The Sassanid Empire and the Birth of a Persian Church

Before the Arab conquests, the Sassanid Empire was a world power, and within its borders, a distinct Christian tradition emerged. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Church of the East, a community that navigated persecution and patronage under Zoroastrian rulers. They discuss how Shah Yazdegerd I granted tolerance to Christians in 410 CE, the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon that organised the church under Catholicos Isaac, and the role of the school of Nisibis in preserving Greek learning. The episode also examines the legend of Mar Aba, a convert from Zoroastrianism who became a patriarch and reformed the church. How did a minority faith survive and thrive in the shadow of an empire that saw it as a foreign religion? And what did the Sassanid state gain by allowing it? #SassanidEmpire #ChurchOfTheEast #MarAba #YazdegerdI #SeleuciaCtesiphon #CouncilOfSeleucia #Nisibis #Zoroastrianism #PersianChristianity #Nestorianism #ByzantineEmpire #LateAntiquity #ReligiousTolerance #HistoryOfIran #Christianity #Persecution #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo