[ encc in general. The words of the world's savant,
I Alexander von Humboldt, in the second volume of hia Kosmos (Stuttg. and Tubing. 1847, p. 247 sq.), on the
I connection of Nestorianism with the culture and physi- cal science of the Arabians, are worthy of note here : " It
I was one of the wondrous arrangements in the system of things that the Christian sect of the Nestorians, which has exerted a very important influence on the geo- graphical extension of knowledge, was of service even to the Arabians before the latter found their way to
j learned and disputatious Alexandria ; that Christian Nestorianism, in fact, under the protection of the arras of Islam, was able to penetrate far into Eastern Asia. The Arabians, in other words, gained their flrst acquaint- ance with Grecian literature through the Syrians, a kin- dred Shemitic race; while the Syrians themselves, scarce- ly a century and a half before, had first received the knowledge of Grecian literature through the anathe- matized Nestorians. Physicians who had been educated iu the institutions of the Greeks, and at the celebrated medical school founded by the Nestorian Cliristians at Edessa, iu Mesopotamia, were, as early as the times of Mohammed, befriended by him and by Abti-Bekr, in Mecca." Jesujab also obtained another charter from Omar, together with complete exemption from taxes for himself, his brothers, servants, and followers, which it is said lasted initil the beginning of the 14th cen- tury. Ali gave Maremes, a follower of Jesujab, then bishop of Nisibis, on account of his having supplied his army with food, a recommendation for all his followers to spare the Christians. Similar securities were given to their patriarchs by Muktedir-billah, Ivadcr-billah, and their successors, and Jesujab of Adiabene (G50-6G0) was able to write to Simeon, metropolitan of Persia, that the Arabs were not only not opposed to Ciiristianity, but held it in high respect, showing great regard to the priests and people, and even supporting the churches and convents. As the Nestorians were distinguished for their learning and activity, many of them held high official positions. They were especially renowned, as we have already learned from Humboldt, as |)hysicians and as secretaries to the caliphs, and so highly and favorably were these regarded tliat no election of patri- archs or other important ecclesiastical event took place without their being consulted. In this manner the Nestorians actjuired great jireponderance over the other Christian sects, and the calijihs Kajim-bcamr-iilah and Muktedir-billah declared officially that the patriarch Sabarjesu (surnamed /anbur) and Ebedjesu should have authority not only over the Nestorians, but also over the Roman Catholics, or Jlelchites (q. v.), and the Jac- obites (q. v.). With the exception of a short persecu- tion under Harun-al-Uaschid, we find but two during that entire period : the first, chiefly directed against the Nestorians, by JIutewekkil, was occasioned by his phy-
I sician, Bochtjesu, having displeased him ; the second, by Hakim-beamr-illah, was directed with great vigor against all Christians, and even against the Jews, but it of course did not extend beyond his own domin- ions of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. The power of the physicians and secretaries also proved injurious at length, as they went so far as to arbitrarily a|)point and depose patriarchs, making the caliphs confirm their action. (Christianity, it may be stated here, had been introduced into Arabia at a very early period. Both the Nestorians and the Jacobites sought this field to jiropagate their own doctrines, and the former proved successful in that inidertaking. Under the caliphs they spread not only in Arabia, but through Syria and Palestine, and under JIar Aba II [patriarch 742-752] a bishop had to be appointed for the Nestorians distributed throughout Egypt. This bishop was subject to the see of Damas- cus; in later times they had also a metroiiolitan of i:gvpt. Tlie bishops of the diflercnt parts of Arabia were at first subject to the mctropolitaus of I'ersia, to
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whose diocese belonged also the East Indies, the west- ern shores of which, at least, were still Christian in the early part of the 7th century.)
After Bagdad had been built and become the abode of the cahphs, the patriarchs selected it also as their residence in A.D. 762. They were elected there, but ordained at Seleucia. Ananjesu II was the tirst patri- arch elected at Bagdad. The patriarch was called ijaze- lich, i. e. catholicos, and in the 13th century the yaze- lich had no less than twenty-five metropolitans under his supervision. Says an ecclesiastical historian : " The Nestorians had now become widely extended. They occupied, almost to the exclusion of other Christian sects, the region which forms the modern kingdom of Persia, in all ])arts of which they had churches. They were numerous in Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Arabia. They liad churches in Syria and in the island of Cy- prus. They had churches among the mountains of Malabar in' India. They had numerous churches in the vast regions of Tartary, from the Caspian Sea to Mount Iraaus, and bej'ond, through the greater part of what is now known as Chinese Tartary, and even in China itself. The names of twenty-five metropolitan sees are on record, which of course embraced a far greater number of bishoprics, and still more numerous societies or churches." Mar Aba II resided at Wasit, and after the building of Sermeura by Mutasim, in the year "220 of the Hegira, some of the patriarchs chose it as their residence. When Hulagu Khan took Bagdad, in 1258, patriarch Machicha caused the Christians of all sects to assemble in a church, and saved them by stratagem from the hands of the Mongols. Hulagu and most of his followers were not badly disposed towards the Christians, and particularly towards the Nestorians, partly because of a common enmity against the Moham- medans, and partly because their religion. Buddhism, had borrowed so much of its form from Nestorianism, and also because a large number of their wives were at least nominal Christians, and some of their leaders too. This was especially the case in the land of the Kerait, or Krite-Tartars, where, according to divers accounts, Nes- torianism had been flourishing since the 11th century, and whose rulers seem to have embraced it. Their title, Ung(h), or Bang Khan, could readily be derived from a perversion of the name John, and thus have given rise to the tradition of the presbyter or priest John [see John, Prester] being a mighty king, which afterwards, when its fictitious character was recognised, was transferred to the (until then unknown) Christian king of Ethiopia (see Gould, Myihs of the Mid. Ages, p. 30 sq. ; Mosheim, Historia Tartarorum Ecdes. [Helmst, 1741 ] ; Neander, Kirchengesch. v, 8-t sq.). Zenghis Khan himself took to wife a daughter of his vanquished enemy Bang Khan, Toghrul, and his son Jaghatai, according to Marco Polo, became a Christian. The family of the Bang Khan of Tenduch remained also allied to the imperial family down to the days of Marco Polo; and the chief of the Minorites, John of Monte Corvino, succeeded in inducing a prince of that country, successor of the Bang Khan, whom he calls George, together with a large number of his followers, to be- come reconciled with the Komish Church in 1292. This union, however, was of but short duration, as his son in 1299, with all his adherents, returned to Nes- torianism. The same John of Monte Corvino (q. v.) built the first Christian church at Peking, with the as- sent of Kublai Khan, and baptized six thousand people, for which he was by the pope appointed Archiepiscojms Camhaliensis. Assemani gives the names of a number of Christian princes or rulers of the family of Zenghis Khan. Arghun Khan, who reigned after the return of the family to Mohammedanism, promised to become a Christian after taking Jerusalem. Kaigatu, son of Abaga, was a Christian, according to Haytho. Cassan was at first in favor of the Mohammedans, who had aided him in ascending the throne, and his general, Neuruz, persecuted the Christians, but he changed after-