How could an Iranian Empire, whether Parthian, Sassanid, or something else, be the first large empire to be converted to Christianity, instead of the Roman Empire? By convert I mean in a manner similar to Rome's conversion, not some scenario where Iran is conquered by some external people who force them to convert (like an Armenia-wank or something).
I think the fall of Zoroastrianism is fairly inevitable, at least in its Sassanid form, simply because it is restricted in who can become Zoroastrian, and large portions of the population of the empire are excluded. Christianity will be strong among the population of the Iranian Empire because it is more democratic* than Zoroastrianism (which OTL received severe challenges from the Mazdaks and Manicheans within, so it was clearly unstable), for the same reasons it became popular amongst many Romans as well.
I assume that having Rome not go Christian would make this more likely, as Christianity would not be the religion of the enemy. However, in a similar vein this would probably hurt Christianity within Rome, as it would be perceived as the religion of the enemy Persians.
* Democratic in the sense of being more egalitarian and appealing to more people, not related to representative or direct democracy
I think the fall of Zoroastrianism is fairly inevitable, at least in its Sassanid form, simply because it is restricted in who can become Zoroastrian, and large portions of the population of the empire are excluded. Christianity will be strong among the population of the Iranian Empire because it is more democratic* than Zoroastrianism (which OTL received severe challenges from the Mazdaks and Manicheans within, so it was clearly unstable), for the same reasons it became popular amongst many Romans as well.
I assume that having Rome not go Christian would make this more likely, as Christianity would not be the religion of the enemy. However, in a similar vein this would probably hurt Christianity within Rome, as it would be perceived as the religion of the enemy Persians.
* Democratic in the sense of being more egalitarian and appealing to more people, not related to representative or direct democracy
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