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Nestorian Christians are the small, but venerable remnant of a once great and influential church. They are the oldest of Christian sects; in their better days they were numerous through all the vast regions from Palestine to China; and they carried the gospel into China itself. Their history is a checkered one. Sometimes, as under the tolerant policy of Gengis Khan and his descendants, they were raised to high places in the camp and at the court; while at other times, as by the crushing arm of the bloody Tamerlane, they were cut down and swept away, till scarce a vestige remained, save in the fastnesses of inaccessible mountains. But in prosperity and adversity, during a period of more than one thousand years, they furnish the brightest examples of persevering toil and self-denial, and often of heroic martyrdom, cheerfully encountered in the profession and zealous promulgation of the gospel,* that are to be found on the records of Christianity, since the days of the apostles.

My object is not to sketch a history of this venerable people; but merely to make a few statements relative to their present position, number, circumstances, character and prospects. I do this in compliance with a repeated request of the former worthy editor of the Repository, and in the hope that its readers may thereby become better acquainted with the people for whose salvation I am laboring, and more interested to co-operate, by prayer and effort, for the advancement of this object.

Before noticing the Nestorians in the particulars proposed, I may remark, that their lineal origin, like that of most eastern nations, is hid in the mists of uncertainty. Common, and perhaps universal tradition among themselves claims the Jews as their ancestors. As evidence of this descent, they urge the resemblance which exists between the Hebrew language and their own. They also adduce their deep abhorrence of the use of images and pictures in religious worship, while all other eastern Christians, descended from heathen ancestors, still retain their strong attachment to idolatry. The curious inquirer might find many other proofs that the Nestorians are descendants of the Jews. Nor is there any absurdity in the supposition, that their remote ancestors may have been some portion of the Israelites, who were carried away captive by the kings of Assyria, as

* See an interesting article on the "Missions of the Nestorian Christians, in Central and Eastern Asia," in the Missionary Herald for August, 1838.

mentioned in 1 Chron. 5: 26, and 2 Kings 15: 29, into places probably not distant from the regions now occupied by the Nestorians. But to attempt to demonstrate as certain the Jewish origin of this people, must be very difficult and unsatisfactory.

Their conversion to Christianity, the Nestorians refer to Thomas, one of the twelve apostles; with whom Adai (Thaddeus), and Mari, one of the seventy, are said to have been associated. Oral tradition and the ancient writings of the Nestorians are united in support of this opinion. And as several of the Christian Fathers inform us that Thomas travelled eastward, even to India, preaching the gospel through the countries intervening, we may regard this claim of the Nestorians as not improbable. This opinion is also confirmed by the fact, that their ritual, composed by ancient ecclesiastics, contains commemorations of Thomas, in the form of thanksgivings to God, for his zealous labors among their ancestors and other eastern nations. At this day, the Nestorians are particularly fond of naming their churches, in honor of that apostle, Mar Thoma, i. e., St. Thomas.

The origin of the Nestorians, as a Christian sect, is matter of authentic history.* Nestorius, from whom the sect derives its name, was born and educated in Syria, was a presbyter at Antioch, and was made bishop of Constantinople, A. D. 428. The conspicuousness of his station-that city being the seat of empire his boldness in attempting to correct some popular superstitions, and perhaps his rashness in theological speculation, drew upon him the envy and hostility of contemporary bishops, particularly of the ambitious Cyril, then bishop of Alexandria. Having been arraigned for heresy, Nestorius was excommunicated at Ephesus, by the third general council, A.D. 431. First banished to Arabia Petræa, and subsequently transported to one of the oases of Lybia, he finally died in Upper Egypt.

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*See Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, by Murdock, Vol. p. 395 and 428, et passim. A full account of the origin and progress of Nestorianism may also be found in Asseman's Bibliotheca Orientialis Clementino-Vaticanu," Vol. IV., in general very correct, save that it savors strongly of papal prejudice. A brief, but interesting account of the Nestorians also occurs in the "Researches" of Messrs Smith and Dwight, Vol. II. p. 201.

One charge on which the august council decreed his excommunication, by ex parte management, was, that he refused to apply to the Virgin Mary the epithet, Mother of God (Oeozóxos). This charge he evaded; though Protestants would certainly have thought none the worse of him, had he frankly pleaded guilty. His motives in attempting to check the prevalent superstition of paying idolatrous homage to a departed mortal, were undoubtedly honest. Another principal charge was, that in his theological belief he invested Christ with two persons, as well as two natures. This charge he perseveringly denied; and whatever novelties his speculating genius may have led him to broach on that mysterious subject, his views, for aught that appears, may have been correct in the main.

The cause of Nestorius being regarded as the cause of an injured, persecuted man, created extensive sympathy, and found numerous and efficient advocates. It was warmly espoused by his countrymen in the East, particularly in the celebrated Syrian school of Edessa (modern Orfa), in Mesopotamia, in which great numbers of Christian youth were at that time educated. This first Christian sect, thus severed from the general church by prejudice and oppression, taking firm root in that central position, spread rapidly in all directions. It soon became powerful, especially in Persia; and in all its vicissitudes, it has remained, from that day to this, in some of the regions now occupied by Nestorian Christians.

