by Mahir Khalifa-zadeh*
Created: March 23, 2026
Posted from:
Khalifa-zadeh Mahir. Christianity in Ādurbādagān and Arrān (Caucasian Albania) in the Sasanian Period, International Journal of History, 2026, Vol 8, Issue 3, pp. 74-83.
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.22271/27069109.2026.v8.i3a.685
 |
| https://www.historyjournal.net/article/685/8-3-35-236.pdf |
This article discusses the spread and development of Christianity in Sasanian Ādurbādagān and Arrān (Caucasian Albania). The author argues that it is essential to consider the Christianization of Albania beyond the Caucasian horizon and to look at it as part of the broader process of Christianity’s dissemination in Persia and the adjoining Caucasus, following the establishment of the Church of the East (Church of Persia) and the Caucasian Albanian Church, in particular. Considering the Sasanian period as a milestone in the strengthening and institutionalization of Christianity throughout the whole empire, the author examines the doctrinal developments and Christological differences between the Churches of Albania and Persia. The author highlights that the Church of Persia was the official church of the Sasanian Empire and had a diocese in Ērānšahr’s Ādurbādagān, neighboring Albania, just across the Aras River. Notwithstanding that Albania was historically close to Persia, particularly to Ādurbādagān, forming with it the kust-ī Ādurbādagān under the Sasanians, and that the Church of Persia influenced Albania, establishing a significant so-called Nestorian community, Albania nevertheless had its own Albanian Autocephalic Church. Highlighting the Albanians’ self-interested loyalty to the Sasanians, as well as the close administrative, military, and later dynastic ties between the Sasanian Ādurbādagān and Albania, this article analyzes the development of Christianity in both regions, following the establishment of the different Churches that had diverse relationships with the dyophysite Byzantine Church. The author discusses the baptism of the Albanian king and “his people” into the Chalcedonian faith by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, as he was carrying out a “Holy War” against the Sasanians to redeem the True Cross.
Keywords: Orthodox Byzantium, Church of Persia, Caucasian Albanian Church, Sasanian, Iran, Azerbaijan
INTRODUCTION
The spread
and development of Christianity in Caucasian Albania (Greek: Ἀλβανία; Pahlavi: Ārān)[1] is one of the key issues
in the reconstruction of the historical process of the dissemination of
Christianity in the Caucasus, one of the world’s most politically, ethnically,
and religiously complex regions. The adoption, development, and
institutionalization of Christianity in Caucasia, particularly in Albania, have
been attracting significant interest. However, the issue of the Albanian Church’s
Christology complicates the reconstruction of Christianity’s development in
Albania. The complexity of the Albanian Church’s Christological doctrine stems
from its controversial relationship with the Miaphysite Armenian Church and,
with the Church of the East (ecclesiastically Persian)[2] in the pre- and
post-Chalcedonian periods. Both Churches had influential communities in Albania,
and the Armenian Church tried to dominate in Caucasia, enjoying Sasanian
support. In this regard, the Albanian Church’s Christological dogma and
relationship with the Council of Chalcedon and its attempts to be “more ethnic”
and independent,[3]
as well as the later rebaptism of Albania by the Emperor Heraclius, attract
significant interest.[4]
Undoubtedly,
the struggle between the Sasanians and Byzantines was a strong political
background for the spread and development of Christianity, particularly in late
Antiquity.[5] The Caucasus was notably an
arena of clashing interests and religious competition between the officially
Zoroastrian Sasanian Empire and the Orthodox Byzantium. Both empires recognized
Caucasia’s strategic importance and struggled to dominate politically and religiously
in all Caucasian countries: Armenia, Albania, and Iberia (Georgia).
