8,921
edits
Changes
→Ancient Era (52-424): 196;290;325;379;
*105 Church established at [[w:Kuravilangad|Kuravilangad]] (''[http://www.stmarykuravilangad.org/ St. Mary’s Forane Church]'').
*189 Arrival of [[w:Stoicism|Stoic]] Philosopher [[w:Pantaenus|Pantaenus]] from Alexandria, who visited the '''[[w:Malankara Church|Malankara Church]]'''<ref group="note">''Malankara'' is a cognate word of the place name [[w:Maliankara|Maliankara]], a place near [[w:Muziris|Muziris]], where St. [[Apostle Thomas|Thomas the Apostle]] first landed, in the Indian state of [[w:Kerala|Kerala]]. It was the headquarters of the Church from the first century. The original liturgical language used in the Malankara Church was Aramaic and Hebrew; later this was replaced by Syriac.</ref> at the request of the Malankara Christians (reported by [[Eusebius of Caesarea]] and [[Jerome]]); according to Eusebius, Pantaenus was for a time a missionary preacher, traveling as far as India, where it was reported that he found Christians who were using the [[Gospel of Matthew]] in Hebrew.
*196 [[w:Bardaisan|Bardaisan]] writes of Christians amongst the Parthians, Bactrians (Kushans) and other peoples in the Persian Empire .
*290 Brief persecution of Persian Christians under [[w:Bahram II|Bahram II]].
*325 [[First Ecumenical Council]] in Nicaea; Syriac St. [[w:Jacob of Nisibis|Jacob of Nisibis]], Bp. of Nisibis in Mesopotamia and spiritual father of [[Ephrem the Syrian]], attended the [[First Ecumenical Council]], as did Persian Bp. John (Mar Yohannan) presiding over the churches "in Persia and India".
*327 Apparition of [[Theotokos]] at [[w:Kuravilangad|Kuravilangad]].
*ca.4th-6th c. Severe persecution of Christians in Persia ([[w:Sassanid Empire|Sassanid Empire]]).
*345 A small group of [[w:Knanaya|K'nanaim]] merchants travelled to the Jewish trade posts at [[w:Kodungallur|Kodungallur]] in [[w:Kerala|Kerala]] and settled there; their descendants are today known in Kerala as ''Knanaya [[w:Syrian Malabar Nasrani|Nasranis]]'' ''(Saint Thomas Christians)''; they were under the leadership of [[w:Knai Thomman|Thomas of Cana]] (Thomas of Kynai), with Bishop Joseph of Edessa (Bp. Uraha Mar Yausef), four priests, several deacons, and 72 Syro-Aramaic Jewish families who migrated from Edessa (about 400 people).
*354 [[w:Theophilos the Indian|Theophilos the Indian]] was sent by Emperor [[w:Constantius II|Constantius II]] on a mission to south Asia via Arabia, where he is said to have converted the [[w:Himyarite Kingdom|Himyarites]] and built three churches in southwest Arabia; he is also said to have found Christians in India, along the [[w:Malabar Coast|Malabar Coast]], as recorded by the [[w:Anomoeanism|Anomoean]] (Arian) Church historian [[w:Philostorgius|Philostorgius]].
*379-402 Continuation of the Great Persecution of the Persian church.
*409 Permission was formally given by the Zoroastrian King [[w:Yazdegerd I|Yezdegerd]] to Christians to worship openly and rebuild destroyed churches, though they were not allowed to proselytize (some historians call this decree the [[Edict of Milan]] for the [[Assyrian Church of the East|Assyrian Christian church]]).
*410 The [[w:Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon|Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon]], also called the Council of Mar Isaac, met in AD 410 in Seleucia-Ctesiphon, capitol of the Sassanid Empire of Persia, extending official recognition to the Empire's Christian community, (known as the [[Assyrian Church of the East|Church of the East]] after 431 AD), and established the Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon as its ''[[w:List of Patriarchs of the Church of the East|Catholicos]],'' or leader, declaring him to be supreme among the Bishops of the East; this established a hierarchical Christian Church in Iran, with a patriarchate at Ctesiphon and metropolitans in the capitals of five Persian provinces; it also declared its adherence to the decisions of the [[w:First Ecumenical Council|Council of Nicea]] and subscribed to the [[Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed|Nicene Creed]].
===Persian (Nestorian) Era (424-1498)===
*424 '''Schism begun:''' Formal separation of the '''[[Assyrian Church of the East]]''' ("East Syrian Church", "Persian Church", "Chaldean Syrian Church", or "Nestorian Church"), from the [[Church of Antioch|See of Antioch]]: the Synod of Dadyeshu met in Markabata of the Arabs, under the presidency of Mar Dadyeshu, proclaiming the independence of the Iranian Church from Byzantium, deciding that the ''Catholicos'' should be the sole head of the [[Assyrian Church of the East|Church of the East]] and that no ecclesiastical authority should be acknowledged above him, referring to him for the first time as ''Patriarch,'' answerable to God alone (thus also reassuring the Sassandid monarchy that Persian Christians were not influenced by the Roman enemy).