Nestorian stele
The so-called Nestorian stele ( Chinese 大秦 景教 流行 中国 碑 / 大秦 景教 流行 中國 碑 , Pinyin Dàqín Jǐngjiào liúxíng Zhōngguó bēi - "Stele for spreading the religion of light from Daqin in China"), after an old name for the place Xi ' An in Shaanxi Province , also known as the Sianfu Stele , is a stele erected in 781 at the time of the Tang Dynasty .
description
It bears an inscription written in the name of the Assyrian Church of the East , the so-called Nestorian Church , which commemorates the arrival of the first missionaries in China about a century and a half earlier. Apparently it was mainly Christian Persians who sought refuge from the Muslim Arabs in the east from the sinking Sassanid Empire (see Peroz of Persia ).
The text of the almost three meter high and almost one meter wide limestone slab documents the spread of Christian communities in various places in northern China and shows that the church initially received recognition from the Tang emperor Taizong in 635 .
At the top of the stone is written in nine characters: “Stele for the spread of the religion of light from Daqin in China” (the church called itself the “religion of light from Daqin”), where Daqin has been a Chinese term for since the Han period the Roman Empire is.
It was erected in 781 in the capital Chang'an (today's Xi'an) or in nearby Zhouzhi (previously written 盩 厔). The calligrapher was Lü Xiuyan ( 呂秀 巖 ) and the text was written by the Nestorian monk Jingjing (景 淨), in four- and six- character Pianti style (1,756 Chinese characters in total) and a few lines in Syriac script (70 words) .
There is a cross at the top of the board. God is referred to as "True Majesty" ( 真主 ). The text speaks of the creation of the world , of the cross and of baptism . He also pays tribute to the Church's missionaries and patrons who are known to have arrived in China in 6406. One register contains names of Christian priests, many of whom are of Persian descent.
The stele was excavated in the late Ming Dynasty (1625) at the Chongren Temple (崇仁 寺), where it was housed for several centuries.
Text excerpt
„大秦 國有 上 德。 曰 阿羅 本。 占 青雲 而 載 真經。
望風 律 以 馳 艱險。 貞觀 九 祀 至於 至於 長安
帝 使 宰臣 房 公 玄齡 總 仗 西郊 賓 迎 入 內。 翻 經 書 殿。
問道 禁 闈。 深知 正 真。 特 令 傳授。 “
(Source: wikisource 大秦 景教 流行 中国 碑)
Cum grano salis translates as:
“There was a bishop in Syria named Alopen […] He rode through hardship and danger and arrived in Chang'an in the ninth year after Cheng-Kuans. [...] The emperor received him as a guest in the palace. The Holy Scriptures were translated in the imperial library and their teaching examined by the emperor himself. Since the emperor fully recognized that it was right and true, he expressly ordered its dissemination. ”
(Quoted from de.wikipedia, article: Nestorius , origin of the quotation unknown - the translation is in great need of improvement)
reception
The first reports about the stele came from the Jesuit missionary Álvaro Semedo in the West . The text was first translated and published by Athanasius Kircher with the help of Michael Boym . Numerous researchers have studied her since then, including Alexander Wylie , Arthur Christopher Moule , PY Saeki, and Paul Pelliot .
Stele forest
The stele is now exhibited in the Xi'an Stele Forest Museum , a museum in the city of Xi'an .
Literature (selection)
- R. Todd Godwin: Persian Christians at the Chinese Court: The Xi'an Stele and the Early Medieval Church of the East. IB Tauris, London / New York 2018.
- Frits Holm: My Nestorian Adventure in China. A Popular Account of the Holm-Nestorian Expedition to Sian-Fu and Its Results. With an introduction by Abraham Yohannan. Hutchinson, London 1924 (Reprint: Gorgias Press, Piscataway NJ 2001, ISBN 0-9713097-6-0 ( Gorgias Reprint Series 6), online text ).
- Xu Longfei: The Nestorian stele in Xi'an. Encounter between Christianity and Chinese culture. Borengässer, Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-923946-66-X ( encounter 12), (also: Bonn, Univ., Diss., 2003).
- Paul Pelliot : Recherches sur les chrétiens d'Asie centrale et d'Extrême-Orient. Volume II / 1: La stèle de Si-ngan-fou. Maisonneuve, Paris 1984, ISBN 2-900927-16-1 (Ouvres posthumes de Paul Pelliot) .
- Paul Pelliot: L'Inscription nestorienne de Si-ngan-fou. Edited with Supplements by Antonino Forte. Scuola di Studi sull'Asia Orientale et al., Kyoto 1996, ISBN 4-900793-12-4 .
- PY Saeki : The Nestorian Monument in China. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London 1916.
text
- High resolution photograph of a stone rubbing off of the University of Birmingham stele (below)
- Text at Wikisource
Web links
- English translation of the text on a Fordham University website
- The god from the west
- Early traces of Christianity in China
Individual evidence
- ^ Engl. Memorial of the Propagation in China of the Luminous Religion from Daqin / A Monument Commemorating the Propagation of the Ta-Chin Luminous Religion in the Middle Kingdom; also abbreviated 大秦 景教 碑 , Dàqín Jǐngjiào bēi - "Stele of the religion of the light of Daqin" called.
- ↑ D. h. the 9th year of the Zhenguan era (see stele text).
- ↑ D. h. in the 2nd year of the Jianzhong era of the Dezong emperor .
- ↑ http://dictionary.editme.com/ZAlopen3 - Piántǐ 駢 體 / 骈 体 , a rhythmic prose style characterized by parallelisms and embellishments.
- ↑ a b c page no longer available , search in web archives:
- ↑ DNB 975576887/34
- ↑ Athanasius Kircher: China monumentis qua sacris qua profanis… illustrata. Amsterdam 1667. The first part (pp. 1-45) is dedicated to the Nestorian stele: Pars I. Monumenti Syro-Sinici interpretatio. The stele is reproduced on a folding board according to p. 12 ( digital copy )