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First Christian Church in Transcaucasia Arts & Humanities Open Access Journal Research Article Open Access First Christian Church in Transcaucasia Abstract Volume 4 Issue 6 - 2020 In the southern regions of Iran (Persia), Zoroastrianism was represented by Kazimi Parviz Firudin Oqlu numerous temples and pantheons of gods, while in the Northern provinces, Associate Professor, Doctor of Philosophy, Baku State fire worship retained its early form, recognizing one deity - Ahramazda. University, Russia With the coming to power of the Sassanids, the number of temples began to increase. The fact that peregrine And his son were priests of the Anahita Correspondence: Kazimi Parviz Firudin Oqlu, Associate temple also set priorities during their rule. When the Sassanids came to power, Professor, Doctor of Philosophy, Baku State University, Russia, Ardeshir imposed a special tax (one-tenth) on the temples of fire-worshippers. Tel +994553704141, Email However, environmental analysis shows that during the reign of various rulers, Mazdeism, Mithraism, Manichaeism, and even Christianity gained moderate Received: October 16, 2020 | Published: December 31, 2020 ascendancy in the Sassanid state, albeit temporarily. For the first 300 years after Christ, there was a serious struggle in Eastern Anatolia to become a strong and lasting religion. The first Christian Church in Parthia played a leading role in this struggle. The lack of information about the history of Parthia, and sometimes very was brought to the leadership. Arastun took part in the creation of the churches little, enriches this period with legends. The Parthian aristocracy maintained of Albania and Iveria, became their first Bishop, and participated in the first its influence in the Northern regions of Persia. The reign of the Arshakids (of world Council of Christians (Nicaea-Syria). aranshah) continued in Albania until the 6th century. The Parthians understood and practiced fire worship differently than in Persia. The Parthian nobles saw Early Christians quickly forgot the important decisions made at the first and knew the important role of the temple of Anahita in the victory of the meeting of the apostles of Jesus, and Christians all over the world are involved sons of Sassanids. Along with various traditional religions, many new religions in intrigues between the two churches - the Church of Nicaea (Syria) and the spread in the Persian province and in Persian geography, new concepts were Church of Alexandria. After the formation of the Church of Constantinople, synthesized between religions, there was fierce competition between religions, competition increased, and although the Christian Church in Eastern Anatolia and religious clans sought access to large palaces. and Cappadocia was subordinate to Constantinople, the Syriac Church sent representatives to Cappadocia and Eastern Anatolia in search of supporters. The early Christians who settled in the Northern provinces of Parthia in the The church, founded by Gregory, son of Apak, acts as a true Christian church middle of the third century gained a large following. In 252-326, Gregory under the leadership of 10 generations after him and proclaims that Christianity (his Church name) was the son of Apak (Anak) of the Arshakid dynasty , and is a divine religion. Only in 437, with the appointment of Hovhannes, a disciple he was baptized in Cappadocia and received a Christian upbringing. When of the Syrian missionary and provocateur Mesrop Mashtos (educated in Syria), another of the Arsacid dynasty, Prince Tridad, together with Gregory, founded the leadership of the church changed the character of the first Christian Church the first Christian Church, of course, the Central government did not like it, of the Parthians, covering a large area from Eastern Anatolia to Albania. The and the persecution increased. However, by the will of the sons of A, they were first Christian Church of the Parthians changed its essence, defining the status able to hold and preserve the Church. The younger son of Gregory, Arastun of a national church, and not a propagandist of common Christian values. (Armenians call him Aristakes), led the Church in 325-333, and then his older brother, the first son of Gregory erfan (Arfan) (Armenians call him Vrtanes), Keywords: Gregorian Church, Armenian Church, Hayastan, Diaspora, took over the leadership of the Church in 333-341 on the advice of his father Artsag Introduction The geography of the historical battles between the Sassanids and the Romans was, as in the time of the Parthians, the lands of Eastern During the period of regional hegemony of the Parthian state (247 Anatolia. The lack of information about the history of Parthia, and - 224 BC), Median traditions were preserved for a long time in the sometimes very little, makes this period rich in legends. Nevertheless, Northern provinces. If in the southern regions Zoroastrianism was there is a lot of material about the Parthians in information resources. represented by a large