Church of Edessa;[1] a later tradition adds James of Nisibis, representing the next most important Church of those parts, as also receiving Papa's appeal. The Western Fathers decided in his favour, and quashed the acts of the synod which had deposed him. Their decision was accepted loyally by the Persian Church; Papa was restored, and Bar Ṣabbâ‘e, who protested that he had been intruded and ordained against his will, was to await his death, then to succeed him. The story is interesting as the first example of the quarrelsomeness which distinguished the Church of Persia; it is important as showing her unquestioned dependence on the "Western Fathers." Till she became Nestorian, this Church acknowledged a higher authority over her; she had a regular place in the ordered system of Catholic Christendom, as a missionary Church depending immediately on her mother, Edessa. We shall come to other evidences of this. Papa died about the year 327.[2] He was succeeded by Simon (Šim‘un) Bar Ṣabbâ‘e (†341), whose reign brings us to the great persecution of Shapur II.
Although the place of the Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon as Primate of Christians in Persia was not formally recognized (at least by the Government) till after that persecution (see p. 48), it seems that Papa succeeded in his plan practically, that from his time we may date his see as the first in Persia. Until the Roman Empire became Christian, the Kings of Persia tolerated the foreign religion. Before Shapur II (339–379), there was a period of peace for Persian Christians, broken only by occasional outbursts of popular hatred (p. 40). During this time the Church was able to establish herself, spread throughout the kingdom,[3] and prepare for the frightful storm that was coming. Monasticism was firmly established, as it was at Edessa and throughout East Syrian Christendom. In the early 4th century it was already a flourish-
- ↑ Dr. Wigram notes that he did not appeal to Antioch, and sees in this an argument for independence (op. cit. 53). That does not follow. An appeal goes naturally first to the immediate superior. Persia depended on Edessa, and Edessa on Antioch; so the place of the Persian Church in the Catholic system was quite normal and regular.
- ↑ Wigram: op. cit. p. 55.
- ↑ There were many conversions of Mazdæans, in spite of the danger to both converter and convert.
