AH Challenge: Christian Persia

With any POD you choose, make Persia/Iran have a majority Christian population.

Bonus points if you can do this without making some form of "no Islam" TL.
 

Keenir

Banned
With any POD you choose, make Persia/Iran have a majority Christian population.

Bonus points if you can do this without making some form of "no Islam" TL.

around the 300s AD, the Persian Emperors were contemplating extending their protection to the Christians - have them do this before Constantine wins at Milvan Bridge, and Christianity might end up being viewed like other Persian faiths in the Roman Empire: tough to root out, but foreign nonetheless.

more and more Christians move to Persia over the next century or two, until they actually outnumber the adherents of other faiths there.

...and when The Seal of the Prophets arrives from Arabia in the 600s, Rome seizes on the opportunity.
 
around the 300s AD, the Persian Emperors were contemplating extending their protection to the Christians - have them do this before Constantine wins at Milvan Bridge, and Christianity might end up being viewed like other Persian faiths in the Roman Empire: tough to root out, but foreign nonetheless.

more and more Christians move to Persia over the next century or two, until they actually outnumber the adherents of other faiths there.

Didn't think of that. I was thinking Persia would stay Persian, ie, most Christians would be native converts.

...and when The Seal of the Prophets arrives from Arabia in the 600s, Rome seizes on the opportunity.
How? Conversion, or fighting him?
 
As natives, I think Zoroastrism has a better chance of sticking around then Christianity rooting.

But if you manage to achieve this somehow and block Islam from heading East, the butterflies would be rather large, especially when it comes to India.

And if Christianity would have a "base of operations" this East, it has a cahnce of spreading in Asia. Not anything large, but definately more then OTL.
 

Keenir

Banned
Didn't think of that. I was thinking Persia would stay Persian, ie, most Christians would be native converts.

most probably would....but nobody converts for no reason - they convert for political advantage, for social contacts, for a hundred reasons.

(if there's only 12 Christians in the Empire, where's the motivation for anyone to join them in their obscureness?)

How? Conversion, or fighting him?

joining with him against Teh Ev0l Christyans.
 
some thoughts:

- have a hellenistic successor state survive
- have Julian the Apostate beat the crap out of the Sassanids
- have Justinian beat the crap out of the Sassanids
 
As an answer to your question, possibly Christianity spreads eastward from havens like Antioch and Alexandria into Persia, where one of the Sassanid Emperors converts and integrates this new religion with Zoroastrianism.

some thoughts:

- have a hellenistic successor state survive
- have Julian the Apostate beat the crap out of the Sassanids
- have Justinian beat the crap out of the Sassanids

How would the last PAGAN Roman Emperor conquering the Sassanids Christianize them?
 
the logic behind it would be that at that point the romans had somewhat of a chance of beating thei arch rivals. the fact that Julian happens to be pagan is of little importance, since it would be difficult to stop the spread of christianity at that point
 
the logic behind it would be that at that point the romans had somewhat of a chance of beating thei arch rivals. the fact that Julian happens to be pagan is of little importance, since it would be difficult to stop the spread of christianity at that point

Wait one moment, though, Julian beating "the crap" out of the Persians would mean his survival (he died from wounds from a Sassanid attack), thus, Paganism could have easily been on par with Christianity even after he is succeeded. As well, a Pagan emperor winning a large victory over the Sassanids would mean that many would take it as a sign from the Gods, and many would perhaps convert to Paganism.
 
Well, you could have Zoroastrianism never become the state faith, which would make it easier for Christianity to flourish. That would require the Parthians surviving, though.
 
Wait one moment, though, Julian beating "the crap" out of the Persians would mean his survival (he died from wounds from a Sassanid attack), thus, Paganism could have easily been on par with Christianity even after he is succeeded. As well, a Pagan emperor winning a large victory over the Sassanids would mean that many would take it as a sign from the Gods, and many would perhaps convert to Paganism.
Not really. By that time Christianity was easily the dominant social force within the empire(thus why Julian was called "the Apostate"), and many of the pro-pagan anti-christian laws that Julian enacted were ignored. Even if he wins, that doesn't stop the social pressures in general Roman society. The view of christian theoligians in that era was that God's will ruled everything even the "bad" results(IIRC St. Augustine said "God gave the empire to Augustus, the same as he did to Nero"), so they might see it as God using the current pagan emporer in order to spread the word to the Persian nation or something.

I have my doubts that Julian winning would cause a Christian Persia though, and definitely not a long-lasting Nicene Creed Persia. Nestorianism or some other heretical sect in Persia, maybe. Although I have my doubts about how long even that would survive.
 
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