Church events
Shapur I (241-272), the successor of Ardeshir Babakan, had long wars with the Roman Empire. He defeated the Romans in 260 and succeeded in capturing Valerian, the Roman emperor. Along with Valerian, he moved many captured soldiers and people from the Roman Mesopotamian cities to the land of the conqueror, as was the custom of that time, and encouraged them to build a city that he named “Veh Ando Shapur”, meaning the city of Shapur is better than “Ando”. Antioch)”. This is the city of Gandishapur, or in the Arabic word, today’s Jandishapur, near Dezful and Shushtar.
From the evidence, it appears that a large number of these Christian prisoners are scattered in other parts of Khuzestan. Mohammad bin Jarir Tabari, an Iranian historian, says that the city (Shadarvan Shushtar) was also built by these captives. But it seems that these soldiers were also transferred to the central parts of Iran (Persia and Parthia). In this case, those exiled prisoners have started to establish churches for themselves in these new areas. This can indicate that some Zoroastrians may have converted to Christianity as a result of contact with these Christians.
Christianization of Armenia
An important event that happened at the beginning of the 4th century was the Christianization of the Armenian government.
It should be noted that Armenia has always been between Iran and Rome since the time of the Parthians. In 301 AD (or maybe 300), Tirdad, the king of Armenia, declared Christianity the official religion of the court. In the meantime, the efforts of the Armenian bishop, Grigor Lusavorich (Nurbakhsh), should not be forgotten. Tirdad Christianized Zoroastrian Armenians by the sword. After the Christianization of the Roman government around the year 323, the Armenian government tended to approach Rome, and this caused the Sassanid and Roman governments to constantly have military conflicts with each other over the domination of Armenia.
Syriac-speaking Christians living in Chaldea and Mesopotamia, who saw their fate as dependent on the arbitrary decisions of Sassanid despotic rulers, looked longingly at the territory of the Romans and preferred to live in a government in which there were relatively specific laws on individual and social life. The citizens are the rulers.
In addition, since the time of Parthian rule over the Mesopotamia region, these people always looked at Antioch as their utopia, and the sometimes exaggerated stories and narratives of the captured Roman soldiers and the merchants of the West about the glory of the territory of Roman rule, a heartwarming dream of They had built that country in their minds and most importantly, the idea of living in a Christian country under the rule of a Christian Caesar who was interested in religious issues as much as worldly issues was very pleasing to them.
The terrible persecution of the time of Shapur II
Shapur II used this atmosphere as an excuse to keep a close watch on the Christians living in Mesopotamia, which was the border region, and if necessary, give them protection. The first step was his action in 340 to collect double taxes from Christians.
At this time, the bishop of the capital (Tysphon) was Simeon Bersaba. His official title was “Jathliq”. This word is the Arabic word Catholicos. Shimon refused to collect such an unfair tax. So they summoned him and warned him many times. Finally, he was martyred on April 17, 341 AD, and around one hundred priests, monks and nuns were martyred along with him.
This is how the terrible persecution of Shapur II began and lasted for about forty years without interruption. During this time, thousands of people were martyred and massacres were ordered many times, but the Christians showed extraordinary courage. A very few denied their faith, and the vast majority of those arrested eventually lost their courage in the cause of their faith.
The description of the lives of martyrs of the Church of Iran is full of shocking and touching narratives about the martyrdom of these elders of faith. With the death of Shapur II in 379, this terrible and at the same time honorable persecution stopped for a while. Dr. Miller describes this chapter of history in the book “History of the Old Church” on page 281 as follows: “The Church of Iran is forever proud that it patiently endured this fiery trial and God did not deny himself and in He did not seek revenge either. Even in the times when Jaffa was extremely difficult, the church progressed and pagans and Zoroastrians always believed.”
Ecclesiastical doctrines and doctrines
The Christians living in the Sassanid territory differed with the rest of the Christians regarding the date of the Juma al-Salib ceremony. Christians in other places celebrated the Friday of the Cross, coinciding with the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nisan and at the same time as their Passover. But Iranian Christians separated this date from the Jewish calendar and calculated its date in a different way.
In addition, for them, the issue of Christ’s sacrifice was exactly the same as the Passover sacrifice. The Eid lasted for a week and it seems that the issue of uprising was not so important. Another important point is that the leaders of the church of the Sasanian kingdom studied the Gospels from the “Dyatsaron” version.
This point is important in the study of the evolution of the Iranian church because it shows that, firstly, the Iranian church did not refer to the original text of the Bible but to a second-hand text to interpret the Bible and understand the principles of theology. Second, since the text of Diatsaron was in Syriac, this is also one of the reasons that the language of the Church of Iran was Syriac.
Unfortunately, the lack of use of the Persian language in the church of the Sassanid Empire caused Christianity not to grow among the common people in the Iranian plateau (because the common Aryan people were not familiar with the Syriac language), and secondly, the common people did not fully and accurately understand the teachings of the Bible. and thirdly, that Christianity is always considered a foreign religion.
Fun and ethics
From Aphrahat’s writings, we find that unfortunate people (arrogant, greedy, jealous, and money-loving people) were not lacking among the Christian leaders of Tisophon. From the events that he describes, especially the events related to the Pope’s Council, it can be seen that the head of the leadership position has always been involved in arguments and disputes between the contenders, and he has resorted to different ways to achieve this position or consolidate his position. have been done which is not compatible with Christian ethics.
It is very unfortunate that the Church of the East fell into the lap of corruption so early, so it is not surprising that under such conditions the message of the Gospel did not spread much among the non-Syriac tribes of the Iranian plateau.
Conclusion and summary
It is a bit difficult to make a definite and accurate statement about the position of Christianity in Iran in this historical period, due to the limitation of data. But in any case, what is certain is that during this period, Christianity became more consistent among the Syriac speakers of western Iran and Mesopotamia, and the churches had developed and grown to such an extent that it became necessary to revise the organization and the way of administration of the churches. .
The presence of Christian prisoners also strengthened Christianity in this region of Sasanian rule. Christianity was prevalent in this region to such an extent that people decided to leave the world and joined the profession of monasticism. As a result of the evangelistic actions of those who left the world and the monks, Christianity became more popular in different parts of the Iranian plateau and other distant parts of Asia, and some of the Zoroastrians became Christians and even reached the leadership position of the church (Bishop Miles), but because Unfortunately, no information is available on how much this spread.
Today in the article : Ali Vahidi: A summary of the book History of Christianity in Iran (chapter two) We reviewed useful information about the Bible and the way of Jesus. If you wish, you can view other articles of Ali Vahidi about Christianity
