Nestorianism in the East

The ideas put forth by Nestorius survived him and his condemnation as a heretic, mostly in the East. Those who disagreed with the Council of Ephesus adhered to the idea of Jesus having both a divine and a human nature with a connection between them, not that he was one or the other.

The Roman and Byzantine authorities saw Jesus as primarily divine, and when the Byzantine Emperor Zeno shut down a school in Mesopotamia for teaching Nestorian ideas, the school simply re-opened as the School of Nisibis in Persia. This brought many people to the area who believed in Nestorianism.

This Persian Nestorian Church began to expand, but not to the West where they would be opposed by the churches that followed Rome. The 6th century saw schisms started by clashes with Zoroastrianism, but the Nestorians came out even stronger.

Certain parts of the eastern church became known as the Nestorian Church. Nestorians were known in the Mongol court, and it was said that Nestorians provided the West with secrets of silk. 

Missions to the Arabian Peninsula and India created dioceses there. India already had Christianity presumably due to St. Thomas. The rumors of a large Christian population in far-off places gave rise to the myth of Prester John. A 6th-century manuscript mentions Persian Christins living in Sri Lanka, and a carved stone cross in a Sri Lankan column discovered in 1912 has been offered as proof of the presence of the Nestorian missions. In the Arabian Peninsula, Nestorians were declared dhimmi (protected persons) by the Rashidun Caliphate when it conquered that area.

The illustration above is of a Nestorian cross from a Beijing monastery dating to the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368 CE), showing how far and how well-established the Nestorian Church became in the Far East.

Since this blog has never explained Zoroastrianism, I think that should be the next topic. See you tomorrow.

Nestorius of Constantinople

It is time to talk about Nestorianism, the man who started it, and the fact that even though it was declared heretical it lasted in areas uncontrolled by Rome.

Nestorius (c.386 - c.451) came out of Germanicia in Syria (now Turkey) and was educated in Antioch. He became a monk, and his preaching drew so much attention that the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II made him patriarch of Constantinople in 428. His appointment didn't last long.

How did that change of fortune happen so fast? There were two differing theological ideas in Constantinople about the nature of Jesus as both a god and a man. One side supported the idea of a Hypostatic Union, that the divine and the human were united as one being in the person of Jesus.

Nestorius thought differently, preaching that there was a connection between the two natures. He could not accept that the suffering that the human Jesus went through was experienced by the divine part of him. He was accused of saying there were two persons in one body and therefore that he was denying the Incarnation, that "God became Man."

Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, was vehemently opposed to Nestorius. Cyril appealed to Pope Celestine II in Rome, who told Cyril to excommunicate Nestorius if he did not recant. The Council of Ephesus condemned and deposed Nestorius (along with affirming the Immaculate Conception).

Cyril had forced the Council to convene hastily, and declared the condemnation before the patriarch of Antioch and eastern bishops had arrived. They were furious at being left out of the discussion, convened their own council, declared Cyril of Alexandria deposed, and then appealed to the emperor. Theodosius supported Nestorius, but knew he was sitting on a powder keg. He exiled both Nestorius and Cyril. Nestorius went to his original monastery in Antioch. Cyril eventually bribed his way back to Constantinople.

Followers of Nestorius were removed from the positions. Theodosius exiled Nestorius from Antioch to Egypt, within the diocese of the recently restored Cyril of Alexandria. Desert bandits attacked the monastery, injuring Nestorius.

Nestorianism did not die, however; in the East, it spread. We will look at that growth tomorrow.

Maximus the Confessor

The pull of a religious and contemplative life drew many men and women to it from many spheres. Maximus (c.580 - 662), for instance, was a civil servant and aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610 - 641) before deciding to embrace the monastic life. Educated in theology and philosophy—especially the works of commentators on Plato and Aristotle—his many writings influenced later writers like John Scotus Eriugena who were drawn to Neoplatonism.

