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107-796: East Syriac Church or East Syriac church refers to any church that performs the East Syriac Rite. East Syriac Church may also refer to: East Syriac Church The Church of the East ( Classical Syriac : ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā ) or the East Syriac Church , also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon , the Persian Church , the Assyrian Church , the Babylonian Church or

214-534: A bishop and made up of several individual parish communities overseen by priests. Dioceses were organised into provinces under the authority of a metropolitan bishop . The office of metropolitan bishop was an important one, coming with additional duties and powers; canonically, only metropolitans could consecrate a patriarch. The Patriarch also has the charge of the Province of the Patriarch . For most of its history

321-602: A breach of ecumenical good manners". Apart from its religious meaning, the word "Nestorian" has also been used in an ethnic sense, as shown by the phrase "Catholic Nestorians". In his 1996 article, "The 'Nestorian' Church: a lamentable misnomer", published in the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library , Sebastian Brock , a Fellow of the British Academy , lamented the fact that "the term 'Nestorian Church' has become

428-552: A campaign to bring the Eastern Church back to Nicene Christianity. Theodosius wanted to further unify the entire empire behind the orthodox position and decided to convene a church council to resolve matters of faith and discipline. Gregory Nazianzus was of similar mind, wishing to unify Christianity. In the spring of 381 they convened the second ecumenical council in Constantinople. The Council of Nicaea in 325 had not ended

535-475: A cleric subservient to Peter as bishop of Constantinople so that Alexandria would retain the leadership of the Eastern Churches. Many commentators characterize Maximus as having been proud, arrogant and ambitious. However, it is not clear the extent to which Maximus sought this position due to his own ambition or if he was merely a pawn in the power struggle. In any event, the plot was set into motion when, on

642-558: A delegations of Carmelites headed by two Italians, one Fleming and one German priests to reconcile the Saint Thomas Christians to Catholic fold. These priests had two advantages – they were not Portuguese and they were not Jesuits. By the next year, 84 of the 116 Saint Thomas Christian churches had returned, forming the Syrian Catholic Church (modern day Syro-Malabar Catholic Church ). The rest, which became known as

749-584: A farewell ritual and celebratory orations. Gregory used this occasion to deliver a final address (Or. 42) and then departed. Nectarius , an unbaptized civil official, was chosen to succeed Gregory as president of the council. Autocephaly recognized by some autocephalous Churches de jure : Autocephaly and canonicity recognized by Constantinople and 3 other autocephalous Churches: Spiritual independence recognized by Georgian Orthodox Church: Semi-Autonomous: Seven canons , four of these doctrinal canons and three disciplinary canons, are attributed to

856-613: A free hand, and they increased missionary efforts farther afield. Missionaries established dioceses in India (the Saint Thomas Christians ). They made some advances in Egypt , despite the strong Monophysite presence there, and they entered Central Asia , where they had significant success converting local Tartars . Nestorian missionaries were firmly established in China during the early part of

963-606: A great amount of secular power. The metropolitan see was probably in Cranganore , or (perhaps nominally) in Mylapore , where the Shrine of Thomas was located. In the 12th century Indian Nestorianism engaged the Western imagination in the figure of Prester John , supposedly a Nestorian ruler of India who held the offices of both king and priest. The geographically remote Malabar Church survived

1070-464: A human mind. He was charged with confounding the persons of the Godhead , and with giving in to the heretical ways of Sabellius . Basil of Caesarea accused him of abandoning the literal sense of the scripture, and taking up wholly with the allegorical sense. His views were condemned in a Synod at Alexandria , under Athanasius of Alexandria , in 362, and later subdivided into several different heresies,

1177-670: A late-6th-century church in Seleucia-Ctesiphon , beneath which were found the remains of an earlier church, also shows that the Church of the East used figurative representations. Although the East Syriac Christian community traced their history to the 1st century AD, the Church of the East first achieved official state recognition from the Sasanian Empire in the 4th century with the accession of Yazdegerd I (reigned 399–420) to

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1284-657: A major role in the history of Christianity in Asia . Between the 9th and 14th centuries, it represented the world's largest Christian denomination in terms of geographical extent, and in the Middle Ages was one of the three major Christian powerhouses of Eurasia alongside Latin Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy . It established dioceses and communities stretching from the Mediterranean Sea and today's Iraq and Iran , to India ,

1391-938: A mission under a Persian cleric named Alopen in 635, in the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang during the Tang dynasty . The inscription on the Nestorian Stele, whose dating formula mentions the patriarch [[Hnanisho II|Hnanisho[ʿ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script ( help ) II (773–80)]], gives the names of several prominent Christians in China, including Metropolitan Adam, Bishop Yohannan, 'country-bishops' Yazdbuzid and Sargis and Archdeacons Gigoi of Khumdan ( Chang'an ) and Gabriel of Sarag ( Luoyang ). The names of around seventy monks are also listed. Nestorian Christianity thrived in China for approximately 200 years, but then faced persecution from Emperor Wuzong of Tang (reigned 840–846). He suppressed all foreign religions, including Buddhism and Christianity, causing

