Foundations of the Church
From “History of the Apostolic Church” by Afshin Khorrami
Even after the death(and some say resurrection) of that certain man from Nazareth, the young religion of Christianity continued to gain new members in spite of official persecution. The young church ran into increasing issues with its new converts; chief among them being whether or not they should be required to follow the laws of the Torah. In the year 50 AD, the Council of Jerusalem was called among the Apostles do decide this issue, among others.
Although it was not the main issue of the council, it was decided that the city of Ctesiphon, then capital of the Arsacid or Parthian Empire. The exact details of this particular discussion are lacking in primary sources and rely primarily on apocrypha, but, regardless, it was decided that Ctesiphon would serve as the basis for future conversion efforts. Ctesiphon was likely chosen because it was along the caravan routes.
It was Saint Peter who would establish himself in Ctesiphon. His conversion efforts were initially focused on the local Jewish population, but later came to include the Persian and Mesopotamian populations. He was eventually martyred at the hands of practitioners of Parthian polytheism[1], angered by his proselytization among their community. Coincidentally, Saint Paul was in Ctesiphon at the time as a missionary, having previously proselytized throughout the Roman Empire, as well as allegedly in Arabia and possibly Ethiopia. He would then become the second Patriarch of Ctesiphon.
As Paul was already in his old age, his time as Patriarch would only last ten years, with his earlier theological writings generally being considered more important. However, in a letter to the church in Antioch over a minor dispute in which he stated “the successorship of Saint Peter has been passed on to me”, which is taken by the Apostolic Church as evidence for their direct descent from the early church. Upon Paul’s death, he would be succeeded as Patriarch by Saint Kaveh.
Saint Kaveh was a convert to Christianity from Zoroastrianism, who according to tradition saw a vision of the Virgin Mary while on route to Babylon. Under Kaveh’s leadership, the church would take on a distinctly Persian character. While Persecuted in Rome, in Parthia Christians were allowed the freedom to practice their religion so long as they did not cause trouble with the authorities. As such, Ctesiphon would become the center of the church, which would steadily grow amongst the people of Parthia. Although the day had not come yet, and would not for a long time, the process in which a Christianized Persia could be born had begun.
[1]Syncretic Greco-Persian-Mesopotamian polytheism was relatively common in the Parthian Empire.
Even after the death(and some say resurrection) of that certain man from Nazareth, the young religion of Christianity continued to gain new members in spite of official persecution. The young church ran into increasing issues with its new converts; chief among them being whether or not they should be required to follow the laws of the Torah. In the year 50 AD, the Council of Jerusalem was called among the Apostles do decide this issue, among others.
Although it was not the main issue of the council, it was decided that the city of Ctesiphon, then capital of the Arsacid or Parthian Empire. The exact details of this particular discussion are lacking in primary sources and rely primarily on apocrypha, but, regardless, it was decided that Ctesiphon would serve as the basis for future conversion efforts. Ctesiphon was likely chosen because it was along the caravan routes.
It was Saint Peter who would establish himself in Ctesiphon. His conversion efforts were initially focused on the local Jewish population, but later came to include the Persian and Mesopotamian populations. He was eventually martyred at the hands of practitioners of Parthian polytheism[1], angered by his proselytization among their community. Coincidentally, Saint Paul was in Ctesiphon at the time as a missionary, having previously proselytized throughout the Roman Empire, as well as allegedly in Arabia and possibly Ethiopia. He would then become the second Patriarch of Ctesiphon.
As Paul was already in his old age, his time as Patriarch would only last ten years, with his earlier theological writings generally being considered more important. However, in a letter to the church in Antioch over a minor dispute in which he stated “the successorship of Saint Peter has been passed on to me”, which is taken by the Apostolic Church as evidence for their direct descent from the early church. Upon Paul’s death, he would be succeeded as Patriarch by Saint Kaveh.
Saint Kaveh was a convert to Christianity from Zoroastrianism, who according to tradition saw a vision of the Virgin Mary while on route to Babylon. Under Kaveh’s leadership, the church would take on a distinctly Persian character. While Persecuted in Rome, in Parthia Christians were allowed the freedom to practice their religion so long as they did not cause trouble with the authorities. As such, Ctesiphon would become the center of the church, which would steadily grow amongst the people of Parthia. Although the day had not come yet, and would not for a long time, the process in which a Christianized Persia could be born had begun.
[1]Syncretic Greco-Persian-Mesopotamian polytheism was relatively common in the Parthian Empire.
