Alopes

Surname	Alopes
Chinese	阿羅 本 Āluóběn 景 净 pinyin: jǐng jìng
Syrian	syre : rabban / Abraham ܐܒܪܗܡ
Alternative names	Aleben Aluoben Olopen Olopan Olopuen
Brief description	Missionary, Nestorian Christian
Other languages	ru : Алобэнь
Lifetime	~ 600 AD

Alopen (* around 600 in Syria ; † after 635 in China ; Chinese  阿羅 本 , Pinyin Āluóběn ; and in Chinese 景 净 , Jǐngjìng ) is considered the first Christian missionary in China.
The name is a bit uncertain; possibly it is the transmission of the Syrian "rabban" (monk) or a transmission of "Abraham". Not much is known
about the origin of this Nestorian bishop from Syria. He first appeared in China when he lived in Chang'an in 635 during the Tang Dynastyarrives. He led a group of a dozen monks from Persia . Alopen found favorable conditions in China, there was religious tolerance, the Chinese emperor welcomed all religions, but remained a staunch Buddhist himself . Under the second Tang emperor, Taizong , the community flourished and was politically independent from the Christian West. This is impressively documented in 781 in the Nestorian monument that is being erected near Chang'an.

As the Tang Dynasty comes to an end, religious tolerance also wanes; the Christians , Manichaeans and Muslims who were able to establish themselves are disappearing again. By 900 the last remains of the Nestorian Church in China disappeared, but reappeared in western China and Mongolia in 1260-1368 .

Alopen's work was of paramount importance to the development of Chinese and Mongolian Christians.

In his luggage he also had 530 Christian texts in Syriac , which he translated successively.

Texts

• 敬礼 常 明 皇 乐 经, jing li chang ming huang le jing;
• 宣 元 至 本 经 , xuan yuan zhi ben jing;
• 志 玄 安乐 经, zhi xuan an le jing;
• 天宝 藏经, tian bao zang jing;
• 多 惠 圣王 经, duo hui sheng wang jing;
• 阿思 瞿利容 经, a si qu li rong jing;
• 浑 元 经, hun yuan jing;
• 通 真经, tong zhen jing;
• 宝 明 经, bao ming jing;
• 传 化 经, huan hua jing;
• 述略 经, shu lüe jing;
• 三 际 经, san ji jing;
• 宁思 经, ning si jing;
• 宣 义 经, xuan yi jing;
• 师 利海 经, shi li hai jing;
• 宝路 法王 经, bao lu fa wang jing;
• 三 威 赞 经 , san wei zan jing;
• 牟 世 法王 经, mou shi fa wang jing;
• 伊利耶 法王 经, yi li ye fa wang jing;

literature

• 朱 谦 之: «中国 景教» 1993 人民出版社ISBN 7-01-002626-2 .
• Karl Ludvig Reichelt: The Chinese Buddhism. A picture of the religious life of the East . Translated from Norwegian by W. Oehler. Basler Missionsbuchhandlung, Basel et al. 1926 (original edition: Fra Østens religious Liv . Gads Forlag, København 1922).
• Xu Longfei: The Nestorian stele in Xi'an. Encounter between Christianity and Chinese culture . Borengässer, Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-923946-66-X ( encounter 12; at the same time: Bonn, Univ., Diss., 2003).
• Gerhard Rosenkranz : The oldest Christianity in China - in the sources of the Nestorian texts of the Tang dynasty . Habilitation thesis, 2nd edition 1939.

Web links

• Catholic Dictionary: Alopen 阿羅 本
• Brief information ( Memento of August 27, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) (English)