1498-460: A night when Gregory was confined by illness, the conspirators burst into the cathedral and commenced the consecration of Maximus as bishop of Constantinople. They had seated Maximus on the archiepiscopal throne and had just begun shearing away his long curls when the day dawned. The news of what was transpiring quickly spread and everybody rushed to the church. The magistrates appeared with their officers; Maximus and his consecrators were driven from

1605-654: A particularly keen interest in the missionary expansion of the Church of the East. He is known to have consecrated metropolitans for Damascus, for Armenia , for Dailam and Gilan in Azerbaijan, for Rai in Tabaristan, for Sarbaz in Segestan, for the Turks of Central Asia, for China, and possibly also for Tibet . He also detached India from the metropolitan province of Fars and made it a separate metropolitan province, known as India . By

1712-457: Is New Rome . The third canon was a first step in the rising importance of the new imperial capital, just fifty years old, and was notable in that it demoted the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria. Jerusalem, as the site of the first church, retained its place of honor. It originally did not elicit controversy, as the Papal legate Paschasinus and a partisan of his, Diogenes of Cyzicus , reference

1819-644: Is above reproach is chosen for that see." Thirty-six Pneumatomachians arrived but were denied admission to the council when they refused to accept the Nicene creed. Since Peter, the Pope of Alexandria, was not present, the presidency over the council was given to Meletius as Patriarch of Antioch. The first order of business before the council was to declare the clandestine consecration of Maximus invalid, and to confirm Theodosius' installation of Gregory Nazianzus as Archbishop of Constantinople. When Meletius died shortly after

1926-515: Is also considered to be an indication of a strong Nestorian Christian presence in Sri Lanka between the 3rd and 10th century in the then capitol of Anuradhapura of Sri Lanka. Christianity reached China by 635, and its relics can still be seen in Chinese cities such as Xi'an . The Nestorian Stele , set up on 7 January 781 at the then-capital of Chang'an , attributes the introduction of Christianity to

2033-678: The Arabian Peninsula , with minor presence in the Horn of Africa , Socotra , Mesopotamia , Media , Bactria , Hyrcania , and India ; and possibly also to places called Calliana, Male, and Sielediva (Ceylon). Beneath the Patriarch in the hierarchy were nine metropolitans , and clergy were recorded among the Huns , in Persarmenia , Media, and the island of Dioscoris in the Indian Ocean . The Church of

2140-524: The Arian controversy which it had been called to clarify. Arius and his sympathizers, e.g. Eusebius of Nicomedia were admitted back into the church after ostensibly accepting the Nicene creed. Athanasius , bishop of Alexandria, the most vocal opponent of Arianism, was ultimately exiled through the machinations of Eusebius of Nicomedia. After the death of Constantine I in 337 and the accession of his Arian-leaning son Constantius II , open discussion of replacing

2247-465: The Cappadocian Fathers ' Trinitarian discourse was influential in the council at Constantinople . Apollinaris of Laodicea , another pro-Nicene theologian, proved controversial. Possibly in an over-reaction to Arianism and its teaching that Christ was not God, he taught that Christ consisted of a human body and a divine mind, rejecting the belief that Christ had a complete human nature, including

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2354-724: The Council of Chalcedon erupted. Pope Leo the Great , declared that this canon had never been submitted to Rome and that their lessened honor was a violation of the Nicene council order. Throughout the next several centuries, the Western Church asserted that the Bishop of Rome had supreme authority, and by the time of the Great Schism the Roman Catholic Church based its claim to supremacy on

2461-794: The Council of Markabta of the Arabs and declare the Catholicate independent from "the western Fathers". Meanwhile, in the Roman Empire, the Nestorian Schism had led many of Nestorius' supporters to relocate to the Sasanian Empire, mainly around the theological School of Nisibis . The Persian Church increasingly aligned itself with the Dyophisites, a measure encouraged by the Zoroastrian ruling class. The church became increasingly Dyophisite in doctrine over

2568-536: The Indian subcontinent . The Church faced a major schism in 1552 following the consecration of monk Yohannan Sulaqa by Pope Julius III in opposition to the reigning Catholicos-Patriarch Shimun VII , leading to the formation of the Chaldean Catholic Church . Divisions occurred within the two factions, but by 1830 two unified patriarchates and distinct churches remained: the traditionalist Assyrian Church of

2675-797: The Malankara Church , soon entered into communion with the Syriac Orthodox Church . The Malankara Church also produced the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church . Nestorian Christianity is said to have thrived in Sri Lanka with the patronage of King Dathusena during the 5th century. There are mentions of involvement of Persian Christians with the Sri Lankan royal family during the Sigiriya Period. Over seventy-five ships carrying Murundi soldiers from Mangalore are said to have arrived in

2782-667: The Mongol kingdoms and Turkic tribes in Central Asia, and China during the Tang dynasty (7th–9th centuries). In the 13th and 14th centuries, the church experienced a final period of expansion under the Mongol Empire , where influential Church of the East clergy sat in the Mongol court. Even before the Church of the East underwent a rapid decline in its field of expansion in Central Asia in

