The Church of the East: A Concise History

TITLE......Page 4
COPYRIGHT......Page 5
CONTENTS......Page 6
List of illustrations......Page 9
Preface......Page 11
The ~Apostolic Church of the East~: a brief introduction to the writing of church history and to terminology......Page 13
The age of the Sassanians: until 651......Page 19
The question of apostolic foundation......Page 23
The centralization of the Church and the reception of the faith of Nicaea......Page 26
The acceptance of other Western synods (420)......Page 29
Declaration of independence of the Church of the East in 424?......Page 31
The school of the Persians in Edessa and the Council of Ephesus (431)......Page 33
The school of Nisibis......Page 38
Acceptance of Nestorianism at the synods of 484 and 486?......Page 40
The Church of the East in the sixth century......Page 44
From Babai the Great to the Arab conquest......Page 49
The age of the Arabs: 650  1258......Page 54
The China mission in the seventh and eighth centuries......Page 58
East Syriac Christianity in India......Page 63
Timotheos I (780  823) and the Abbasid period (749  946)......Page 70
East Syrians as cultural mediators......Page 76
Church history and church law......Page 81
Missionary activity in Central Asia......Page 85
The image of the Apostolic Church of the East in thirteenth-century Europe......Page 93
The age of the Mongols: thirteenth and fourteenth centuries......Page 96
The Church of the West discovers the Church of the East......Page 101
The era of Catholicos Yahballaha III (1281  1317)......Page 106
The period of Catholicos Timotheos II (1318  32)......Page 113
The dark centuries of the Church of the East......Page 116
The age of the Ottomans: fifteenth to nineteenth centuries......Page 124
The ~Mountain Nestorian~ Catholicate and further unions with Rome......Page 128
Russian and Western missionary activity in the nineteenth century......Page 135
The twentieth century......Page 147
World War I......Page 148
Postwar diplomacy and the question of an Assyrian state......Page 151
The end of the British mandate in Iraq......Page 154
Emigration and diaspora......Page 156
Ecclesiastical reorganization and patriarchal schism......Page 158
The patriarchate of Mar Dinkha IV Khnanaya and ecumenical efforts......Page 162
Present situation and structure......Page 166
Language and literature of the Church of the East......Page 170
Iranian literature......Page 177
Turkish, Uighur, and Chinese literature......Page 183
Appendices......Page 185
List of sovereigns......Page 188
Bibliography......Page 190
Index......Page 207