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NESTORIANS

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 409 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NESTORIANS . §1. The See also:

Early Nestorians.—Among those who had been See also:present at See also:Ephesus in support of See also:Nestorius (q.v.) was Ibas, See also:presbyter and See also:head of the theological school of See also:Edessa. In 435 he became See also:bishop of Edessa and under his See also:influence the Nestorian teaching made considerable progress. On the See also:accusation of the orthodox he was deposed by the " Robber See also:Synod " of Ephesus, but at See also:Chalcedon in 451 was pardoned on See also:condition of anathematizing both Nestorius and See also:Eutyches and accepting the Tome of See also:Leo. He had not, however, changed his views, and this was generally recognized. Meanwhile one of his pupils, Barsumas, had settled at See also:Nisibis in See also:Persian territory where he became bishop in 435 and established a Nestorian school. And when the See also:emperor suppressed the school of Edessa (" the See also:Athens of See also:Syria ") in 489, and expelled its members, they travelled far afield as eager and successful missionaries of the See also:Gospel. In See also:Persia their See also:numbers and their zeal stimulated the old churches into vigour and led to the See also:founding of new ones. And as they were under See also:ban from See also:Rome and out of communion with the See also:Byzantine See also:Church the Persian See also:government welcomed them as a See also:political ally, though the religious opposition of the Magi was still largely retained. In their new environment the Nestorians abandoned some of the rigour of See also:Catholic See also:asceticism, and at a synod held in 499 abolished clerical See also:celibacy even for bishops and went so far as to permit repeated marriages, in striking contrast not only to orthodox See also:custom but to the practice of See also:Aphraates at Edessa who had advocated celibacy as a condition of See also:baptism. The See also:liberty here granted to bishops was enjoyed as See also:late as the 12th See also:century, but since then the Nestorian Church has assimilated its custom to that of the See also:Greek Church.

That the ascetic ideal was by no means wholly See also:

extinct is evident from the See also:Book of See also:Governors written by See also:Thomas, bishop of Marga, in 840 which bears See also:witness to a Syrian See also:monasticism founded by one Awgin of See also:Egyptian descent, who settled in Nisibis about 350, and lasting uninterruptedly until the See also:time of Thomas, though it had See also:long been absorbed in the See also:great Nestorian See also:movement that had annexed the church in See also:Mesopotamia. The Nestorian Church in Eastern Syria and Persia was under the See also:jurisdiction of an See also:archbishop (catholikos) , who in 498 assumed the See also:title " See also:Patriarch of the See also:East " and had his seat at See also:Seleucia-See also:Ctesiphon on the See also:Tigris, a busy trading See also:city and a fitting centre for the great See also:area over which the evangelizing activity of the Nestorians now extended. The church traced its doctrines to See also:Theodore of Mopsuestia rather than to Nestorius, whose name at first they repudiated, not regarding themselves as having been proselytized to any new teaching. § 2. The Later Nestorians.—In 6o8 Magian influence was so strong in Persia that the Christians were persecuted and the See also:office of catholicus was vacant for 20 years, being filled again by Jesu-Jabus, during whose patriarchate the See also:Mahommedan invasion overran Persia. The patriarch was able to secure from the See also:caliph permission for the Christians to practice their See also:religion in return for See also:tribute See also:money and this was afterwards remitted. See also:Ibn See also:Ali Talib, anxious to perpetuate their severance from the orthodox church and the Byzantine See also:empire, confirmed these privileges by See also:charter and in 762 the patriarchate was removed to See also:Bagdad. For five centuries the Nestorians were a recognized institution within the territory . of See also:Islam, though their treatment varied from kindly to harsh. See also:Biruni, a Mahommedan writer, who lived at See also:Khiva c. A.D. loon, speaks of them as comprising the bulk of the See also:population of Syria, See also:Irak and See also:Khorasan, and as See also:superior to the orthodox in intellectual ability. 408 They agreed with Byzantines in observing See also:Lent, See also:Christmas and See also:Epiphany, but differed from them in the observance of all other feasts and fasts. The Latin church tried in vain during the See also:Crusades to secure their See also:adhesion to Rome.