2889-733: The Nestorian Church , is one of three major branches of Nicene Eastern Christianity that arose from the Christological controversies in the 5th century and the 6th century , alongside that of Miaphysitism (which came to be known as the Oriental Orthodox Churches ) and the Chalcedonian Church (from which Catholicism , Eastern Orthodoxy , and Protestantism would arise). Having its origins in Mesopotamia during

2996-781: The Nicene Creed , but includes two additional articles: an article on the Holy Spirit—describing Him as "the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, and Who spoke through the prophets"—and an article about the church, baptism, and the resurrection of the dead. (For the full text of both creeds, see Comparison between Creed of 325 and Creed of 381 .) However, scholars are not agreed on

3103-704: The Parthian Empire . In 266, the area was annexed by the Sasanian Empire (becoming the province of Asōristān ), and there were significant Christian communities in Upper Mesopotamia , Elam , and Fars . The Church of the East traced its origins ultimately to the evangelical activity of Thaddeus of Edessa , Mari and Thomas the Apostle . Leadership and structure remained disorganised until 315 when Papa bar Aggai (310–329), bishop of Seleucia - Ctesiphon , imposed

3210-512: The Sasanian Empire through the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon . In 424, it declared itself independent of the state church of the Roman Empire , which it calls the 'Church of the West'. The Church of the East was headed by the Catholicos-Patriarch of the East seated originally in Seleucia-Ctesiphon , continuing a line that, according to its tradition, stretched back to Thomas the Apostle in

3317-615: The School of Nisibis , leading to a wave of Nestorian immigration into the Sasanian Empire. The Patriarch of the East Mar Babai I (497–502) reiterated and expanded upon his predecessors' esteem for Theodore, solidifying the church's adoption of Dyophisitism. Now firmly established in the Persian Empire, with centres in Nisibis, Ctesiphon , and Gundeshapur , and several metropolitan sees ,

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3424-714: The State Library of Berlin , proves that in the 13th century the Church of the East was not yet aniconic . The Nestorian Evangelion preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France contains an illustration depicting Jesus Christ in the circle of a ringed cross surrounded by four angels. Three Syriac manuscripts from early 19th century or earlier—they were published in a compilation titled The Book of Protection by Hermann Gollancz in 1912—contain some illustrations of no great artistic worth that show that use of images continued. A life-size male stucco figure discovered in

3531-667: The Synod of Diamper in 1599, they installed Padroado Portuguese bishops over the local sees and made liturgical changes to accord with the Latin practice and this led to a revolt among the Saint Thomas Christians. The majority of them broke with the Catholic Church and vowed never to submit to the Portuguese in the Coonan Cross Oath of 1653. In 1661, Pope Alexander VII responded by sending

3638-422: The Tang dynasty (618–907); the Chinese source known as the Nestorian Stele describes a mission under a proselyte named Alopen as introducing Nestorian Christianity to China in 635. In the 7th century, the church had grown to have two Nestorian archbishops , and over 20 bishops east of the Iranian border of the Oxus River . Patriarch Timothy I (780–823), a contemporary of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid , took

3745-415: The succession of St. Peter . At the Fourth Council of Constantinople (869), the Roman legates asserted the place of the bishop of Rome's honor over the bishop of Constantinople's. After the Great Schism of 1054, in 1215 the Fourth Lateran Council declared, in its fifth canon, that the Roman Church "by the will of God holds over all others pre-eminence of ordinary power as the mother and mistress of all

3852-417: The " Western Church ". Accordingly, the leaders of the Church of the East did not feel bound by any decisions of what came to be regarded as Roman Imperial Councils. Despite this, the Creed and Canons of the First Council of Nicaea of 325, affirming the full divinity of Christ, were formally accepted at the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in 410. The church's understanding of the term hypostasis differs from

3959-410: The "two qnome in Christ" formula, a final christological distinction was created between the Church of the East and the "western" Chalcedonian churches . The justice of imputing Nestorianism to Nestorius , whom the Church of the East venerated as a saint, is disputed. David Wilmshurst states that for centuries "the word 'Nestorian' was used both as a term of abuse by those who disapproved of

4066-572: The 10th century the Church of the East had a number of dioceses stretching from across the Caliphate's territories to India and China. Nestorian Christians made substantial contributions to the Islamic Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates , particularly in translating the works of the ancient Greek philosophers to Syriac and Arabic . Nestorians made their own contributions to philosophy , science (such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq , Qusta ibn Luqa , Masawaiyh , Patriarch Eutychius , Jabril ibn Bukhtishu ) and theology (such as Tatian , Bar Daisan , Babai

4173-418: The 13th century, during the Mongol Empire, the church added two new metropolitan provinces in North China , one being Tangut, the other Katai and Ong. The Peshitta , in some cases lightly revised and with missing books added, is the standard Syriac Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition: the Syriac Orthodox Church , the Syrian Catholic Church , the Assyrian Church of the East , the Ancient Church of

