A Light Shines East: The World of a Christian Persia
- Thread starter Merovingian
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How does the Gallic empire eclips the Roman one, idk if I need to reread earlier chapters but doesn't Italy have far better trade links and fairly rich provinces in north Africa?
The Gallic Empire as of right now is still largely a backwater. It eclipsing Rome says more about how far the Romans have fallen than about how high the Gallic Empire has risen.
The Armenian Church of Christ the Illuminator views the material world as the creation of a malevolent demiurge, and that through the teachings of Christ, we can achieve gnosis, or divine knowledge, to escape the material world and return to the pleroma, or fullness, of God. The Church, alongside other Gnostics, are widely viewed as heretical by the wider Christian community(both Apostolics and Restored Nazarenes) but they are still generally considered Christians.
So pretty similar theologically to gnosticism in general. How is it's religous hieararchy structured compared to the Apostolic and Nazarene (which seems to both have basically popes in the Patriarch of Ctesiphon and Patriarch of ITTL Medina respectfully) churches. Does it have a single religous head or is it more decentralized in comparison?
The Armenian Church is more decentralized, focusing more on personal gnosis.
This gives me really strong Hermeticism vibes. Vaballathus as Hermes Tris Megistus and an Egyptianised Neoplatonism etc.
Rise of Axum
From “Solomon’s Sons: A History of Habesha[1]” by Moshe Dawit
It is unknown exactly when Judaism arrived in the Axumite Empire, but it has gained a sizable presence by the Third Century of the Christian calendar. In the year 315 of the Christian calendar and 4075 of the Jewish calendar, the Axumite Emperor Zaqarnas would marry a Jewish woman named Gudit. While Zaqarnas would remain pagan his whole life, his and Gudit’s children were legally Jewish under Halakhic law. Unser Zaqarnas’ and Gudit’s son Mehadeyis, Judaism would gradually become the established religion in Axum.
Axum’s conversion to Judaism led to an increased attention towards the faith in Christian Persia. While the Persians saw Judaism as preferable to paganism, they saw it a simply a step before the Axumites became Christian, something that never happened. As Axum developed its trading empire, Persian Jews came to be viewed with increasing suspicion. Despite this, the Axumite and Sassanid Empires generally maintained good relations.
From “A Guide to Christian Iconography” by Shapur Zahedi
God in Christianity is frequently portrayed as a faravahar, a symbol of Zoroastrian origin. The Aramaic word “‘‘Elaha”, simply meaning “God”, is also used. Jesus is frequently portrayed as a shepherd. In many traditional depictions, Jesus’ face is not shown. The Aramaic name “Yeshua” is also frequently used. The name “Yeshua” is also rendered as “Yesu” in Persian, Armenian, and most Turkic languages. In Arabic, it is rendered “Yasu”, while in Greek and Coptic, it is “Iesous.” In general, Christianity, like other Abrahamic religions, has iconoclastic tendencies.
[1]Roughly OTL Ethiopia
It is unknown exactly when Judaism arrived in the Axumite Empire, but it has gained a sizable presence by the Third Century of the Christian calendar. In the year 315 of the Christian calendar and 4075 of the Jewish calendar, the Axumite Emperor Zaqarnas would marry a Jewish woman named Gudit. While Zaqarnas would remain pagan his whole life, his and Gudit’s children were legally Jewish under Halakhic law. Unser Zaqarnas’ and Gudit’s son Mehadeyis, Judaism would gradually become the established religion in Axum.
Axum’s conversion to Judaism led to an increased attention towards the faith in Christian Persia. While the Persians saw Judaism as preferable to paganism, they saw it a simply a step before the Axumites became Christian, something that never happened. As Axum developed its trading empire, Persian Jews came to be viewed with increasing suspicion. Despite this, the Axumite and Sassanid Empires generally maintained good relations.
From “A Guide to Christian Iconography” by Shapur Zahedi
God in Christianity is frequently portrayed as a faravahar, a symbol of Zoroastrian origin. The Aramaic word “‘‘Elaha”, simply meaning “God”, is also used. Jesus is frequently portrayed as a shepherd. In many traditional depictions, Jesus’ face is not shown. The Aramaic name “Yeshua” is also frequently used. The name “Yeshua” is also rendered as “Yesu” in Persian, Armenian, and most Turkic languages. In Arabic, it is rendered “Yasu”, while in Greek and Coptic, it is “Iesous.” In general, Christianity, like other Abrahamic religions, has iconoclastic tendencies.
[1]Roughly OTL Ethiopia
That nips the "white blond Jesus" meme in the bud, or the oft-told story of Renaissance paintings of Christ being supposedly modeled after Cesare Borgia.
Jewish Ethiopia? Fascinating. It could potentially lure Jews throughout the world to it due to persecution both from the Roman and Rome-descended states as well as perhaps eventually the Christians on their 'kill the killers of Jesus' mentality.
If Christianity continues making inroads into India, it could potentially have a home in Central and southern Asia, spreading into Indonesia and Indochina as well as into the Steppes.
If Christianity continues making inroads into India, it could potentially have a home in Central and southern Asia, spreading into Indonesia and Indochina as well as into the Steppes.
In this timeline the romans are the ones blamed as "killers of Jesus", not the jews
But other than that I agree that Ethiopia would make a great sanctuary for them
It's blamed on the Romans this time? Makes far more sense than OTL lol. 'Ah yes let's murder Jesus's kinsmen because they killed him.'
Yeah!
Because the romans are the enemies of the persians here while the jews on the Empire are just chill
Makes sense. It really adds a whole new dynamic to the Roman-Persian rivalry doesn't it.
If the Arab conquest of the Middle-east still happens ITTL, they might ironically unify TTL's great Christendom, with Arabia, Persia, as well as the Holy Land.
Always great seeing information about Axum, especially the interesting part of them remaining a Jewish kingdom, hopefully they don't collapse as otl and manage to keep going in controlling the Red Sea trade route(which would mean them controlling West Arabia, Yemen, Somalia and maybe Egypt too)
How? The Gupta Empire should be at the height of its power, how did the Sassanids even push this deep?
I probably could have phrased this better; much of the periphery of Northern India along the Persian border has been Christianized. The rest of India is still predominantly Hindu and Buddhist, and as you say, the Guptas are at their height of power, it’s just that the Gupta-Sassanid border has a strong Christian missionary presence.
