as their own apo:;tlel. Another strong tradition terms St.Thomas as

the apostle of India and ihe entire East. Another tradition was that Addai,

Thaddeus, and St.Thomas brought Christianity to Edessa in the first century.

Mashikha Zakha, the Assyrian historian of the sixth century, quoting

previous authority, says that Mar .4ddai went so far into Phars till he smelt

the scent of St.Thomas in lndia2. According to Patriarch Shimun, these two

traditions of St.'fhomas anti St. Thaddeus in connection with the Persian

church are said to be not opposing but complementary. Among the apostles

who worked and established churches in Asyria and Babylon, St. Thomas went

to :India and Mar Addai went to Phars in the heart of Persia3.

c. From the writings in the early centuries

It was Judaeo Christianity, which spread to east Syria, and it shared the

general characteristics of the Jewish Christianity in Palestine. The Doctrine of

Addai, the Odes oi' Solomon, the Gospel of Thomas, the Acts of Judas

Thomas. the Writings of l'atian and Bardaisan of Edessa and Didascalia

Apostoloruni are some ot the important sources for understanding of the early

East Syrian ('hurch

I . For ~ i > ~ r c ddails

Gibhan L.:mpire : Atl)a, llrslory : Stewart . .LlissionoryEnferpr;ses Brock . ('hnsrunr~v : Sacrale:. . Fl;slistoi.,v. : NI'NF. Vol I Ch.

10 4. Abgar legend

The widely circulated Abgar legend narrates the origin of Christianity

in the city kingdom of Edessa. There are Greek and Syriac versions of the

legend with few differences i ~ n the details.

Greek version

The b g a r legend is quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea in his

Ec~:lesiastical History. Eusebius refers to two letters: one by Abgar to Jesus

and the other by Jesus to i\bgar. In the letter attributed to Jesus, our Lord is

said to have written 'after my ascension. I will send one of my disciples to

you, and he will heal ~ O L I ' . T'hus after the ascension of our Lord, Judas

Thomas; sent Thaddaeus one among the 'Seventy' evangelists to Edessa.

Thaddaeus eventually baptized the people of Edessa. Eusebius claims

that these things happened during the year 340 Greek era, ie 29 AD, and that

he gathered these information from a Syriac document kept in the archives of

~ d e s s a ' .

Syriac version

The Syriac version can be traced in the Syriac 'Doctrine of Addai',

supposed to have been written during the fifthcentury A.D. According to it, the

correspondence between Jesus and Abgar took place in the Greek era 343AD.

Thus, aiier the ascension. .ludas Thomas sent 'the Apostle Addai', one among

the: 'Sevent)' evangelists. Addai healed the king of his leprosy and made

converts in Edessa. 'The first converts included Aggai, Palut and Barshelama

(also called Abshelama). Before his death, Addai made Aggai 'administrator

and ruler' in his own place. Palut who was a deacon was made presbyter and

Abshelama was made deacon.

'The Doctrine of Addcri', a Syriac document written between (390-430

AD), gives a summary of the early history of Christianity in Persia . It tells

how Addai came to Edessa and as in the case of other apostles sought out the

Jewish community. Having lieard of his arrival the king assembled all his

I . Euschius. l:~.cl. t l~sr , i V F , V < > I 8 . hhl

along with his sub,jects enihraced christianityi.

d. 'The account of Bar Hebraeus

Bar tlebraues admits it was from Edessa, where the first Bishop was

Addai that the gospel spread to the Persian regions. Bishop Addai sent his

disciple Mari to Seleucia and founded the church there. Mari had three

successors Abrosius. Abraharn and Jacob.

According to Bar Hebraeus there was a well-developed Church in Syria

during the early centuries. tvluch of the details are presented through legends

anti traditions. They trace the origin of the Church to the apostles. However

there is no concrete proof to support those claims, yet there are also no valid

reasons to negate it. The Ecclesiastical History written by BarHebraues has

two parts. In the first part he discusses the general history of the church till

sixth century and in the second part confined to history of the Antiochian

Syrian church2. So we can safely conclude that the Christian Church took its

root at Edessa during the apo;stolic period.

The views expressed by western scholars

J. Danielou wrote about the development of Christianity in Osrhoene

anti Adiabene. It was certainly a product of the Judeo-Christian mission. On

the basis 01' [he nem 1iistorica.l evidence available, it is possible to establish the

fact that. there was indeed a Christian church in Edessa and in other places in

Me:sopotamia in the first century. The earliest documents on Edessan

Christianity. namely the "C;ospel of 'l'homas", and the 'Odes of Solomon' go

back in part to the end of the first century and display the characteristic

features of ~udeo-~hr is t ian~t? .

I For more ilctails

: Moffclt. l/i.>rory, 50 : Scgdl.~:drssrr,6'/-8 : M c Cullough, ChrislianiQ, 22

: Drivers. Hordarsn,i. 2 I : Nciis~icr,Adii,hr,,e 134.50 : Murray.Syrnboiu.4-2

2. Samuc l . ( ; i r ~ i v i ng ( ' / ~ t~ r~h . . 4 i

3 Daniclou r l r . i s I r ~ i n , i ~ . 277

According to S.H. Moffett, it is likely that Addai evangelized Edessa.

Moffett points out that the Addai traditions were as persistent in the early

church of Mesopotamia as the Thomas traditions were in India. The fact that

so strong a centre as Edessa was content with one of the lesser known seventy

rather than with one of the original twelve, supposes the view that the

historicity of Addai's mission was too well-known to be easily set aside. He

seems to deserve the honour tradition has given him as father of the Church of

the East.

Arthur V66bus also upholds the Addai tradition. He points out that the

Christian nitssion in Mesopotamia bas the work of Jewish Christians and the

Jeviish settlers in h.lesopotamia, which helped the spread of Christianity.

When Addai came to Edessa, he contacted first the Jewish community there,

thus establishing the first Christian nucleus before the end of the first century2.

The origin of the Christian message in Mesopotamia must have been

related to Aramaen Christianity in Palestine. This appears quite natural that in

the other eastern countries the Jewish community appears to be the channel

through which the first seed of the Christian Kerygma was transplanted, even

where Christian corn mu nit^ was not particularly strong3.

Therc were different stages in its formation between the Magi and St.

Peter episodes. It includes Edessan king's letter to Jesus, the Apostles' mission

to the Diaspora Jews in the East, the Pentecostal experience of the Parthians,

the: mission of Thaddeus and the work of St.Thomas among the Persians.

2. Vbobus, i i t . v ro~ , 3-10

3. Voobus sa)s that the carliesl Christian mtss iun in the Mountains near Arbel was a Jewish Christian province and the earlicst fignres o f primitive Christianily in this mouittain area were Judeo Christian who hcld close to arcns wheru iht:rr w e n Ic\vish carnmunities. He again points out that it was neither thc Creek Old Testarncnt, nor tile l lrbreu ol-lginal tent. whlch was translated in Syriac but the scriptures of the I'alcslinian synagogue. n;tmely the ancient Palestinian rargumim that came to be used among the

Jewish Christians.

Christianity took root in Syria winning its converts from the Jews, the

mixed races of Mesopotamia and the Parthians. Writing about Edessa,

J.B.Sega1 says.

' . . . . . . For over a millennium it held a unique position in Christendom, whether its rulers were Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Turkish, Armenian or Latin. Tradition associated it with Jesus himself and the early missionary activities of Christianity. To it came pilgrims from Mesopotamia and Persia and ever from the Far East.. . . . ...

. . . . . ..Its legends here known and venerated in Western Europe centuries before the Norman Chnquest. Its monasteries and caves were the dwelling places of saints, scholars and poets. It was celebrated in civilized world as the first place of Syriac literature and philosophy"~ . . . . . . .

Scholars, like Toua~a Al-Khoury is opinion that, 'it is no exaggeration

to say that more than ten or so centuries before the European Renaissance, the

Syrian luminaries and sch~olars uere the precursors of such a Ranaissance.

They were the first to launch forth their fabulous knowledge in Astronomy,

Greek culture and Judeo- Christian Theology as well.

'There were the first to teach and preach the Gospel in Europe, Africa

and Asia, ~ncluding India and China. Besides, they commented on the Bible,

and composed in all ficlds of theology, philosophy and sciences. These

manuscripts in Syr~nc, Arabic and Greek plus a multitude of translations of

their works to foreign languages are conserved in Eastern and Western

libraries. mclnasteries and tnuseums'.

Greek culture in Edessa

I'he Mesopotamians namely the Ararnean Syrians populating the vast

area of Syr~a, Phoenicia ancl Mesopotamia, assimilated the Greek culture even

before they embraced Chl-istianit) tirst in Palestine, then, in ~ n t i o c h ~ . In his

book about. Aristotel's Poetica to the Syrians, Katch noted the deep influence

of the Greek philosophy on the theological debates between the Syrian

Christians since the 3'~eentury A.D. There are other evidences of ancient

Syrian testimonies dating back to the 1" and 2"* centuries A.D. proving

without any doubt that the Syrians were familiar with the Hellenistic literature

even prior to that period'. The Syrians embraced the Greek culture, especially

in Asia Minor, by making Edessa capital of Syriac literature, the centre of the

peripatetic philosophy2.

The 'two great currents' of ideas, 'the Greco-Roman current' and the

'wTudeo-Ch~-~stian current that would shape after that European civilization

were strictlj preserved and sustained from the very beginning in the multitude

of the Aramean Syr~ans' schools, seminaries, monasteries, convents,

cathedrals. churches, and even in private houses as well until the 131h century3.

The Missionary Enterprises through the Trade Routes

War and trade were the common pursuits that brought people from

different regions into contact with cach other across the barriers of geography

and culture. Trade and commerce played a decisive role in establishing and

maintaining such contacts. Much of Syria's eastern trade was in the necessities

of life. Lucrative part of this commerce was in luxury items, particularly in

g,oods obtainable only fron-I Arabia. Panhia ( later Persia) and the Far East. A

share of this trade entercd the Mediterranean world through the Red Sea and

Elgypt.

During the first centuries of the Christian era, trade between the

\Vest and the East grew quite extensively both through the land and water.

Ships leaving the ports in the Red Sea used the monsoon winds and sailed

across the Arabian sea to the ports of South Indian kingdoms. The Silk Road,

the old world's greatest trade route which began at Antioch, ended at Changan

(China) after traversing more than five thousand miles and some of the world's

highest niountain and worst deserts1 After leaving Antioch, it passed through

Edessa and Nisibis climbed on to the lranian Plateau, travelled the line of the

modern road from Harnadan to 1 eharan and eastwards to Merv, the Pamirs

into the plain of Xingjiari. 12rom there it passed from oasis to oasis until it

eventually reached China. These were the world's greatest highways. The

men of all races and cultures were to be found along these trade routes.

The most enduring regional contacts and cross cultural influence among

the people through the Silk ;Road stretched westward from the Great Wall of

China into India and the eastern Mediterranean coast passing through

numerous central Asian kingdoms and empires. It brought peoples of various

languages and cul t~~res into contact with one another regularly. Traders,

merchants, political envoys, soldiers. monks and missionaries of the great

world religions like Buddhiljm, Manichaenism, and Christianity passed also

thr'ough the paths of the Silk Route. Western classical writers on India

abundantly testify knowledge of Indian geography and India's trade with the

Mediterranean world. 'l'hey give detailed information about the people,

cli~nate trade routes, ports, cargoes and the economic condition of 1ndia2.

I. There werc three main routcr. which cirnnccted lndia u i th the western world. First there was an

overland route, which linked India with a silk routc from Antioch to Central Asia and to China. I n normal circur~istanccs tlie Himalayan rangc in the north w a no serious obstacle to India's trade with Central Asla along thc silk routc. Sccondly. thcrc was a routc, which connected the mouth o f lndus to the m<,utlt <,!'the tioplil-ates anit iicrrn therc up 10 the rivcr \vhere roads branched off to Antioch and the 1,avcnune p,~rts

: I h e thwd roiite was lkoin India la lhc lled S G ~ and from thcrc by road to the Nile and to Alexandria.Silk trade with Iran Byzantine Empire stopped in the middle o f sixth century A.D lndia carried on some trade with China and South k ~ s t Asia. Thc decline of foreign trade is confirmed by the absence of foreign gold coins in 1ndia.lt has been called the Silk Road because silk was a Chinese Monopoly. The

Chinese alone knew thc processing of silk mnteiials. The Western world had no idea ofthe process.

2 . V.D. Mahiljan, an cm~ocnt Indian lh~storian says Indian merchants lost to the Muslims a considerable part of lhclr foreign trade. From tlrc beginn~ng o f the eighth century A.D., the Arabs became the most powerful maritime power. By bringing West Asia, Egypt under Islam, they were able to control all the sea routes going towards India and other Eastern countries.

There was a missionary dynamism found in the Christian faith and

be:lievers were sent out int~a the pagan world to preach the gospel of Jesus

Christ. Syrian Christians with their travel and trading traditions achieved

mobility and outreach. Syrian merchants of Christian persuasion, travelling to

Samosata, lzdessa or Nisihis could have brought to these trading centres scraps

of information about the new religion.

India has been open to the outside world from ancient times and vigorous

commercial activity went on between India and the Mediterranean world even

before the C'hristian era. Both the western and Indian classical writers testify to

this'. Muziris (Cranganorel on the Malabar coast in South India is mentioned

as an important port and trading centre. Muziris (Cranganore) and Barace

(Purakkadu) were the chitf ports These trade routes have presented a

Fascinating appearance fol. mingling communities of Buddhist, Zoroastrian and

Manichean merchants

We would expect early Christianity to have travelled by known routes in

its penetration of the Semitic speaking world especially from the milieu of

early Syriac Christianity. ]Recent researches also suggest that the Christian

Church began to spread thrgughout the whole of Central Asia during the early

centuries of ('hristian era'

1. Mahajan /i,.storj, 30 1

2 . Regardlnp iradr pactcrns and ~?rocilccs & I radc IKcIalions

Liltoure~tc. iirsfori . 2 7 3 O;ur.s, Slicdi<~s. 7-70 Cookc , ,Varia,i, (ii.<!ek 101-164 M c Cullougl,. ('hriitianily ,7 Henry. (btlnvol. 1. 77 K,ng :9:26-28. ?2:483. Mofktt. , liislory. XI\ St':wart, llissionury Er,Ierprtses Majunldar . lndto. 85 Bhasham i tiisro,:y, 435. Grouselt . . Isia . , 2'1.32 Laturene, (hcerloinry , 271

3. The following books will give f ~ ~ r t h e r information Moffett , History Stewart . .birssronar?; Enlerprisses Danielou . ( 'hrisrian~,~ S,:honfield , Histor)) Danieluu , 77teologv tlinh , Ciamy K'ien Edward . (ieographico L'arkison , Easl

Tart8 . 3 13-340 Hudson, burope, 121-122 Wilfred,Periplus ,I-56 Cary, Alexander Mc Crindle Oration wii, Budge, Monks ,XV

John, Theologv Ray, Nazarene Taggen. Rome Zurcher, Buddlzisr

Its missionaries from Syrian Province, Antioch and in the course of their

journeys Aleppo, Samosata, Edessa, Nisibis, Arbella, Seleucia on the Tigris,

China ,India and Ceylon would have been exposed to the Christian messages.

It is therefore not a mere accident that all of the cities mentioned eventually

became important centers for Syriac Christianity.

The East Syrian church is the first and the foremost church who carried

the: Cross ol'Jesus since thc )twilight of her stormy history till the 16th century.

It i.s undoubtedly thc mother. church. beginning with Israelo-Syriac church of

Jerusalem, whose 'Hebrew language' as it is universally known, was the

Sy:riac language. C:ontinually the East Syrian church suffered the most from

harassments, persecutions. aggressions, and massacres. The marvelous

martyrdom of the Syrians will certainly precede them to bear witness to Jesus

Christ. At first the East Syrian church suffered from Jews, then from,

Parthians and Sassanians. Arabs, Mongols, Turks, Kurds, and more over from

their brethren in Christ every where. In spite of all these, the East Syrian

church remains faithiul to her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A Line Sketch in Indicating Old Silk Road through Persian Boarder during Sassanid Period

Chapter 11

The Church in Parthian Emeire and Sassanid Dvnastv

At the time of Christ. the Parthians or Arsacids ruled Iran The

Arsacid Parthian empire was loosely knit. The Kings were basically

Zoroastrians. Though the Zoroastrian Magi were powerful locally, there was

much tolerance and the religion of the subjects was a mixture of

Zoroastrianism and debased idolatry. rhe political situation of Persia during

this period was favourable fomr Christianity to spread and expand. During the

first centuries, Christians in the Roman Empire suffered persecution from the

emperors. The Roman emperors considered the Christians as enemies of

Rome. The Parthians were in1:lined to consider them as friends of Persia.

The nature of the Church under Parthian rule

Mashiaha Zakha gives the following list of the Christian sees'. The

church had more than twenty bishops at Bait Zabdi, Karka of Bait Salok

(Kirku, Kashkarn (Ur) a1 Bait 1,apat (Gundeshapur), Hormizd-Ardashir

(Ahwas). Parat Maishan (Basra), Hanitha, Harbat- Gala1 Arzon, Bait Niqtor,

Sh;hr- Qard. Bait Maskene, Halwan, Bait Qatari (Qatar), Bait Hezzi, Bait

Delami, Shigar and in other cities. There were no bishops at Nisibis and the

cities Seleucia - Ctesiphon ( the Parthian capital cities) because of fear of the

pagans2. L'his list gives the picture of the church, whose strength was in

Mesopotamia. The jurisdicti~ons of these bishoprics were from the mountains

of Kudistan in the east to the Caspian Sea in the west. Churches multiplied,

mc~nasteries increased and on every mouth could be heard words of

glorification'.

I Mashiha Lakha: 4 Christian of Arbil who wrote several accounts on the Bishops of Arbil covering the period from 99 to 540AD. He used at least one earlier source, probably of second century. His work 'Chroniclr rfArbil'(550 and 560AD) is probably the only reliable source available today on the history of Christianity under the Parthians.

2. Mashia Zahha, Chrot~lcle o/'Al-hi/. 30 Quotcd in Young, Socrrces,Text No. I5

3. Mingana. Soiirces. 103. 106

W Young quotes three incidents from the book 'Chronicle of Arbil'

regarding the nature of the Church in the Parthian empire1. In 120 AD Mar

Mirza was the bishop of Bait Zabdi near Nisibis who came to the land of

Adiabene with trading caravan. The small Christian congregation there invited

him to their house and told him that they had been without a Church head for

the past six years. He ordained Deacon Samsun as a bishop at their request.

Bishop Samsun preached among thc villagers who were fire worshippers. He

baptized a large number of them.

The C'hristian faith spread widely in the countryside. The nobles and

magi put Bishop Samsun in chains and after severe torture, they cut his head

off: He is the first known martyr from that country. A man called Raqbakht

was appointed by the king of Parthians, Walgash-I1 (133-148AD) to govern the

province Adiabene.(ca.l40AI)) as a governor. Raqbakht was baptized by Mar

Izhaq, Bishop of Arbil. He helped lo spread Christian faith in the villages. The

pagan priests opposed him and tried to change his attitude to Christians. But it

was in vain. They decided to murder him. It was reported that he died by the

attack of the eneinies.

