No one has actually been sent out to us Orientals by the Pope. The holy apostles aforesaid taught us and we still hold today what they handed down to us.
– Rabban Bar Sauma, c. 1290 (from the Nestorian Church of the East in China)
The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Era of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia– and How It Died, by Philip Jenkins
Merv, today a dead city but at one time a major city in what is now Turkmenistan and a center of trade along the Silk Road, was, in the twelfth century, one of the largest cities worldwide. By the 420s, it had a bishop, and in the very first half of the sixth century it became a metropolitan see of the Eastern (Nestorian) Church.
Around the year 500, it was currently translating significant works from Greek and Syriac sources into the languages of central and eastern Asia. This rich intellectual life continued till the thirteenth century– and could take on intellectual life throughout the Christian world till the establishment of universities in western Europe in the twelfth century.
This under Muslim guideline, with Christians a minority, yet it endured and even thrived– a Christian world entirely beyond any European context. At a time when Rome was an outlier (even taking a lot of its earliest popes from Syria)– the only one of the five great patriarchates in Europe, with the others all in Asia– Merv was currently established as an essential center.
I found the following interesting, and by citing the author I do not intend to imply that I agree or have otherwise researched the claim. But, here goes:
Consistently, we find that what we consider the customs or practices of the Western churches were rooted in Syria or Mesopotamia. Eastern churches, for example, had an unique commitment to the Virgin Mary, obtained partly from popular apocryphal Gospels.
This commitment generated brand-new feasts: the Filtration, the Annunciation, along with celebrations of her birth and death. By the end of the seventh century, these were all promoted by Pope Sergius– whose family was from Antioch.
Now … this brings me to a side note, one that I need to produce explanation due to the fact that the lines are blurred– perhaps out of historic truth– by Jenkins. It has always been easy for me to understand Rome/ Latin as compared to Constantinople/ Eastern Orthodox/ Greek. I have likewise identified what we today call Asian Orthodox, such as the Armenian, Coptic, and Ethiopian Churches– those that divided off after Chalcedon.
Through this book, the examination is of another– call it a third– Eastern Church, often referred to by Jenkins as Nestorian, Syriac … or even “Eastern.” Jenkins in some cases mixes these numerous Eastern churches, however perhaps there is little choice. Where does one fix a limit when belief is not limited to or clearly specified by a political or geographic border?
Sure, the Christianity in China was various than the Christianity in Constantinople. However what of the areas in between, where both could be discovered, or where beliefs were not so clearly appreciable?
Where I am comfortable, I will try to clarify the lines. Nevertheless, I am concerning accept that there will be fluidity– and maybe always so. For example, as much as any other reason, Christianity spread out far to the east due to the fluidity of trade– the Silk Roads, ranging from the Mediterranean to the heart of China.
In any case, Jerusalem is more detailed to central Asia than it is to France:
If early Christians could reach Ireland, there was no rational reason that they must not find their way to Sri Lanka.
Christianity spread along secured trade routes (even more established in Asia than in the Europe beyond the Mediterranean world), with Christian traders using language familiar to the elites. The borders, fluid and changing, mattered little to trade– for this reason to the progress of Christianity.
In Africa, Nubia survived as a Christian kingdom from the 6th century to the fifteenth. Its churches and cathedrals were decorated in the best Byzantine design. Its main cathedral, at Faras, was embellished with numerous paintings– kings, bishops, and saints. It lay forgotten under the sand until the 1960s.
Meanwhile, the church in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) continues up until today. Aksum is the reputed house of the Ark of the Covenant; the medieval judgment dynasty declared descent from Solomon and the queen of Sheba. Ethiopia– the true Israel?
To the east, Constantine would be seen as a combined true blessing. While Christians in Persia were endured and even prospered prior to Roman acceptance of Christianity, once Christianity was officially connected to the Roman Empire, the bishops and priests in Persia were considered potential opponents. Hundreds were carried out– in addition to supposedly sixteen thousand believers.
Ultimately, though, these “heretical” Jacobite and Nestorian sects would find that living as a minority in Persia and more east was much better than living as a heretical faction under Rome. Yet, Orthodox supporters of Chalcedon remained in the minority in these far eastern regions– they were understood dismissively as Melkites, “the emperor’s guys.”
To the Persians, and later on, to the Muslims (at least for a time), eventually they would find value in these Christians– those disaffected from Roman guideline. They were taxpayers and tributaries, and despite being Christian, were not viewed as a collaborators of enemy in the service of Rome. Better second-class residents in the East than heretics in the West.
By the seventh century, Nestorians had a sophisticated network of provinces and dioceses throughout Persia and surrounding lands. They would look north and east, as the Persian empire spread into what is now western China. Scripture was translated in the local vernacular– even in the language of the Huns.
Christian missionaries spread amongst individuals of central Asia– the Turks, Uygurs, and Soghdians, and later the Mongols and Tatars
By the mid-seventh century, the Church of the East had 2 metropolitans beyond the Oxus River (the Amu Darya) in main Asia, together with possibly twenty bishops. Soghdian merchants would spread the faith.
The length of time back were the first monks in China? When did the first Christians see the Pacific? Already by 550, monks smuggled silkworms back to the Byzantine Empire– an event of advanced financial significance, definitely. The earliest official mission can be dated to 635, in the Chinese royal capital of Ch’ang-an, an objective that withstood for two-hundred years. The remains of one monastery can still be seen in Shaanxi Province.
In the mid-ninth century, the Taoist emperor Wuzong condemned and expelled foreign religious beliefs. Not just Christianity, as Buddhism was also erupted. For perhaps three-hundred years, there was no main Christian existence.
When the Mongols dominated China, rulers such as Kublai Khan mored than happy to endure Christians and Buddhists. Marco Polo reported finding Christian communities. Afterwards, building on Nestorian efforts, Roman Catholic missionaries showed up in the thirteenth century.
Not to be excluded, there was a Christian existence in India as early as the second century, the roots of which are declared to be in the apostle Thomas. In 550, there is a report of a church in Sri Lanka. A clergy and body of believers. Likewise, in Malabar. There is speculation of Nestorian ventures into Burma, Vietnam, and even Korea.
Possibly there wasn’t a real Prester John. But there certainly was a historic one– as long as one does not get too hung up on the too-bright-line that falsely divides history and myth.
Conclusion
The advancement in Europe, in many methods, pales in contrast– a minimum of if locations outside of the instant Mediterranean world are considered. With that said, Christianity had its longest remaining power in Europe, and its longest political power in Western Europe.
Nearly …
The world’s very first Christian kingdom was Osrhoene, beyond the eastern borders of the Roman Empire, with its capital at Edessa: its king accepted Christianity around 200. That regime did not last long, but neighboring Armenia made this the main religion around the year 300 and keeps the faith till the present day.
There is some meaningful doubt regarding whether this narrative relating to Osrhoene is true; the Armenian Christian time of origin is well-accepted. It may deserve one day understanding how this small, land-locked country, fought over, divided between powers, usually subservient, always changing hands, has handled to maintain the faith. Not so the Europeans.
Possibly another story and another book for another time …