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Merv was a metropolitan province of the Church of the East between the fifth and eleventh centuries, with several known suffragan dioceses. == Background == At least one East Syrian diocese in Khorasan existed by the beginning of the fifth century, though it was not assigned to a metropolitan province in 410. After establishing five metropolitan provinces in Mesopotamia, Canon XXI of the synod of Isaac provided that 'the bishops of the more remote dioceses of Fars, of the Islands, of Beth Madaye, of Beth Raziqaye and of the country of Abrashahr must accept the definition established in this council at a later date'. By implication, Abrashahr (Nishapur) already had a bishop at this period.〔Chabot, 273〕 Four East Syrian dioceses in Khorasan and Segestan are attested a few years later. The bishops Bar Shaba of Merv, David of Abrashahr, Yazdoï of Herat and Aphrid of Segestan were present at the synod of Dadisho in 424.〔Chabot, 285〕 The uncommon name of the bishop of Merv, Bar Shaba, means 'son of the deportation', suggesting that Merv's Christian community may have been deported from Roman territory. The diocese of Segestan, whose bishop probably sat at Zarang, was disputed during the schism of Narsaï and Elisha in the 520s. The patriarch Aba I resolved the dispute in 544 by temporarily dividing the diocese, assigning Zarang, Farah and Qash to the bishop Yazdaphrid and Bist and Rukut to the bishop Sargis. He ordered that the diocese should be reunited as soon as one of these bishops died.〔Chabot, 339-45〕 The Christian population of the Merv region seems to have increased during the sixth century, as the bishop of Merv was recognised as a metropolitan at the synod of Joseph in 554 and Herat also became a metropolitan diocese shortly afterwards. The first known metropolitan of Herat was present at the synod of Ishoyahb I in 585. The growing importance of the Merv region for the Church of the East is also attested by the appearance of several more Christian centres during the late fifth and sixth century. By the end of the fifth century the diocese of Abrashahr (Nishapur) also included the city of Tus, whose name featured in 497 in the title of the bishop Yohannis of 'Tus and Abrashahr'. Four more dioceses seem also to have been created in the sixth century. The bishops Yohannan of 'Abiward and Shahr Peroz' and Theodore of Merw-i Rud accepted the acts of the synod of Joseph in 554, the latter by letter, while the bishops Habib of Pusang and Gabriel of 'Badisi and Qadistan' adhered by proxy to the decisions of the synod of Ishoyahb I in 585, sending deacons to represent them.〔Chabot, 366 and 423〕 None of these four dioceses is mentioned again, and it is not clear when they lapsed. Timothy I consecrated a metropolitan named Hnanisho for Sarbaz in the 790s. This diocese is not mentioned again. In 893 Eliya of Damascus listed both Merv and Herat as metropolitan provinces. Segestan was a suffragan diocese of Herat, while Merv had suffragan dioceses for 'Dair Hans', 'Damadut', and 'Dabar Sanaï', three districts whose locations are entirely unknown.〔Assemani, ''BO'', ii. 485–9〕 By the eleventh century East Syrian Christianity was in decline in Khorasan and Segestan. The last-known metropolitan of Merv was Abdisho, who was consecrated by the patriarch Mari (987–99). The last-known metropolitan of Herat was Giwargis, who flourished in the reign of Sabrisho III (1064–72). If any of the suffragan dioceses were still in existence at this period, they are not mentioned. The surviving urban Christian communities in Khorasan suffered a heavy blow at the start of the thirteenth century, when the cities of Merv, Nishapur and Herat were stormed by Genghis Khan in 1220. Their inhabitants were massacred, and although all three cities were refounded shortly afterwards, it is likely that they had only small East Syrian communities thereafter. Nevertheless, at least one diocese survived into the thirteenth century. In 1279 an unnamed bishop of Tus entertained the monks Bar Sawma and Marqos in the monastery of Mar Sehyon near Tus during their pilgrimage from China to Jerusalem. 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「Merv (East Syrian Ecclesiastical Province)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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