Bishop Abraham of 4rbil (148-163AD) was the next to do the missionary

work in the mountain country. While he was living in the high mountains

teaching thc Christian faith, the Magi rose against Christians, plundered their

wealth and tortured them. When Bishop Abraham came down from the

mountain by the power of the miracles he prevented the savage wolves from

co~npletely devouring the servants of Christ.He approached the King,Walgash-

III(148-19IAD) for obtaining a letter in favour of Christians.

The persecution faced by the church during this period

During the time of Episcopate period of Noah (163-170AD), many

bellievers withered away fiom Christianity under the pressure of persecution.

I Yuung. Sotit-tes .'l,cxl No. 37f1.377.378

2 1

Christian girls were captured or kidnapped and were made either concubines or

slaves. Confession of Zoroastrianism was procured from the victim through

coercion. T h ~ s was not a state persecution. This was a common phenomenon at

the Christian beginning of tlhe expanding stage at any place described in the

Bible. Firstly the early Christian community faced the persecution from the

fellow Jews and then from the ruling Roman emperors.

The personal influence and charisma of the Christian Bishops were

the only factors, whlch checked this local persecution. Bishop Abraham (160

A.1)) brought about a cessation of persecution locally and another bishop Abel

was famous as a reconciler ol'disputes between heathens and Christians.

Occasionally C:liristians had to suffer in common with all inhabitants of

the country tiom wars and tumults. The Church at this time was proud to show

that some captives had held life long confession of Jesus Christ and they are

known as existing hidden saints. Its ascetics became wandering missionaries,

healing the sick, feeding the poor and preaching the gospel as they moved

from place to place.

Missionary flow

The early presence of Christian community in Nisibis between Osrhoene

and Adiabene is another evidence of the East Syrian Christian missionary flow

eastward. I t suggested t h a ~ tlie possibility of Arbela could well have been an

independent focus lor a inissionary thrust to all directions throughout the

Persian I3mpireL. 'The Persian converts of Christianity responded to the

n1i:jsionary challenge. Betbr~: the end of the Parthian dynasty, the Christian

Saith had not only penetrated Persia but also moved beyond into the steppes of

central Asia. Before the end of the second century, the faith was

unquestionably spreading ac:ross the great continent of the East, so that they

were able to win the Mobeds of Zoroastrianistn and wizards of shamanism2.

I . Murray. Si.nrhols . 8

2. Mingana ..\,,i.rad / ('r,jrrol). 2'1')

22 The Fall of the Parthian Ernpire

During the reign of Arudwan-V(216-224AD),the Persians invaded

Mesopotan~ia and captured the whole land. The Parthians fled to the high

mountains leaving to the Persians all their land and wealth in Seleucia-

Ctesiphon. Ihe Persians at their capital murdered the young son of Arudwan

called Arshaq in cold blood. This marked the end of the Kingdom of Parthians

in the year 725 AI)'

A transition period in the Asian Church History

The Parthian Kings of Persia were defeated by a new dynasty, the

Sassanids, a strong line of monarchs who ruled the empire for the next four

centuries. 'I his marks a transition in Asian church history from the Syrian

period to the Persian era. The language of the church remained Syriac, but its

organizational centre shifted east to the Persian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.

Its theological centre moved across the border from Edessa to Nisibis. The

Roman-Persian border had not yet divided Christianity into East and West.

The sense of Christian i~nity was still strong, though that unity was more

spiritual and cultural than ecclesiastical and political.

The Sassanid Dynasty

About the year 226AD a revolution changed the course of Persian

history. The country's scattered groups of Christians were caught up in the

changes. In that year the Parthian kings of Persia were defeated by a new

dynasty called the Sassanids. At the beginning of the reign of the Persians,

there was peace for Christians. who were able to grow and extend. There were

days of persecutions in the Roman empire during this period. But the Christian

church in Persia did not h a ~ e any cruel persecutions against of the christians2.

A line of strong monarchs ruled the empire for the next four centuries.

R.N.Frye gives the list oi'the emperors. Ardashir (22416-240AD), Shapur-I

I . In the uordh of Mashiha h k h a . ' t ~ c day which saw the end of the Kingdom of the Parthians, children of the hril\i. Arshaq (.4csacidsi, was a Wrdncsdaj, the 27"' of Nisan, the year 535 of the Greek Kingdom o\pri1 225 All) ' .

: Mashiha Zakha, ('hron,rle uf.irb11. 29-30 Quoted In Young, Sources Text 379.

2. Young, S o u r c ~ ~ s . Text No:379

23

(240-272).Hormizd-l(272-2 73)~,Varahran-I(Harham)(273-274),Varahran-I1(276-

29:i),Varahran-III(29?),Nerse h(293-302),Hormizd-I1(302-309),Shapur-I1(309-

379),Ardash1r-II(379-383),Shapur-I11 (383-388),Varahran-IV (388-399), Yazda-

-gard-I(399-42 l),Varahran-V (42-439) ' .

Persian Confrontation with Roman world

The Persians continuetl the wars, which Parthia had so frequently waged

with Romans. The reigns of 1:he two emperors named Ardashir-I (A.D.225-240)

and Shapur -1 (240.272) ucrc: important ones in this dynasty. They established

the dynasty. captured Nisihis from the Romans and sacked Antioch. In the

next three centuries. it was a replay of the struggle which Ardashir -I and

Shapur-1 had earlier initiated with Rome. The net gains of these wars to either

party were negligible2.

In 2Y6AD the Persian King Nerseh 293-302AD invaded Syria and

Galerious Diocletius. Caesar was called from Illyricum to drive him back. It

was not until 298AL) that a peace was worked out. Its terms included the

acknowledgement of Roniari control over both Mesopotamia and five small

regions east of the 'ligris Shapur I1 (309-79AD) commenced another war by an

attack on and capture of the Roman fortress of Amida (359AD) and this in turn

provoked the invasion of Persia by the emperor Julian in 363AD.

After the death of Julian, his successors Jovian concluded a peace, which

gave up most of the gains of the treaty 298 including the city of Nisibis.

Emperor Thodosius (379-395AD) realized that these frequent wars were

senseless. After a long period of peace marred only by brief conflicts in 421-22

and 440-42 hostilities werc once more renewed in the reign of Kavad- I, when

the Persians invaded Roman Armenia.

Religious Policy of the Sassanid Dynasty

To the Sassanians. naltional glory demanded a return to Zoroastrianism,

the national religion of Persia's golden age. The first Shah, Ardashir began to

I. Fryc. I I e ~ ~ ~ l ~ g e , 300

2. Moffett. tlr.srury, 92

24

build tire temples with Zo'roastrian zeal'.llnder the Sassanid Dynasty, there

was an attempt to revive the Old Persian Empire, and an emphasis on

nationalis, with %ol.oastri:lnism. The first Sassanian king Ardashir emphasized

the close co-operation of the throne and Zoroastrian priesthood. He founded

his power on a combination of religion and State.

The religion of the Per:jians was dualism or Zoroastrianism. The Persians

were fire-worshippers. 'They had a hierarchy of priests called Mobeds. They

observed very elaborate principles of' ritual cleanliness and defilement. The

Persians used the Zoroastrian clergy to legitimize their rule and in turn granted

them special privileges. Iience Zoroastrianism became the official religion of

the state. However he issued an edict allowing entry of foreign cults to his

country. Outside the narrow circle. they might have influence, but no

authority.

Persecutions of religious minorities.

Across the Persian Empire the dominance of the Zoroastrian religion

created a different religious climate for the minority religions like Christianity.

The Christian Church in the Persian Empire was mainly associated with the

lower classes. They lived in segregated neighbourhoods under the Persian

system of milletrule. Members of the ruling Iranian classes in Persia were

expected to be Zoroastrian, but those of other cultural groups and classes were

free to join the Christian ~n~nvement. Thus Christians generally came from

groups who were on the margins of Persian life, or from among captives and

exiles from across the Roman boarder.

There was a time of severe persecutions of religious minorities. Although

certain Sassanian kings were toleran1 towards Christianity, the Zoroastrian

hierarchy on the whole remained consistently opposed to all non-Zoroastrian

religions. However, during the first hundred years of Sassanian rule there was

more or less religious tolerarice. At the beginning of the reign of Persians,

there was peace for Christians and hence they were able to grow and develop.

The new rulers not only reasserted Persia's military power but began to form

an alliance of state and religion that eventually spelled the end of the three

hundred years of tolerance towards Christians ever since their first traditional

missionary beginnings there.

The Church under the Sassanid Dynasty

The ('hurch in the Snssanid Empire is of central importance for the

spread of Christianity in Asia up to the late Middle ~ g e s ' . Although the

Sassanian revolution brought radical change to the life of the church in Persia,

there was for the first hundred years at least little outward alteration in the

church's situation'. The 1Syriac work, 'Didascalia Apostolorum', (The

Teaching of the Apostles) gives the earliest detailed description of how the

new race of Christians inet and worshipped and ordered their faiths in these

years when East met West on the Kon~an - - Persian border3. In spite of the

external changes that began to sweep around the East Syrian Church with the

corning of the Sassanids. it:; feeling of fellowship with the churches of the

West remained unbroken'.

The Church was numerically small and subject to local persecutions

mainly from the Magians. The Church had no relationship with the state.

Under the Sassanian rulers. (Christians and Jews were discriminated as Melet

or Millet that is minority community with limited freedom and civil rights. The

unity in Christ is stronger than any differences of race or nation. The Christian

faith had produced a new race5. In spite of persecution from both the emperor

and the religious leaders, Christian Church flourished during this time in the

country. I?ast Syrian Church writers have recorded how their Church was

founded, in which all those records are not available. By AD 225 Christianity

had widely disseminated in Ii4esopotamia and Babylonia east of the Tigris.

Metropolitan Sees in the Sassanid Empire

By the end of the third century, a clear pattern of episcopal hierarchy

emerged both in the Roman and Persian empires, though it was by no means of

uniform or universal. More than twenty bishoprics were known to have existed

in the Tigris-Euphrates valley and in the borders of ~ e r s i a ' . In the early days

there was probably very little organization ot'bishops or presbyters. They were

like pilgrims and preachers passing from place to place and looking after their

people. From there missionaries went forth to the remotest provinces of the

Persian Empire. Arabia and other ueighbouring countries.

According to Mashiha Zakha, the Christian sees in the Sassanic

Empire and beyond. were the same as those, which were prevailing in the

Parthian Empire. The lisl of Mashiha Zakha gave the picture of a Church,

which has stretched out r~orthwards to the Caspian and south of the Persian

Gulf to Qatar and has footholds in Media and Gundeshapur and also reaching

our eastwards2

Missionary Expansion of the Church at the time of Sassanians.

Before the end of the Sassanid dynasty, the East Syrian Church had

reached out Into the heart of the .Asian continent, such as China and India

through the missionary adva.nce. 'l'he ascetic con~munities became the major

dynamic force behind the missions in Asia from the third century on,

continuing the work of the 'wandering missionaries'of the East Syrian Church

of i.he first t\bo centuries. According to 'Chronicle of Seert'

In the time of Sahloupas (Shalupa) and of Papas ( Papa) the two metropolitans of the Or~lent, and of Stephen, patriarch of Rome.. .David (or Dudi) bishop of Bassarah(a1-Basara) ..... left his see and departed for India where he converted a multitude of people3.

I . Lalouretk, l l ~ s t o r y . \'a1 I 102-103 : L)r!)vcrs. Ijook, 61

2 YoungSo,irtc s IY-20 quoted l ium .bla.s/~i/io-/ohli~~'~hronic/e. 3-5, 6-10, 11-12

3 . Chroniquc dc srm.l'o!nc 4. CISL 3 . r ~ 17,pp 236.292 quolcd in Moffelt, Ifislor):, 100

Mingana is of opinion that already by the year 340 AD, the way to India

was strewn with bishoprics and monasteries. They were the steping stone of a

christian advance into southern Asia tiom Persia to India which antedated later

waves of Christian refugees due to the persecutions of Shapur ' .

S.H. Moffett quotes a tradition that re cords the evidences of the

missionary expansion to the South East in the early fourth century and Persia

brought together the two oldest centres of Christianity in Asia outside the

Roman Empire, Syro-Mesopotamia and lndia'.

The travellers to India may have used Christian monasteries on the

shores of the Persian Gulf a:j havens of rest on their perilous journeys. This

network of missionary monasteries began at Basra and Rewardashir, which

became the ecclesiastical links with the church in India. The next step was

perhaps the monastery of St. Thomas in India on the coast of the Arabian Sea,

the home of many East Syrian Church monks'.

I . Mingana, .Ypr.md (("~nirol), 5 -8

2 MotTct. i l i ~ o r y . 100

3. lbid, 101

2 8

PERSIA

-Gundesh=pur

-. -. . - . . . . . P.BIasan b r r h

. . . Rmtf courimusry : - ~ f l e l . ~ i s t a r y

29

Chapter I11

THE PERSECUTED CHURCH : THE EAST SYRIAN CHURCH

While the Roman Empire was pagan and persecuting Christianity, the

Persian Emperor, Shah-in-Shah, regarded Christianity with no suspicion at the

beginning of the Christian era. As a result, there was a stream of refugees to

Persia to escape the persecutions in the eastern Roman empire. They fled to the

border state of Adiabene in the Persian Empire. The persecution in the Roman

Empire was twofold, ie. persecutions from the emperors and the fellow

christians. During the early centuries, there was a popular dislike towards

Christians in Rome. The eniperors such as Nero, Diocletian persecuted the

Christians in the Roman Empire. During the reign of Diocletian (303-304AD) a

number of great men among, Christians were punished and were confined to

the mines. For two hundred and fifty years Persia had been the place of

assylum for Christians lion1 Roman perseculion.During the early centuries,

the western Christendom faced heresies from the heretics such as Arius. In the

Roman empire, especiall).. in west Syria, the church faced the Nestorian

controversy. which caused many Christians to flee from Syria to Persian

Empire escaping from the p~zrsecutions from the fellow Christians. Adiabene

became a place of comparative safety for Christians during persecutions and

many took refuge over the border and made it their home'.

Tolerant Parthian Rulers

The Parthians were religiously tolerant and their less tolerant Sassanian

successors on the throne w-ere too busy fighting Rome. During the wars with

Rome, however. it someti~nes happened that whole districts of the invaded

territories \z ere depopulated and the inhabitants transported to Persia. Many of

the inhabitants were Christians. Those thus transported were mostly their

bishops, who settled in different parts of the country 2. Their advent led to a

change of policy on the part of the Persian government towards the Christians.

1. Wigram. Hislory, 35

2. Mingana. Sotrrces. Vol 1. 106-1 802.

Houses of charity were endowed for the education of orphans and foundlings.

A multitude of refugees were attracted here. The influx of these refugees was

no longer in communion with the west. Actually they were no longer a

political danger to Persiat.

The East Syrian Church under threat in Persia

The influx from the other empire did not create any kind of distress to the

Persian empire at the beginning. But later Persian emperor looked upon these

people as a challenge to their nation due to the influence of the envious

religious leaders2. Due to the instigation of the fanatic religious leaders of the

Zoroastrian religion in the Persian Empire, the life of the East Syrian Church

became troublesome. The Persians considered the Christians as a threat to

national sec~trity as well as to the national religion. The Zoroastrians

generally. the Zoroastrian priesthood in particular, was disturbed and angry at

the rapid spread of Christianity among nobles and free men.

Allegations against the Christians in Persia

?'he C'hristian customs and traditions were superior form of living and

were repugnant to Loroastrian religionx. The Christians were men of different

habits to the Zoroastrians and therefore were hatehl and despicable. The

grounds for i l l will of the Zoroastrians were that the Christians destroyed their

holy teachings and taught lnen to serve one God, and not to honour Sun or

Fire. It was alleged that they taught their people to refrain from marriage and

I . Gibbon. C'u,,,,,rentirries, 34

2. Stewart, rllis.vionuy Enli.rprise

3. Zoroaster( (128-551 .UC)\vho is the lounder < ~ f t h s Zor,rastrianism rcligion,was a prophet ofancient Iran. In the polylheist~c soc~cly of tiis day . hc c l a ~ ~ n e d to be spokesman for the god Ahura Mazda,whose symbol was the ever burning lil-c. Iiis efthrt ! \ah to rcforrn Iranian religion. Zoroastem claimed that he rcconstructcd it,as conceived hy tlic dcmands of Ahura Mazda, based upon the Gathas, poems traditionall) credited to Zoroatcr timself hund i n Yasna.28-24,43-51,53.

: The early at a Achacmcnid King, Ilarius - I tbllumed the main tenets of primitive Zoroastanism.Due to Zoruastcr's massage, the Iranian religion, in course of time, was modified. The influence of the Magi, a fraternity of Median origin who exsnicised sacrdotan functions in Iran. It is believed that the Magi embraced the prophet's teachingh.

: Zachncr.Zor~,nsrr~anrsm. 53 : Fr)e, tIele,.itnge 29 : Moulton, Zorousrriunism.343-90

: Mc.Cullougli, Chrisriiinrfy.94 Gershevitches, Aveslan,

. . ;; * + ', . , ... ?- .' . :

I' procreation of children and to refuse to go out to war against-& Romans. - , , '.., % 5,

They had no scruples about the slaughter and eating of animals. They buried ~

'

the corpses of men in earth. When in the course of time the Christians

increased in number and began to form churches and appointed priests and

deacons, the magi, becamc deeply incensed against them.

As a minority religion, the Christian church, especially the head of the

East Syrian Church. Patriarch of Persian Church was forced to cope up with

the bitter opposition of a powerful state religion. The rules of the millet system

by which Persia controlled its minorities, let them politically neutrelized as an

isolated circumscribed group set apart from the normal subjects of the empire.

Christians could wield political power only within the Christian millet.. They

were not the equals of their Zoroastrian counter parts.

The lact that the Chri:,tians including those who spoke Persian, use the

language Aramaic. not the Persian, in their Church services tended to foster the

suspicion. 'The ruling emperors thought that the Christians were doing spy

work, conspiring with their co-religionists in the Roman Empire against the

interests of the Persian Kingdom.

Denial of conversion from Zioroastrianism to Christianity

Proselytism liom any religion. especially Christianity, to the State faith,

namely Zoroastrianism, was encouraged and facilitated. It became recognized

as a law of the State that to win a convert from Zoroastrianism to Christianity

was a crime punishable with death for both the teacher and the disciple. If

anyone became Christian. he was to be considered inferior in position. Every

Christian knew that. under ordinary circumstances, the abandonment of his

religion meant the greatest possible improvement in his worldly prospects.

Magianism received all the prestige that the establishment could give it. Some

Christians, who had powerful Zoroastrian friends, used their influence to avoid

the punishment and to win pron~otion even to the episcopate.

The Jewish leadership against the Christian Church

The Jews who also hated Christians joined the magi in their object of

persecution of the Christians by adding hatred in the eyes of the rulers. The

queen was in their favour anti they could successfully use their influence with

her to injure the Christians. Both Jews and other religions rejoiced in the

distress caused to the Christi2ms. Mobeds were ready to fan that suspicion into

persecution, even if the Christians were careful to avoid the situation. As there

is no evidence of large numbers of Jews turning to Christianity, most of the

converts must have come from the ranks of either pagans or Zoroastrians.

