Policy of the Sasanian shah Yazdgard I relating the Christian community
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52575/2687-0967-2021-48-4-799-806Keywords:
Christianity, Orthodoxy, Church of the East, Sassanids, Byzantium, Roman EmpireAbstract
In this article examines the religious policy of the Sasanian king Yazdegard (399–420), in particular, his attempts to build a new system of relations with Christian subjects and, through them, with the Roman Empire. The king tried to implement changes in several directions: the establishment of peace with Byzantium, rely on the townspeople of the western regions and personally subjugate the Christian Church, taking it out of possible control from Byzantium. Yazdegard, through the participation of Christian leaders of the East Roman world, tried to build a unified system of Christian hierarchy, to create a unified theology. During this period, the Christian Church of the East was in the process of forming a religious doctrine. However, by the end of the reign, all attempts to build a new system failed. This policy was not successful and Christianity has never become a solid pillar of Sassanian Iran. Christianity did not find a place in the Sassanid state system under construction, largely for ethnic and social reasons, and the image of Yazdegard in Persian literature became rather bad. Failed attempts at religious reform have only further strengthened the position of the traditional strata of Persian society.
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