4280-429: The 14th century, it had already lost ground in its home territory. The decline is indicated by the shrinking list of active dioceses from over sixty in the early 11th century to only seven in the 14th century. In the aftermath of the division of the Mongol Empire , the rising Buddhist and Islamic Mongol leaderships pushed out the Church of the East and its followers in Central Asia. The Chinese Ming dynasty overthrew

4387-401: The Assyrian Church of the East, granting its members his protection, and executing the pro-Roman Catholicos Babowai in 484, replacing him with the Nestorian Bishop of Nisibis , Barsauma . The Catholicos-Patriarch Babai (497–503) confirmed the association of the Assyrian Church with Nestorianism. Christians were already forming communities in Mesopotamia as early as the 1st century under

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4494-408: The Church of the East adopted the dyophysite doctrine of Theodore of Mopsuestia that emphasised the "distinctiveness" of the divine and the human natures of Jesus ; this doctrine was misleadingly labelled as 'Nestorian' by its theological opponents. Continuing as a dhimmi community under the Rashidun Caliphate after the Muslim conquest of Persia (633–654), the Church of the East played

4601-402: The Church of the East began to branch out beyond the Sasanian Empire. However, through the 6th century the church was frequently beset with internal strife and persecution from the Zoroastrians. The infighting led to a schism, which lasted from 521 until around 539, when the issues were resolved. However, immediately afterward Byzantine-Persian conflict led to a renewed persecution of the church by

4708-470: The Church of the East extended well beyond its heartland in present-day northern Iraq , north eastern Syria and south eastern Turkey . Communities sprang up throughout Central Asia , and missionaries from Assyria and Mesopotamia took the Christian faith as far as China , with a primary indicator of their missionary work being the Nestorian Stele , a Christian tablet written in Chinese found in China dating to 781 AD. Their most important conversion, however,

4815-447: The Church of the East until the end of the medieval period. The Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala , India, who according to tradition trace their origins to the evangelizing efforts of Thomas the Apostle , had a long association with the Church of the East. The earliest known organised Christian presence in Kerala dates to 295/300 when Christian settlers and missionaries from Persia headed by Bishop David of Basra settled in

4922-557: The Church of the East was declared to have at its head the bishop of the Persian capital Seleucia-Ctesiphon, who in the acts of the council was referred to as the Grand or Major Metropolitan, and who soon afterward was called the Catholicos of the East. Later, the title of Patriarch was used. The Church of the East had, like other churches, an ordained clergy in the three traditional orders of bishop , priest (or presbyter ), and deacon . Also like other churches, it had an episcopal polity : organisation by dioceses , each headed by

5029-408: The East and the Ancient Church of the East , which continue to follow the traditional theology and liturgy of the mother church. The Chaldean Catholic Church based in Iraq and the Syro-Malabar Church in India are two Eastern Catholic churches which also claim the heritage of the Church of the East. The Church of the East organized itself initially in the year 410 as the national church of

5136-401: The East and the Chaldean Catholic Church. The Ancient Church of the East split from the traditionalist patriarchate in 1968. In 2017, the Chaldean Catholic Church had approximately 628,405 members and the Assyrian Church of the East had 323,300 to 380,000, while the Ancient Church of the East had 100,000. Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine that emphasises the distinction between

5243-476: The East , the Chaldean Catholic Church , the Maronites , the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church , the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church . The Old Testament of the Peshitta was translated from Hebrew , although the date and circumstances of this are not entirely clear. The translators may have been Syriac-speaking Jews or early Jewish converts to Christianity. The translation may have been done separately for different texts, and

5350-477: The East Syrians in Khanbaliq says that they had 'very beautiful and orderly churches with crosses and images in honour of God and of the saints'. Apart from the references, a painting of a Christian figure discovered by Aurel Stein at the Library Cave of the Mogao Caves in 1908 is probably a representation of Jesus Christ. An illustrated 13th-century Nestorian Peshitta Gospel book written in Estrangela from northern Mesopotamia or Tur Abdin , currently in

5457-452: The East also flourished in the kingdom of the Lakhmids until the Islamic conquest, particularly after the ruler al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir officially converted in c. 592. After the Sasanian Empire was conquered by Muslim Arabs in 644, the newly established Rashidun Caliphate designated the Church of the East as an official dhimmi minority group headed by the Patriarch of the East. As with all other Christian and Jewish groups given

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5564-412: The Eastern bishops paid no heed to his opinions in this regard. The First Council of Constantinople (381) was the first appearance of the term 'New Rome' in connection to Constantinople. The term was employed as the grounds for giving the relatively young church of Constantinople precedence over Alexandria and Antioch ('because it is the New Rome'). The 150 individuals at the council are commemorated in

5671-410: The Great , Nestorius , Toma bar Yacoub ). The personal physicians of the Abbasid Caliphs were often Assyrian Christians such as the long serving Bukhtishu dynasty. After the split with the Western World and synthesis with Nestorianism, the Church of the East expanded rapidly due to missionary works during the medieval period. During the period between 500 and 1400 the geographical horizon of

