AHC: Make Mongols Christians

KaiserCorax

Banned
Your challenge is to make the Mongols, including Genghis Khan, Christian.

POD no later than 1000 AD


Through this, you must achieve the following:

  • Christian Golden Horde + Christian majority Central Asia
  • Christian minorities in China and the Ilkhanate
  • Modern day Christian minority of at least 10% in Iran and Afghanistan
Bonus points if:

  • Mongols don't attack or even ally themselves with Russia and the Byzantines
You can choose the type of Christianity, preferably Nestorian or Orthodox.
 
Well, when the mongols came, they where Tengrii the steppe religion. So, rather then them converting to Islam, have some priests from Byzantium try and convert the Ilkhanate and Golden Horde rulers. From there Orthodoxy can spread east, and the steppe peoples could eventually all convert.

This may even lead to a sizable mongol population in Europe. With some other PODs you may even end up with a new Mongol homeland in the Ukraine, Caucus regions. Other areas may be better suited though.
 
Well, when the mongols came, they where Tengrii the steppe religion. So, rather then them converting to Islam, have some priests from Byzantium try and convert the Ilkhanate and Golden Horde rulers. From there Orthodoxy can spread east, and the steppe peoples could eventually all convert.

Problem: Why do they convert to Orthodoxy? What's the interest in it for them?

Also, what about Nestorianism, which did actually have a following of some substance?
 
There's always this guy. Granted, the OP's conditions are nigh impossible since a pre-1000 POD by its nature largely voids the specific conditions that led to Temujin unifying the Mongols, if not his existence.
 
Sartaq living longer might work, but then again there's always the option of a Nestorian Il-Khanate. I wonder how a Christian Chagatai Khanate can be achieved though.
 
Problem: Why do they convert to Orthodoxy? What's the interest in it for them?

Also, what about Nestorianism, which did actually have a following of some substance?
Nestorianism was, if I remember right, limited to the Mongolian steppes. I can't say about the Il-Khanate, but there is a legitimate reason to convert to Orthodoxy in the Golden Khanate, given how that's the religion of most of the population. It's probably not a good enough reason to convert, but there is reason to it.

Trying to convert the Il-Khanate to Christianity would be a disaster, though it could remain a religion of the Mongols, a la Islam in Russia under the Golden Horde.
 
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