The barbaric invasions of the 13th and 14th centuries See also:

fell with crushing force on the Nestorians. In 1258 Hulagu See also:Khan took Bagdad, and about 1400 Timur again seized and sacked the city. Though the Nestorians were numerous, their moral influence and their church See also:life had greatly deteriorated. Those who escaped See also:capture by Timur fled to the mountains of See also:Kurdistan, and the community that had played so large 'a See also:part in Mesopotamian See also:history for a thousand years was thus shattered. In IS52 they were further weakened by a large See also:secession known as " the Chaldeans." arising out of a dispute about the See also:succession to the patriarchate. The discontented appealed to Rome, and the See also:pope (See also:Julius III.) consecrated the Chaldean catholikos.' The Chaldeans are now chiefly found in rural districts east of the Tigris. They have a see at Bagdad, a monastery (Rabban See also:Hormuz) at Elkoosh, and are called by those Syrian Christians who have resisted the papal overtures, Maghlabin (" the conquered "). Other attempts during the 16th century to promote See also:union between the Nestorians and Rome proved fruitless, but the See also:Roman Church has never ceased in its efforts to absorb this See also:ancient community. The history of the See also:Jacobites or Syrian See also:Monophysites who, like the Nestorians, diverged from the Byzantine Church, but in an exactly opposite direction, is told elsewhere (see JACOBITE CHURCH, &c.). Like the Nestorians they were great missionaries, and up to the 7th century, and again in the 12th and 13th, produced the bulk of See also:Syriac literature (q.v.). The See also:chief Nestorian authors were (a) in the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries, Babbai the See also:elder and Isho-yabh of Gedhala, commentators; Sandona, who wrote on the monastic life; See also:Abraham the Lame, a devotional and See also:penitential writer; See also:Dionysius of Tell Mahre (see DIoNYsIUs TELMAHARENSIS), whose See also:Annals are important; and Thomas (q.v.) of Marga; (b) in the 14th century, Abdh-isho See also:bar Berikha (d. 1318) the author of a theological See also:treatise Marganitha (" the See also:Pearl "), 1298, and the See also:Paradise of See also:Eden, a collection of 50 theological poems.

§ 3. The Nestorian Missionary Enterprise.—The combined hostility of the orthodox church and the Byzantine empire drove the Nestorians into See also:

exile, but they went much further than was needed simply to secure See also:immunity from persecution. They showed a zeal for evangelization which resulted in the See also:establishment of their influence throughout See also:Asia, as is seen from the bishoprics founded not only in Syria, See also:Armenia, See also:Arabia and Persia, but at Halavan in See also:Media, Mery in Khorasan, See also:Herat, See also:Tashkent, See also:Samarkand, Baluk, See also:Kashgar, and even at Kambaluk (See also:Pekin) and Singan fu Hsi'en. fu in See also:China, and Kaljana and Kranganore in See also:India. In 1265 they numbered 25 See also:Asiatic provinces and over 70 dioceses. Mongolian invasions and Mahommedan tyranny have; of course, long since swept away all traces of many of these. The 400,000 Syrian Christians (" Christians of St Thomas," see THOMAS, ST) who live in See also:Malabar no doubt owe their origin to Nestorian missionaries, the stories of the evangelization of India by the Apostles Thomas and See also:Bartholomew having no real See also:historical See also:foundation, and the See also:Indian activity of See also:Pantaenus of See also:Alexandria having proved fruitless, in whatever part of India it may have been exercised. The See also:theology of the Indian Syrian Christians is of a Nestorian type, and See also:Cosmas Indicopleustes (6th century) puts us on the right track when he says that the Christians whom he found in See also:Ceylon and Malabar had come from Persia (probably as refugees from persecution, like the See also:Huguenots in See also:England and the See also:Pilgrim Fathers in See also:America). See also:Pahlavi See also:inscriptions' found on crosses at St Thomas's See also:Mount near See also:Madras and at Kottayam in See also:Travancore, are See also:evidence both of the antiquity of See also:Christianity in these places (7th or 8th century), and for the semi-patripassianism (the apparent See also:identification of all three persons of the Trinity in the sufferer on the See also:cross) which marked the Nestorian teaching. In 745 Thomas of Kana brought a new " In See also:punishment by the cross (was) the suffering of this One; He who is the true See also:Christ, and See also:God alone, and See also:Guide ever pure." ,See also:band of emigrants from Bagdad and See also:Nineveh, and possibly the name " Christians of St Thomas " arose from confusion between this See also:man and the apostle. Other reinforcements came from Persia in 822, but the Malabar church never See also:developed any intellectual vigour or missionary zeal. They had their own See also:kings; lived as a See also:close See also:caste, and even imitated the See also:Hindus in caste regulations of See also:food and avoidance of pollution. In 1330 Pope See also:John XXII. issued a See also:bull appointing See also:Jordanus, a See also:French Dominican, bishop of See also:Quilon, and inviting the Nestorians to enter " the See also:Christian Church." The invitation was declined, but in the 16th century the Syrian Christians sought the help of the Portuguese settlers against Mussulman oppression, only to find that before lbng they were subjected to the fiercer perils of Jesuit antagonism and the See also:Inquisition.