5778-408: The Greek terms φύσις ( physis ) and ὐπόστασις ( hypostasis ), these Syriac words were sometimes taken to mean something other than what was intended; in particular "two qnome " was interpreted as "two individuals". Previously, the Church of the East accepted a certain fluidity of expressions, always within a dyophysite theology, but with Babai's assembly of 612, which canonically sanctioned

5885-405: The Mongols (1368) and ejected Christians and other foreign influences from China, and many Mongols in Central Asia converted to Islam . The Muslim Turco-Mongol leader Timur (1336–1405) nearly eradicated the remaining Christians in the Middle East. Nestorian Christianity remained largely confined to communities in Upper Mesopotamia and the Saint Thomas Syrian Christians of the Malabar Coast in

5992-413: The Nicene Creed; Arians were also ejected from the churches of other cities in the Eastern Roman Empire thus re-establishing Christian orthodoxy in the East. There ensued a contest to control the newly recovered see. A group led by Maximus the Cynic gained the support of Patriarch Peter of Alexandria by playing on his jealousy of the newly created see of Constantinople. They conceived a plan to install

6099-477: The Nicene creed itself began. Up until about 360, theological debates mainly dealt with the divinity of the Son, the second person of the Trinity . However, because the Council of Nicaea had not clarified the divinity of the Holy Spirit , the third person of the Trinity, it became a topic of debate. The Macedonians denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. This was also known as Pneumatomachianism . Nicene Christianity also had its defenders: apart from Athanasius,

6206-434: The Roman Imperial church. More recently, the "Nestorian" appellation has been called "a lamentable misnomer", and theologically incorrect by scholars. The Church of the East's declaration in 424 of the independence of its head, the Patriarch of the East , preceded by seven years the 431 Council of Ephesus, which condemned Nestorius and declared that Mary, mother of Jesus , can be described as Mother of God . Two of

6313-401: The Sasanian Empire and soon also beyond the empire's borders. By the 10th century, the church had between 20 and 30 metropolitan provinces. According to John Foster, in the 9th century there were 25 metropolitans including those in China and India. The Chinese provinces were lost in the 11th century, and in the subsequent centuries other exterior provinces went into decline as well. However, in

6420-411: The Sasanian emperor Khosrau I ; this ended in 545. The church survived these trials under the guidance of Patriarch Aba I , who had converted to Christianity from Zoroastrianism . By the end of the 5th century and the middle of the 6th, the area occupied by the Church of the East included "all the countries to the east and those immediately to the west of the Euphrates", including the Sasanian Empire,

6527-410: The Sri Lankan town of Chilaw most of whom were Christians. King Dathusena's daughter was married to his nephew Migara who is also said to have been a Nestorian Christian, and a commander of the Sinhalese army. Maga Brahmana, a Christian priest of Persian origin is said to have provided advice to King Dathusena on establishing his palace on the Sigiriya Rock . The Anuradhapura Cross discovered in 1912

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6634-419: The bishops of the Sasanian Empire met in council under the leadership of Catholicos Dadishoʿ (421–456) and determined that they would not, henceforth, refer disciplinary or theological problems to any external power, and especially not to any bishop or church council in the Roman Empire . Thus, the Mesopotamian churches did not send representatives to the various church councils attended by representatives of

6741-423: The canon as being in force during the first session of the Council of Chalcedon . According to Eusebius of Dorlyeum, another Papal ally during Chalcedon, "I myself read this very canon [Canon 3] to the most holy pope in Rome in the presence of the clerics of Constantinople and he accepted it." Nevertheless, controversy has ensued since then. The status of the canon became questioned after disputes over Canon 28 of

6848-444: The cathedral, and ultimately completed the tonsure in the tenement of a flute-player. The news of the brazen attempt to usurp the episcopal throne aroused the anger of the local populace among whom Gregory was popular. Maximus withdrew to Thessalonica to lay his cause before the emperor but met with a cold reception there. Theodosius committed the matter to Ascholius , the much respected bishop of Thessalonica , charging him to seek

6955-442: The church had six or so Interior Provinces. In 410, these were listed in the hierarchical order of: Seleucia-Ctesiphon (central Iraq), Beth Lapat (western Iran), Nisibis (on the border between Turkey and Iraq), Prat de Maishan (Basra, southern Iraq), Arbela (Erbil, Kurdistan region of Iraq), and Karka de Beth Slokh (Kirkuk, northeastern Iraq). In addition it had an increasing number of Exterior Provinces further afield within

7062-424: The church to decline sharply in China. A Syrian monk visiting China a few decades later described many churches in ruin. The church disappeared from China in the early 10th century, coinciding with the collapse of the Tang dynasty and the tumult of the next years (the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period ). First Council of Constantinople When Theodosius ascended to the imperial throne in 380, he began on

7169-416: The church's jurisdiction in India. In the 8th century Patriarch Timothy I organised the community as the Ecclesiastical Province of India , one of the church's Provinces of the Exterior. After this point the Province of India was headed by a metropolitan bishop , provided from Persia, who oversaw a varying number of bishops as well as a native Archdeacon , who had authority over the clergy and also wielded