number of temples and a pantheon of “gods”, It is noteworthy that instead of clarifying, a very heterogeneous array then the worship of fire widespread in the Northern provinces knew of information creates information “noise” within the information the early form of the one God-Ahuramazda. With the coming to power resources of Azerbaijan, as well as in the world information space. of the Sassanids, the number of temples began to increase. The fact Instead of digitizing serious scientific research and putting it into that Sassan and his son were priests of the Anahid Temple also set databases, translations are posted from sources whose credibility priorities during their reign. When the Sassanids came to power, is in question. According to Russian sources, the Parthians came Ardeshir introduced a special tax (one tenth) due to the decline of the from the east and were named Parthians because of the name of the temples of fire worshipers. For this reason, some researchers believe area where they settled. In fact, they called themselves Arshakids that fire worship was the official state religion during the Sassanid (Arshaks), who were from the Saka tribes, called “Sakas” in Russian, period. However, analysis of the environment shows that during “Shakas” in Hindi and Chinese, and presented themselves as “sons the reign of various rulers, Mazdakism, Mithraism, Manichaeism of Sakas” as Arshakids. In Indian, Nepalese and Chinese legends, and even Christianity gained dominance in the Sassanid state, there are many references to the Buddha’s belonging to the Saka tribe, albeit temporarily. The role of religions and confessions in Iranian and interesting articles by Kazakh researchers have been published geography in historical and cultural communication is the subject of a on this score. Therefore, presenting the Arshakids belonging to the separate and extremely interesting study. Saka tribes as Iranian-speaking peoples, Aryans or Pahlavites is not Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Art Human Open Acc J. 2020;4(6):246‒251. 246 ©2020 Oqlu. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially. Copyright: First Christian Church in Transcaucasia ©2020 Oqlu 247 a serious approach. In this case, the Gajars and Ghaznavids should One of the most reliable sources is the New Testament, which be called Persians or Aryans, because they speak and write Persian. It contains the exact coordinates of the regions served by 70 disciples. is known that the Parthians did not create a writing system and used Only there is no information about the service of Thaddeus (Jew) different letters for different reasons. In general, the attitude of the in Armenia. For example, among the apostles (70 followers) it is Turkic-speaking peoples to the sacred word and writing (writing was mentioned that Simeon served in Abkhazia, Tertius in Konya (icon), perceived as a system of symbols representing the sacred word) is the Sosipater in Konya, Timothy in Ephesus, Prochorus in Antioch, Luke subject of a special study. in Eskishar (Ladokia), Kriskin in Galatia (Galatia). At the same time, there is no information about the connection of the Armenian Church By the way, it should be noted that the concept of “Iranian- with any of the first apostles or followers of 70 disciples. It is very speaking” peoples, which is often used in the works of leading important to define this in terms of the history of the first Christian researchers of the world, is also incorrect, and there is no such language church in Parthian geography. group. Analysis of texts from Sumerian cuneiform to Bisitun writing shows that in this geography, along with Indo-European languages, The famous Russian scientist A. Aninsky, studying Armenian there were languages belonging​​ to Afro-Asian languages ​​(Sami), as historical sources, notes that the historical information in these well as agglutinative structures (Turkic-speaking peoples) and there is sources has been changed for several decades before or after. (P. 3) no point in combining these languages ​​to create a category “Iranian- For example, according to Martin, the reign of Khosrov 198–232, speaking” peoples. Even after the defeat from the Sassanid side, the 232–259. The years of the occupation of Persia, the reign of Tridates Parthian aristocracy retained its influence in the northern regions of 259-314, The history of the conversion of Armenians to Christianity Persia. The rule of the Arshakids in the regions lasted until the 6th according to the chronicles of Chamchia, the reign of Khosrov 214- century, including in Albania. The Parthians, unlike Persia, perceived 259, Tridates 286-341, the reign of Arshak III 363-381. Also, the dates and practiced the worship of fire. The Parthian nobility saw and knew of the dioceses of Gregory, Aristakes, Vartan and Yusik are marked by what an important role the temple “Anahida” played in the victory significant differences in different sources. If we agree that the authors of the sons of the Sassanids.
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