Indeed,
Albania occupied an important place in Sasanian imperial policy and strategy,
particularly for its control over the Darband pass between the Caucasian
mountains and the Caspian Sea, shielding Ērānšahr from the Turks’ incursions. Through
the reforms initiated by Sasanian kings Kawād I (r. 488 - 531) and his son Xusrō
I Anōšīrvān (r. 531 - 579), the Sasanians redesigned the military and power
architecture in this corner of the empire through the creation of the kust-ī Ādurbādagān,
establishing the Ādurbādagān military command that covered Albania
as well. The reforms enabled the Sasanians to extend Ādurbādagān’s military and
administrative functions, such as the office of tax/revenue (Pahlavi: āmārgar/
ahmārkar) on Arrān (Albania) up to the
Darband fortress.[6]
The reforms also strengthened the empire’s defense and military capabilities by
incorporating Albanian troops into the Sasanian imperial army under the command
of an Ādurbādagān’s general (spāhbed).[7]
Sasanian imperial
policy was oriented toward strengthening the Shah’s power and the empire’s official
Zoroastrian religion in Caucasia and particularly in Albania. However, at the
same time, acknowledging the rise of Christianity and their inability to stop
the proselytizing of the local Albanians, the Sasanians grasped the necessity to
expand the influence of the “Nestorian” Church
of Persia[8] and the Shah supported the miaphysite
Church of Armenia[9] over the Albanian Church,
preventing it from shifting under the Orthodox Church of Byzantium. The
Sasanians found it beneficial to support the Armenian Church, counterbalancing
the See of Constantinople in Albania and Iberia.
This policy,
accompanied by the heavy Sasanian military presence under the Ādurbādagān
spāhbed’s command in Albania, was focused on preventing the country and its Church
from falling under the influence and dominance of Byzantium and its
Chalcedonian Church, which could lead to the potential loss of control over the
strategic Darband pass in Albania’s Caspian shores.[10]
Thus, aiming
to understand the Sasanians’ strategic political and religious concerns in
Caucasian Albania, it is of significant interest to discuss the path of the
Church of Persia and the Albanian Church (rarely called the Church of Arrān)[11] to the milestone
Councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451) and its consequences, which divided
the Christian churches in Persia and Caucasia. In this light, it is notable to
review the post-Chalcedonian developments in Albania and its Church’s
christological affiliation.
PATH TO THE COUNCILS OF EPHESUS AND
CHALCEDON (SHORT OVERVIEW)
In 410, the
Church of the East officially proclaimed itself the church of the Sasanian
Empire at the Synod of Mar Ishaq in Seleucia-Ctesiphon, convened with King Yazdegerd
I’s authorization. Later in 424, the Church, by the Synod of Catholicos Mar Dadisho (in office 424 -
456), formally proclaimed its autocephality and independence vis-à-vis the Western
Church, rejecting any intervention of Byzantium[12] that followed the
dogmatic break into the official separation.
In 431,
Emperor Theodosius convened the Council of Ephesus[13]
(third ecumenical council) to settle disputes related to Nestorius and
his doctrine, emphasizing that Christ was two distinct persons, one divine and
one human (two Sons).[14] Nestorius argued that
the designation of the Virgin Mary must be replaced from Theotokos (Θεοτόκος, “God-bearer”) to what he believed was
the more accurate term, Christotokos
(Χριστοτόκος, “Christ-bearer”).[15]
The Church
of Persia refused to recognize the Council of Ephesus’s decision that condemned
Nestorius and his teaching and continued to follow the so-called Nestorian doctrine
based on Theodore of Mopsuestia’s theology.[16] The Council of Ephesus,
as many scholars agree, became the first significant schism between the Churches of Byzantium
and Persia. The detachment of the Church of Persia, resulting from the
rejection of the Council’s decisions, had sparked dogmatic disputes with the
Armenians, Albanians, and Georgians. The representatives of Armenia, Albania,
and Iberia did not participate in the Council. However, some sources indicate that
Bishop Jeremiah, the head of the Albanian Church, was mentioned in the Council’s
list of church leaders before the Albanian Church’s See moved from Č̣olay (Darband) to Partaw.[17]
Next, the fourth
ecumenical Council of Chalcedon, summoned by the Emperor Marcian (r. 450-457),
was undoubtedly a milestone in the development of Christianity and Christology,
condemning Nestorius’s heresy. However, the Council divided the Christendom and
had a great impact on the Church of Persia and the Churches in Caucasia.