7276-421: The church's leading bishops to elect a formal Catholicos (leader). Catholicos Isaac was required both to lead the Assyrian Christian community and to answer on its behalf to the Sasanian emperor . Under pressure from the Sasanian Emperor, the Church of the East sought to increasingly distance itself from the Pentarchy (at the time being known as the church of the Eastern Roman Empire ). Therefore, in 424,

7383-443: The connection between the Council of Constantinople and the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. Some modern scholars believe that this creed, or something close to it, was stated by the bishops at Constantinople, but not promulgated as an official act of the council. Scholars also dispute whether this creed was simply an expansion of the Creed of Nicaea, or whether it was an expansion of another traditional creed similar but not identical to

7490-407: The council and accepted by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches ; the Roman Catholic Church accepts only the first four because only the first four appear in the oldest copies and there is evidence that the last three were later additions. The Bishop of Constantinople, however, shall have the prerogative of honour after the Bishop of Rome because Constantinople

7597-437: The council, but he adds that, if any part of the council were approved by this pope, it could have been only its revision of the Nicene Creed , as was the case also when Gregory the Great recognized it as one of the four general councils, but only in its dogmatic utterances. Traditionally, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed has been associated with the Council of Constantinople (381). It is roughly theologically equivalent to

7704-460: The counsel of Pope Damasus I . Damasus' response repudiated Maximus summarily and advised Theodosius to summon a council of bishops for the purpose of settling various church issues such as the schism in Antioch and the consecration of a proper bishop for the see of Constantinople. Damasus condemned the translation of bishops from one see to another and urged Theodosius to "take care that a bishop who

7811-677: The decay of the Nestorian hierarchy elsewhere, enduring until the 16th century when the Portuguese arrived in India. With the establishment of Portuguese power in parts of India, the clergy of that empire, in particular members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), determined to actively bring the Saint Thomas Christians into full communion with Rome under the Latin Church and its Latin liturgical rites . After

7918-683: The definition of the term offered at the Council of Chalcedon of 451. For this reason, the Assyrian Church has never approved the Chalcedonian definition . The theological controversy that followed the Council of Ephesus in 431 proved a turning point in the Christian Church's history. The Council condemned as heretical the Christology of Nestorius , whose reluctance to accord the Virgin Mary

8025-619: The disciplinary canons of the Council of Constantinople, especially the third canon which placed Constantinople above Alexandria and Antioch. The synod protested against this raising of the bishop of the new imperial capital, just fifty years old, to a status higher than that of the bishops of Alexandria and Antioch, and stated that the primacy of the Roman see had not been established by a gathering of bishops but rather by Christ himself. Thomas Shahan says that, according to Photius too, Pope Damasus approved

8132-524: The eastern Roman Empire . However, the Persian Church faced several severe persecutions, notably during the reign of Shapur II (339–79), from the Zoroastrian majority who accused it of Roman leanings. Shapur II attempted to dismantle the catholicate's structure and put to death some of the clergy including the catholicoi Simeon bar Sabba'e (341), Shahdost (342), and Barba'shmin (346). Afterward,

8239-461: The faithful". Roman supremacy over the whole world was formally claimed by the new Latin patriarch. The Roman correctores of Gratian, insert the words: "canon hic ex iis est quos apostolica Romana sedes a principio et longo post tempore non recipit" ("this canon is one of those that the Apostolic See of Rome has not accepted from the beginning and ever since"). Later on, Baronius asserted that

8346-630: The first century. Its liturgical rite is the East Syrian rite that employs the Divine Liturgy of Saints Addai and Mari . The Church of the East, which was part of the Great Church , shared communion with those in the Roman Empire until the Council of Ephesus condemned Nestorius in 431. The Church of the East refused to condemn Nestorius and was therefore called the "Nestorian Church" by those of

8453-540: The focus of discussion changed to Christology , which would be the topic of the Council of Ephesus of 431 and the Council of Chalcedon of 451. David Eastman cites the First Council of Constantinople as another example of the waning influence of Rome over the East. He notes that all three of the presiding bishops came from the East. Damasus had considered both Meletius and Gregory to be illegitimate bishops of their respective sees and yet, as Eastman and others point out,

8560-573: The generally accepted ecumenical councils were held earlier: the First Council of Nicaea , in which a Persian bishop took part, in 325, and the First Council of Constantinople in 381. The Church of the East accepted the teaching of these two councils, but ignored the 431 Council and those that followed, seeing them as concerning only the patriarchates of the Roman Empire ( Rome , Constantinople , Alexandria , Antioch , Jerusalem ), all of which were for it " Western Christianity". Theologically ,

8667-470: The human and divine natures of Jesus . It was attributed to Nestorius , Patriarch of Constantinople from 428 to 431, whose doctrine represented the culmination of a philosophical current developed by scholars at the School of Antioch , most notably Nestorius's mentor Theodore of Mopsuestia , and stirred controversy when Nestorius publicly challenged the use of the title Theotokos (literally, "Bearer of God ") for Mary, mother of Jesus , suggesting that

