(1) Around this time Christianity also spread in Persia for the following reasons.
(2) Between the Romans and Persians frequent embassies constantly take place; varied, however, are the reasons why they constantly send embassies back and forth (3) This necessity then also at the time entailed that Maruta, the bishop of Mesopotamia, whom I mentioned briefly earlier, was sent to the Persian king by the Roman emperor. (4) The Persian king found the man very pious and treated him with honour, just as it befitted a man loved by god. (5) This irritated the Magians who had much power over the Persian king; for they feared that he might persuade the king to become a Christian.831 (6) For with his prayers Maruta cured his chronic headache, which the Magians had not been able to treat successfully. (7) The Magians therefore devised a trick; as the Persians worship the fire but the king was used to worshipping the eternal fire in a particular house,832 they hid a man under the floor at the time when the king used to pray and instructed him to utter that the king had to be expelled because he had committed an impious deed because he thought a Christian priest could be ‘god beloved’. (8) When Yazdgard (I) (this was the name of the Persian king) heard this, he wanted to send him away although he much respected him, (9) Maruta however, who was indeed a god-beloved man, focused on his prayers, through which he found out about the deceit devised by the Magians. (io) He said to the king, ‘Don’t be deceived, king. But when you go in and hear the voice you will dig up and find the deceit; for it is not the fire that is speaking but a human device causes this.’ (ii) The Persian king followed Maruta’s instructions and went back into the house where the eternal fire was. (12) When he heard the same voice again he gave the order to dig up the ground; and the one who had produced the supposedly divine voice was caught. (13) The king was extremely angry and made the Magians pay for their deed; then he promised Maruta that he could build churches where he wanted; this is why Christianity spread among the Persians. (14) At that time Maruta left Persia and returned to Constantinople; but soon after he was sent back again in the context of an embassy. (15) Again the Magians thought of tricks in order that the king would not receive the man; they produced some bad odour wherever the king tended to appear. They slandered the followers of Christianity by saying that they caused this. (i6) As already before the king had been suspicious of the Magians, he was very keen to find the culprits and again the ones who had caused the bad odour were found among them. (17) This is why again many of them were punished; the king, however, held Maruta in even higher esteem. (18) And he loved the Romans and welcomed their friendship; and he nearly converted to Christianity after Maruta had passed a further test, together with Ablaas, the bishop of Persia. (19) For by spending their time with fasting and praying, these two drove out a demon that was torturing the king’s son. (20) But Yazdgard died before he fully converted to the Christian faith; the throne fell to his son Bahram (V), during whose reign the peace between Romans and Persians was broken, as I shall report a little later.
The account of the ecclesiastical historian Socrates (c. 380—440) reveals how important the reign of Yazdgard I (399—420) was for the evolution of
Christianity beyond the borders of the Byzantine Empire. Socrates Scholas-ticus continued the Church History of Eusebius to the year 439; his work includes numerous documents, resolutions of Councils, imperial letters as well as those of bishops and is therefore a reliable source full of important information.7® In particular, the author emphasises the crucial role of the bishop Maruta, who in his role as Roman ambassador contributed much to the good relations between Arcadius and Yazdgard I (9).833 834
According to Socrates Yazdgard I gave him permission to build churches wherever he wanted. Maruta managed to restore an organised Christian community which had been destroyed by the persecutions ofSapur II.835 His influence was crucial when as a result of the Synod of Seleucia-Ktesiphon in the year 410, at which Church officials from the Byzantine Empire also participated, the Persian Church received a new hierarchical organisation and its own ecclesiastical law.836 This laid the foundations for a separation of the Persian Church from the Christian Church elsewhere. After another Council on Sasanian territory took place in 424, the Persian Church gained permanent independence from the patriarch in Antioch.837 The successful activities of bishop Maruta increased the number of Christians in the Persian Empire considerably. Even members of the Sasanian nobility turned to Christianity.
However, the growing influence ofthe Christians in the Sasanian Empire provoked opposition, above all by the Zoroastrian Magians. Socrates alludes to religious tensions which eventually led to new persecutions of Christians towards the end of the reign of Yazdgard I (399—420).75 The Greek ecclesiastical historian and bishop of Cyrrhus, Theodoret, provides us with more detailed information regarding the beginning and the reasons for these persecutions. His Church History, which covers the period from 325 to 428 and was completed in 450, is also full of documents and an extremely important source for the religious history in the East during the fourth and fifth centuries.
Theodoret, Historia ecclesiastica v.39.1—6
(i) Around this time the Persian king Yazdgard (I) fought his war against the churches, using the following pretext: there was a certain bishop Abdas, who was virtuous in many respects. With unnecessary zeal this man destroyed a pyreion.
The Persians, however, call their fire sanctuaries 'pyreid because they believe that the fire is divine. When the king was informed about the deed by the Magians he sent for Abdas. (2) He scolded him and ordered him to restore the pyreion. Abdas rejected this and said he would do this under no circumstances. The king threatened that he would destroy all churches and eventually actually carried out his threat. For first he had this man of god executed and then he gave instructions to destroy the churches.
(3) I, however, claim that the destruction of the pyreion was inappropriate. (4) For when he came to Athens and saw the city adorned with idols the holy apostle did not destroy any altars revered by them but with words he revealed their ignorance and showed them the truth.838 Nevertheless I quite admire the fact that he did not restore the temple he had destroyed but chose death over doing this and I deem it worthy of the martyr’s crown. For worshipping the fire or erecting a sanctuary for it seem to me the same.
(5) From here the storm took its beginning and created the cruellest and wildest waves against those set in their faith. And although it has been thirty years since,839 the waves are still there because it is rekindled over and over again by the Magians as if rekindled by strong winds. (The Persians call those Magians who worship the elements as divine. I have described their doctrine in another work840 in which I also responded to their questions.) (6) After the death of his father, Bahram (V), the son ofYazdgard (I), inherited together with his rule his father’s war against the right faith; and when he died he also handed over both of these closely linked to his own son.841
According to Theodoret the destruction of a Zoroastrian fire sanctuary by the bishop Abdas triggered the destruction of all churches in the Persian Empire as well as the capture and execution of Christians. It is noteworthy that the author tries to explain the significance of the fire and thus to make the Persian religion more accessible to his Greek audience. He judges the violation of a fire temple as an inappropriate and anachronistic deed. The author’s words have to be seen in the context of the pro-Christian attitude displayed by the Persian ruler Yazdgard I over a long period of time. However, Theodoret claims that the bishop’s behaviour was used as a pretext by the king in order to take action against the Persian Christians. Moreover, he states that in the end it was the Zoroastrian Magians who were continuously striving for the destruction of the non-Zoroastrian religions.
The latter remark refers to the ambitions of the Zoroastrian clergy and its problematic relationship with the Sasanian kingship, which during the course of the fifth century became more and more dependent on the wield-ers of power. It would appear that also in the year 420 Yazdgard I, who because of his long standing tolerance with regard to Christians and Jews received the title ‘the Infidel’ in the Eastern literature,842 gave in to the Magians. The persecutions, which began during the reign of Yazdgard continued under the rule of his successor Bahram V Gor (420—39). In his ecclesiastical history Theodoret talks about how the Christians were tortured to death.843 Although in 422 Romans and Persians concluded a peace (19) which guaranteed the freedom to practise one’s religion in both empires, the following period saw new persecutions in the Sasanian Empire.844
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