The Church of the East and the Territorialization of Christianity
The Church of the East and the Territorialization of Christianity
This chapter examines the History of Blessed Simeon bar Sabba'e and two other texts from among the Syriac Acts of the Persian Martyrs: the Martyrdom of the Captives of Beth Zabdai and the Martyrdom of Pusai-Qarugbed. All three sources demonstrate a pronounced trend in the discourse of late fifth-and early sixth-century Syriac martyrdom narratives: the conceptualization of Persian Christians during Shapur II's reign as Roman captives. This chapter considers how and why these Syriac martyrdom narratives speak about Christians as Roman captives. It argues that these Syriac martyrdom narratives discuss “Roman captives” not only because of the Sasanian practice of taking hundreds if not thousands of prisoners of war, but also because of the history of the spread of Christianity in Persia; the two founding synods of the Church of the East, in 410 and 420; and the brief war between Rome and Persia that followed the Sasanian king Yazdgard I's death in 420.
Keywords: martyrdom, History of Blessed Simeon bar Sabba'e, Martyrdom of the Captives of Beth Zabdai, Martyrdom of Pusai-Qarugbed, Syriac martyrdom, Persian Christians, Roman captives, Christianity, Church of the East, Yazdgard I
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