Christianity from entering Iran until Transition to China

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 university of lorestan

2 kharazmi university

Abstract

Christianity entered Iran from the first century AD, and gradually a group of Iranian people turned to this religion. With the recognition of Christianity in the Roman Empire, and following the wars between Iran and Rome, Christians of Iran were harassed by the government and the Zoroastrian clergy due to accusations of Romanism. Following the prevalence of Nestorius's thoughts and the opposition of the Roman Church to his thoughts, Iranian Christians came to support Nesturi Christianity and accepted it as the religion of the Iranian Christians, thus separating themselves from the Roman Christians. Nestorian Christianity gradually flourished in Iran and spread to the eastern territories with the support of the Iranians. At the end of the Sassanid period, and at the request of Yazdgerd III, the Chinese court has given refuge to Christianity and recognized Nesturi’s Christianity and allowed them to establish churches in China for religious ceremonies, that known as "Persian Temples". This research seeks to investigate how Christianity is entering Iran, the status of Christian minority in the Sassanian Empire and how it can be transmitted to China, through a descriptive-analytical method and using written and first-hand sources.

Keywords


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