The Syrians submitted to Rome at the synod of See also:

Dampier in 1599, but it was a forced submission, and in 1653 when the Portuguese arrested the Syrian bishop just sent out by the catholicus of See also:Babylon, the See also:rebellion See also:broke out. The renunciation was not quite thorough, one party adhering to the Roman Church as Romo-Syrians, the others reverting wholly to Syrian usages and forming to-See also:day about three-fourths of the whole community. In 1665 a curious thing happened. See also:Gregory, the Jacobite See also:metropolitan of See also:Jerusalem, visited Malabar, and, as the See also:people had no consecrated bishop at the time, he consecrated See also:Mar Thomas, who had been filling the office at the people's See also:request, and remained in the See also:country jointly administering the affairs of the Church with Thomas. Thus the Nestorian Church in India, voluntarily and with perfect indifference to theological dogmas, passed under Jacobite See also:rule, and when early in the 18th century, Mar See also:Gabriel, a Nestorian bishop, came to Malabar, he had a cool reception, and could only detach a small following of Syrians whom he brought back to the old Nestorianism. The approaches of the See also:Anglican Church through the Church Missionary Society in the first part of the loth century were politely repelled. On the See also:death of the bishop Mar See also:Athanasius See also:Matthew in 1877, litigation began as to his successor; it lasted ten years, and the decision (since reversed) was given against the party that held by the Nestorian connexion and the habitual See also:autonomy of the Malabar church in favour of the supremacy of the Jacobite patriarch of See also:Antioch. The great need of the Indian Syrian church to-day is an educated See also:ministry. Early evidence of Nestorian See also:missions in China is extant in the tablet found in 1625 at Cha.ng`an in the See also:district of Hsi'en-fu, See also:province of Shensi. It commemorates " the introduction and See also:propagation of the See also:noble See also:law of Ta t'See also:sin in the See also:Middle See also:Kingdom," and beneath an incised cross sets out in See also:Chinese and Syriac an abstract of Christian See also:doctrine and the course of a Syrian See also:mission in China beginning with the favourable reception of Olopaf, who came from See also:Judaea in 636. For two generations the little cause prospered, and again after persecutions in 699 and 813. Later on a second mission arrived, many churches were built and several emperors patronized the faith.

. This evidence is confirmed by (a) the See also:

canon of Theodore of Edessa (boo) allowing metropolitans of China, India and other distant lands to send their reports to the catholikos every six years; (b) the See also:edict of Wu Tsung destroying Buddhist monasteries and ordering 300 See also:foreign priests to return to the See also:secular life that the customs of the empire might be See also:uniform; (c) two 9th-century Arab travellers, one of whom, Ibn Wahhab, discussed the contents of the See also:Bible with the emperor; (d) the See also:discovery in 1725. of a Syrian MS. containing See also:hymns and a portion of the Old Testament. In the loth century the Nestorians introduced Christianity into Tartary proper; in 1274 Marco See also:Polo saw two of their churches. The See also:legend of Prester John is based on the See also:idea of the See also:conversion of a Mongol tribe, the Karith, whose chieftain See also:ling Khan at baptism received the title Malek Juchana (See also:King John). And there has lately come to See also:light a MS. of the 9th or See also:roth century in Sogdianese, an Indo-Iranian See also:language spoken in the See also:north-east of Asia,which shows that theNestorians had translated the New Testament into that See also:tongue and had taught the natives the See also:alphabet and the doctrine. Their activity may well be said to have covered the See also:continent. Their See also:campaign was one of deliberate See also:conquest, one of the greatest ever planned by Christian missionaries. Marco Polo is witness that there were Nestorian churches all along the See also:trade routes from Bagdad to Pekin. (A. J. G.) § 4. Tke See also:Modern Nestorians.—The Nestorians or East Syrians (Surayi) of See also:Turkey and Persia now inhabit a district bounded by See also:Lake See also:Urmia, or Urumia, on the east, stretching westwards into Kurdistan, to See also:Mosul on the See also:south, and nearly as far as See also:Van on the north. They are divided into the Persian Nestorians of the See also:plain of See also:Azerbaijan, and the See also:Turkish Nestorians•, inhabiting chiefly the sanjak of Hakkiari in the vilayet of Van, who are subdivided into the Rayat or subject, and the Ashiret or tribal, the latter being semi-See also:independent in their See also:mountain fastnesses.

Forming at once a church and a nation, they own See also:

allegiance to their hereditary patriarch, Mar Shimun,, Catholicus of the East, who resides at Qudshanis, a See also:village about 7000 ft. above the See also:sea-level, near the Kurdish See also:town of Julamerk. It is only of late years, under the influence of the different missions, that See also:education, ruined by centuries of persecution, has revived amongst the Nestorians; and even now the mountaineers, cut off from the See also:outer See also:world, are as a rule destitute of learning, and greatly resemble their neighbours, the See also:wild and uncivilized Kurds. They are, however, extraordinarily tenacious of their ancient customs, and, almost totally isolated from the See also:rest of Christendom since the 5th century, they afford an interesting study to the eccesiastical student. Their churches are See also:rude buildings, dimly lighted and destitute of pictures or images, See also:save that of the Cross, which is treated with the deepest veneration. The qanki, or See also:sanctuary, is divided from the See also:nave, by a solid See also:wall, pierced by a single See also:doorway; it contains the See also:altar, or madhb'kha (See also:literary, the sacrificing See also:place), and may be entered only by persons in See also:holy orders who are See also:fasting. Here is celebrated the See also:Eucharist (Qurbana, or the offering; cf. " See also:Corban "), by the See also:priest (qasha), attended by his See also:deacon (shamasha). See also:Vestments are worn only at the ministration of the sacraments; See also:incense is used invariably at the Eucharist and frequently at other services. There are three liturgies—of the Holy Apostles, of Theodore and of Nestorius. The first is quite See also:free from Nestorian influence, See also:dates from some remote See also:period, perhaps See also:prior to 431, and is certainly the most ancient of those now in use in Christendom; the other two, though early, are undoubtedly of later date. The Nestorian canon of Scripture seems never to have been fully determined, nor is the sacra-See also:mental See also:system rigidly defined. Nestorian writers, however, generally reckon the mysteries as seven, i.e.

Priesthood, Oil of See also:

Unction, the Offering of the See also:Body and See also:Blood of Christ, See also:Absolution, The Holy See also:Leaven, the Signation of the life-giving Cross. The " Holy Leaven " is reputed to be a part of the See also:original See also:bread of the first Eucharist. brought by Addai and Mari' and maintained ever since in the Church; it is used in the confection of the Eucharistic wafers, which are rather thicker than those used in the Western Church. Communion is given in both kinds, as throughout the East; likewise, See also:confirmation is administered directly after baptism. Sacramental See also:confession is enjoined, but has recently become obsolete; prayers for the departed and invocation of See also:saints See also:form part of the services. The bishops are always celibates and are chosen from episcopal families. The service-books were wholly in MS. until the See also:press of the archbishop of See also:Canterbury's mission at Urmia issued the Takhsa (containing the liturgies, baptismal office, &c.) and several other liturgical texts. The Nestorians commemorate Nestorius as a See also:saint, and invoke his aid and that of his companions. They reject the Third See also:Oecumenical See also:Council, and though showing the greatest devotion to the Blessed Virgin, deny her the title of Theotokos, i.e. the See also:mother or See also:bearer of God. Their theological teaching is misty and perplexing; their earliest writings contain no See also:error, and the hymns of their great St Ephrem, still sung in their services, are positively antagonistic to " Nestorianism "; their theology dating from the See also:schism is not so satisfactory. They attribute two Kiani, two Qnumi and one See also:Pampa in ' The legendary founders of the Syrian Church. Addai was sup-posed to be one of the Seventy of See also:Luke x. 1, and Mari his See also:disciple.