Sorne augmentation of the numbers of Christians also came from prisoners of

war from the Roman West. Apart from all these reasons for persecution of

the East Syrian Church, the conflict between the Roman Emperor, Constantine

and the Persian emperor Shapur-I1 also contributed to further deteriorate the

plight of the East Syrian chrir;tians.

The Conflict between Constantine the Great and Shapur 11

The conversion of the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, to

Christianity was a turning point in the history of both east and west

Christendonrs. In the beginning of the fourth century, Constantine began to

favour the Christians through the 'Edict of ~ i l a n ' . The Emperor joined the

Church with his imperial dignity and with all the authority of the ruler of the

Roman state2. Eusebius, Constantine's contemporary and admirer, Bishop of

Caesarea, was the theological authority who gave the Empire and its Emperor

1. l 'hc .l,il~ct oCM>li~xi' was ihsucd in the tianics of Constantine and Licinius, his co-ernperor,who was pagan. I hcy tnet at Milan and agrccd to reciignirc the legal personality o f the Christian Churches and tolel;ite all rrligiuns equalls ~n 324 AD In his clnpirr he altered the outer conditions of the persecuicd peoplc. the Chrrstia.n church l l c then favoured Christianity in the Koman Empire and thus i t lhvcamc thc establ~shcd religion of ihe political authority. This resulted in the far-reaching changch in its churilcter.

2 Thc pagan sovereigri of thr t:mpire himself professed the Christian faith is only one side o f the story of thc turning ~ o i n t in Roman Church History. The othcr side is that the state in its own interest had . . ~n:.lrp~~,.tlcd the ~'ltt.rch lh: I:III~CT.I~ 2. IIIC IJI:~ 0 i 1 l 1 1 ~ \IXIC ~CCLIIIL. lhc ruler oiil.. Church ,I\ UCII l du.1~ neu sttt.:l:ton ib. 0.1 I.; Inne-ll....l :\P~:,,LOLI .n the La that thc Fnip~rc snJ thc rulcr in h ~ s

a suitable place in the divine 'Oikot7omia' in the context of promise and

fulfillment by holding up Constantine as chosen by God to be the instrument

of his

The claim of Constantine as the representative of the Christian Church

The relation between the Persian king. Shapur-I1 (309-79AD) and the

Roman emperor Constantine:, if not cordial, was initially sufficiently friendly

to maintain peaceful relation between them. Shapur-I1 sent an ambassador to

Constantine. with a view to fomiing an alliance between the two powers. In

response to this Constantine :sent the following letter. Quoting from Eusebius

1 profess the Most Ho1.y Religion (Christianity); and I declare that this worship teaches me deeper acquaintance with the Most Holy God . . . . . . ... Imagine, then, with what joy I heard news so much in line with my desire that the fairest provinces of Persia are to a great extent adorned by the presence of that class of men on whose behalf alone I am at present speaking - I mean the Christians.

I pray, therefore, that both you and they may enjoy abundant prosperity and that you and they may be equally blessed, for in this way you will experience the mercy and favours of that God who is the Lord and Father of all. And now because your power is great, I commend these people to your protection; because your piety is outstanding, I commit them to your care. Care for them with your accustomed humanity and kindness. By this proof of faith you will obtain an immeasurable benefit both for yourself and us'2.

The consequences of the unfortunate letter

It was evidently prom,pted bq Constantine's learning that there were

many Christians in Persia, and in it the emperor prays that both Shapur and his

Christian subjects may enjoy abundant prosperity3. Through this letter the

emperor, Constantine believed that he was helping his fellow believers in

I. Eusebius snw in the Christian IKrnprror's realni the fulfillrncnt of the promises of the coming time o f salvation. The idea behind this conviction was that the Lord Christ in his death and resurrection had already gained the victory over tht: lords o i t l i r ~vorld. But this victory of Christ was a hidden one on earth, as long as paganism dnminated in the stale, as long as the Christians, the believers of their victorioui Lord, were persecuted h) the rulers ofthe pagan world.

: Cross. 0,~lrii.d. 335 : I.:uscbius, (oiisio,rii,ie, ,YP;\'I.'Vol. I, 10: j : Hagr . Chrislianiry

Persia but succeeded only in exposing them. The high theological esteem of

the Christian Emperor and. his Christian Empire implied inevitably the

consequence that the Roman Emperor himself was the supreme representative

ofthe Christian Church, responsible h r all Christians in the world and was the

protector even of those living outside the Christian Empire, a claim which

Constantine had already explicitly asserted on the face of Persian King of

Kings. It was about 115 AD that this ill-advised letter from the Roman emperor

Constantine to his Persian counterpart Shapur I1 was sent which probably

triggered the beginning of an ominous change in the Persian attitude towards

the ~hrist ians ' .

This unfortunate letter tended to identify the Persian Christians as allies

of an enem) power. Shapur-11 asked the Christians in Persia to avoid all

contacts with the church in the Roman Empire. In the result, mutual

fellowship, communication or contact between the Christians in the Roman

Empire and the Parthian Empire suffocated. Theletter was enough to make any

Persian ruler conditioned by three hundred years of war with Rome suspicious

of the emergence of a potential danger inside their empire. Further the Persian

preacher Aphrahat had recklessly predicted, on the basis of his reading of Old

Testament prophecy that Rome would defeat persia2.

The Persecutions

Persecutions into the gravest form took place in the Persian empire under

Persian Kings namely 1Shapur-II(339-379AD) Bahram-V(420A.D), and

Yezdegerd-11(438 A I).), 'I'hat the Jews. Manichaeans, and the Mobeds should

have urged them to this course is probable enough; but their influence was

hardly necessary. Thus the letter became an immediate cause for the out

I. Aphrat. IJm~onsfrrrl~o,i.s. 5 , lZ1

2. When the persecutions began, the i rst accusilriun brought asainst the Christians in Persia was that they were aiding and abetting the Roman enemy: the Zoroastrians whispered into the ear of the Shah.

break of persecution of Christians in Persian Empire.

Persecution under Shapur 11 (339-379)

In 337 A.D., Constantine the Great died in the midst of preparations for

his war as protector of Christians against pagan Persia. His empire was divided

among his three sons. 'To Shapur, the time seemed favourable for a

counterattack. The persecution began by 339 or 340 AD during the reign of

Shapur- 11, who ruled Persia for seventy years (309-379)'. Light Persian cavalry

crossed the border before the year was over; then their main armies besieged

the strong walled city of Pdisibis. However, the siege failed and Shapur

withdrew. He returned to his palace after the first campaign, sore and angry at

a humiliating repulse from Nisibis. It is believed that it was on this occasion

that the besieged city was preserved by the moral influence of St. James, its

bishop, and also by the 'miraculous' swarms of flies due to his prayers sent

against the besiegers

The influence of the great bishop did much towards keeping up the

courage of the defenders. The Christians in Persia were regarded with a sort of

contempt. It was natural to turn furiously upon them and declare, 'at least we

will make these Roman syrnpathizers pay!'2. During the reign of the King

Shapur-11, the persecutiorl of the Christian church in Persia took place in

several forms. One among them was imposition of double taxation and another

was the drive to destroy the Christian churches and annihilation of the clergy.

It was during this period that the Catholicos Shimun was executed.

(i) Dorrble tuxation

Shapur-I1 directed that Christians should be levied double tax and made

the Patriarch or Catholicos responsible for collecting it. He knew that they

were poor and that the Catholicos would be hard-pressed to find the money.

I . At the age of sixteen Shapur -11 took thc government into his own hands. Before he was twenty he moved brutally against the marauding Arabs. Under thirty, he set out to avenge his grandfather's humiliation by Rome. He was determined to win back what Persia had lost, the great border fortress of Nisihis and the five provinces across the Tigris.

2 . Theodorcf, Eccl Hist, Ah'/. i i 26, Euszhius. NIWF, 4:9. 1

The first 'Firman" of persecution was issued ordering all Christians to

pay doublc taxes as a contribution to the cost of a war in which they were

taking no share. l'he Catholicos \%as ordered to collect the same. The King

Shapur- 11 wrote a letter from Syria to his governors in the following terms.

When you have taken note of Divine Majesty's present instruction which is enclosed in the cover we have sent, you shall at once arrest Shimun, the Head of Nazarensis (Christians). you shall not release him until he has signed this document and promised to levy and hand over to us, a double poll tax and tribute from all the Nazarene people living in the country of our Divine Majesty who has nothing but the troubles of war and they, have nothing but rest and pleasure. They live in our territory, but their sympathies are with Caesar, our enerny2.'

Catholicos Shi~nun refused to obey the order of collecting, the double tax

on the ground that his people were too poor and the collection of tax can never

be the duty o f a spiritual leader

(ii) Arrest ofthe Cutholicos

Shapur-I1 'fell into a violent rage, gnashed his teeth and struck his

hands together saying 'Shimun wants to arouse his disciples and his people to

rebel agains~ my empire. He wants to make them slaves of Caesar, who has the

same religion as they have that is why he disobeys my orders. The countries

echoed the words of the ~ i n g ~ . The Catholicos was offered freedom for

himself and all his followers. if he worshipped the sun only once. He refused

I . Regarding the issue uf 'Flr~nan'. it is not legally right because in the Roman point of view, persecutions were not carried O L ; ~ Further Firman is not so much a decree as a permission (the standing order being thou shall do nothing at all) and the result of Firmans of persecutions issued by Shapur was not setting of thc law in motion against a religion illecita in Roman wise; but resembled that a kind of massacre. l'hc guvcrnmcnt officials assisted the slaughter that followed frequently rather than regularly.

: Young, Soirrces , T e x ~ 358

2. Ibid, Text No: 388

3. ' If Your Majesty who is the King of Kings and Lord of all the earth, sends magnificent public letters, with prccious gifts and superb presents to Caesar, he thinks nothing of them. If, on the other hand, Shimun aildresses a mere scrap o f a letter to him. Caesar will gel up, fall on his knees, receive it in his ver) hands and at crnce do i+h;~t it asks. Rcsides this. it is no secret that Shimum writes to Caesar to give him information'

: Bedjan. 4cli ofMorfyrr and S'itiinls 2 136

to do so. The king personally persuaded the C:atholicos to save himself and his

followers from the persecution. He did not The King issued orders for

the decapitation of Shimun for he had been again brought to the palace from

the prison. and had reasoned most boldly with Shapur on points of doctrine,

and had expressed a determination never to worship either the King or the Sun.

A hundred other prisoners were ordered to be slain. Shimun saw their

execution.

The Martyrdom of Shimun

On Good Friday, in the year .344AD, he was led outside the city of Susa

along with a large number ot' Christian clergy. Five bishops and one hundred

priests were beheaded before his eyes. and last of all he himself was put to

death2. Among the victims were bishops, presbyters, and other clergy.

The influence of the Martyrdom upon the noble men of the palace

The martyrdom of the Catholicos led to the conversion of a high

official in the palace-Pusiak (Pusak). When Hanania one of the on lookers

encouraged him to face the martyrdom by shutting his eyes. Pusak was seized

by the guards and dragged to the palace before the king. Shapur annoyed by

the intervention of these noblemen and afraid perhaps of finding himself

surrounded by officers became Christians or he might avenge the death of the

co-religionists on his own p1:rson. The king greatly angered and ordered to

seize tongue and tear it out. Thus he was put to death cruelly3.

The destruction of churches and the annihilation of the Clergy,

.4 second decree, ordered the destruction of churches and the

execution of the clergy who refused to participate in the national worship of

1. He was offered rich gins to make a token obe~sance to the sun, and when he refused, as his accusers expected, they cunningly tempted his with the promise that if only he alone would apostasize his people would not bc harked, but that if he refused he would be condemning not just the church leaders but ail Christians to rcstrictior~ /it that, the Christ~ans themselves rose up and refused to accept such delivcriincc as shamefr~l.

3. Young. .Sutirces, Text. 188 quulcd fiam Rcdiall ;Icli~. 2:141

the sun. The churches were demolished and the vessels used there were

deposited in the treasury. For the next two decades and more, Christians were

tracked down and hunted from one end of the empire to the other. At times

the pattern was general massacre. More often, as Shapur decreed, it was

intensive organized elimination of the leadership of the church and the clergy.

Suppression of the Christian community by persecution

A third category of suppression was the search for that part of the

Christian community that was most vulnerable to persecution, ie, Persians who

had been converted lfom the national religion, Zoroastrianism. The faith had

spread first among non-Persian elements in the population, Jews and Syrians.

But by the beginning of the fourth century, Iranians in increasing numbers

were attracted to the Christian faith.

For such converted church membership could mean the loss of

everything, fmily, property rights, and life itself. The martyrdom of Shimon

and the years of persecutiocl that followed wiped out the beginnings of the

central national organization the Persian church had only so recently achieved.

As soon as the Christians ol'the capital elected a new bishop after Shimon, that

person was seized and killed.

Bishop Sahdost may have succeeded Bishop Shimon in the Catholicate

and Bishop Barbashmin ai'ter Sahdost's death. Sahdost lasted not much more

than a year. Then for twenty years or more the position was left vacant.

Elevation to the catholicate meant instant death.

It was an age of wars and persecutions, of the clash of empires and the

revitalization of the Persian nation, of the Christinization of Rome and the

disintegration for two generaition of the Persian Church. But to look back into

forty years of Shapur's rule, it is the Persian Empire not the Persian Church

that seemed to disintegrate1

I . Young, Souwi..s, 'Text 392

The reign of Ardasher-11

His brother Ardasher-11 succeeded Shapur-11. Persecution continued in a

modified form for four years. The persecution also ceased for some time. Of

course there was local outbreak of fanatical activities by the mobed. Shapur's

successors were feeble who could not take any decisive step. After his death in

383 AD peace ensued in the Persian Empire.

The reign of Yazdegard-l(420AD)

The decision of Ya~degard-I. establishing the Christians as a millet or

subject community in the Persian Empire, with the Patriarch of Seleucia-

Ctesiphon as their rccogn~zed Head, was regulative for church state relations

afterwards, not only in the Sassanid Empire, but also under the Muslims. The

Christians were able to obtain certain privileges from the King Yazdegerd- I,

mainly a iirman of toleration for Christians and second the leave to assemble a

council for the regulation of Church affairs.

In the last year of his reign, probably some time in 420, Yazdegerd- I,

Shah-in-Shah, friend and patron of the church for twenty years, turned against

his friends. the Christians. When Persia's best interests called for dktente with

Christian Rome, the Christians were valuable allies to the Shah, but in the time

of war or open friction they were feared as untrustworthy. Now, however, the

situation was different. It seemed to be national problems rather than foreign

threats that lay behind a new wave of' persecution'.

As for Persia, without Roman aggression to worry about and with the

Huns moving away to attack the West, Shah Yazdegerd's attention turned to

his domestic problems. He sensed a growing restlessness among his feudal

nobles, who scented weakness and opportunity for their own ambition as the

emperor neared the end of his long reign. Equally dangerous was the open

resentment of the Zoroastrian state hierarchy; at the favoritism he had shown

to Christianity. In the face oi'a possible rebellious coalition of power - hungry

noble and jealous high priests, suddenly his friendship with Christians in his

realm had become a political :liability, not an asset.

By about 420AD alarmed Zoroastrian high priest came before

Yazdegerd to complain that Christian evangelism was inducing mass apostasy

fro~n the state religion. The Christian cause was not helped by some arrogant

attacks on fire temples by sincere but hnatical Christians, the most violent of

whom wcre often converts from Loroastrianism. The shah could scarcely

ignore open desecration of the state temples and the disruption of religious

peace in his realm'. He empowered the Zoroastrian clergy to persuade

apostates from the national religion to renounce their conversion to

Christianity and return to the faith of the empire 'not, however, by death, but

by Sear and a certain amount of beating2.

At first the persecution was limited to converts as the king had

commanded. but once unleashed, the thirst for retaliation and vengeance could

no longer be contained. Yazdegerd -1 died in the first year of the persecution

and his buccessor, Varahran- V (421-438), (known as Bahram in Arabic

sources) continued the persecution

Persecution by Bahram V (Varahran V) (421-438)

Bahram -V, surnamed Gor, who succeeded his father Yezdegerd- I, was

the magian nominee. There was another prince as a candidate to the throne. It

was with the support of the mobeds that Behram-V became the ruler. This

forced Behram.-V to persecute the Christians for satisfying the magian

hierarchy.

Under his rulc a most terrible persecution broke out all over the empire.

Churches wcre destroyed; thi: tent church of the Catholicos was made into a

hunting tent for the King. and all f'reemen (asatan) who were known to be

Christians were deprived of their beliefs. Probably this persecution, for the

four years o f ~ t s duration, was as savage as any that this much-tried church

I . Wigram. Chiirch 3 17

2. Ibid, l I8

was ever called upon to face. During this rule, the increase of the number of

converts from Zoroastrainism to Christianity was seriously alarming the

Magian hierarchy. The efforts were made to check the flow from Zoroastrians

to Christianity by drastic means. Thus the inevitable struggle between the two

faiths was the net result. A deputation representing all the Magians of the

Kingdom of Adarvuz, under the leadership of Mobed Mobedan sought the

audience of the Shah in-Shah. They wanted to take action against the increase

of apostasy from the state faith. The king gave the co-operation. The prelate

received power to turn back those who had fallen away.

Bishop 'l'heodoret of Cyprus wrote about it as follows'

'It is not easy to describe the new kinds of punishment that the Persian invented to torment the Christians. They flayed the hands of some and the backs of'others. In the case of others again, they stripped the skin of the face froni the forehead dow11 to the chin. They force their bodies with broken reads causing them excr.uciating pain. Having great pits they filled them with rats and mice and cast the Christians into the pits first tying their hands and feet so that they could not themselves chase the animals which were kept without food .

Bahram drove the Christians from his kingdom pillaging their houses and

depriving them of everything thaL they possessed. Others were sent to

distant places so that they might suffer an account of war then raging in those

parts. The property of the cllurches was seized including even the furniture

they contained. The building materials were used for the construction of

bridges and canals, precious metals were confiscated and sent to the royal

treasury. All the Christians did not take courage of the martyrs. Many

remained hidden or fled. l'he inhabitants of the territories bordering on Roman

provinces and other countries crossed the frontier. The Mazdians asked the

help of Bedouin and subjects of the Persian King to harass Christians.

I . Bishop i'heodorct of Cyprus. nonh east of Antioch was a contemporary of these persecutions and was wsll informed possibly b) refugee

2. Labourt. Le Chrisrianism duns. l I0

42

Bahram made the amazing request that Theodosius should surrender all

Christian refugees to his officers, and the inevitable refusal produced a renewal

of war. The course of hostilities was dull and eventless. Another bishop,

Acacius of Arnida, already known in Persia, played a more Episcopal part in

the famous episode of the ransoming of the Persian captives with the church

treasures. I t was an act, which both facilitated the making of peace, and

probably contributed to bring about the cessation of persecution that

accompanied the end of the hostilities. In the year A.D. 422, the peace between

the Roman and Persians were once more established, the persecution ceased

officially. One of the terms of the treaty was there should be freedom of

consciencc to the subjects oi'hoth sides.

Actually persecution continued in a modified form during considerable

portion of Bahran's regime and there were martyrdoms also. The martyrs of

this time probably belonged either of noble birth or the officials to the court'.

In A.D.438 Bahram died and his son Yezdgerd- I1 became the ruler.

The Persecutian by Yezdgerd 11 (428)

At the outset of his career he was favourably inclined to the Christians.

