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The Church of the East ( ''ʿĒ(d)tāʾ d-Maḏn(ə)ḥāʾ''), also known as the Nestorian Church, was a Christian church within the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. It was the Christian church of the Sasanian Empire, and quickly spread widely through Asia. Between the 9th and 14th centuries it represented the world's largest Christian church in terms of geographical extent, with dioceses stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to China and India. Several modern churches claim continuity with the historical Church of the East. The Church of the East was headed by the Patriarch of the East, continuing a line that, according to tradition, stretched back to the Apostolic Age. Liturgically, the church adhered to the East Syrian Rite, and theologically, it adopted the doctrine of Nestorianism, which emphasizes the distinctness of the divine and human natures of Jesus. This doctrine and its namesake, Nestorius (386–451), were condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431, leading to the Nestorian Schism and a subsequent exodus of Nestorius' supporters to Sasanian Persia. The existing Christians in Persia welcomed these refugees and gradually adopted Nestorian doctrine by the 5th century, leading the Church of Persia to be known alternately as the Nestorian Church. The church grew rapidly under the Sasanians, and following the Muslim conquest of Persia (633-654) it was designated as a protected ''dhimmi'' community under Muslim rule. From the 6th century it expanded greatly, establishing communities in India (the Saint Thomas Christians), among the Mongols in Central Asia, and in China, which became home to a thriving community under the Tang dynasty from the 7th to the 9th century. In the 13th and 14th centuries the church experienced a final period of expansion under the Mongol Empire, where influential Nestorian Christians sat in the Mongol court. From its peak of geographical extent, the church experienced a rapid period of decline starting in the 14th century, due in large part to outside influences. The Mongol Empire dissolved into civil war, the Chinese Ming dynasty overthrew the Mongols (1368) and ejected Christians and other foreign influences from China, and many Mongols in Central Asia converted to Islam. The Muslim Mongol leader Timur (1336–1405) nearly eradicated the remaining Christians in Persia; thereafter, Nestorian Christianity remained largely confined to Upper Mesopotamia and to the Malabar Coast of India. In the 16th century, the Church of the East underwent a schism from which three distinct churches eventually emerged: the modern Assyrian Church of the East, the Ancient Church of the East (which split from the former over reforms such as the use of the Gregorian Calender), and the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See. ==Organization and structure== The Church of the East was headed by the Patriarch of the East, an office that traces its origin to the Apostolic Age. The head of the church also bears the title "Catholicos". Like the churches from which it developed, the Church of the East has an ordained clergy divided into the three traditional orders of deacon, priest (or presbyter), and bishop. Also like other churches, it has an episcopal polity: organization by dioceses, each headed by a bishop and made up of several individual parish communities overseen by priests. Dioceses are organized into provinces under the authority of a metropolitan bishop. The office of metropolitan bishop is an important one, and comes with additional duties and powers; canonically, only metropolitans can consecrate a patriarch.〔Wilmshurst, ''Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East'', 21–2〕 The Patriarch also has the charge of the Province of the Patriarch. For most of its history the church had six or so Interior Provinces in its heartland in northern Mesopotamia, southeastern Anatolia, and northwestern Iran and an increasing number of Exterior Provinces elsewhere. Most of these latter were located farther afield within the territory of the Sasanian Empire (and later the Caliphate), but very early on, provinces formed beyond the empire's borders as well. By the 10th century, the church had between 20〔("Nestorian" ). ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved January 28, 2010.〕 and 30 metropolitan provinces〔〔According to John Foster, ''Church of the Tang Dynasty'', p. 34, in the 9th century there were 25 metropolitans〕 including in China and India.〔 The Chinese provinces were lost in the 11th century, and in the subsequent centuries, other exterior provinces went into decline as well. However, in the 13th century, during the Mongol Empire, the church added two new metropolitan provinces in North China, Tangut and Katai and Ong.〔Wilmshurst, p. 4〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Church of the East」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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