Christ (see J. F. See also:

Bethune-See also:Baker's Nestorius and his Teaching). To say that the modern Nestorians are not definitely and firmly orthodox is perhaps fairer than to See also:charge them with being distinctly heretical. § 5, Missions amongst the Nestorian.—The See also:peculiar circumstances, both ecclesiastical-and temporal, of the Nestorians have attracted much See also:attention in western Christendom, and various missionary enterprises amongst them have resulted. i. The Roman Catholic Missions.—In Turkey these consist of the Dominican mission, established at Mosul during the 18th century, and in Persia of the French Lazarist mission, which sprang out of some See also:schools established by a French layman and scientific traveller, See also:Eugene See also:Bore, in 1838. At M. Bore's entreaty the Propaganda sent the first Lazarist See also:father to Persia in 184o. The chief stations of the Lazarists are at Khosrova and Urmia. At the latter place there is an orphanage under the superintendence of the Sisters of St See also:Vincent de See also:Paul. The See also:work of these missions is to extend and consolidate that Catholicized and partly Latinized offshoot of the Nestorians known as the Uniat-Chaldean Church (see ante).

2, The See also:

American Presbyterian Mission, established in Persia in 1834–1835 by the Rev. See also:Justin See also:Perkins and Dr A.See also:Grant, comprises large buildings near Urmia, a See also:college and a See also:hospital. The influence of this mission does not extend much beyond the Turkish frontier, but it is strong in the Persian plains. The original aim was to influence the old Nestorian Church rather than to set up a new religious body, but the wide difference between Presbyterians and an See also:Oriental Church rendered the See also:attempt abortive, and the result of the labours of the Americans has been the establishment since 1862 of a Syrian See also:Protestant community in Persia, with some adherents in Turkey. 3. The Archbishop of Canterbury's Mission io the See also:Assyrian Christians.—This Anglican mission was promoted by Archbishop See also:Tait, and finally established by Archbishop. See also:Benson in 1886. Its aim is thus officially defined: " To aid an existing Church, . . . not to Anglicanize, . . . not to See also:change any doctrines held by them which are not contrary to that faith which the Holy Spirit, speaking through the Oecumenical See also:Councils of the Undivided Church of 'Christ, has taught us as necessary to be believed by all Christians, but . to strengthen an ancient Church, at the See also:earnest request of the Catholicos, and with the knowledge and blessing of the Catholic patriarch of Antioch, one of the four patriarchs of the Holy Orthodox Eastern Church, and occupant of the Apostolic See from which the Church of the East revolted at the time of Nestonus." This mission has its headquarters at Urmia, with a college for candidates for holy orders and a See also:printing-press. Two mission priests reside in Turkey, one at Qudshanis with Mar Shimun, the Nestorian Catholicus and Patriarch. The Anglican Church in America co-operates with the mission.

4. The See also:

Russian Mission.—One of the Nestorian bishops joined the Russian Orthodox Church in 1898, and returned the same See also:year with a small band of missionaries sent by the Holy Synod of See also:Russia. This mission enrolled a very large number of adherents See also:drawn from the old Church, the Protestant Nestorians, and the Uniat-Chaldeans, but it can hardly be said to have commenced any active work, although the Anglican mission withdrew from competition by closing its schools in the dioceses occupied by the Russians. AUTHORITIES.—J. S. See also:Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, ii. and iv.; A. J. Maclean and G. F. See also:Browne, The Catholicos of the East and his People (See also:London, 1892); G. P. See also:Badger, Nestorians and their Rituals (London, 1852) ; M.

Laboutt Le Christianisme clans l'empire perse (See also:

Paris, 1904); W. F. Adeney, The Greek and Eastern Churches, pp. 477-538 (See also:Edinburgh, 19o8): J. Rendel See also:Harris, Sidelights on New Testament See also:Research, Lect. iv. (London, 19o8); G. Milne See also:Rae, The Syrian Church in India (1892); K. Heussi and H. Mulert, See also:Atlas zur Kirchengeschichte, See also:Map III. (See also:Tubingen, 19o5); P. See also:Carus, The Nestorian See also:Monument (See also:Chicago and London, 1909) ; E. See also:Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. xivii.

; J. W. See also:

Etheridge, Syrian Churches (1846) ; The See also:Liturgy of the Holy Apostles Adai and Mari, &'c. (London, 1893) ; Piolet, See also:Les Missions catholiques an XIX"!' sibcle (Paris, vol.. i.) ; Quarterly Papers and' See also:Annual Reports of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Assyrian Mission. (J. A. L.

End of Article: NESTORIANS

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