But in the year 448. he declared war against Christianity in his dominions in a

most intense form. At about the same time he started a vehement persecution

of both the Armenians and the Assyrians. The king seems to have meant the

persecution to be carried out on throughout the empire, but it appears to have

been most scvere in the provlnce of Beth Garmai. It is probable that it was far

more severe there than elst: where.

A massacre of appdlling magnitude is recorded at Karka d'Beit Sluk,

now known as Kirkuk. On a hill near Kirkuk, ten bishops, 153000 Clergy and

laity were slaughtered in several consecutive days of slaughter. Local tradition

asserts that the martyr's stained the red gravel of hill rock that colour of blood

-

I Some o f the names of martyrs mentioned in history were Snenas, Benjamin, St. James Perog of Bietlapt. James the notary etr-.,

Theodarct. t c c l ifix~isri. .-INF, 5 38 157

and martyrdom built over the bodies remains this day1. Regarding the nature of

persecution some were crucified, others stoned, and some beheaded. Clergy

and laity alike suffered the most refined tortures '. When the bishops and the laity were beheaded others came forward to

bear witness to the faith in Jesus Christ. Despite the intensity of the

persecutions the Christians increased. Many persecutions have not been

recorded. The persecution could not stop or retard the growth of the

Christians. l'he blood of n1:irtyrs gave additional strength to the church to

exist in Persia as well as to expand abroad. Through their martyrs, the Church

was enriched during the persecuted years. During the persecution time, the

people faced many questions from the other people why God allow the

Christian church for persecution from the rulers and other religious leaders3.

But regarding the conditions of the church, it was almost scattered and

disorganized; yet it maintained an internal life. Even during the persecution,

the Church was able to draw illen to the Church. More than one chronicle tells

with pride o f the conversion when persecution was hottest, of men like Ait

Alha of Arbcla, the priest of the Godess sharbi14. It is possible that it was in

this period ol'comparative quiet, either before or after the death of Shapur - 11,

I Incidents rccorded as having taken place in connection with the massacre are also probably historically accurate

: Wigrani. flislory . 138 loot now

2 Stewart . Missronary tnli<rprrsc.>. 3

3 . I n responsi' lo thc quc\lton. r i ~ ~ s u ~ l h) oric u i tile cuntempi~raries of the sage Afrahat. regarding the pcrsecuuuni laced by lllc Chris11;ins . i2fralial. q~lotcs some 13iblical examples of sufferings. ' And after Jcsus, Aposllcs in turn had been inal-tyrs 411d also concerning our brethren who are in the West, in the days of Uioclctian therc came great alllictio~i and perscculion to the whole Church of God, which was in all their region. The churchcs were overthrown and uprooted, and many confessors and martyrs made confession. And (the Lord) turned in mercy to them aRer they had been persecuted. And also in our days thcsc things have happcned to us on account of our sins, The Apostle also said: ' We also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses This is our honour, in which many confess, and are slain.

4. Bedjan.. .lcr~r. iv. 131

44

that tlie East Sycian Church managed to restore ibr a time the succession to the

cpiscopatc 111 the capital, Scleucia-Ctesiphon. There are shadowy references to

tlte clcctlon of a hcad of the ch~trch. After the martyrdom of Bishop Shirnun,

according to the records of tlie Synod of Dadyeshu in 424, there followed

another long and paralyztt~g vacancy in national leadership, which was also

c:llled thc catholicatc. But neither the facts nor the dates are clear.

hlar Aprem remarks ahout these persecutions in the following words:

.the persecution in the Roman empire helped the Church in Persia to grow,

persecution in the Persian empire caused the Persian Church to suffer. But it

helped the church to grow within the empire as well as outside . As in the

.4postolic Christiar: Church, the persecutions of the Christians expedited its

expansion. .;o also the per:;ecutions here to grow rapidly1'. John Stewart

describes this church as .a Church on ire''!. There was a rapid growth in

numerical strength and scographical expansion in the East Syrian Church

especially in the first six centuries. It remains the most remarkable

achieve~iient in the annals of thc Christian history.

The Church - State Relationship of Sixth Century

During the last decades of the sixth century, the Church was again

under the threat of persecution. The Persian rulers began to realize how

politically important the po:iition of a leader of the Christians had become.

Iluring the last years of Mar Aba's Patriarchate (540-552 AD), a delegation

i-rom thc chief of the Hephthalite Huns had arrived at the Persian capital from

beyond Ouus Kiver in C:eni:ral Asia asking the Patriarch to consecrate their

cliristiati leader as bishcrp fbr their nation.' Such a demonstratioti of the

surprising expansion of Christian influence across the continent could not

have gone tinnotict.il in the palace and may well account for the purposeful

steps taken by the government in the decades that follwed to control the

church's power. By the mid sixth century Persia launched a war during the

period of C'hosroes-1 (531-'i7YA.D) against Constantinople which lasted for

twenty two years'. In 540AD he broke the 'endless peace' made with Justinian

in 532 AD and renewed war with Constantinople by raiding Syria.

.4s usual when Persia warred with Christian west, it looked with great

suspicion on Persian Christians. During this period the church leaders faced

from both sides. the internal problems of the church and the delicate

relationship with the government. It was in these wars with Byzantium that

Chosroe's fbrces obtained hordes of prisoners, mostly from Syria, who were

sent to Persia to begin a new life there. Another result of Chosroe's wars was

that anti-Christian feelings were again aroused in Persia, and there began

some persecution of Christia~ns by the Magi.

The last years of Sassanid Empire

'lowards the latter part ot'the sixth century, Chosoroes 11, who owed his

throne to Byzantine assistance, had a Christian wife, showed favour to

Christian C'l~urcli and proclaimed liberty of conscience. The last years of the

Persian Impire under the Sar;sanid dynasty was the reign of Chosroes's -11. In

the year 602 an arlriy revolt in Constantinople, forced Chrosroes's friend, the

ernperor Maurice. of the Byzantine throne and elevated to the purple the

usurper I'hocas. 'a common old m a n ' His soldiers took the deposed emperor's

five sons and murdered them before his eyes then put Maurice to death.

Chosroes, whom Maurice had befiiended in his days of exile, was outraged.

He ordered his court into nlorning. Then he declared war. The years of peace

were over, hut for all too ~ l io r t a time the Persians at least enjoyed a taste of

I C I l o ~ u c \ \,as cohrniiwly rrc,r;?n.zrd as tlic prc:llc,l ol'lhr Susanian kings wlio instituted various social, cc<,i0111ii iiild i n ~ i l ~ l i u i refon>>..

2. '!'hi< pcrsccut~or> \ \ a> i n c ~ l ah ; . \ ! cm~s i~u n i 1,: Shnpur 1's timi., being dircctcd cniostly agilinsl I'crslans. i d ~ . s p ~ . c ~ a l I y I I ~ C I ~ I ~ C : . ~ o f t i x ino:>iIit), l i h ~ l h d !uriit.d to Cl~ristiilility.

46

victory. In the series of crunching campaigns the Persians threw the Byzantine

Romans back to tlie Med~terranean. They took Edessa in 607 and sacked

Antioch in 61 1. Even whzn Phocas. the Usurper, was deposed that same year,

and the ncw emperor, Heraclius, suggested peace now that the murder of

hlaurice was avenged, the Persians refused and the war went on. In 615

Pgrsian arn~ies poured into Jerusalem with the help of Jewish volunteers eager

to recapture their sacred i:itj from the Christians. They massacred thousands

and burned the churches and carried off the true cross-found in the days of

Constantine the rea at'. By 632AD when a forgotten grandson of Chosroes was

found and enthroned as Yudegerd I11 (632-651AD), though legitimacy was

restored to the crov,ll. the nnpire of the Sassanids was beyond all saving.

The Co~~trol of Governrl~ent over the Church

During this time the I'ersian rulers began to realize how politically

inlportant the position of leader of the Christians had become2. The safest and

always the preferred methocl of dealing with minorities in absolute Asian

monarchies was neither to !oin them nor to massacre them, but to dominate

and control them. So in the election of Mar Aba's successor, Chosroes-I

directly intervened. The voice of the Shah was by now as loud in patriarchal

elections as that of power orpressure and he exercised both3.

Patriarch Joseph tl~rt.\+, two bisliops into prison for questioning his

decisions. IJnder tlie pressure he finally called a council (554) the church's

I B;u Hebraeus. ( 'iiivizogmpii~ 86

2 Duillig the last years of Ma, Aba's patraarcl~ate a dclcgation from the chief ofihe Hephihaliie iluns had arr~vcd at the I'~.rsia capital atler a long journey from beyond the Oxus River in the steppes o f central Asia lo ask the patriarch to consecrate their Christian leader as bishop for their nvrion. Such a demonstration of the surprising expansion of Christian ~nfluence across Uie col~tineo! could not have gojne unnoticed in the p;ilace ma) well account for the purposeful steps taken by the

goiemtnenl LO colitri>l the c1111rch's powr .

3 . The Shah's cholcc war qulckl) acceptcd 5) the bishops and just as quickly regretted. The new patriarch Joseph proved to kc an unscrupulous and autocratic tymnt. It had become the custom for each succeeding patriarch, when possible, regularize his reign by calling a general council or synod to signiFj the approval o f the church and its acceptance of his authority. Joseph, with the power of the Shah dread) supponing him. tell no need of the formal consent of the bishops and rclussil io call a s)liud, therchy cfl'ect rooting the authority of patriarchal succession in the will a f a t~dgari ruler rather tllnt~ in thc consent of Christian btihops.

: Molietr. Ilrsiun~. 2::'

47

seventh. He gave the bishops the opportunity they sought to curb his dictatorial

ways. The> passed a new canon law that frankly noted the mounting criticisms

of Joseph's one-man rule and decreed that even in cases requiring urgent

action the judgments of the patriarch must have the concurrence of at least

three bishops. In a more veiled language the council also warned against

governmental interference in church affairs. It condemned secular influence in

the elect1011 of btshups a ~ ~ d lay patronage of unworthy priest, presumably by

\\sealthy landowners .~nd olticials.

Finally, in 566 or 56'7 the bishops called another council, pointedly

without inviting Joseph, and formally deposed him, electing the little-known

Ezekeil to t ~ k e his place. But it was an empty gesture so long as canon law

and the favor of the Shah were on the patriarch's side. The interlocking pattern

of ineffective church leadership and royal interference was not easily broken.

There was a table of succession of East Syrian Church patriarchs from this

time to the Muslim conqucsti. l'he elections of some the patriarchs were filled

with intrigues and politics'. Under the Sassanids, because of the traditional

enmity between the Roman and the Persian Empires, they were not welcome

in the Persian domains3. This subordination to non-Christian civil authorities

made at times deterioration in the character of the leadership, though it had the

support of influentia! and educated mercantile and professional elements in the

political and commercial cities Seleucia-Ctesiphon and then Baghdad.

I . S O (l1iiI i 160 (Canan 7 ) : 'i.0. ( M i l ) 1611 (Canon '1) : S.O. (Mal), 158, 162 (Canon 4 , 9 )

2 S . 0 (.h/<il) 52-70

3 . Asscll~;to~, I'u1iniirr~11i.s. 2 9 4 . quolcd ill Y i i~ log , t 'olr;orc/~, 73 .

CHAPTER 1V

EAST SYRIAN CHURCH: TOWARDS A PRIMATE

The organizational developments in any church are always conditioned

by socio- cultural and political factors. The hierarchical organization within the

l io~nan Empire followed n specific pattern, as Christianity had become the

official rel~gion of the enlpire. The ecclesiastical events in the West gave a

significant impetus for the Christians in Persia for the unification of the

hierarchical organization of its own. The transformation of Christianity within

the Roman Empire into an establishment (church) had some consequence for

the Christians beyond the Rornan borders1.

But C:Ilristianity in Persia had to face a quite different socio-economic and

political situation. We know very little of the organization and structure of the

nascent was East Syrian Christianity. The 'Doctrine of Addai' makes

references to the deacons. presbyters and to the priesthood. 'The Acts of

Thomas' retlects the second century situation in which the church was not

fully struct~~red.

According to Moffett. the late Parthian and early Sassanian emperors

would have furnished opportunity for visible organized Christian leadership to

emerge < There i, very little reliable evidence of a developed episcopate in

Persia until the 300 AD. In Edessa and Adiabene, the church had slowly been

~rioving in the direction of greater centralization by the end of the second

century. Bq the third and fourth centuries the process accelerated.

I , l i i e urgi ln~~ut ion ut l l ~ e churcll in the western empire was i n a flux when Constantine euerged an the scene It i rus Constalltine who made the organization o f the church strong in the western empire. There ivas nolhwng in the u.uy o f pcrln,3nenl organ~zation over and above the diocese in n~ost palls of 1hc I lon~;k~i irc,,ld bcluii. tlic cornlop o l lhc Chrlilian clnplrc

: l : cc lc \~ i i i l~ca l proiir1ii.s wrrc t!ie ticst ci~lntribi~tcon uf the Christian ernpirc. I1 was Conslanlioc who divided l l ~ c old l<ol?ian E n l p l ~ s l i l l r ~ ibui I'raclurlan prc~ccluics which we call Ilome, Antioch. Alek.indi8.i. and Ciirisl.intinoplt.

2 Mollcu, I lr irori . I I S

By tire first half of the fourth century, a nationwide community with no

single head but with graded church structures such as bishop, priests, and

deacons separated geographically but in communication with each other. This

can be illustrated from thc writing of Mashiha-Zakha in his book 'Chronicle of

.4rhil. It incntions some naiiies of bishops such as Paqida the first bishop of

Arbil (104 ;\D). who wa: ordained by Addai, and Mar Ishak (131-148), who

built a church. Iluring this p'xiod, thuugh there were several bishops in charge

of various metropolitan sees, no primate of East Syrian Church is seen'.

The Episcopacy of Papa Bar Aggai

'l'he ecclesiastical and political developments elevated the Bishop of the

Persian capital. Seleucia-Ctttsiphon. to headship over all of the East Syrian

Cl~ristian. According to the description of Mashiha Zakha, in the army of

Shapur- 1 1241-247 AD) there was a wealthy C:hristian, named Ganzpan. When

he went to Hedayab. he nlrt inany Christians in the district and its villages. He

invited SliahlutB. 13ishop of Arbil. to come to Ctesiphon and visit the

Christians there. Shahlufa was afraid. but Ganzpan reassured him and removed

his fears. 'l'hey entered the rich city Ctesiphon and encouraged the Christians

who assembled ihere. At their request, Shahlufa laid his hands on a man and

ordained hiln priest. He stayed for two years there.

Then he returned to Arbil. His successor Ahudabui, visited Ctesiphon

(ca. 280 AD), and ordained five priests. The people felt the need of a bishop of

I . Masliih;! Zakha, in lils bmk Chroiicle of Arhil. mentions the following Bishops also.

: Joumcy al Bishop Mirra, Bisl~op of Bait %ahdl with ti-ady caravan (I20 AD).

: Uislhiip S.>msoii ill),, worked III Ihc ~ ' o u ~ l l q side and converted many people during tlic lime of King K h u r i o u u ( I23 , \ I l l and l l ~ s l ~ u p s Sum,on hcciilnc the fin1 known Martyar i n the Purtliinn period. hlil/l~ih;i Laklia. Clrrooicle a1 \ri,il, 3 - 5

: Thc :acuviilcs o l ' l l ~ s l ~ v p Mar lsiioq Dishop Arhll. who baplircd Kapbakht Governor and warrior during the ~ I I I ~ C l i t the King ol'Parthians 1Nalgach 11. (133-168)

: Risliop Abraham <it' Arbil ( I 18- 6 3 ) who did the evatigeiistic work in tile mountain country tried for getung state protrcll<,n for t h i chol-ch.

: Soole ('ll~cstians wclhcred away fioln the (:l~rsstian faith tiitaugh the persecution Cram !he emperors during (lie Epircopatc period ,,I'N,~ilh (163-170)

: Mcsliah /&ha . Chroliiclr ul~Irhl.3-5,6-10.1 1.12,29-30, Y o u n ~ Sources, Text Nus. 376,377,378

their own. The inhabitants of Ctesiphon asked him urgently to consecrate a

bishop. tHc agreed readily to do what they asked, and consulted Haibiel,

Bishop of Susa. The two agreed to elect Papa Bar Aggai, a Syrian, a very

learned and wise man and consecrated him as bishop1.

Attempts to Establish the Primacy of Seleucia - Ctesiphon

Bishop Papa. an Arariacan, as he was called, became the strong centre

of the l i rs~ lnajor power struggle to threaten the unity of the Church of the

East. [.'inding himself bishop of the royal city and overcome with 'intolerable

pride', he brashly proposed that even the bishoprics whose incumbents had so

recently elevated h ~ m to tk~c episcopacy, Arbela and Susa, now be made

subordinate with all other to thc bishopric of the capital, thus for the first time

creating a national head for a church in which all bishops had been considered

equal. The result was uproar.

The Bishops held a council of the Church about 315 AD and named it

the Synod of Seleucia, although there are no primary official records available

now. I!nder the leadership of the Bishop Miles (Susa), the gathered bishops

bluntly rejected Papa's claims of supremacy. The Bishop of Seleucia did not

yield to the verdict. Even his own delegation from Seleucia-Ctesiphon,

perhaps tired of his arroganct, deserted him and his archdeacon2.

I ~ l e sought thc opinior~ of a number of leading men of the church in the

Syrian pro^ inces. fhe men contacted in this way supported Papa and censured

lhis opponents. He reconciled archdeacon to himself and assured him of

succession. But Papa strengthened his hand by writing to the Bishop of Edessa

I Young. .Yrxrcer. 1')-Zi) quatec:l Iron> Masliii~a Zakhu 'Chronicle, 3-5, 6-10,ll-12)

: Minganzt Source,.\ . I I 2

: h~"l'l'~I1, //,s~o"v , 12(1

? l ' i i i a ~ - L O U I I ~ ot'lI>i. Synod 0 1 SI:ILUCI~ C O Z I ~ C S from t l~c proceedings of the S y n d of Dddiso (Dadycshu) d - 1 ? 1 l.l~is rccuid ljvors Papa's ,idc of lhc case; but an account ofthc sanlc council from Ihc poitit u f i l c i v ,,I Bishop lllles of Susn agrees w>th il in all major paniculars.

: l i u i l13$~ Acts. ?hl l

suggestii~g official I-ecog~i~tion as Patriarch. He consulted with other western

Bishops. I'his request wab agreed to, and accepted by all the eastern bishops.

Whatever the weakness i l l ' his tiiotives or his methods, there was an almost

inevitable logic to Papa's proposal of a national church with clear lines of

authority.

Alarmed at the threat of permanent schism when Papa angrily refused to

accept deposition, the bishops began to fumble their way to a compromise. The

details are obscure. but it seems to include the pro forma restoration of Papa as

bishop of the capital, the voluntary resignation of Simon Bar Sambas, his

archdeacon. who had been made bishop in his place, and an agreement that

Simon would he promised the right of succession after Papa's death1. By the

same sort of working compromise, Papa's proposal of primacy for the bishop

of Seleucia-Ctesiplion eventually came to be accepted. Thus the bishop of

Seleucia-~Ctesiphon commanded too little reverence from his Persian

colleagi~es for the primac~ to be anything but an arrangement of convenience

at first. I t was at least as a practical necessity for contact between a minority

Church and a highly centralized, non-Christian monarchy. It is nat~lral in an

empire, power flows to the capital, and perhaps it was wise counsel from the

bishop of Edessa that a\,el~ed a schism and persuaded the fractious Persian

clerics to accept a nomilla1 head. According to later documents the Western

bishops played a decisive irole in this first organizational crisis in the East

Syrian Clii~rch.