Indeed, the
Fathers of the Council stated a Definition of Faith (Ὅρος Πίστεως).[18] They affirmed the
epitome that in Christ, as one Person and hypostasis, “there were united the
divine nature (consubstantial with the Father) and the human nature through his
mother, the Virgin Mother of God (Theotokos),
without confusion, change, division, or separation (ἀσυγχύτως, ἀτρέπτως, ἀδιαιρέτως,
ἀχωρίστως).” The Fathers aimed to enforce the Church's unity, but the
opposite occurred.[19]
In 486, the
Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon adopted the Syriac creed that emphasizes two
natures (kyane) and two hypostases (qnoma) of Christ.[20] Thus, the Church of the East
(Persian Church) repudiated the Council of Chalcedon's decision, following the
spread of the dyophysite Antiochian Christology of Theodore of Mopsuestia, or
the so-called Nestorianism,[21] in the Sasanian Empire, while
the followers of Chalcedon enjoyed support from the Emperor in Constantinople.[22]
POST-CHALCEDONIAN PERIOD
Christianity in Caucasian Albania
(Arrān)
Notably, no
representatives of Persarmenia, Albania, and Iberia had come to the Council of
Chalcedon. Later in 506, during the First Council (Synod) of Dwin, the Armenian
Church rejected the Chalcedon decisions and officially clarified its non-Chalcedonian
doctrine - miaphysite or one nature standpoint - in the presence of many
bishops from the churches of Albania and Iberia, blaming the Chalcedon canons
and anathematizing Nestorianism in the Second Council of Dwin in 555.[23] The miaphysite Armenians
even declared the year 551 “as the first day (year) of their confession.” Georgia
(Kartli) and Albania neither rejected the Council of Chalcedon nor supported
the anti-Miaphysite faith in the First Council of Dwin.[24] In the meantime, some scholars
argue that it is anachronistic to speak of Armenian anti-Chalcedonianism in the
6th century.[25]
With regard
to Albania, the exact Christological affiliation of the Albanian Church was obscure,
as some scholars believe.[26]
However, some
pieces of evidence support the notion that the Albanian Church was Chalcedonian
in the 6th - 7th centuries.[27] In this regard, the
letter of the patriarch of Jerusalem John IV (in office 575 - 594)[28] addressed to the
Albanian Catholicos Abas (in office 551 - 596) is of significant interest. In his
letter, the patriarch of Jerusalem urged the Albanian Catholicos Abas, who
successfully established the Archbishop in Albania’s capital of Partaw, to remain
faithful and correct to the dyophysite formula and, thus, to secure access to the
Albanian monasteries in the Holy Land.[29]
Moreover, the patriarch, as Jasmin Dum-Tragut mentions, called up Abas to expel
“all Armenian heretics… from the monasteries in Albania, as he himself had
already done in Jerusalem”.[30] He also wrote that he
anathematized the Armenian heretics and “... one of the city’s Armenian
monasteries was set on fire.”
Intriguingly,
the patriarch John’s letter is noticeable as cautious evidence of the dogmatic
discrepancies with the Armenians. Previously, at the First Council of Dwin, the
Armenians, Albanians, and Georgians demonstrated their unity, rejecting the
Nestorian doctrine, which became the dogma of the Church of the East.[31] The dogmatic discrepancy
can also be traced in the letter from the Armenian marzpanate’s Catholicos
Yovhannes II (in office 558 - 574) to the Albanian bishops and the Albanian
Catholicos Abas (mentioned as a bishop of Partaw), who, early on, was successful
in being separated hierarchically from the Armenian Church, declaring the
Albanian Church’s autocephality in 590.[32] The hierarchical issue played a significant role in the
separation of the Iberian/Georgian Church as well. Moreover, Yovhannes II’s
letter reiterated the anathema to the supporters of Nestorius’s dogma that it was
a sign not to tolerate the influential Nestorian community, which existed in
Albania at the time.[33]
Interestingly,
a certain T’umas (Tymothy), a priest of the monastery of Pant in Jerusalem (possibly
named after Pand, an early head of the Albanian Church) and at the same time possibly
served as a bishop of the Albanian Church in Balasakan,[34] urged patriarch John
to write a letter to Catholicos Abas. T’umas, according to John’s letter, was an
active and foremost proponent of dyophysitism in Albania, which was the country
of his residence.