With the Nestorians, should not be confounded two other sects, with whom they are sometimes associated—the Jacobites and the Chaldeans. The former are monophysite Syrians, who hold to but one nature in Christ. They are quite numerous in Mesopotamia, and were related to the Nestorians, originally, as fellow countrymen, speaking the same language, the ancient Syriac. But the two sects are divided by the bitterest rancor; and most of the Jacobites now speak the Arabic language instead of the modern Syriac, and are thus cut off from the last tie of sympathy with their kindred, the Nestorians. The Chaldeans are that portion of the Nestorian Christians, who have been converted to the Romish faith, principally within the last two centuries, by the indefatigable efforts of Jesuit missionaries. Most of these Catholics are found in and about the valley of Mesopotamia, where they have become quite numerous. Indeed, very few Nestorians now remain on the western side of the Koordish mountains, who have not yielded to the intrigues

and usurpations of papal domination. The name, Chaldeans, was given to them by the Pope, on their embracing the Catholic system; an epithet which the Nestorians deny them the right thus exclusively to appropriate, claiming an equal title to it themselves in consequence of their lineal origin. Many of these Catholics continue to speak the language of the Nestorians, as well as the Arabic, and some of them speak only the former; but as family quarrels are usually the most violent, the Nestorians are separated from the Chaldeans by a hostility, even more rancorous than that which divides them from the Jacobites. It is to the Nestorians, as distinct from both Jacobites and Chaldeans, that this article has reference.

The existing remnant of the Nestorian Christians is found principally among the mountains of Koordistan, and in Ooroomiah, an adjacent district in the western part of Persia. Geographically, they are situated between 36° and 39° of north latitude, and between 43° and 46° of east longitude.

Koordistan is the ancient Assyria, embracing also a part of Armenia and of ancient Media. It consists mainly of wild ranges of mountains, which divide the Turkish and the Persian empires. Its western sections are nominally subject to Turkey, and its eastern, to Persia. The inhabitants, however, pay but a limited allegiance to either; and some of them-the Hakkary tribe, in central Koordistan, in particular-are nearly or quite independent. The Koords-the Carduchi of Xenophon, who gave him so much trouble, on his retreat with the ten thousandconsist of a great number of tribes, who, from time immemorial, have been keepers of flocks-wild, fierce barbarians, given to plunder. Much of their country is exceedingly rough, and admits of but little cultivation. This, added to the fierceness of the people, renders portions of it well nigh inaccessible, and consequently but little known to civilized nations.

The Nestorians of Koordistan inhabit the wildest and most inaccessible parts of the Koordish mountains. Some of the districts are so rough, that no beast of burden, save with the utmost difficulty, can travel over them. The least populous districts of these Nestorians, as Garvar, Somai, Chara, Mamoodiah, and some others are subject to the Koordish tribes who dwell in che saine districts, and by them are sorely oppressed and often plundered. Other districts, as Diss, Jeloo, Bass, Tehoob and Tiaree, have a larger Nestorian population, and are more independent of their Koordish neighbors. Such is particularly the

case of Tiaree, situated in the rugged, narrow valley of the river Zab-running into the Tigris, the ancient Zabus, or Zabiswhich is the most populous of all the Nestorian districts of the mountains. It is governed by meliks-literally kings-or chiefs, chosen from its own people, by the popular voice irregularly expressed. The office of these chiefs is usually hereditary in the same family. This district of Tiaree is not only quite independent of the Koords, but its inhabitants have such a character for bravery and ferocity, even toward their Koordish neighbors, that the latter seldom hazard the adventure of entering that country; and such as do enter it are said often to atone for their temerity, by being murdered and thrown into the river. The local situation of Tiaree,* hemmed in as it is by steep, lofty mountains, save where the river, by narrow defiles, enters and leaves the district, serves, no less than its populousness, effectually to defend its inhabitants from invasion."

The Nestorians of the mountains, like their Koordish neighbors, obtain their subsistence to a great extent from the pasturage of flocks. The principal part of their arable soil, in most places, consists of small terraced patches, on the steep declivities of the mountains. And so rough and barren is much of their territory, that the people find it almost impossible to live in their own country. Many of them are very poor. Some travel abroad and beg as a profession. Considerable numbers come down to the plain of Ooroomiah in summer, to find employment; and still more are driven down in the winter, to seek a subsistence on charity. In some of the districts which are more susceptible of cultivation and less liable to the ravages of the Koords, the inhabitants obtain a comfortable living; though their fare is coarse, consisting chiefly of the products of their flocks, with rice, and bread made of a species of millet. Wheat is seldom cultivated.

The Nestorians of these mountains resemble their Koordish masters and neighbors, not only in their mode of obtaining a subsistence, but also, in a degree, in their exceeding rudeness, wildness and boldness of character. The inhabitants of different districts sometimes quarrel and plunder each other; and if

* The name Tiaree, is a Syriac word which means a fold, or enclosure (as a sheepfold, John 10: 16 and elsewhere), and was obviously given to this district from its striking local peculiarities.

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