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History of the Persian church (beginnings to Arab hegemony)

On the day of Pentecost, among the many nations present were "Parthians and Medes and Elamites and dwellers in Mesopotamia." Eusebius traced missionary work in what was Parthia to the Apostle Thomas. Another arguably less reliably tradition is that of Addai of Edessa. 

There is hard evidence of Christians in what was by then the Sasanian Empire around 233, namely the Domus Ecclesiae (house-converted-into-a-church) at Dura Europos. In second half of the third century, there was a bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon by the name of "Papa/Pappa". During this Sasanid period (dating from 224), the Church spread throughout the Persian Empire. The churches used the Syriac language. 

A representative of the church in the Sasanian Empire was present at the 325 Council of Nicea, and was called "John of Persia".

There was a 40-year persecution lasting 339 to 379 under Shapur II (309–79). One contemporary Christian whose writings record these events was the theologian Aphrahat († 350), called the “Persian Sage.” Another theologian of the time, Ephrem the Syrian (d. 376), was eyewitness to clashes due to tensions with the Roman Empire. After Theodosius I publicly declared Christianity the sole religion of the Empire in 380, the rivalry between the Sassanian Empire and the Roman Empire also impacted the church. 

Following the deaths of Shah Shapur II and his successor, Ardeshir (Ardaschir) II († 383), the situation of Christians improved towards the late 300s. It would seem that Chrysostom’s protégé, Maruthas of Martyropolis (d. approx. 420), was a leading figure. Despite Maruthas’ involvement in deposing Chrysostom, the latter wrote to Olympias, “Do not cease to pay attention to Maruthas the Bishop, as far as it concerns you, so as to lift him up out of the pit. For I have special need of him on account of the affairs in Persia.” Socrates Scholasticus recounts how Maruthas later successfully acted as liaison between Constantinopolitan Emperor and the Persian Shah, Yazdegerd I, winning the latter’s respect. Maruthas’s prayer healed the king’s chronic headache and cast out a demon from his son. Maruthas also outwitted the scheming magi opposing his ministry and was permitted to build churches. The shah was almost converted, but his successor Vararanes broke off relations with “the Romans”. 

As events developed, and tension between Constantinople and Persia increased, the Persian state acted to bring the church under its control. For example, “Maruthas in turn became instrumental in the development of a distinct Sasanian Christian church.” Prior to this, the Syriac churches had “traditionally [been]… under Antiochene jurisdiction.” Maruthas played a leading role at the 410 Ctesiphon Council, convened by the Shah, at which the presiding bishop, Mar Isaac, was acknowledged as “Grand Metropolitan and Head of Bishops” (later, "Catholicos"), and thus autonomous. The following council of 420 was presided over by Grand Metropolitan Yahballaha I (420) with the co-moderation of a Western bishop, Akakios of Amid. There was a further synod in 424, the Markabta synod, which reiterated the autonomy of the Church of the East and the primacy of the bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. "Later the order of succession of the metropolitans was established, with the bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon named first, followed by the metropolitans of Beth Lapat (Khuzistan), Nisibis, Prat de Maishan (Basra), Arbela (Irbil), and Karka de Beth Slokh (Kirkuk)." (D. Winkler, The church of the East - a concise history). 

The persecution of Christians which restarted in the final years of the reign of Shah Yazdgird I († 421) continued under Shah Bahram V (421–38). 

After the deposition of Nestorius at the 431 Ephesian Council, the school at Edessa was relocated to Nisibis (inside the Sasanid Empire). This move was arranged by bishop Barsauma (d. 496), and the relocated school headed up by poet-theologian Narsai. This school became the theological centre for the Church of the East. In 486, the Church of the East officially adopted the Christology of Theodore of Mopsuestia.

At the start of the 500s, under Catholicos Babai I (497–502), Christianity had spread across Mesopotamia. The Church of the East was the official Christian church in the Sasanid Empire and had a vigorous missionary tradition.

A later towering figure in the Church of the East was the monastic and theologian Babai the Great (d. 628). His greatest theological work is entitled, "Book of Union" in which he taught "two qnome ('natures, essences"), which are unmingled but everlastingly united in one parsopa (from the Greek prosopon, 'person, character, identity')". He expressed these same truths doxologically in the Teshbokhta or (Hymn of Praise). Arguably, this is the Christology of Chalcedon in the language of the Church of the East (Syriac). 

When Babai the Great declined the role of Catholicos, Ishoyahb II of Gdala (628–46) was installed. It was during his tenure that the Church of the East reached into China, as testified by the 781 Stele.  Ishoyahb II was the last catholicos under the Sassanians and the first under Arab rule. The end of the Sasanian Empire is considered the year 651. 

Sources

Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 

Baum & Winkler, The church of the East - a concise history

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