Beginning of t h e Seleucian Cathol ica te .

I'apa's claim to 1cadi:rsliip ever the entire church of Persia was the

beginning of the Seleucian Catholicatc '. This should not be taken as an effort

on the part of Bishop Papa to assume undue authority for himself. It was infact - -p-~~-~~~ -~ ~

I. \ V i g i ~ > l i . HISIOI). 53-55

?. .iathuiicos" bras ,,rtginally us,:d in tlic Koinan Ernpire in a secular sense of the rmpcror's minister uf l i oa i~cc It was first used as title of the lhrad of ;% natioril church in Armenia. In the Persiaci Empire ~t appcan: as thc lctle of ihe bishop of Selrucia Ctes~phon in the martyrologics such as thc Acts of Sl l lmo~i The synod of 1 s t ~ ~ used i t as the patriarchate of Antioch.

: I ~ ~ ~ r i r r c u e , fos ien i Church ? : 4 X

52

a necessity for the church itself for its well- being1. The primacy of Seleucia-

Ctesiphon was not to be firmly established till 410 AD and its independence

from west till 424 AD.

T h e Reorganization of the East Syrian Church

When Bishop Papa Bar-Aggai set his mind to shape a national

organization for the East Syrian Church, a centralized structure seemed

desirable and even necessary to deal with the increasing centralization of the

empire. Pagan Persia could not tolerate an independent national Christian

organization in the empire while it was fighting Christian Rome. Only after

peace was made with Rome, the persecution of Persian Christians ended. The

Church used this opportunity to reoiganize and complete the unification begun

under Papa, In the short space of' fourteen years at the beginning of the fifth

century the Persian bishops called three general councils or synods. They

swiftly and efficiently fortn~:d themselves into a nation wide church. Three,

sometimes competing, sometimes complementary interests dominated the

process of organization: first. the achievement of a consensus among the

Persian bishops, second, the long arm of the Persian government, and third the

distant bur \vatchfi~I conceril (of the patriarchates like Antioch.

Out of the ~nterwcaving of the powers and influence o f these three

factors thcre emerged the in(dependent East Syrian Church, recognized for the

first time as ecclesiastically supreme in the East under a Catholicos (Patriarch),

the bisliop of Selccia-Ctesiphon. 'The church began to recognize that it could

never be completely free trom the temporal power of the state.

T h e Christians accepted as a Millet in Persia (410 AD)

During the period of ;persecutions, faced by the East Syrian C:hurch,its

first Council Synod of Isaac, was convened in 4 1 0 ~ . ~ c r o s s the border in Persia,

I . . Minganil . Syriac 121-123

;I. Thc ' S > ~ i o d or Council of Sclcucia in about 315. which deposed Papa, is sornelimcs called !he first of rhc I'cnlan councils. but since it tell no conlernporaiy records it is usually not listed as equal to the oSlici;+l C Y I I ~ E

5 3

h r t y bishops o t the East Syrian Church had been invited to the synod in

Selecuia- Ctesiphot~. The!. celebrated the victory due to an edict of toleration

by Shah Yozdegcrd I , issued probably in 409 AD.

Edict of Toleration

Yezdgard -I, decided to recognize the Christians as a millet or subject

community in the I'ersian Empire. with the Patriarch of Seleucia-Ctesiphon as

their recognized Head'. I t w;is regulative for Church-state relations afterwards

both in the Sassanid Empirc and under Muslims. King of Kings issued this

Edict to his Prime Minister Khusran Yazdgard and his commander in Chief

Mihr shapur2. It \\.as the Roliian ambassador to Persia, a Mesopotamian

bishop, Marutha of Maipherqat (modern Meiafarakin ) who was instrumental

in improving the relation between the Shah and his christian subjects wliich

ultimately resulted in the promulgation of the Edict.

W.G. Young quoted the order of Yazdgard,

'...throughout the Empire the temples (Churches) destroyed by his fathers should be magnificently rebuilt.. . And that those who had been put to the test for God who had endured prison and torture should come out freely, that the priests and all (all clergy including monks) should have liberty to go about.. . . . . '

. . . . . . ever) Inan whom you shall choose and know to be capable of governing and directing the people of God, who shall be appointed by Bishops lzhaq and Maruta, shall be the Head. No one must separate himself from them, if anyone opposes them and acts contrary to their will, let thcm tell us, and we shall infbrm the King of Kings, and no matter who he be his malice shall be punished.. .. . ...'

Yazdegerd's edict was significant for the Asian church. The edict

officially ended great persccutions. Yazdegerd -I, who permitted the calling of

the Chribticin synod . came to rhe Persian throne in 399

I . Mt11i.i (Milct) i> a icl-bnical I rirkc:i xvurd lur .r Christian sublcct nation, organized in il churcI~.dealing with ihe government through 11, n:ligiuus lhrad I1 suits thc conditions of the cburch in Loroastriati I'ersin 50 perfect l~ h rayat or. -~!I>jei.t is a incmbrr ofsucli millet.

T h e role of Bishop Marut l ia of Maipherqa t in convening the Synod

The title ot. ambassador then referred not to a fixed post but to

temporary assignment as head of a political mission and Bishop Marutha might

have represented ~ o n s t a n t i n o ~ l e ' . I-le was so successful in making peace

between the two empires that when the Byzantine emperor Arcadius died in

Constantinople in 108 leaving a seven--year-old son, Theodosius -11 to inherit

the throne, he is said to have appointed the old enemy, the Persian Shah

(Yazdegerd -I), rn guardian for the boy against the dangers of a Byzantine

palace coup Marutha is said1 to have cured Yazdegerd of a violent headache to

which he was long subject

The Zoroastrian magi had been unable to believe that he did it

through payer2. Bishop Marutha wah equally effective both as an ambassador

from the Western to the Eastern Church in the eccelesiastical perspective and

as a rcpresentatiie of thc Byzantine emperor to the Persian Shah in the

political perspective. H i s diocese of Maipheraqat in the Kurdish mountains

northeast of Edessa Mas just across the border on the Roman side. Its

relationship to thc mother church, Edessa, made him acceptable to the Persian

bishops. and he in turn became deeply impressed with the courage of the

Persian hlanyrs'. He came to I'ersia at a most strategic time. The Eastern

church, still dazed by the years of persecutions, was fumblingly rebuilding its

decitnatcd national organization4.

~ ) I I C irdditiull s i i ? i chat 11 *:is 1lir bishop dn>bassad"r'~ medical skill that first $%'on him tile canlidcnce i , C l h u I'rrsian k ~ ~ i g and c.dlcd hlaroth;, 111~. ljist medical missionary

: i t I XX

2. \c>c~,~lts . LC' / lor^. '4 1'14 I . . , V,,! 1 1 . 7 8

4. :\ !iliiog r i i d ~ i . Isaac, n i i b lnvade a hlshop in 401. Bishop Isaac was accuscd beforz rhc Shah, of ~rir.gularilirs i l r ~ ~ l h c c , IIOI b) Luroastriom but by Christiarzs, tu their shnine and to the lhurniliation 01. t w d i . who was llirawn l r ~ o prison,. It a a i at this point that the Westrrn bishop, Muruchu, is said to havc \tcppcd, in to usc his inllocn<e with llic Shith. He quickly secured the bishop's releasc and was granted pemlission to h a w a c o u ~ ~ c i i called to rescore peace and order in the East Syrian Church

The key role played by the West at this Eastern Synod was generously

acknowledged. At the rcquest of Bishop Issac, Marutha, the bishop from

across the border. opened the meeting with the reading of a letter he had

hrouglit lioni the 'hestern bishops.' notably the Patriarch of Antioch and the

bishops of Amida and Edessa. Ile was received as an apostle (and) messenger

oi' peace \\horn God in his inercy sent to the East, Mediator of peace and

concord bctwee~i cast and west. Skilled in secular as well as ecclesiastical

~icgotiations. Marutha had wisely showed the letter first to the shah and had

sccured his poweriitl support for etfbrts to improve relations between the

churches o l the two empires.

The llast SJI-ian ('Iiurch Synod of 410 A.D officially accepted the

primacy of the Bishop of Selecia-Ctesiphon as Carholicos and Archbishop of I

ill1 the Orient . A number of synods were convened as and when the need for

formulating doctrinal propositions arose in the church.

The order of the Patriarchal Synods of the ESC

Mar lssac (41OADi. Yahbalaha (4?0), Dadiso (424), Mar Aqaq (456),

Mar Bahai i497), Mar Aba (544), Mar Joseph (554), Mar Ezechiel (576), Mar

lso Yahb (586),Mar Sabariso (596). Mar Gregory (605), Mar Giwuargis (676),

Mar Hnaniso (7751. Mar i'himothy (790-805), Mar Iso Barnun (823), Mar

Abyare i9110), Mar [:La (iO-78-1048) a i d Mar Thirnothy I1 (1318 AD)

Dur~ng the period of Patriarch Timothy- I (780-823), the collection of the

material pertaining lo the Eas,t Syrian Church Synods was put together. The

I . l l ~ e I'atr~archs ol I l l ~ West horr ihc t i l l ~ 'Purriorch' and was applied solely to ihc prime historical Sccs wilhiil Uli. Roman c~npirc Hut in the East S y r m Church that title was adopted during the time of Mar Shtl~lniul: Dilr S d b ~ u (A li 320-3351 Originully, the titles Catholicos and Patriarchs wcrc s ) I , ~ I ~ ? I I ~ ) u s I ~ used

: Aci.oidll>g to Sai~ruul.V.C. I'atriarcha~es in tire Rornan Ihp i r e and the Catlioiicate io the I'crsiai, E ~ ~ l p ~ r i . had a ion i r f parallel gro\\,lh. But L l i ~ . backgrounds of the two empires were direrent. 'The Catl>olicate in Pcrsia took s h a ~ e al ;! time before the Patriarchate in the Roman Emoire. Of these two

decisions of the Synods ar~: compiled in the name of 'Synodicon orientale".

It had direrent redactions after the eighth century. The East Syrian church2

accepted the decisions of certain western synods. The Syrlod (410) then drew

up twenty-one canons regulations the government of the church, adjusting the

Western rules of the Council of Nicaea to its own Eastern requirements with a

freedom that under lined its sense of friendly independence ofthe West.

The Independence of the East Syrian Church

'I'he Synod of issnc (410) vested in the East Syrian Church

independence, and coequality along with the great and ancient sees of

Jerusalem. n t i o c l ~ . Alexandria and ~ o m e ' . At the end of the synod, Bishop

Isaac ot'Selecia-Ctesiphon was appointed by the shah as the 'Chief of all the

The I:ast Sjrian C'l~uicl~ Caiiiu, L;%u :ire the canons passed in the I'atriarchal Synods . It was edited and transllilrd b i

: Chabot1.B Synudico,? Orinluii ou Kecueil des Synudes Neslorienes . Paris, 1902.

: This work chrmicles tile acts of I3 Synods from 410-775 AD, although only eleven of these fall within the chronological limits of the prt:sent volume. It is probable that there were gatherings o f East Syrian Church flishops prior 10 410 AD, but the penccutions of the fourth century made all such assemblies clandestine and even dangerous Such records as they left did not find a place in this book. Much of the hislur! o f tlie E s t S y r m ~ Church aker 4 10 AD is in fact presented through this Synodicon Orienlolr.

: There is ;I Oermao editlon ofthc Slnodicun Orientale.

O.Brauri 110s Buch der Synhmdi,~, noch ciner /land.rchr@i des Museo Borgiano X . 82. Vacucan \Vie" 1900

: The k,llowl!~g docuillcnlr also piuvide the versions of the Synodicon Orientale Dauv~ller Jean : CIlaldi.cn (Droll) in DDC, 111, Paris I942 Col. 292-388 Ebed Jesus deNisibe DDC V I'aris. 1953 CoIs.91-134 Selb kirchcnrec!~~ Olimlali ,~l~rs Kirchc~rccht Wicn. 1981, 1

2. The Itst \i~cludes i i v t of ihc 'Wcstcm synods (Ancyra, Nicaea Antioch. Gargra, and Laodicca) rccognfzcd by ihc S>ni,d of Yabsllaha in 420. and number the Synod of lsaac as the sixth synod. The nu~nbcrlng used here hcgins ~ 8 t h Il~e lirst nllicially ~ c o r d c d synod in 410, that of lsaac, and excludcs Westen, syz ids

Christians of the Orient ' I . The council adjourned, praising God for peace in

the Church and peace in the world. It was no mean achievement they

celebrated a peace at many levels: peace among the bishops, peace from

persecuting emperors, peace between the great powers, and a new awareness

of peace and unity between the Christians of the East and the West. It was

also: though they did not kna'w it at the time, a peace so fragile that it could not 2 last .

There was a feeling that thr maintaining peace between the Church and

the State in Persia, the Church had to declare its independence of the West.

Between the persecutions of Varahran-V and Yazdegerd-I1 a short interim

period of peace gabe opportunity for the Church to hold a third general

council, the Synod of Dadyeshu (Dadisho) in 424AD at ~ a k a b t a ' In the

general council Dadyeshu expressed his desire to resign.The assembled

bishops threw themselves at the feet of the reluctant Dadyeshu and vowed him

I Nu onc poititcd out that the synod t~ad already done this in naming Isaac as ca tho l i c~~. No one objected to the usurpillion by thc state uf the responsibility of the church. I t is doubtful that the bishops even sensed a problem: more likely they were simply happy that the shah had graciously duplicated their own actjot, lhey had already dutifully recorded in the minutes ofthe synod the fulsome prayer: We all with onc dccord imlilore our merciful God that he will lengthen the days of the king victorious and illustrioos. Yazdegeid. king o f Kirgs. that hls years be prolonged for generations to come, and for ages and agus

: Voobus. , , l i ~ e r i ~ i ~ , i , . i,,i.l. Ch( '0. 260

3 One Cathollcus, blana (120) had hecn abruptly deposrd and banished by the shah for failure to rebuke Christians \+Ilo burned a fire temple The Persian authorities instigated by the rebel bishops who challenged 111s primac! and disc~pliic imprisoned his successor Dadyeshu.

: lhrough thc good ofiiccs of thr. anibassadors ofthe Bymt i nc Emperor Thedosius 11, he was liberated, and decided td retire to a rnonastsr:i. When the persecution ended, the true Catholicos, Dadyeshu, was released from prison. In the fuunh year of Varahran V, thirty-six bishops, headed by Agapit aind Dadyeshu. Metropolltal~ of Ciui~de:shapur, assembled at Markabta of the Arabs. The location of the inceting pl;iic is nnknui*n. I t %as t i village near Ctesiphon. I t would be dangerous to meet publicly in the caplt;ii doc to the l~risecutiiiri 1)ailyeshu. stated his intention to resign.

: S O ( t . I iuiiourt Lee,. C I ~ I I S I ~ C I , I . S , ~ ~ I ' , quoted in Moffett, Hisrory . 161 i'or a irlrilc ;i Pscudo Catholicos. Farbokl. t Marabokt) supported by an unholy alliance of allti - Christi.in 7o~r~,~stria1,, rebel bishops. almost succeeded in capturing control of the organization.

allegiance i l l terms that uncyuivocally set apart the church in Asia, as free in

Christ under its own head. the catholicos, not opposed to the West but equal

in rank and authority to an! L7estern patriarchate. Then Bishop Agapit

addressed tlic Synod. The extract of his address is as follows. I

'whenever schism and discord have arisen among us, the Western Fathers have supported and helped this Patriarchate ... They have also liberated and delivered us from the persecutions, which the Magi have aroused against our fathers and us, thanks to the ambassadors whom they have sent at different times. But now. when we are so weighed down with persecution and anguisb~ circu~nstances do not permit. them to trouble themselves about us as formerly but it is now for us, like beloved children and faithful heir\. to try to raise and help urselves, by means of the Authority set ot,erCo~ne, let us face cvery kind of death for our Father and Head,the Catholicos Dad-~shu' ! I-le is our Peter, the Head of our Church Body'

She Synod of Dadyishu at Markabta proved to be one of the most

s~gnificant of all the co~nc i l :~ of the East Syrian Church, which defined in the

following terms the ~ndeper~dence of their Church and its Catholicos. The other

Canons passed at the Synod were the following regarding independence of the

E:ast Syrian Church. When the Synod defined the independence of the Church

and its Catholicos. lladu lshu agreed to resume the office of the Catholicos.

Hence the C athol~co> was to be the Patriarch. The Western Fathers were not to

be appealed regard~ng cuntl-oversies of the East, in the background of the

political conflict between the Roman and Persian powersz. The synod declared

that thi: lasterner5 cannor. complain against their patriarch to the western

patriarclis. ['his \\:IS not ;in act ol'schism, as some have interpreted it

W.G. Yoling quotes the reason5 for decision as follows:

'whereas it has been dlccreed by the Western Fathers that our bishops are not allowed to hold ;m assembly against the will of their Head, nor to prepare in \+riling head:; of accusation and reproach; but if they have any complaint to make, and obtain no satisfaction at the Assembly in presence of Patriarch, they may appeal to his colleagues (the Patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, etr..), who

shall examil1t. rhe matte? and decide between him and them; 'And, whereas we have often experienced the fact that those who complain against the Catholicos have bee:) condemned, punished for their folly by deprivation and deposition, and slripped of the title of their order and the vestment which they worc".

Tlze Decision ofthe Synod

It was decidcd in the Synod as follows

Now by the Word of God, we decree that the Easterns shall not be permitted to carry complaints against their Patriarch before the Western Patriarchs and that every case which cannot be determined in the presence of their Patriarch shall be left to the judgment of Christ. No one for any reason shall be allo~vcd to think or say that those under him, or can judge the Catholicos of the F,ast by a patriarch like him. His own judgment is reserved for thc Christ who has chosen him, raised him up, and placed him at thc liead of tfis ~ . ' l i~~rch" .

What distinguishes the Synod of Dadyishu from the previous East Syrian

Church councils is that i! claimed for the East Syrian Church all the rights of a

patriarchate. Anlong the rlghts, the main one was the privilege of independent

administration and freedom from outside jurisdiction. For the first time there

was no Western bishop present at the council.

The Episcopal structure gradually established itself, though there were

tensions and quarrels both olutside and inside the church. It is natural that the

discipline ol'an organized religious community was not easy for some Persians

to acccpl a> for- ; i r ~ ? other colnmunit);. However during this period, the East

Syrian ('hurch ga1ni.d for ituielf several distinctions. It became a nliNer in the

Persian empire. It was crowned with a spiritual and tempera1 Head-the

Catholicos~l'atriarch Further it declared itself independent of all other

organized church srructui-cs.

This independant identity at par with the western churches contributed

for the growth and development of the East Syrian Church to the fartherst

confines of the Asian continent. The independent organizational growth of the

East Syrian Church. looked around for opportunities and laid open before the

C.~ristians it1 Persia with immense horizons of hope for evangelization and

txpansion. I t expanded its organizatior? by the erection of numerous Episcopal

sees. This Churcl~ in the Persian Empire, East Syrian Church, had all

characteristics of' a ~~atiori:~l church so that they were able to establish mission

cenres all over Asla Thc church organization with Patriarchs, Metropolitans

and Bishops, ruled from definite sees did the framework to carry on its mission

to the further East.