By the age of 30 he had been promoted to the office of the Protoasekretis, a "first secretary" or head of the imperial notaries. His status and level of education suggests someone of noble birth. He chose, however, to leave what must have been a comfortable and lucrative life to join the monastery in Chrysopolis, across the Bosphorus from Constantinople. Eventually he became its abbot.

There was a major change in his life when the Persians invaded Anatolia. He fled to Carthage where he met Saint Sophronius and was introduced to the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. It was while here that a debate about the human versus divine nature of Jesus became intense. Maximus opposed the idea of Monothelitism. 

Monothelitism ("one will") had come up in the 600s in opposition to dyothelitism ("dual wills"), the doctrine that Jesus had two "wills": a divine aspect and a human aspect. Monothelitism was the opinion that he had one will, a single "energy." Maximus had a public debate in Carthage with a friend, Pyrrhus of Constantinople, who had been deposed as patriarch and supported Monothelitism. Maximus convinced his friend that Monothelitism was erroneous. He wrote a transcript of the debate.

Heraclius liked Monothelitism, but wrote to the pope in Rome to create a synod that would settle the matter. The disagreements over the exact nature—dual or otherwise—of Jesus raged for centuries. The turmoil caused by the debates caused Maximus to leave his monastery. He preached in Alexandria for six years, then Crete where he clashed with a bishop who was a proponent of Nestorianism, which said Jesus had two natures.

A Lateran Council in October 649 in Rome (attended by Maximus) condemned Monothelitism. Emperor Constans II—who tried to stop the controversy by simply declaring Monothelitism as the truth and forbade anyone from discussing it further—ordered Maximus and Pope Martin I arrested in 653. Martin died before he could be brought to Constantinople. Maximus was tried as a heretic in Constantinople in 658 because he refused to accept Monothelitism; he was exiled to North Africa. In 662 he was tried, again, convicted of heresy, and had his tongue cut out and his right hand cut off. Sent to Georgia, he was thrown into prison where he died on 13 August 662. The details of his trials were handed down to us by Anastasius Bibliothecarius. The Sixth Ecumenical Council of 680-81 declared Monothelitism heresy, and Maximus was posthumously exonerated.

If Nestorianism said Jesus had two natures, and Maximus was against Monothelitism which believed Jesus had one nature, why did Maximus argue with a Nestorian? Wouldn't they believe the same thing? Not necessarily. Tomorrow let's see what made Nestorianism also heresy.

The Great Mongol Hope

Pope Honorius III (fl.1216 - 1227), in a letter dated 20 June 1221, referred to "forces coming from the Far East to rescue the Holy Land." This was solely speculation, based on old legends of Prester John, a reported Christian king in the Far East who would come to the aid of the Crusades. Stories of the expansion of the Mongol Empire caused some Europeans to believe that the Mongols were Prester John's people, and an important alliance would be forthcoming.

An alliance between Western Europe and the Mongols was not a ridiculous idea. Mongols were already familiar with Christianity: there were Nestorian Christians in the Mongol court (a few decades later, William Rubruck would meet several while traveling). Nestorianism was condemned as heresy at the 431 Council of Ephesus, but at least they weren't Muslims.

Muslims were a problem for Western Christians; they were also enemies of the Mongols. While the Fifth Crusade was besieging Damietta in Egypt in June 2018, stories of Genghis Khan's successful conquests sparked the belief that this was Prester John or a descendant heading westward to aid the Crusade. The hoped-for arrival of a powerful army to help the Crusade did not appear, but attempts were made afterward to form an alliance with Genghis and his descendants.

Pope Innocent IV (fl.1243 - 1254) was the first to write to the Khans, sending letters with envoys that would take years to find their recipients and return with replies. Alliances were hampered by the deaths of Genghis and his successor Ögedei (Innocent's letter never got to Ögedei). The next Great Khan, Güyük Khan, sent a less-than-satisfying reply.

Despite their common enemy in the Muslim world, the difficulty was that the popes wanted obedience to themselves as pope, expecting Mongols to convert to Christianity, and the Mongol Khans expected obedience to them as secular rulers, demanding homage.

