130 Jan.
Reviews of Books
Le Christianisme dans l'Empire Perse sous la Dynastie Sassanide.
Par J. Labourt. (Bibliothèque de rEnseignement de l'Histoire
Ecclésiastique.) (Paris : Lecoffre. 1904.)
De Timotheo I Nestorianorum Patriarcha (728-823) et Christianorum
Orientalium Condicione sub Chaliphis Ahhasidis. Thesim Facultati
Litterarum Parisiensi proponebat Hier. Labourt. (Paris: Lecoffre.
1904.)
The history of the church of the further East is a subject on which very little has hitherto been written; and indeed until the recent publication of the Acts of the eastern synods in a complete form by M. Chabot, and of the lives of various eastern saints, very little could be known about it. The appearance, therefore, of M. Labourt's book on Christianity under the Sassanids, in which full use is made of the new sources of information, is very opportune. The historical narrative is followed by an interesting account of the theology of the Persian church, in which it is shown that the establishment of Nestorianism was a gradual process,
not an immediate consequence of the synod of 431. There is also
a description of the ecclesiastical organisation, and the book concludes
with an index and a reproduction of the map given in M. Duval's
Littérature Syriaque. As the ordinary maps are not made from the
ecclesiastical point of view, this last is a specially commendable feature.
Excellent as is the author's use of the Nestorian sources, he has
unfortunately, like many specialists, somewhat neglected other authorities.
For instance, his account of Sergius of Khesaina is cited from M. Duval
only, and, if he had consulted the so-called Zacharias Bhetor, he
would have been able to add to his description of the patriarch Joseph.
Again, a reference to the same author or to Procopius would have shown
him that the Theodosioupolis taken by Kawad was not Khesaina, but
the Armenian city of the name. It is apparently a similar neglect
of non-Nestorian sources which leads him to think that the pretender
maintained by Khosrau was the real son of Maurice, and to confuse the
chronology of the campaigns of Heraclius (p. 233). Inaccurate also
is the statement that no territorial concessions were made by Khosrau in
590; the districts ceded are mentioned by Sebeos. The date 614 for
the fall of Alexandria (618 is the earliest possible) is perhaps a confusion
with Jerusalem. Somewhat startling again are the statements that from
the time of Justinian to that of Maurice the imperial government showed