CHAPTER V

THE EAST SYRIAN CHURCH AND NESTORlANISM

During the early centuries. the church in the Roman empire was shaken

by heresies like !\l.ianisni.During the fourth and fifth centuries, Ecumenical

Councils such as Yimea (125AD), Constantinople (381AD), Ephesus (431AD),

and Chalccdon (4.1 AD) wt:rc held for the formulation of the doctrines and

dogmas of tne ~ h ~ i r c h l . Sincc t l~e l<olnan Empire was fighting with the Persian

Empire. there was 1 i i 1 rnu~tlul contact between the Churches of both Roman and

I'cI-sian E~~ip i re \ I'll6 East Syrian C h ~ ~ r c l i did not face any kind of heresies

!iced b! tile C'hrihtlans i l l the Roman Empire. At the beginning of the fifth

century tlic qucst of thc carly cliurch. forever more precise, theological

definitions of the apostolls teaching on the person and work of Christ took a

new turn. It became embroiled in a bitter argument between the theological

schools of t\vo of the greal Patriarchates. Alexandria and Antioch.

Alexandri;~n a n d Ant iochene Schools

Tile School of Alsxandria. led by its strong-minded, hot-tempered

f'atriarcl~, ('vril. put its c t~~pl-~as is on !he unity of the Person of Christ. But in

order ti) pri.ser\c tlii. onenes!; it was difficult not to weaken either his deity or

liis I i u r n ~ ~ ~ i t ~ ~ . Ills i ~ ~ ~ n p l e l e (iocl and complete man strongly ilnplies duality of

person. I i\Ic.\andrial~ >chool. strong on the doctrine of redemption,

yenuinel? .tiid ndtitr,illy dstei~ded the deity in Christ's nature, for only a divine

Christ coulil save hinriers. i 'y ril's explanation of the two natures seemed to ~ - ~ ~ ~~

I i l l ~ r i i .~~c# .# l ('.bul~~ii- Nlc.ti.i i l ~ l i l C~~i\tit~iihz~~)ple. are the landmarks o l the gredl Cl~r~sloloy~cnl s la tc t l ic~l l~ , ,Stl~c i\liiilc churcl lllr lirsl liiw i.i,~~nctIs. which condemned Arlunism, wcrc no1 a major ,SS"C 11, , , , , , ,-l<",,l~,,, \ > , a

: l l l c i c 1 ~ 1 i i i 1 l ,)I' \scibi.it I I c c I ~ ~ ~ c I I 111,>l '('hrist i s t r ~ i l ) ( i ~ d . ' against Arius, t h ~ presbyter fionl Egypt wlio lrad ricscr~l>cd thc i on1 lmaru JS ;i dcll~igod. a belng crcatcd by God ralhcr than co-etcmal with him. Tlic sccoxid c < > \ ~ i ~ c i l ( 'o~~sti~iitinopulc. added that 'C'hrist is truly man' what had already been said at Nicaeu bur n11I1 ,iii cnlaigcd c ~ i p h a s ~ \ .in t l i t 11urn;iir~l) i l l Christ.

: I l ~ v I .lri \>rt;i~i i I h u ~ ~ h , i i ~ I i l , $\as liirgel) ignoiolil lillhe Niccne Crued as late as Ihu 'arly filih ccnlur!., l l ! i~~~gl i 3 1 i a t l ~ ~ - I ~ d i t rcii~1iI:d c i ~ ~ u p l i i \ l ~ e i ~ i t u l i s presented at its Synod of lssac 4IOAD.

62

Antioch to weacen the humanity of Christ and to stress His deity as of higher

significance. Thc school o l Antioch took precisely the opposite emphasis. It

was from this school that Ne:stc~rian theology derived. Its great strength was its

insistetice on the historic human Christ. Antioch was as much interested in

redemption as Alexandria blut linked this with an equal concern for Christian

ethics. The Persian Church adopted officially Antiochene theological tradition.

The grea1 centre of the Antiochene tradition was Edessa in Northern

Mesopotamia, kno\+n as school of Edessa.

The Alexandrians wanted to safeguard the divine nature of Christ,

whereas the Antiochenes wanted to stress the human nature of Christ. To the

Antiochene. the teaching of Alexandrians seemed to weaken the humanity of

Christ and failed to dislinguish the two natures properly in one person. Their

incarnate Christ seemed to have only one nature, namely the divine nature. To

the Ahexaitdrians. the Antiochene seemed to have minimized the divinity of

Christ and have distinguished the iwo natures in such a way that Christ seemed

to be two persuns

'fhc father of Anriochene (and therefore of the Nestorian) theology was

a well-known native of that city, Theodore, k n o w to history as Theodore of

Mopscustia (350.328 AD)

Nestorian Controversy

r i g I a part of the fifth century, as mentioned above there

arosc a iontroicr\q rzyarding the Pcrson and Nature of Jesus Christ.. From

428 A l l iherc broke out the Christological controversy in the Church of the

Western Empire. which rent the Church there into two. The issue began around

the queit:on whether tile Virgin Mary Mother of ou; Lord should be called

Theotokos, one rz ho gave birth to God. ~ e s t o r i u s ' expressed the view that the

I . Ncslui~ur (45 I All), franl ~ h u m ihc Nrslorian heresy takes its name, was a nalive of Ger~nanicia in Syrian Euphialt~nsis. He cntrrcd a monastery at Antiacl! were he became imbubed wilh the principles of .4n:lochian rlicologicnl ~c l~oo l and jirubahly studied under the Theodore of Mopsuestia. Ile acquired tiic rcpuletion a, a prr:ichcr And latcr tic became lhc Bishop of Conslantii~oplc 428 AD.

6 -3

~i t le M ~ S riot ii~dis~ensablc. but ('yril who presided over the Church of

.4lcxa1idri:i insisted that i t was absolutely necessary for the Maintenance of

(3rthodox! The C'l~urcl\ always belicved that Jesus Christ is fully God and

i'ully nran ilut thc difficulty was to explain how one person could at the same

tirue bc kill) God atid fully r11an ~ ~ i t h o ~ t appearing to be two persons.

'The Council of Ephesus

I'hc Council of I~plicsus ( 4 3 1 AD) was convened by the emperor,

Theodosius to r e s ~ ~ l v e the conflict regarding the 'dual natured theory' and to

define the faith of the c.'hurch. The two men namely Nestorius and Cyril

clashed. 'l'lie Synod favoured the position of Cyril as against that of Nestorius.

The Council of Ephesus condemned the teaching of Nestorius and he was

excommunicated. He was banished to Egypt and emperor Theodosius issued

an edicl directing lo destroy all his writings.

Of the t\vo theological traditions in the East, the Alexandrian was much

more wide spread than hi: Arrtiochene. The Antiochenes were forced by the

state to make pcacc with the Alexandrians who were very strong in Egypt.

Though thi. influence of Nestorius ended in Antioch his intluence did not die

cut in the 1:ast. Edessa becarne a centre of Nestorianism. Many of the teachers

in the theological hchool a:[ Edessa were still attached to the teachings of

Theodore of Mopsuestia and approved neither the decisions of Ephesus nor the

way thc enrperor tr~cd to i~npose peace.

School of Iidess;~

I hc East Syrian C'hurch had a number of famous theological schools

and centre> such ;is tho,,: at Edessa. Nisibis, Seleucia and Arbelal. The

Edcssan pi)pula~ioir gave fhe Edrssan School the name,'the School of [he

P e r ~ i ~ i n r < i t - he ( l i ~ - i s f i o ~ i i , l l ~ i t ~ ~ ~ . i ~ l i ~ ~ l ,f0r the Persians. 'The scholars are of

opinion that the Chr~stian icfi~gees t'ro~n Persia founded the school. When

i 01 i l~ i l : .~ t i ~ ti>u*t impui:;ini oocs were ~ i i~ , se at lidessa and Nisibis. Thc beginlriogs uf thasc ccli.h~;ili.~J ~he<il~igli..il scho<il\ are ohscurc

Nisibus wa:, tra'nbtet-red t o Persian control in AD 363, many Christians from

Nisibis ~nobed westward tc the Roman territory where their Christian faith

could easil!. Most of the clergy of the Persian Church were trained

31 this school. For generations. the students were given a good understanding

of the \le\t,rrian \icws :isid \vhen they returned to Persia, they became the

btrong supporters i ~ f 'Jeosll-ianism'. Iluring its one hundred or so years of life,

the School of Edehict had i)ccr~ the on11 institution available to the Christians in

Persia li)r t!le tralnlng or tlieir clerg). and therefore many of the School's

students wcle ti-om Persia. With thr rlse of Uestorius, and with the Edessan

Scliooi tending to supporl him, Persian students at the School were given a

sympathetic exposure to Nestorius' views, and when they returned to Persia,

their attitude towards the Nesxorian cause was apt to be favourable3.

At the time of the Nestorian controversy, Rabbula was the Bishop of

Edessa. At tirst. he was a strong supporter of Nestorius. But when Antioch

came to terms with Alexandria, Rabbula also changed side. He forsook

Nestorious !'or the sake of peace with Alexandria. He burned the works of

Theodore. But Ibas, the head of the school, remained faithful to Nestorian

teachings. When Rabbula dieti in 435AD Ibas was elected as the Bishop of

I. What VdObus and olilzrs propose is that i t was these Persian Christians who later in the fourth century foundcd thi. schoul in Edcssa to [rain tlie clergy. Them can hardly be any doubt that there were teachers among tbc ~sfugecs trom Persia. Ephreni, the great Christian poet was one of them.

: Thcrc is wadilion that Ephrcin lbunded the scltwl but it is doubtful if he had much to do with the ioundlog i d the scho<,l The mori famous o f thc teachers who came from Persia was Narsai. Hc was the directilr 01' the school ;at Edeisa from AI) 45 I A D to 471AD and under his directiun the school made great ;idianccmci~t

2 . Thculog~ciltly, !he C~.storians were Chalcedon~ansisupponers o f the Council o f Chalcedon, except that they did not ucccpt that ('ooncil's condcninatlon ol'Nestorious.

: Their opp~nentr i i c t c 111ck -n;imed MonopIr!site. But they (Monophysites) speaks o f thcmsclvcs as the (itlliodox. tcler to t l i i l hcstr)ria~is as the followers o f Nestorius or as Diophysitcs or as Chil lccdu~i~ans. l:ro!~i the Orlhud<,x point of vlcw, there was no substantial differencr between the Nestor~ani and tllosc ~IIO acccl~ted the Councl! o f Chalcedon.

3. One sucll lirrlner hiudent .it t l ir Schunl i w s Barsaumil, who became bishop o f Nisibis aRer 457Al) it bva, pi-iibabl) aI1i.r 471AD. iuhen Cyrus took over the see of Edessa, that most o f the I'ersians l i r the Scliuiil. both tea~hcrs and students, began to move back to Persia, a movement cornplctc~l cighteen !ears later when the Schaoi uas closed.

( 5 -

I I I l l . : I \\:I~, , .L ! ! ~ I I I~CLI I I 1 0 1 I ~Ic\>:I ICI rc11~~:iirl :I cc~l ter o I ' N c s t ~ ~ r i : ~ ~ ~ i s ~ i i

1 1 :In r,n1l'11c ~ \ I I L ~ I V U c ~ i i ! r ~ a i ~ i s l ~ ~ !\as heins condcmnctl. 'l'lrus while

~ I ~ ~ ~ I I I I I I I 1 I C I I I ~ I I . 111 1111. 1:1~111:11i I;111pirc. i t \);IS ill ~ S C C I I ~ ~ I I C ~ i l l

I l l~ i . rna i~ r l l ! 0 1 ' iIrel'i.~-sian CICI-g) wl in were Nestorians in tlicir

t l i l C C I I I I ~ 111to S I I I I I I I i t 1 1111. Pel-sia~i Church and through their

~~ i t l uencc . tIli NC\IOI ian v i w \ \\ere \videspread. Dur ing tlie struggle, the

ic l ioo l <I/' ~~ IZSSLI II~ILI n r c i i l hec(111le tlic centrc of operations for the

\n l~ i )c i ican i ~ c o i o ~ ! \s \r:cli i t iiaci I>ccoliie tile t:lryet for its adversaries. 'I'lie

I I I O I I I C I ~ I I ~ S . 11 IIIC 1:0111:111 t - ~ ~ i p i r c affected this Cent]-e. Tlicrc.

LIII~~II. 111~. I>~,, I I~, I I I 6 ' 1 IIIC I~,,IL:I.C~L IVL.,III~C. I~ I .CC: I~ I~ . I~ IS :ilid l i ~ i a l l > i l l J S 9 A l l l l ic

~ l l l ~ l c r ~ ~ l / ,C l l i> C\)>CIIL~..I ~I l r l l I

In t l ~ r . I,C:ICL' IIC.I~). \. ill1 I11111<r01. Io\'i:111 cc~~ i c l t ~ded \\it11 Sl iap i~r -11 ill

:(I? I . h ~ i ~ h i z \\:I. I ! I I r ~ i co~i t ro l . Nisibus r ~ l i i ; ~ i l i ~ d tllidcr

I I I I I 11 1 \r:lh\ 111 040-4IAD and i t was a leading cit). i n

111: \vejtc:11 11.11-t OI'IIR I'c~>I.II.I I:IIIS~OII~

II? I i i ,\I 1 1 , \as lahen o \e r h! the ,llexandrians o f the area. M a r Rilr ?

Sat l~n;~ III.IC!~. yi.\ i l>i\ 111c ( IIIL.~ U\~IIII:III cenire in Mesopotam~a-. A dil-cctol-.

I I I a11:,i11< ~ i i e I:~.ICI,C~\ l i i i l l r i l ie scliool who excl-cised si~pervis ion

I I I I I ~ I I I ~ . . I~C:I~ICL! 111c ; ~ i l ~ i ~ i ~ ~ i s i r ; ~ t i o ~ i o f tlie school. One among

I I I I I I I \ ! I I : 1 I . \ I J J '. 'l'lic leading 111en o f t l i e school.

~ ~~

I'l111;\ , , ' , - 1

1 1 b,11,1 , ,# Ih ,~ i I:,.,, ~\~40r!,1:,,,m ,wcJ N I ) , I > C 10 L i j s l~ ,~p 13dc Sauma for i l s sprrdd I!? l'crsia lliao 10 ,m! t>~8c , I ,. l l , . . l ~ ,~~~ It,,, S,~,IIW,! wt l~ : I I C ,#I,! , , I l l?c IPcrh#:m h>r,g, w l ~ o ~~cIc~~IIxJ Itin> l o h is c<*tlll. I ~ L ~ , I ~ I V L ~ c c t ) , W ~ ~ ~ , X ~ ~ , I I I ~ > ~ ! ,,I Y C W ! I ; L ~ I , ~ I l l c ;aIx, >lr,wc LO )make his SCC o i N ~ s i b > s i ~ ~ d c ~ ~ c c ~ d c ~ ~ l 111 \ c l c ; l ~ . ( ' ~ i . ~ ~ ~ l ~ t l t ~ 1 0 1111, ;lid lii. ..ucuic,I IIIC dcposll~on 01' Bahuwei. the C;!ll~ol~cos ol'Sclcucia I I ~ r l i . r o i ~ ~ ~ ~ > .s t ' icaci,;~. I n 1 5 i c i io \ r pup,] .it Edcssa. iiiiu the scr (JX4Al)). Bul lhc i ~ l i c l i v c

lpil,t , : CC!CIII.I . I I ~ N ~ \ I I . I - I C I I I ~ I I I I C ~ i ~ i , ~ ~ l l l c d ifnd c i l ~ i s rd lhiol lnlucli t r ~ ~ i h l e ill lhc zncxl y~ilrs. llr. ;~,~.~l~,..I~cd , i \ . , . \ a , , IJCI,~I,II ~ I I C ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . . ~ ! ~cIIc,c,I

I I I ~ ~ ~ I , ~ ; ~ ~ , ;I! IIJI,~~,.~ , % , h 3 ,,;,,tt$s~ ttv: ?Jc<~,,t I . # I I ~ ~ , l l c prciec~cd J<>l~n C l ~ ~ ~ s o ~ l c ~ ~ ~ ~ 10 TI>c,d,uc "1' I l I lhc ' \c.~orlar I t i t < I #L~>LA~~.~ IL .~ I 1183 Icad~rs lup hut he rcc~vililied in LIIC SCIIUOI, \w1I1 I l ic

,,I ~ l w ~ ~ , , L C , l e n a ~ ~ , , ,tm u ~ n c ' l>nc v,fi- ,) r c ~ l ll~rc.>r LIE N ~ s l o r i ~ ~ ~ ~ C l>u#~c l~ I l e \V<>II l l ~ c 1 1 1 1 i l i c .I,!, . ! i d I ! , . , :XI,> . I ! .I l t r l l i :\IICII Lllc SII$LC \\':IS IIICIIIIC~ 10 k1\'0111 L l i l 11011

I , . ! 11,.

66

particuiari? Narsai who had served as its head, crossed over to Persia, to the

city of Nisibis. He was a tbrmer student of E:dessa and became the Bishop of

Nisibis. With the support of Metropolitan Bar ~ a u r n a ' , Narsai started a school

there to continue thc teaching: followed at Edessa.

Other Schools

The exodus from the School of Nisibis dispersed the intellectual centre of

the ESC into a number o t new schools which were founded at that time. One

was the Great Monastry on Mount lzla (near Nisibis), which was the centre of

reformed nlonasticism. The: other was the school of Seleucia-Ctesiphon,

founded by Mar Aha, who was the Patriarch2. Another one was the school of

(;undeshapur, the new c ~ t y built by the Chosroes -I for the vast number of

prisoners.

The importance of the scl~ools of Edessa and Nisibis.

In these schot~ls thsre was z! dynamic, missionary involved curriculum.

The mottks who were trained in these schools became wandering missionaries,

healing the sick. feeding the poor, and preaching the gospel. They moved from

place to place: a wandering mission'. These schools remained centres of East

Syrian culture for many years. 'Literary, philosophical, lexical and historical

subjects were taught in order to foster a correct exegesis of the Bible, with

some colleges spccializing In medical studies and calligraphy. These schools

I Ulsltiq, I < j i Saum:i i u s a be!! a ~ d r ma!, irllo could rise in lire to such a position as to be appoi~ited cauilcilor i ) l ' t h ~ I'crs~an Shilli iil Sllill,, F ~ r u

: Uiihup liar Saunla. II great cirainplon ol. llic Nrstorian group, welcomed Narsai and other teachers lrom Edcbsa to I'cnl~. It \vds with the iniriativc o f Barsaulna and under thc leadership ofNarsai, the sch<iul ir;ts reaancd in Nisihls I t bears relation to Narsai depanure from Edessa ca.471AD and the suppresxon ort11c 1:dessan Scliord in 489 AD In fact i! was the conlinuation of the one at Edessa and 11,c l,c,, , > I 11s scl,<,!:,\!!c tra<li,i,,,,>

: Moll r t~ quotes tnun Llir Book iiit,tx,ri's 'Decline and Fall' Moffetl, Hisrorv202 241.242,

: John . i / i , ~ o r i ~ 19

were famous l'or their rr~cdical department and for biblical and phisophical

studies. specializing in the translation of the works of the Greek philosophers

In the following centuries the writings of both Greek and Indian philosophers

and scientists were preserved and translated into Syriac and Arabic, thus

making it possihle tor scholars in medieval Europe to make their first study of

Greek classical sources'.