Military cooperation was still a possibility—assuming the pope's demands for conversion stayed out of the negotiations. Öljaitü (fl.1282 - 1316) wrote in 1305 to Philip IV of France, Pope Clement V, and Edward I of England (see illustration for the letter in the French archives, the only copy extant), suggesting military collaboration, assuring him that Europeans could travel safely through their lands:

"Now all of us, Timur Khagan, Tchapar, Toctoga, Togba and ourselves, main descendants of Gengis Khan, all of us, descendants and brothers, are reconciled through the inspiration and the help of God. So that, from Nangkiyan [China] in the Orient, to Lake Dala our people are united and the roads are open." [link]

Mongols by this time had converted to Islam, but still were open to allowing Christians free access to the Holy Land. That did not mean, however, that the Mongols were not bent on expanding their empire as much as possible. One of their conquests was the large Kingdom of Georgia, whose queen submitted in order to save the lives of her people. I'll tell you that story next time.

Prester John, Part 1

That "inaccessible area" in Asia mentioned in the Finding Paradise entry fascinated Europeans. Knowledge of the lands to the east was rare, and accounts of travels in that direction were devoured. Marco Polo's tales were only one example.

The 3rd century apocryphal text Acts of Thomas tells of St. Thomas and his attempts to convert India to Christianity. Although not included in the definitive collection of books of the Bible, it was still copied and read (Gregory of Tours made a copy), and sparked the imagination: what if there were a thriving community of Christians in exotic India, cut off from Europe and desirous of contact?

In the 12th century, a German chronicler and bishop called Otto of Friesling recorded that in 1144 he had met a bishop from Syria at the court of Pope Eugene III. Bishop Hugh's request for aid in fighting Saracens resulted in the Second Crusade. During the conversation, however, Bishop Hugh mentioned a Nestorian Christian (Nestorians and their origin were briefly mentioned here) who was a priest and a king, named Prester John, tried to help free Jerusalem from infidels, bringing help from further east. He had an emerald scepter, and was a descendant of one of the Three Magi who brought gifts at Jesus' birth.

The idea of Prester John, a fabulously wealthy and well-connected Christian potentate poised to help bridge the gap between West and East, captured the imagination. A letter purporting to be from Prester John appeared in 1165. The internal details of the letter suggest that the author knew the Acts of Thomas as well as the 3rd century Romance of Alexander.

The letter became enormously popular; almost a hundred copies still exist. It was copied and embellished and translated over and over. Modern analysis of the evolution of the letter and its vocabulary suggest an origin in Northern Italy, possibly by a Jewish author.

At the time, however, no analysis was needed for people to act. Pope Alexander III decided to write a letter to Prester John and sent it on 27 September 1177 via his physician, Philip. Philip was not heard from again, but that did not deter the belief in Prester John  at all.

Got Silk?

Silk was not a medieval invention. According to Chinese tradition, Empress Si-Ling-Chi in 2460 BCE watched silkworms spinning cocoons; she unwound several cocoons, then ran the strands together to make thread, then wove the result into cloth to make a robe for Emperor Huang-Ti.

The Silk Road routes

Unverifiable, but it may very well be true. What is slightly more historically documented is that China guarded the secret of this magnificent fabric for centuries, but was willing to manufacture the cloth and sell it for very high prices to others. Wealthy people from other countries would gladly pay large sums to purchase it—soft and smooth, light to wear, dyed easily—so knowledge of this material spread. India somehow figured out the secret and was manufacturing its own silk by the 2nd century CE.

Ezekiel mentions silk, which means it was known to the Middle East in the 6th century BCE. Aristotle mentions the process of dealing with the cocoons, but the knowledge must have been lost for awhile, because it seems to be a mystery to that part of the world centuries later. We are told that Julius Caesar (100-15 March 44 BCE) had silk curtains. It is thought that the Romans first encountered silk in the hands of the Parthians in the first century BCE. By the end of the 1st century CE, Rome was trading for silk with the Parthians; we don't know what kind of "mark up" the Parthians were putting on the silk that they got from the East, but it was probably substantial. Although more than silk was traded between the East and West, silk was one of the few things only available from the Far East, and so the collection of interconnected trade routes from China and India to Byzantium and Alexandria became known as the "Silk Road."

