Nestorianism, Nestorius (or Nestorianism) introduced into China in Tang Dynasty, originated from Assyrian Empire in Syria today, so it is also called Assyrian Oriental Church. It is regarded as the first Christian sect to enter China and has become an active field of Sinology. During the Tang Dynasty, it once flourished in Chang 'an, and the "Cross Temple" spread all over the country, but most of them were not believed by Han people. There are still a few Christians in Hong Kong today.

origin

Nestorianism was founded by Nestorius (380 -45 1), who said that he was born in Syria. He put forward the theory of "two natures of Christ", arguing that the Virgin Mary only gave birth to Jesus' body and was not endowed with the divinity of Jesus, so he opposed to worshipping her as a divine will.

In 428, Nellito became the patriarch of Constantinople, which caused a fierce attack by Cyril Ruth, the patriarch of Alexander the Great. In 43 1 year, after the Ephesian meeting of the Council of Ephesus, Nie was dismissed from the bishop's post, and his Sect was classified as a heresy, and finally died in Egypt.

At the end of the 5th century, Nie Sect moved to Persia and preached in the name of Chaldean or Assyrian Church. The base camp was once moved to Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, and it was very prosperous.

When Nie School was introduced into China, it was named after Nestorianism. Scholars believe that "essence" means light. English-speaking westerners often classify the Church of Nestorius as the Orthodox Church (Eastern Orthodox is different from the Orthodox Church, although the literal meaning is the same in Chinese), which is very wrong, because almost all "Oriental sects" include the East and the East. The Christianity of the Church conflicts with the Nestorius sects.

Nestorianism is in China

In the fifth year of the apocalypse of the Ming Dynasty (1625), a stone tablet was excavated in Xi 'an, on which the words "Monument and Ode to China Popular in Nestorianism in Daqin" were written in 1780 Chinese characters, and several crosses were written in Syrian, which caused a sensation among missionaries at that time. At present, the early history of Nestorianism in China is mostly based on this.

According to the stone tablet, in the ninth year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty (635), a great German arrow came to Chang 'an in the Great Qin State (Persia, not Rome) with scriptures, and was greeted by historical celebrities and received by Emperor Taizong.

Nestorianism won the favor of the emperor in the early Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin once approved Christians to build temples in Chang 'an, formerly known as Persian Temple, and later renamed Roman Temple and Daqin Temple. During Tang Gaozong's time, Arrow was regarded as the exorcist of the town, and later the statue of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty was hung in the church. After the An Shi Rebellion broke out in 755 AD, Beijing Christian Yisi helped put down the rebellion and was given a purple robe. Since 635, Nestorianism has developed smoothly in China for 150 years, and it is called "three religions" in the Tang Dynasty together with Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism.

In 845 AD, during the reign of Huichang in Tang Wuzong, a wave of destroying Buddhism broke out, and more than 10,000 Buddhist temples were destroyed, which was called the difficulty of practicing dharma in Huichang. Huichang mainly targeted at Buddhism, but it also spread to other foreign religions. Nestorianism, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, with a total of about 3,000 followers at that time, declined after the war in Huichang.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, due to a large number of Semu people coming to China, Nestorianism believers in China rebounded slightly. Kyle Poirot and some medieval western scholars pointed out that there were many Nestorianism groups in China and the ancient capital of Mongolia, but they were obviously not as vivid as those in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, their bishop in Tiebali had a conflict with the emerging Catholic missionaries. Since the Ming Dynasty, Catholic missionaries began to preach in China, and the number of Jing believers dropped sharply.

At present, there are only Hong Kong and Nestorianism in China. Both of them came to Hong Kong for business from Lebanon or Syria in the late 1990s. The number is small. The bishop of Nestorius in Hong Kong is not only responsible for herding believers in Hong Kong, but also for taking care of all believers in East Asia and South Asia.

China process

Nestorianism in the evolution of China, a large number of references to Buddhist concepts. More interestingly, the authors of the four gospels all changed their names to "French King": Matthew is King Mingtai, Luke is King Luke, Marco is King Moro, and John is called King Han Yu; The church is called "Temple"; The archbishop is called "the great king"; Pastors are naturally called "monks". The name of God is transliterated from Allaha in Syria, and it is called "Aloha, the father of the emperor", which is also called "Tianzun" according to Taoist rules.