T h e Nestorianism in Pers ian e m p i r e

Thc Synod ot' Beth i.apat (484 AD) was the first stage in this controversy,

Metropoiitan Barsauma ill' Iqisibis called together a few bishops soon after

Czathlicos H~ibowai had been killed by the state on the charge of corresponding

with the Ro~nan Emperor4

l'he Synod declared the Persian Church to be Nestorian. In Persia, there

was also a political factor in the sprcad of Nestorianism. Nestorians had been

condemned in the Koman Empire and they were seeking refuge in Persia. In

Persia there wab no longer any danger that such a form of Christianity would

he a link \ ~ i t h an allen power. On the contrary, it would be politically wise to

encourage lestorianism ;imong the I'ersian Christians so as to alienate them

from Clirisrians in t l i? Rotnar empire-

l'hus the attitilde 01' thc !'ersian government and the influx of Christians

from Edcs,:~ helped [he rapid spread of Nestorianisrn in Persia. Therefore to

1 Acc<,ldi)ig 10 H,ii llubiaya, Udboaal. the Callrolicos of Seleucia, wrote a letter lo some bishop of the Syrian pio\inces of the Roll?ao Empire in 457AL). which contained a sentence referring to the Persian Empire \ rh~ch was condemnatnr\.. The letler mas intercepted B y Bar Sauma, who pased i t to the Shah- in-Shah

: On rc,~dicia the incrin~inatine, scnlencc in ihc document. he was furious. He ordered Uiat Ulc Catholicos - : I : . J C , ~ I n! bcln( 1.c.1 $III I l l s r q 1:tbgr.r nu: \aidncy in lhc SL.C UI&I;II arose 411 Ilbis UII)

..*, .I . /L.! b! 1431 \.).mil I<) ;ACT. <).I ~ t l o ICL. pr.al<lj>n uf 111s progrnllwu, ~ a j l a l c ~ b) IILL. >c,IJ.en c , i

thc Klog kings During this tlma hc called !iuo synods, which passed resolutions supporting him

: Tlic 211ij01 .xcounl oirhls cuu~lcd i s in Bar Ilcbracus, Chronography. : I t is uncunain ivhcthcr Babuibai died heroic or after the council. The chronology of the period.

ioclodlng the datc (11 l'croz'i .leati. IS disputed.

: \Vigwnl. i ' ! i u rc I i . 151 S O iLlaI ' 72-85

2. Knig I'eti,, (45:'- 487 \D) garc up pcrsecul~ng 111e Church, except for a persecution in AD 465 which w;~s dlrzcic.l agalnsl !hose u h i > rbis11i.d to rclnain ti, co~nsnu~ion with the Church of the Ko~nen Empirc.

have a ~OI-111 01 Vj.tristiariity for Persia, which was different in faith and life

from rlial oi' its ri\,al empire in the West was advantageous for the East Syrian

Churcli.Thi. Nestorian controversy was destined to cut off the Asian

Churcl~outside the Rorrlar Empire from the communion with Western

Christendom. The Persian emperor reigning when Zeno came to the throne of

Constantitiople was P e r o ~ , son of Yazdegerd-11. He was considered a friend of

the Persian Christians because of his admiration for Barsauma, Metropolitan

of Nisibis,who under the influence of Bishop Hiba, was attracted to the

Nestorian 'dual nature theory' of tlic Christoiogical argument.

'She outstanding figure in the church in l'ersia during the reign of Peroz

i u s not tile (.:hurch's titular head. the Babowai Catholicos of Seleucia

Ctesipho~~t! (450-4X3AD) but Barsauma, the controversial Metropolitan of

Uisibis, i\ho is chargetl of' being almost single handedly responsible for

ieading the East Syrian i:hurch into what they denounces as the Nestorian

heresy' Bar Sauma endeavoured to carry out two programmes in the East

Syrian Church, l ie wrls keen to have the church adopt officially the

Antiochene theolog~cal trad~tion and to establish the right of marriage for all

clergy including the bishops. Barsauma also accepted military and political

power as commander or inspector on the Persian Roman border. Barsauma,

confidently expecting to be elected Patriarch and indisputably master of the

church in the intcr~m qu~ckly called a church council in Gundeshapur (Beit

Lapat) in 484 10 ibsue a Ne:;torian confession of faith against the intrusion of

anti-Ncstor~an doctrine from the West wherc Zeno's Henoricon had just

legitimized, an anti-Nestorian position'.

t In Njsthi , the lu,lrche ~ i t ) O K d,a l'crsinn side of thc border some forty nnliles from Edcrrv , Barsauma ruse r.tpidl: to eccie~iasticai pober . Nisibis ranked third in the Episcopal hierarchy of the Church of !tic l:.~,!. ,it:i.r the capital . Sebucia Ctcsipl~un . and Beit Lapat

: o r I I \ r ) (Mali '1-41 . Synod nt Irsailc. 410

2. I h c btrugglc for puwcr lllat ruckcd tlic Pers~an cllurch was Inore a personal rivalry between the patriarcli Uabaiiai alld his arclib~shop Harsaurna than a theological dispute between h e Nestorians and the Syrian Ortliodox h e contcht betwcc~l the palriarch and the bishop, despite the higher rank of the former w a s nrost ulrevck,. 13sbowai spcnt s<\cn ycais 01' his eleven year patriarchate in prison. It would seem that 1111: p.itriarch :111d !the archbishop clashed first on the thorny question of Episcopal celibacy.

t3ut t3arsaum;i's triumph was short-lived. His hopes were dashed by the

sudden death of h ~ s patron. the Shah Peroz, in a battle against the Huns. The

new Shah, Vologases (484-488AD) was despera~e for peace at any price in the I Ekst . Volsi~ses M11S 31~0 t i o t 111 good terms with Bar Sauma.

t3ar Ehraba suges t s that there were not many people who opposed

Bar Saunia. but that thr church as a whole, with the exception of a small

minority 0 1 people In Northern Mesopotamia joined Bar Sauma. The intention

of Bar Saurna )night havr: been to \voi-k out for Persia an ecclesiastical identity

different from that of the Church in the Roman Empire. This might have been

necessary tor that Church to save itself from intermitent persecutions

'The I'ersian rulers had suspected their Christian subjects of being loyal at

heart to their co-religionist, the emperor of western empire rather than to

them. Therefbre 10 have a form of Christianity for Persia, which was different

in faith and life irom that of its rival empire in the west was advantagous for

the cllitrel~ of t'erva.

While Yestot-~cln~sm was declining in the Roman Empire, it was in

ascendancy in Persia. 'lhe majority of the Persian clergy who had studied at

Edesscl arid who were !Je:;torians in their theology, came into proininence in

the Persian church and through their influence, the Nestorian views were

widespread. .45 u theolog~cal opinion, Nestorianism had therefore been long in

evidence in Pcrbia. The Persian government had opposed Christianity partly

because i~ was [he religion of their national enemy, the Romans. This was the

political thctor \vhich pron~oted the spread of ~e s to r i an i sm~ .

I l l c I> icpor~cd 1%) have hb:?~~ icirced I,. 'tcccpt tcnlls prumisiog tribute Lo the llurls for two years, a ~ L ~ I ) I C I I C hu~>i~ l r~t t r t i i~ ti,, ( i i ~ t l d 1'er;t.l 51,. rccogniring that it was no time to olknd Byzanlium by the :~j)p~ll i~nirnl u l .~h!t-Rorn;ii, i3:irSilum;i :is lie;>d of the Persian Church, thcrc by adding trouble with thc I ~ L Y I I,> !r",,bie 10 II,,~ E ~ S I

2. l l i l l \\!,en hestuiidnlml lh~il hecn condcn~ii~.d i r i the Rolnan ernpirr and they were sccking refuge in I'trs~.i. it would hc poln!call) wise lu cncourage Nestorianism among the Persian Clvislians so as to :ti~cii.ltv them t i t > i l > ('hnstiairs in Ule Knoiu~l smpirr

70

l h e Synod of ~ c a c i u s ( 486)

The emperor Volgases bye-passed the powerful but controversial

Metropolitan BarSauma and chose instead, another former student from the

School of the Perhians. Acacius. a man of more ecumenical temperament.

.4cacius \zas the Patriarch froin 485 to 496 AD. He forced BarSauma to repent

publicly before a group of his own bishops for his defiance of the late

Catholicos Babowai and to confess the illegality of his independent synod at

Beit Lnpat the year betim. The penitent Metorpolitan promised to accept

whatever judgmenr a regularly called general synod might soon pronounce

upon h i ~ n

In tile next year, 486AD, the Catholicos Acacius convened the fourth

general synod of the Church of the East. Barsauma did not attend. Pleading

the pressure of emergency military duty and probably fearing humiliation, he

begged to be excused in a lively letter that complained about military pressures

from plundering Arabs and :;uspicious Romans, and rather grudgingly assented

in advanct to an) decisions the Synod might choose to make concerning the

marriage of bishops and a new confession of faith '.

71'l~e Synod ol' Acacius marked another major step in the separation of

the Asian church Itom he West. Its first action was to draw up a true

apostolic and orthodox confession of faith3. The first canon of the council

defined its doclrinc of the 'Trinity It was throughly Nestorian. Of the

Godhead, i t confessed that it is only one divine nature, in three perfect persons

(qenuma). one Trinity true and eternal of Father, Son and the Holy spirit4.

'I o the Nrhtor~ans, thr failure to distinguish properly between the divine

and hurnan sides oI'C'hrist's person opened them to the charge of teaching that

? It i i ) i l l i>i~~cd nt i ICIUICIICC 11) 111~. C T C C ~ 01' C'linl~cd~u, which was becoming the slaodard of Weslern orilrudo*! and. oli the otbcr, it condcmncd the creeping spread o f the blasphemy against the incan~;ittc>n among i:oitern i ~ ~ o n k s i l l~d ascetic,

? Mollctl. iI!,lor). I ' ) Y

lhe unchangeable and almighty Cod had changed his nature and that he had

suffered nor as thr incarnate. human Son. but as the eternal, impassable Deity

on the cross. The Synod oi' Acacias bluntly anathematized this as heresy,

though i t accepted rhc orthodox and catholic Chalacedonian formula'.

I . Moffett concludr:s, on the basis of the documents referred to that,

the three Persian prelates at the time of the synod, Acacius of Selecuia

C:tesiphon. Papa of Belt Lapat, and Bar Suama of Nisibis though each

represented mutuall? divisive major movements of 51h century. Christendom,

were, neverrheless. all heid by that synod within the unity of the church and

not separated froln it. Bishup Papa was Syrian Orthodox in hissympathies and

second in rank to Bishop Acacius. who was Nestorian, but pro-Byzantine.

Bishop l3arsua1na \+;is also Neslorian. hut anti-Byzantine

Hut both Papa and Barsualna affirmed the unity of the Eastern Church

and submitted to the authuri.1~ of its C'atholicos, Acacius; and Acacius in turn

stood loyal to the ancient and apostolic unity of Christendom. This he had

publicly dcrnonstratcd or1 hi:; mission to Constantinople when he declared his

solidarity with the I'atriarcli of the &astern Roman capital. The pattern at the

end of fifth century between Christianity in Asia and the West was not schism,

but diversit) in unit! '.

Ant ioch ia r~ Par t i sans in Pers ia

When the 1:;:st Shria~i Church adopted the decisions concerning faith

and l i f i . h r r \\:I\ . I milloriry of [he fdithful who did not fall in line with the

ma-jorit). 111 general they \kcre not strictly Persians, but were people from -- - - .- . .

I . Clis>st il,):, in t n o o.ilu,rs, cliliecnl yct unctrd in uor person, it went on vury cxplicilly to deny thc puss~billly of su*ri!lg and clr;~nl:c in drily (Christ) had; rwo natures, divine and human ... wilhout conturioii in rhcir diversity (Yet with) perfect and indissoluble cohesion of the divine with the human And i f an)one thinks ia 1eucllt:r !ha! suffering and change in the divinity, and if, when speaking of thr unity ol' the penoo of our Sabior. he d a s not confess that He is perfect God and perfcct man, let him be analhems

2 . Mol'iill. I listor) .I')'I quoting tnrm l.ahoun. 1.c Chrislianistne, 149f

Chabi>t..Y!,iiiiico.i O~~1 i~~~ to l e .302 qiioted in i lqlier~. His,olv. IV8

72

Antiochean pro;ince, whom Shapur-II(309-379AD) had brought to Persia as

captives in war, and t k i r descendants. In the beginning they were so small in

number that at one time they had only one bishop. Charis of Shingar, for the

whole of Persia. But in tht: sixth and seventh centuries their number increased

with the captives b r w h t by Khosros-I (531-579AD) and Khosros- I1 (590-

627AD). Bar Hebraeus notes that Khosros- I built for them a small town and

called it 'Antioch' '

Based on documents, Rev. Dr. V.C. Samuel states that there was an

effort to organize t h s e people as a community, which succeeded in 628-

29AD. The Syrian Patriarch Athanasius Gamolo consecrated for them

Marutha as the ' G r d Metropolitan of the East'. After returning to Persia in

629AD, this Maruttea adopted the Tagrith as hisecclesiastical centre and

brought into being a Church unit in communion with Syrian Antioch.

Bar Hebraeus refers to Marutha as the 'first Maphrian of Tagrith' who

came to be called in course of time the 'Catholicos of the East' in Antiochian

Syrian circles. In the 13"' century, Bar Hebraeus was the Catholicos or

Maphrian in the succession of Marutha for about two decades From about the

end of the fifth century the Church of Persia continued to remain as two

communities. One of them consisted of Persian Christians who adopted the

Nestorian interpretation of the person and the nature of Jesus Christ on the one

hand, and the Church life that can be traced to pre- fourth century times on the

other. During the period following Babai's reign, * the theological school of

Nisibis flourished, and it was during that period that 'Nestorian' missionaries

began coming to India and teaching their doctrines here3.

-- - i Samuel. Growing Church, 58, quoting from Bar Hebraeus, 11 7

2. Dur~ng the rule of Shah Kovarl- I f , after the death of Chosroes- I1 who had so long blocked the

: Nestor~ans from electiw a head of the church, permission was granted to fill the vacancy. Joyfully the bishops turned to Mar B8ba1, the great who had knit them together during the interim acting almost as Patriarch but without @&. Mar Babai thanked the bishops but declined them asked him permission to return to the solitary I# of a rnonk at the great Monastery on Mt.Izla where he died a few years later.

2. Samuel, Growing Church, 58, quoting from. Michael the Syrian, 413 - 41

Chapter VI

The Monastic Movement of the East Syrian Church

The East Syrian Church through its educational institutions and literary

contributions played an l~nportant role in the spread of the gospel among the

Arab ccxilitries and in tlrr Asian Continent. This was facilitated through its

monastic n~ovcmcllr. The rnissionarq zeal among the early Christians, the

ascetic iifc of the inonk:. and their writings are the remarkable factors in the

history ot East Svrian Church. Well-trained ~nissionaries were sent to other

countrjcs through the siho~3ls staned by the monasteries1. L.W Barnad has

su~n~ncl i up the ascetics Lone of Christianity in Syria and Palestine by stating

that the early Syriac Christianity was permeated with asceticism2.

The Root of Monastic Movement

According to Hegesippus James, as reported by Eusebius of Caesarea,

ascetics are people who dr:!nk no wine nor strong drink nor did they eat flesh.

No razor came upon ;hex head: they did not anoint themselves with oil, and

they did not use the batl?. Solitary ascetics were known in Syria from the

mid-third centurk and thc erernitic form of monasticism was obvious also from

early in [he fourtli century led by ~ i l a r i o n ~ . The ascetics included women and

they gathered others who would share in lives of meditation and service to

othel-s, with the aim of attaining a vision of God.

Some i)f the Inore extreme ascetics adopted what appear to later

generations as so~newhat bizarre life styles, including those who ate only

I . Thcrc s c three ivniks by A VoObus ahoul thc Hlslory of Asceticism in the Syrian Orienl which are of prcme iniponancc voohu- . Asceri<.iiin. i oobus . hto./onosIicrsm : VWbus , Cvriac and Arabic,

4 I I l a ; i~ii (29 1 - $71 I D ) us:. tlir inundcl 0 1 a~~clionlic lifc iii I'alestine \rho was a pagan and converted lu ('hr~so;lnity u l i i lc~ the inlluciice of St. r\rtwn). In 306ALl he settled in the wildrmcss, south otMa11juma 1,) lib,: J life of cxtrernr >,ci.iir-ism. A \ 1,ls linir arid tnirvculous giRs became increasingly known huge cit,u,l ivas atlractcd by I i i t l r

grass, herbs and roots, and exposed themselves naked to the bitter cold of

winter and the scaring heat of summer. VOObus points out that Christian

ascetics ha\e a thirst for mortification and self annihilation. They persisted in

service. fa\ t~ng and extrcme self-deprivation. 'They went so far as to despise

life itsclt \'@bus thinks such an extreme form of asceticism developed due to

the influence of Manichacism Manichaeism also brought Mesopotamian

monasticism into contact with various forms of manners of Indian

;~sceticisni. It is also probable that Mani himself went to India and thus

Manichaean monasticism was greatly influenced by certain extreme forms of

Indian asceticism, which in turn influencedl Christian monasticism as it

developed in East syrial

It would seem probable that much of thir had its roots in various Jewish

groups likt. the Essenes. It seems to have been something of a propensity for

mortification and fasting within the Syrian spirit long before the appearance of

Christianity. The same psyche, which was formerly devoted to pre- Christian

deities, was now placed at the disposal of the aims o f Christian asceticism2. It

has often been held that the monastic moveme;nt in Mesopotamia originated as

part of the general movement which started in Egypt under the influence of

Anthony and Pachomius'

According to VOObus, during the third and fourth centuries, real spiritual

and re l~g~ous strength \vab Sound precisely in these movements. It was also true

that nu~ne~ical strength la) u ~ t h such groups. E~:clesiastically organized

I . Shc Malrtchaean ascclics are rsliyious rlite who never interfere with the society but always live at a safe distance fmm the carer and worries of daily life. They never entered any social activities. 11 was not a social mo\emcnl. Its ideolog) led away frorn the material aspects ofhuman life.

3. Today lhlstorians arc l~~clincd to heiicvc that mooasticism in East Syria is independent of and prior lo the Egyptian inovement, 'The pnniitivr Christian movement in Mesopotamia and Persia found itself in the midst o i il number of movements and groups such as the Msrcionites, Valentinians, Manichaeans, which were ver? congenial to ascetlctsm All these ,movements clisplayed a uniform hawed towards the world and ihc body. Mesopotamia \*a\ a playground for such radical ideologies and groups, which evoked mutual i u m ~ t i t i o n lhese mtrvcrnents had grcat impact on Christianity producing various interpretations anJ iec,.; with~n ('hi>stianit> itscli

75

Christianit). was rnere minority in comparison1. This was true in Edessa as

\veil as in several other places. Such ideologies and movements also influenced

to shape and develop the Christian monastir:ism. The propensity towards

asceticism or whatever the form of monasticism was an emphasis shared by

the Manicheans. and may have been confined in Mani himself by his

experiences in lndia2. Reports of the primitive inonks give us a picture, which

is astonishit-lgly congruous with the familiar portrait of the monks in 1ndia3.