8774-410: The imperial throne, Theodosius offered to confirm Demophilus as bishop of the imperial city on the condition of accepting the Nicene Creed ; however, Demophilus refused to abandon his Arian beliefs, and was immediately ordered to give up his churches and leave Constantinople. After forty years under the control of Arian bishops, the churches of Constantinople were now restored to those who subscribed to

8881-646: The main ones of which were the Polemians and the Antidicomarianites . Theodosius' strong commitment to Nicene Christianity involved a calculated risk because Constantinople, the imperial capital of the Eastern Empire, was solidly Arian. To complicate matters, the two leading factions of Nicene Christianity in the East, the Alexandrians and the supporters of Meletius in Antioch, were "bitterly divided ... almost to

8988-506: The next decades, furthering the divide between Roman and Persian Christianity. In 484 the Metropolitan of Nisibis, Barsauma , convened the Synod of Beth Lapat where he publicly accepted Nestorius' mentor, Theodore of Mopsuestia , as a spiritual authority. In 489, when the School of Edessa in Mesopotamia was closed by Byzantine Emperor Zeno for its Nestorian teachings, the school relocated to its original home of Nisibis, becoming again

9095-623: The office of Catholicos lay vacant nearly 20 years (346–363). In 363, under the terms of a peace treaty, Nisibis was ceded to the Persians, causing Ephrem the Syrian , accompanied by a number of teachers, to leave the School of Nisibis for Edessa still in Roman territory. The church grew considerably during the Sasanian period, but the pressure of persecution led the Catholicos, Dadisho I, in 424 to convene

9202-446: The one from Nicaea. In 451, the Council of Chalcedon referred to this creed as "the creed ... of the 150 saintly fathers assembled in Constantinople", indicating that this creed was associated with Constantinople (381) no later than 451. This council condemned Arianism which began to die out with further condemnations at a council of Aquileia by Ambrose of Milan in 381. With the discussion of Trinitarian doctrine now developed,

9309-575: The opening of the council, Gregory was selected to lead the council. The Egyptian and Macedonian bishops who had supported Maximus's ordination arrived late for the council. Once there, they refused to recognise Gregory's position as head of the church of Constantinople, arguing that his transfer from the See of Sasima was canonically illegitimate because one of the canons of the Council of Nicaea had forbidden bishops to transfer from their sees. McGuckin describes Gregory as physically exhausted and worried that he

9416-413: The point of complete animosity". The bishops of Alexandria and Rome had worked over a number of years to keep the see of Constantinople from stabilizing. Thus, when Gregory was selected as a candidate for the bishopric of Constantinople, both Alexandria and Rome opposed him because of his Antiochene background. The incumbent bishop of Constantinople was Demophilus, a Homoian Arian. On his accession to

9523-520: The primacy of his see over the other Mesopotamian and Persian bishoprics which were grouped together under the Catholicate of Seleucia-Ctesiphon; Papa took the title of Catholicos , or universal leader. This position received an additional title in 410, becoming Catholicos and Patriarch of the East . These early Christian communities in Mesopotamia, Elam, and Fars were reinforced in the 4th and 5th centuries by large-scale deportations of Christians from

9630-559: The region, which forbade any type of depictions of Saints and biblical prophets . As such, the Church was forced to get rid of icons. There is both literary and archaeological evidence for the presence of images in the church. Writing in 1248 from Samarkand , an Armenian official records visiting a local church and seeing an image of Christ and the Magi. John of Cora ( Giovanni di Cori ), Latin bishop of Sultaniya in Persia, writing about 1330 of

9737-508: The region. The Saint Thomas Christians traditionally credit the mission of Thomas of Cana , a Nestorian from the Middle East, with the further expansion of their community. From at least the early 4th century, the Patriarch of the Church of the East provided the Saint Thomas Christians with clergy, holy texts, and ecclesiastical infrastructure. And around 650 Patriarch Ishoyahb III solidified

9844-467: The same status, the church was restricted within the Caliphate, but also given a degree of protection. In order to resist the growing competition from Muslim courts, patriarchs and bishops of the Church of the East developed canon law and adapted the procedures used in the episcopal courts. Nestorians were not permitted to proselytise or attempt to convert Muslims, but their missionaries were otherwise given

9951-532: The standard by the early 5th century. It was often said in the 19th century that the Church of the East was opposed to religious images of any kind. The cult of the image was never as strong in the Syriac Churches as it was in the Byzantine Church , but they were indeed present in the tradition of the Church of the East. Opposition to religious images eventually became the norm due to the rise of Islam in

10058-402: The standard designation for the ancient oriental church which in the past called itself 'The Church of the East', but which today prefers a fuller title 'The Assyrian Church of the East'. Such a designation is not only discourteous to modern members of this venerable church, but also − as this paper aims to show − both inappropriate and misleading". At the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in 410,

