Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/444

NESTOBIANS. 394 NESTOKIUS. The c-liief causes which yave rise to the sep- arate existence of the Xestorian Church, during the lilth century, were as follows: (Ij the re- organization of the Church by a synod of forty bishops, held in Ctesiphon in 410, after a severe persecution; ("2) the condemnation of Xestorius, in 431; (3) the expulsion of Nestorius's sympa- thizers from Kdessa by Bishop Kabulas. after the Council of Ephesus; (4) the rise of Xi.- ibis as a centre of Christian learning and theological inllucnce. from 435 onward; and (5) the final closing of the school at Edessa by the Emperor Zcno, in 4S0, on account of its persistent Xes- torian leanings. All these things operated to centralize Persian Christianity, and to separate it from organic connection with the See of Con- stantinople. The X^estorian leaders succeeded in winning favor with the Persian kings to such an extent as completely to control the ecclesias- tical situation. They had been aided in the earlier stages of their growth by the prestige of adherents like Aphraates. in the fourth century, and Il)as. Bishop of Edessa, in the fifth: hut their most important leader, in the formative period, was Barsumas, one of those whom Rabulas had driven out of Edessa in 431. Barsumas became Bishop of Xisibis, and for more than half a cen- tury (43.'>-48fl) iie guided the fortunes of the Persian Church, wisely administering his See, winning royal favor, and cstalilishing schools of learning (e.g. at Seleucia ) to perpetuate the movement to which he had devoted his life. During the sixth and seventh centuries the X'estorians greatly extended their numbers and inllucnce, reaching out by means of missions into Arabia, Armenia. India. Tartary. Ceylon, and China. An ancient monument, erected in 7S1 at Si-ngan-fu and discovered by Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth century, bears testimony to the existence of Xcstorian Christianity in China from the year (i3n. when the mission appears to liave been started. In 042. as a conse()ueiice of the Arab conquest of the Sassani<I kingdom, the X^estorians passeii under Mohammedan rule. But the caliphs granted them a considerable degree of religious toleration, and their Catholicus was treated as if he were patriarch of all the Asiatic Christians under Moslem rule. He took up liis residence in Bagdad (in 7G2) and there remained as long as the caliphate endured. In Aral)i:i also the Xestorians met with favor in the eyes of thi'ir Mobamniedan neighbors. This friendly treatment was possibly <lue in part to the ex- ample of Mohammed liimself. wlio is said once to have come into friendly contact in Arabia with n Xestorian monk, named Sergiiis. from whom he may have gained some knowledge of Christianity. From a Mohammedan historian of the eleventh century we learn that the Xestorians were then noted for their intellectual acumen, in which tl.ey surpassed their orthodox contemporaries. 'Ihey differed somewhat from Catholic Cliristians in points of ritual observance, especially those relating to the calendar, and it has been thought possibli! that they were influenced by the customs and. usages of their Jewish neighbors in Babylonia. X'estiirian Christianity culminated in the thir- teen! h century, when there were twenty-five metropolitans in the hiernrehy, no one of whom had fewer than six bishops under his jurisdic- tion. The Catholicus was almost a pope in the extent of his ecclesiastical domain. But from this time onward their prosperity diminishes. After the fall of Bagdad before the Mongols (1258), the Catholicus was obliged frequently to change his residence, which was in itself a seri- ous administrative disadvantage. In the four- teenth century came the Tatars, under the fierce Timur (ipv. I, who made sad havoc of the Xes- torians. Internal dissensions split the Church in the sixteenth century, but those who claimed to be the true Xestorians adhered to the hered- itary line of ilar Shiniun, the family from which the Catholicus has been chosen ever since the fifteenth century. Their patriarch always bears the name of Simeon (Shiniun). Some ulti- mately joined the Roman Catholic Church, admit- ting the supremacy of the Pope, but retaining s]iecial privileges, such as clerical marriage, which was a very ancient custom among them. These constitute the so-called I'niat Chaldicans. The X'estorian hierarchy at the present time con- sists of only one metropolitan and aliout ten bishops, in addition to their Catholicus. They number perhaps as many as 50.000 souls, but precise statistics are lacking. Some estimates are much larger than this. The X'estorians take their stand upon the first two ecumenical councils, rejecting the decisions of Ephesus. and of course taking no jiart in sub- sequent councils of the Catholic Church. They have never been persuaded to accejit the orthodox view of the Papacy, or of the doctrine of tran- substantiation. or of purgatory. Their hierarch- ical organization culminates in the patriarchate. They have sanctioned clerical marriage ever since the fifth century, although this privilege does not extend to the bishops. Syriac is their official language. Their former generous iihilanthropy, exem])lified in the foundation of asyluins. alms- houses, etc.. has vanished along with their gen- eral prosperity as a Church anil people, and at present they are themselves the objects of charity and of missionary effort. Friemlly negotiations have been carried on with them by representative.s of the Church of England, jiartly in the hope of bringing about ecclesiastical union. Protestant missionaries have been sent to. them from Amer- ica, especially by the American Board (Congre- gational), with a view to arousing them to new evangelical effort on their own behalf. But thus far these cfloits have met with little success. In 18!IS the Persian branch of the Xestorian Church, estimated at about 30.000 persons, formally joined the Orthodox Church of Russia, thereby gaining the political protection of the Czar. The Christians of Saint Thomas, dwelling on the coast of Malabar. India, are historically connected with the X'estorians. Consult: Assemani. Bibliotheca Orientalis,«. iii. (Rome, 1725-28) ; Badger, The Xestoriaiis rnt'l Their Rilutil (2 vols., London. 1852 1; Hefele, Hislonj of Ihe Councils, vol. iii. (Edin- burgh, 1883) ; Perkins, A Residence of Eight Years in I'ersia (Andover, 1843) ; Hore, .S7u- tlrnl's History of the llrcek Church (London. 11(02). NESTO'RITTS (Lat., from C.k. ycrrSpiot, Xes- toriijfii. liisliop of Constantinople. 428-431, and author of the Christological heresy known as N'es- torianisni. He was a pupil of Theodore of Mop- suestia. one of the leading theological teachers of -Vntioch, who was greatly revered throughout the .siatie section of the Eastern Church.