Origin of East S y r i a n c h u r c h Monasticism,

Monasticism itself. in its various form:;, such as the solitary life in

proximity to others in auras or groups of dwellings, and that lived communally

in the coeriobitic fishion, grew in Palestine., Syria and Mesopotamia on

organized lines from 306 AD: It was the coenobitical type of monasticism that

came to dominate the East Syrian church. and its beginnings went back,

according to legend, to an Egyptian named ~ u ~ e n ' . This individual from a

village near modern Sue7 was a pearl fisher, and later he joined the monastery

of Pachomius (346 AD), where lie served as a baker. He subsequently felt the

calling to go to northern Mesopotamia as a Christian missionary, taking with

him monks. and they settled in Mount Izla, south of Nisibis, and from this

point Augen associated with him and fanned out to found monasteries and

convents i n different parts of the Persian kingdom6. Augen himself, had -- ~~ ~-~~ - .

I . Voo l~~~s , // , .\ ,or,, ! 6 i

I 'lhr strlctl! eremitical tjpe, wlili-lr dcsignatcs ;1 group o f men, essenlially hermits, who lived in solitary cclls wlirre they ate thcir food, and who came togell~sr only for worship in the chapel. Thc residuum of t l~ is V:II~BIY of ascetic is!^ is found ill tllc pracLlce o f some later monasteries in which one or more cells were s v ~ - a s l ~ i e for rec1usi.s whasc paniclpatioli ill t ! ~ c life o f the institution was minimal.

5 I t 1s h c l ~ c v c , ~ 111at tlii. i ~ . l ~ : , n g p l . 5 ~ ~ ol 'Clirrstla~~ Monnstlcis~n was in Egypt. A young wcalthy mJn iramcd Anton) (A 1) 350) \vhcl gave up l t i i \+c~l th. became a Christian monk. The founding of the first Coenohiunl l i altributcil to Mar I'acboct,ios. \lIiu lived during the persecution of Dioclstios. His sistcr Mary i b a s the foundci ocan order o f Rahbanyathj. I'achomios aner his conversion spent all his life t i l l his death (,\U 3 i i ) in fi,u~>iiing mo~~ilsterirs

76

friendly relations both with the Roman emperor Constantine and with the

Persian king Shapur -11. He is said to have died in (ca.363 AD). Among the

early founders of monast.eries in the East Syrian Church were Mar Abda and

his pupil Mar Abdjesus Mar Abda. Mar Abda belonged to the second half of

the fourth century who was abandoned as a child. But he was rescued and

raised by ;I Christian family and eventually he became an ascetic and also a

priest. '

One of his pupils was Ahai who became his successor as abbot. (ca 410

AD). He was elected as the East Syrian Church catholicos2. He was also active

as the founder of monastic communities n~ostly in southwest Persia, in

Maishan, on the island of Bahrain and at Hira. Even after the coming of the

Arabs, the monasteries remained the chief solace of the church for survival and

sustained expansion.

'I'he number of monastic foundations increased in the sixth and seventh

centuries Mount lzla inear Nisibis and Dorkena near Seleucia became the

leading monastic centers. Other establishments of importance were at Tela,

Baxaja, tlaigla, Henda, Zarnucha. Camula, Anbar, Beth Zabda, Chuchta and

Kuph. B! the fourth century traditions of asceticism became fully developed3.

Development of Monastic moment in the East Syrian Church

Abraham of Kashkar. (491.4D) who studied at Nisibis, and after serving

as a missionary in Hira and journeyed to Egypt, familiarised himself with the

monastic tradition\ of that region. He was known as the father of the monastic

movement in Easl Syrian Church Abraham gathered around him a group of

eminent nien who before and after his death propagated his ascetic ideals and

practices in all regions of Persia. The great Monastery thus became a very -. .. ~.

I . tle ~,,znl>r~~cd his pcl.iormancc as an ascruc wi l l~ a zeal for missionary work. Later his activities confined to Ucth Araxnaye He added to his faow by founding a monastery, which also contained a scliwl, at Dvir Qani near later Baghdad Hc sen~ed ns abbot there . He eventually gathered around him about sixty disciple

2 . M.ir r\hJjesus irhu carnc tioia Maisha11 aiid studied at the monastery and school of Mar Abda, s u b i e ~ l ~ ~ c n t l y rclurnerl to Malshan whcrc he did cans~derablr missionary work.

3 . Kr,,,nazn~nakkal Otigms , i 3

77

influential institution, one reason being that its founder wished to associate the

monasticis~n of his day more closely with the Church.

Thomas of Marga said that the monastery of Mar Abraham served

Persian monasticism in a similar way that Athens served Greek philosophyl. Its

central and most important structure was of course the chapel or church where

there were seven daily services, and close to it was a number of other buildings

housing the cells of the inonks. The latter numbered in the early days about

eighty men. but in the inid-seventh century this figure had risen to three

hundred. Quarter. were set aside with kitchen, refractory, sleeping

accom~nodation for the novices, entertainment for strangers, and the library2.

'The M o n a s t e r y of Beth A b e a n d its L i b r a r y

There was an older monastic foundation at Beth Abe. The date of its

founding is a matter of speculation. It was comparatively a modest

establishment.' It was consecrated by the Catholicos Tomarsa (364-373AD).

Bishop Mar Jacob (ca595AD) rebuilt it. Mar IBabai, the then Catholicos had

inspected the East Syrian Church monasteries in the early seventh century

A.D. Beth Abe was one of the institutions he visited4. Thomas of Marga had

entered this monastery as a young man (ca 832AD) >.

The library of Beth Abe was only one of the many libraries housed in the

East Syrian Church monasteries. The library of Beth Abe was gradually built

up. It is estimated that by the early ninth century, there was a collection of

about 700-I000 books and manuscripts. The sub.ject matter ofthe books and

4 lbtd 173 174, 17Y.23'1,182,L09

3 The lacatau~~ of Beth Ahe is not known prcciseiy, but it seems to have been not far from the Great Zab river. iiod about sevrnt, miles nonh-cast ofMosul

5 . In 837 l'lii>mas of Milrga becanr st:cretar> tu thc I'atriarch Abraham by whom he was made bishop of Marga northeast of Irlosul, i ~ d aflcrw~rds metropolitan of 13eth Gamai . Thomas, Bishop of Marga. describes about a Nestarian !nunasreo in 'The Book of Governors'. This is the histoly of the abbots a i ~ d monks con,taccted with the rnoo;isteg of Beth Abe from its fbundation until the time of Thomas.

78

manuscripts appears to have been restricted to biblical and theological themes.

The monk5 were required to spend part of their time reading manuscripts or

recopying them.

T h e Eas t Syr ian C h u r c h Monastr ies and Hellenistic s tudies

The scholars of the Syrian monasteries kept Greek learning alive during

the seventh and eighth centuries, when it was at the low ebb in both the Latin

West and the Greek ~ a s t ' . The monastery at Qenneshre in North Syria

produced a number of scholars from the schools, which were the main centres

of Greek learning at that time2. While Greek learning was thus preserved, it

had a greater and seemingly more inhibiting influence on Syrian culture than

on that of the Arabs It had shown exceptional skill in religious poetry.

The reputation of the Syrian schools stood high and they were envied

elsewhere. The key figures produced by monast(:ries and schools were Severus

ofNisibis and Jacob ofEdessa. . Overall, the Syrian monks were the sources

of much learning and instruction. The guidance of the religious and moral life

of many people moved into their hands. They promoted the publication of key

works and provided leaders for the Church who were instrumental in shaping

the monasticism and religious life of Ethiopia. In addition they made an

impact on the lives of the Arabs in the borderlands and to the south.

T h e life of t he Ascetics

The ascetics were often themselves scholars who were identified with a

culture of' learning and as writers of classical work of spirituality. A

commitmen1 to ascetic practices was also, however, an integral part of

C:hristian 11ves which werc devoted to providing essential care to the hungry

and destit~tte as well as 10 travelling widely as missionary teacher and pastor.

There was a dynamic relationship betwcen prayer, fasting and service of the

I Syrian Clir~stian schools, whettier attached la monasteries 0)- located within town bounds, were active centres for the boys of thc urhal; commtmitirs fbr meeting the purposes of the needy ones.

2 lo tlrrsr ccnues the ~utors Lbrrc riiunlc, and :he students underwent a three years course, mainly thcoiog~csl. though (iicek phaltl\apb!. was studied as the faundatian of Christian theology

poor and missionary endeavours'. Devotio~n to ascetic practices w s

widespread both among the priests and the lay people. The designated monks

and nuns lived a covenantual's life2. At all times the monks, either as solitary

holy men, or gathered in large communities, were in a position to influence

people of all classes of society. In other words: they could assist in the same

way as patrons whose influence was purely secular .' The ascetics are holy

Inen who are always ready to participate in the claily life of the common people

in order to protect and integrate that life. In the prayers of these spiritual men,

the people saw expiatory acts in the interests of the whole nation. The public

also knew that the monks have particular compassion for those who suffered,

as they were never tired of hearing the complaints and worries of the people.

They were also willing to help spiritually as well as materially. The

monasteries became the congregating centres of the poor and those who

suffered.

The common mass believed that the monks' explanation of the scripture

was more effective. Large number of believers made pilgrimages to the

monasteries on Sundays. The strong ascetic patterns of piety, though

prefigured. later, grew from monastic lnovements in Persia, China, Turkestan

and India Along with the non-ascetic traditi.ons emerging from the fifth

century onwards, the East Syrian Church was able to develop a piety. They

nourished. the trader and traveller, the tribes-woman and princess, the nomad

and farmer. the artisan, physician, teacher, and ac~ministrator.~

3 . 'Ihc holy person displd!ed thih uistglil uf ~ Y I S ~ O ~ I I in his or t,er acts of power, which always aimed at salvaliozi uipeoplc. I h c Syria,! hol) person is ihc image o f Christ and the continuation o f the incarnation The d ~ r m c I > ~nan~irstcd in huo~an cbupc by transfbnning that shape into an instrument o f God's thought atid brill 'I 11s life style i l f the Cl~ristiali saint or an ascetic i s at, exact replica of the essential rlements in I r I i s l Anthr~)poI~g) is P L I ~ I i ~ i l - l i r i ~ t ~ ~ l ~ g y

80

L3ut dltho;gh many early settlements, hospices, churches or monasteries

were founded by Buddhists, Hindus , Zoroastrians or Manichaeans, many were

the work of the eastern Christians and these centres grew wherever Persian,

Arab or Indian trade became established in central, south and south-east ~ s i a . '

The strict obedience of monks to eccle:jiastical authority provided the

hierarchy with a powerful army of devotees wlw strengthened the church and

fearlessly penetrated the vast Asiatic continent in an attempt at large-scale

evangelization. All monasticism whether it is eremitical or cenobitical helped

to preserve the spirituality of the church to insist that a man's true life does not

consist in the abundance of his possessions, and to maintain that the Gospel

must be expressed in a life of high moral quality. The monasticism served to

safeguard and perpetuate this emphasis in the church. It was kept alive through

the libraries and through the labours of the devoted monks who worked in

them.

The growth of monasteries and bringing them into the fold of the Church

increased the repute of monks in the field of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The

role of the monks to f i l l responsible offices in the institutional Church was

remarkable in the East Syrian Church. During the early fifth century,two of the

East Syria11 Church Patriarchs were infact monks, namely Mar Ahai and Mar

I'ahbalaha-I. In (628 All ) . Sassanic King Kavad-I1 allowed the East Syrian

Church once more to elect a Catholicos. The bishops'first choice was Mar

Habai, the Abbot oi'the Mount lzla monastery.lvlar Babai declined the honour

and the bishop Balad Jesusyahb-11 was chosen i n ~ t e a d . ~

Educa t iona l Insti tutions s t a r t e d by t h e monaster ies

The East Syrian Cliurch monasteries, like those in the Byzantine world,

were involved in the education of the young, doubtless with a view lo recruit

from their ranks suitable persons as 'sons of the Covenant,' as well as priests

~- ~ p ~ ~ ~ ~ - ~.

1 llopk~rk : ) e v i l ~ L7. h1. 123 IN. 184.

2 Mc C o l l n ~ ~ g h , Chriri,il,>, 168

and monks. Wherever they installed a new bishopric, a school with a library

and a hospital with medical services were included in the project. Added to

this were the monastic schools for which the East Syrian Church was famous

and in which many missionaries were recruited and trained.'

Generally rhe C!iursh introduced learning ameng its members who

were pre~iously illiterate, namely l'urks, Uigurs, Mongols and Manchus for

giving training to the devoted youth to ascetic life. Education is one of the

stimulating factors and their schools had beer' a feature of their church life.

'They derived their alphahels from Syriac. According to Nau, the Pahlawi

alphabet, perfected by Nestorian Scribes, constitutes today the basis of Korean

alphabet2 The teachers ,*:re either Rambans or Monks and the pupils were

under monastic rule. They were expected to live a celibate life during the

three-year course Educxtion was free although parents were expected to

contribute ~owards the support of the teachers, and during the long summer

vacation tlic stud en!^ wcre expected to mainta.in themselves by labour or in

other ways. Begging was not allowed among the students. Every bishop

probably maintained a School.ln the early part of the eighth century. Mar

Babai, who succeeded to the Metropolitan see of Marga, founded twenty four

schools where pupils were given musical instructions to sing carefully and

accurately. Mar Babai did much for the schools of monastery, founding or

restoring s~x ty of them and providing a reacher3.

The Curriculum of the School

Acc(~iding to the y ~ i tratiition students began their course with

reading of Psalter. The art of reading required for liturgical usage was

considered an integral par1 of the course. The s t ~ ~ d y included the Bible and the

82

writings of the Syrian Fathers. The great emphasis on the school curriculum

was upon the Biblical studies and the pastoral training. The commentaries of

Ephrem, the works of Theodore (392-428 A.D.) and other Antiochen Fathers'

were the aids to Scriptural studies. Chorepiscc~pes of every diocese were in

charge of them. ' Apart from providing theological and pastoral training in the

Christian educational instit~ltions of the East Syrian Church, the pupils were

also taughr other subjects

C:ornmercial contact.; with the west had given Persian Christians access

to Greek medical texts, which were arguably the most advanced in the ancient

world. Copies of these tcsts were carried across the Persian frontier by

refugees tiom persecutior! ctnd \yere kept as closely guarded secrets in the East

Syrian Church schools in Persia where by the fifth century many had been

translated into Syriac. Sttidents had access to them only through teachers in the

Christian schools.

Adminis t ra t ion of t h e Schools

The schools formed a self-governing corporation, which could own

property subordinate only to the Head of the Church, the Patriarch. The

direc~or chosen from among the teachers of the school headed the

administration o l t h e schoc~l. The Director was always the chief instructor and

he also exerciseil superv.ision over the teaching. His chief assistant was the

ste~vard or dean. who attended to the details of schools' administration, serving

as a dean of studies and steward of schools' property. Even during the

persecution time of Shapu:, special search was made for teachers.' In schools

and centres, monks, merchants, travellers, pastors and physicians were given

missionary training. Mall. of these trained personnel associated themselves

with the people of Asit]. especiallq Turks and Mongols.

-. ~

I . ~ I L ~ . ' u l ~ ~ u g l ~ , t Ihr ist i :+~~i~~. I 1 4

2 . Sir/i.!nen tci.1 ildsl ZPVi.: 1 I I ? , . 'ri<> 267 Young, Solrrcrr ., 28-29.,

L i t e r a r y contr ibut ion of the M o n k s t o t h e East S y r i a n C h u r c h .

l 'he viritings of the monks are considered as an important part of the

literary culture of Syriac church. The ascetic tradition was such that even

when the horld and its possessions were abandoned, it was permissible for an

anchorite to own a codex or book, especially a Biblical text and commentary.

The books of the individual monks often became the nucleus of the monastic

library. It was recognized that, the study of the approved books was a means

for strengthening the religious life. The monastic establishments thus became

centres for preserving and recopying both biblical codices and sundry works

on biblical exegesis and Christian theology. In this way they helped to I perpetuate some ot'the i~itellectual traditions. There were plenty of writings

in Syriac as a product from these monastic schools of the earliest centuries.

Many were found in the cc>l!ections in south central or East Asia. 'Busy

prelates. persecuted priests. humble deacons, unordained monks, martyrs,

hermits, saints and heretics, between them have left us a great quantity of

writings not only on every conceivable theme but also on secular subjects

known in their time.'

The extensive bodies of biblical, mystical and symbolic theology and

spirituality available from the Syriac speaking churches, both in prose and

poems are doxological, uniting the material artd heavenly worlds. They also

help the corporate and the personal renewal on both meditation and praise. The

spiritual interpretations attempt to uncover the 'hidden power' of such

scriptures. rhese works hail a fully integrated function, as the theological

dimension of spirituality and liturgy. rather than an independent work of the

intellect. The works of the scholars were identified with a culture of learning

and classical works of spirituality.

1. Mc Cullouh Chnsiirinily, 76

2 Marrison . Orieni : John, Ilt\l,>r,v : Drijven , Easl

T h e Miss ionary Enthus iasm o f t h e M o n k s

From hundreds of monasteries all over Persia and central and eastern

Asia, a constant stream of ascetics completed their training and went forth, to

carry the gospel ti1 the ends of the earth. There was a missionary dynamics

involved i n East Syian asceticism. The monks undertook missionary activities

in a remarkable manner ilnlike those of other E.astern Churches. By the efforts

of these in~>nks the church spread within and outside the Persian territories.

They were exceptionally noted for their technical ability, their learning, their

medical skill and their cornrnitment for the !social needs. They combined

educational and medical services with religious works among the different

religious peoples of the n;?.tiuns of the Eastern Empire with the aid of literature

both ecclesiastical and no:^-ecclesiastical

The East Syrian Church conveyed the message of Jesus Christ mainly

to the Asian Countries, out of the zeal and enthusiasm of the spiritual urge,

developed from thcir church experience across all the trade routes of ancient

and 'medieval' Asla to the Fdr north and south, eastwards from Merv and

Saniarqand to 'further India' and China from at least as early as the fifth

century. They showed devotion to holiness:, which is perfected; not in

seclusion but in-every avenue of secular life and service. They travelled, with

baskets on heir back filled with copies of scripture and other religious books,

on fool wearing sandals and a staff in their hands.

-1'he monks were people of great faith, well versed in scriptures, large

portions of which they knew by heart, fervent in prayer, gentle and humble in

manner, full of the love of God on the one hand and love of their neighbour

and human kind or? the other. These m~ssionarie:~ healed the sick, fed the poor,

and preached thc goye l -- - - -- - --

I Slcudrt , i i ~ ~ . ~ t m t o , t ' tn~crpr ! . ,~ . , ~ A L O ~ . llislory : Brock, Spiriluoliry, : Bvggi~~>i.S'irii : I'sI~ha~r.7'rud~~liun. : llage , Chrirrinniry : Neusncl. Juduiriri Lahourtrr ,Chrislinns : Tibetts, Muslinz : Yulr .('rriha,. vol I . l l u r n r r Sv~nhois