It is of
interest to point out that the patriarch’s wordings, urging Albanian Catholicos
“to remain faithful to the “correct, i.e., dyophysite doctrine”[35] or “follow,” “having” the
dyophysite Christology (“The Son… became a man from the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Theotokos. And he became a perfect man [who] is true God, of two natures:
divine and human…”) of Chalcedon (“…the holy and universal Council of Chalcedon…
has said that Christ is perfect God and perfect man, true God and true man.”).[36] Thus, to ensure access to the Chalcedonian
Albanian monasteries in the Holy Land. The patriarch’s words create grounds to
believe that Catholicos Abas and his followers might have been Chalcedonian.
The
patriarch John’s letter, one may carefully consider it as cautious evidence,
indicating that during his time, the Albanian Catholicos Abas and followers of
the Caucasian Albanian Church might have enjoyed Chalcedonian Christology, owning
several active Chalcedonian Albanian monasteries in Jerusalem. Zaza Aleksidze
believes that the Albanian Church at the time separated from the miaphysite
Armenian Church and did not have any dogmatic uniformity with Armenians.[37]
John wrote, “Now, you brothers, follow the holy Church and do not stray to the right or to the left, having the faith of the holy Church, which you learned from the holy Apostle and his disciples…” He wrote to Abas that he ordered priest T’umas to collect and translate (into Albanian?) all necessary documents and send them to him, that “… you may instruct your bishops…. But as for you, do not conceal or mask the true teaching of the Church.”[38] In this context, serious interest is shown in the letter of the Armenian patriarch John of Gabelen (in office 557 - 574), who, in his letter to the Albanian Catholicos Abas, directly requested to adopt miaphysitism.[39]
Thus, in
his letter, John IV calls on Catholicos Abas not to hesitate (regarding the
Armenian patriarch John of Gabelen’s letter) to follow dyophysite Christology
and to instruct his bishops on it, to enforce the Chalcedonian dogma in Albania.
At the same time, John’s wordings “… we have heard that some under your
jurisdiction are causing trouble for pious believers, even persecution. Such
lawlessness belongs to pagan kings…” could be interpreted as proof that the Albanian
Apostolic[40]
Church experienced political and doctrinal pressure, trying to sever confessional
ties from the neighboring miaphysite and non-Chalcedonian Armenian Church in
the same way as the dyophysite Chalcedonian Kartvelians/Iberians.[41] It also proves that the
pagan (Zoroastrian) Sasanian court exerted direct pressure on the Albanian
Church.
Next, in
552, the See of the Albanian Church was relocated from Čor (Darband) to Partaw
(now Barda from Arabic Bardha’a,
present-day Azerbaijan) situated on the right bank of the Kura River. It is
necessary to note that by maintaining Armenia in a state of dependency, the
Sasanians established the Armenian marzpanate.[42] Moreover, the Sasanians
transferred the Kura’s right-bank principalities (Uti/k, Šakašēn, Arc’sax, Kolt,
Xac’en and Gardman)[43] to Albania after the
partition of Armenia with Byzantium in 387. Later, in 428, after the abolishing
of the Armenian kingdom, the Sasanians also transferred the other
principalities of Paytakaran and Parskahayk to Ādurbādagān (Azerbaijan).[44]
The move
of the See to Albania’s capital, Partaw, strengthened the Albanian king’s power
and the Church’s influence in the newly added lands. It also safeguarded the
See from the nomads’ regular incursions via the Darband pass. In the meantime, it
created serious tensions between the two neighboring Churches.