Of course, it is cheaper to manage production yourself, and the Byzantine scholar Procopius (500-565 CE) tells us how some Nestorian monks* gave the Emperor Justinian the secret: the thread comes from silkworms that could not survive transportation, but their cocoons would travel well if insulated in dung and fed on mulberry leaves when hatched. Byzantium created a thriving silk industry and supplied Europe for centuries. The silk factories were staffed by all-female crews, and so were called gynaecea—after the name given to the section of a Roman or Greek home devoted to women.

Marco Polo on the Silk Road

The cycle of industrial espionage continued, however, when Muslims, who learned the secret of silk when they conquered Persia, took over Sicily and Spain. By the 13th century, Europe was producing its own silk and purchasing less from Byzantium. By the 15th century, France had its own factories. This was necessary, according to Louis XI, because purchasing silk from Italy created a trade deficit for France of 40-50,000,000 gold écus.**

Silk is different from cotton or wool in that it is not spun; rather, two or more strands are twisted together. To produce this, new techniques were invented. The simple reel is said to have been first devised for holding strands of silk, which could be up to a mile long. Two reels would be set up to unwind simultaneously so that their strands could be twisted together in a technique called "throwing."

The Middle Ages loved silk so much that a whole new vocabulary was created to describe its uses in fabrics:

• alexander - a striped silk
• baldachin - a warp of gold thread with a woof of silk
• begin - 14th century rayed silk fabric
• camlet - half silk/half hair (such as angora)
• cendal - woven silk material
• ecarlate - high-quality silk
• gauze - semi-transparent silk (from 13th century onward)
• imperial - silk with gold thread; originally from Byzantium, later called baldachin
• osterni - silk dyed purple
• samite - silk with interwoven gold or silver threads
• sarcenet - thin soft silk with slight sheen; sometimes called "shot"
• tartaire - silk from Tartary

...and in all these centuries, it hasn't lost its luster.

*Remember the Nestorians? They were a branch of Christianity deemed heretical a century before Procopius, who made their home in the East where William Rubruck ran into them.
**Story of the Silk Road by Yiping Zhang, p.146 (I don't normally bog things down with citations—I assume you trust me!—but this number was so ... impressive that I felt the need to point to a source. It may be a huge exaggeration.

Before Marco, There was William

Everyone's heard of Marco Polo (1254-1324) and his travels with his Venetian uncles to the Far East. He was not alone, however, in leaving Europe on long journeys to strange lands.

The most detailed early account of life in Asia was written by a Flemish Franciscan monk named William Rubruck (Willem van Ruysbroeck, c.1210-1270). While on crusade with King Louis IX of France, in Palestine he met a Dominican sent by the pope to enlist the Mongols' aid against the Muslims. Rubruck decided he would try to convert the Mongols to Christianity.

Rubruck's Travels

He set out in 1253 on a round-trip journey that took him three years, traveling as far as the Mongol capital of Karakoram; he was the first European ever to visit it—that is, who also returned to write about it. His personal mission gave him the opportunity to write about what he saw and the ethnicities and religions and customs he observed.

It is interesting that, as he traveled, he often found other Europeans who recognized his Order because of his clothing. He was also questioned frequently about his "version" of Christianity. He met several Christians and Christian priests who were Nestorians. Nestorius (386-451) was a patriarch of Constantinople who claimed Jesus had two distinct natures: a human nature and a completely divine nature, referred to as Logos. These two natures, or essences, are connected but unmingled. When Nestorianism was condemned in 431 at the Council of Ephesus, the Assyrian Church refused to change their support for it. Rubruck had his work cut out for him: preaching Christianity, and preaching against the local Christianity.

There's more to say about Rubruck, but I'll leave off for today with a simple thought: if he had become more famous than the other guy, would there be a game now where people called out "William!" "Rubruck!"