10165-433: The state authorities in the Roman Empire suppressed Nestorianism, a reason for Christians under Persian rule to favour it and so allay suspicion that their loyalty lay with the hostile Christian-ruled empire. It was in the aftermath of the slightly later Council of Chalcedon (451), that the Church of the East formulated a distinctive theology. The first such formulation was adopted at the Synod of Beth Lapat in 484. This

10272-453: The third canon was not authentic, not in fact decreed by the council. Contrarily, roughly contemporaneous Greeks maintained that it did not declare supremacy of the Bishop of Rome , but the primacy; "the first among equals", similar to how they today view the Bishop of Constantinople . It has been asserted by many that a synod was held by Pope Damasus I in the following year (382) which opposed

10379-410: The throne of the Sasanian Empire . The policies of the Sasanian Empire, which encouraged syncretic forms of Christianity, greatly influenced the Church of the East. The early Church had branches that took inspiration from Neo-Platonism, other Near Eastern religions like Judaism , and other forms of Christianity. In 410, the Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon , held at the Sasanian capital, allowed

10486-416: The time of the Parthian Empire , the Church of the East developed its own unique form of Christian theology and liturgy . During the early modern period , a series of schisms gave rise to rival patriarchates , sometimes two, sometimes three. In the latter half of the 20th century, the traditionalist patriarchate of the church underwent a split into two rival patriarchates, namely the Assyrian Church of

10593-515: The title Theotokos "God-bearer, Mother of God" was taken as evidence that he believed two separate persons (as opposed to two united natures) to be present within Christ. The Sasanian Emperor, hostile to the Byzantines, saw the opportunity to ensure the loyalty of his Christian subjects and lent support to the Nestorian Schism . The Emperor took steps to cement the primacy of the Nestorian party within

10700-495: The title denied Christ's full humanity. He argued that Jesus had two loosely joined natures, the divine Logos and the human Jesus, and proposed Christotokos (literally, "Bearer of the Christ") as a more suitable alternative title. His statements drew criticism from other prominent churchmen, particularly from Cyril , Patriarch of Alexandria , who had a leading part in the Council of Ephesus of 431, which condemned Nestorius for heresy and deposed him as Patriarch. After 431,

10807-491: The traditional East Syrian theology, as a term of pride by many of its defenders [...] and as a neutral and convenient descriptive term by others. Nowadays it is generally felt that the term carries a stigma". Sebastian P. Brock says: "The association between the Church of the East and Nestorius is of a very tenuous nature, and to continue to call that church 'Nestorian' is, from a historical point of view, totally misleading and incorrect – quite apart from being highly offensive and

10914-771: The whole work was probably done by the second century. Most of the deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament are found in the Syriac, and the Wisdom of Sirach is held to have been translated from the Hebrew and not from the Septuagint . The New Testament of the Peshitta, which originally excluded certain disputed books ( Second Epistle of Peter , Second Epistle of John , Third Epistle of John , Epistle of Jude , Book of Revelation ), had become

11021-575: Was a member of the Church of East, but later joined the miaphysite church of Antioch. Drawing inspiration from Theodore of Mopsuestia , Babai the Great (551−628) expounded, especially in his Book of Union , what became the normative Christology of the Church of the East. He affirmed that the two qnome (a Syriac term, plural of qnoma , not corresponding precisely to Greek φύσις or οὐσία or ὑπόστασις) of Christ are unmixed but eternally united in his single parsopa (from Greek πρόσωπον prosopon "mask, character, person"). As happened also with

11128-650: Was developed further in the early seventh century, when in an at first successful war against the Byzantine Empire the Sasanid Persian Empire incorporated broad territories populated by West Syrians, many of whom were supporters of the Miaphysite theology of Oriental Orthodoxy which its opponents term "Monophysitism" ( Eutychianism ), the theological view most opposed to Nestorianism. They received support from Khosrow II , influenced by his wife Shirin . Shirin

11235-520: Was losing the confidence of the bishops and the emperor. Ayres goes further and asserts that Gregory quickly made himself unpopular among the bishops by supporting the losing candidate for the bishopric of Antioch and vehemently opposing any compromise with the Homoiousians. Rather than press his case and risk further division, Gregory decided to resign his office: "Let me be as the Prophet Jonah! I

11342-654: Was of the Saint Thomas Christians of the Malabar Coast in India , who alone escaped the destruction of the church by Timur at the end of the 14th century, and the majority of whom today constitute the largest group who now use the liturgy of the Church of the East , with around 4 million followers in their homeland, in spite of the 17th-century defection to the West Syriac Rite of the Syriac Orthodox Church . The St Thomas Christians were believed by tradition to have been converted by St Thomas, and were in communion with

11449-476: Was responsible for the storm, but I would sacrifice myself for the salvation of the ship. Seize me and throw me... I was not happy when I ascended the throne, and gladly would I descend it." He shocked the council with his surprise resignation and then delivered a dramatic speech to Theodosius asking to be released from his offices. The emperor, moved by his words, applauded, commended his labor, and granted his resignation. The council asked him to appear once more for

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