Indeed, the
Kura River’s right bank, surely, at the time of Catholicos Abas, continued to be
populated by local followers of the miaphysite Armenian Church. Thus, a detail should
not be excluded from the analysis of the religious and political landscape at
the time is that the miaphysite Armenian Church, suffering the partition of
Armenia and the loss of numerous followers who switched to Byzantium and losing
ground as a result, tried to secure its influence over the Miaphysites in the transferred
lands to Albania. It is also safe to assume that the Sasanian Armenia’s miaphysite
Church prevented the increase in the Albanian Church’s influence or dominance over
the Kura River right bank’s Miaphysites or their switching to the Chalcedonian
faith under Byzantine, Georgian, or even the Albanian propaganda, with the
latter being aimed to enforce the Albanian See and Partaw’s power in newly
added lands.
Another
detail that should not be excluded is that the Armenian marzpanate’s Church tried
to use the Kura River right bank’s Miaphysite Armenians as an effective tool, as
one can find some reflection of this in patriarch John IV’s wordings requesting
Abas to eject Miaphysites from the Albanian monasteries, to keep the Albanian
Church dependable and/or not separated dogmatically and hierarchically. Thus, the
Armenian Church, seeking to survive and minimize the impact of Armenia’s
partition and transfer of lands to Albania, launched efforts “to create a
single miaphysite camp in the Caucasus,”[45] later enjoying Sasanian support
to counterbalance the See in
Constantinople.[46]
Notably, at
the time, the Armenian Church was experiencing internal schism and turbulence.
It also attempted to eliminate or minimize the influence of the Byzantine Chalcedonian
Church, which adopted a policy to increase its political and religious presence
and dominance in Caucasia, particularly over the pro-Chalcedonian fraction in
the Armenian Church, as well as in Albania and Iberia.[47]
In fact, John
IV’s letter to the Albanian Catholicos Abas partially reflected the complexity
of the political and religious (Christological) situation in Albania and across
all of Caucasia. However, it had, as someone may interpret, not only a religious
background, urging Abas to end the animosity against Chalcedonians under his
jurisdiction and not to fall or follow the miaphysite Armenian or other
(Persian Church) anti-Chalcedonian dogmas, but also a political dimension.
Indeed, the
letter was a political message to enforce (“expel the miaphysite heretics from the
monasteries in Albania”) the Chalcedonian faith in Albania, following the Byzantine
Church’s and the Emperor’s policy (“I set things in order, as the emperor commanded…”)[48] while Byzantium was wrestling with the Sasanian
Empire in Caucasia.
In this
regard, as Christoph Baumer believes, the Albanian Catholicos Abas moved closer
to the Byzantine Church, aiming for greater autonomy from the Armenian Church and
erasing the unity among the churches on the confession of faith.[49] Zaza Aleksidze also
confirms that, in the polemic with the Miaphysite Armenian bishops on the
Chalcedon faith, the Albanian Church officials were in the same position as the
Iberians (Georgians).[50]
Next, with regard to the
Albanian monasteries in the Holy Land, which, as follows from John IV’s letter
to the Albanian Catholicos Abas, possibly were Chalcedonian, a couple of sources
confirm the Albanians’ monastic presence in Jerusalem. “The List of Armenian
Monasteries,” attributed to the priest of Anastas, mentions that Albanians had four
or as Moses Kalankatvatsi’s “History of Albania” (also known as “The History of
the Caucasian Albanians” by Movses Dasxuranci) states up to 10
Jerusalemite monasteries belonging to the Albanian Church.[51] The list of Movses
Dasxuranci enumerates the following Albanian monasteries in the Holy Land: the
monastery of Kalankatuk of Utik, the monastery of Arc’sax, the monastery of
Amaras dedicated to St Gregory, the monastery of Partaw of the St. Mary Mother
of God, and others.[52] It also mentions that they
were named after the churches located in Albania’s principalities.
Furthermore,
Movses Dasxuranci’s chronicle mentions evidence of the Caucasian Albanians’
pilgrimage to the monasteries in Jerusalem. This evidence indicates that the Albanian
monasteries in the Holy Land were linked with the Albanian churches and the See
in Partaw. One may assume that if the Albanian monasteries in the Holy Land were
possibly Chalcedonian at the time of patriarch John IV and were visited by the
monks from Albania, then it is hard to believe that these monasteries and the
Albanian churches, to which the monasteries were dedicated and named after, were
of a different dogma.
The South
Caucasian countries had monasteries in the Holy Land that belonged to their respective
churches, serving the officially different liturgies in their “national”[53] languages. Indeed, the discovery
of the Albanian palimpsests (St. John’s Gospel and Lectionary, dated to the 6th
– 7th centuries) in a large Georgian library that was once present in
the St. Catherine monastery on Mount Sinai, clearly confirms the existence of
Albanian monasteries in the Holy Land. It also supports the close ties between
the Georgian and Albanian monasteries.[54]
Moreover,
the discovery of the Albanian palimpsests is undeniable evidence of the unique
Albanian liturgy[55]
written in the indigenous Albanian (Arrānian[56] or Udin, or its
ancestor,[57]
as modern scholars believe) language. There is solid evidence that at the
beginning of the 5th century, the Albanian bishop Eremia (Jeremiah),
with Albania’s Christian king (Ārānšāh) Aswahen’s approval,[58] developed a
Greek-style alphabet for the Albanians that replaced the Syriac.
Bishop Eremia, together with an Albanian-origin monk and interpreter Beniamin,
may have translated the Holy Scriptures from Greek or Syriac into Albanian,
which became the
ecclesiastical language of the Albanian Church.[59]
The fact
that the palimpsests were stored as “Georgian” together with other old Georgian
manuscripts indicates the Georgian influence on the Albanian Church. The
discovery of the Albanian palimpsests in a dyophysite (Georgian) environment,
as modern scholars believe, is evidence of the unity of these churches after
the Caucasian schism.[60]
Next, the Georgian
burial inscription (Asomtavruli
script) from the 5th – 6th centuries in the village of
Umm Leisun on the road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, as Tchekhanovets believes, is of particular
significance in understanding the faith of the Caucasian Albanian Church.[61] The script on the grave mentions
“… Iohane bishop of Purtavi, a Kartvelian.”[l62] Through a careful examination
of the name, Tchekhanovets assumes that the name “Purtavi” possibly originates
from the bishopric seat in the city of Partaw, capital of Caucasian Albania. She
argues the “bishop of Purtavi” is “bishop of Partaw.” The bishop of Partaw, at
the time, was the head or Catholicos of the Albanian Church.[63] The Albanian Chronicle
of Mxit’ar Gos[64]
mentions the Albanian Catholicos named Iohane/Hovhaness II in the years of 644 –
671. However, an academic identification of the person is needed.
Thus, if
the dyophysite (Chalcedonian) Kartvelian bishop Iohane might have been a head
of the Church of Albania, then one may assume that the Albanian Church was of
the same dogma as the Kartvelian (Georgian) church. If so, then it is intriguing
why the Kartvelian bishop headed the Albanian Church if it was of a different (miaphysite)
faith from his Chalcedonian. In fact, Christofer Baumer states that the church leaders
of Katrli, Albania, and Siwnik previously aligned themselves with the
Chalcedonian confession and “welcomed the imperial degrees of Emperor Justin
and revoked the Henotikon (ἑνωτικόν) in 519.”[65]
Furthermore,
a letter preserved in the Armenian collection known as The “Book of Messages”
indicates that the Armenian patriarch Abraham Albatanetsi (in office 607 -
615) anathematized Georgia and Albania after the church schism in Caucasia in the
early 7th century.[66] Abraham, in his
pastoral letter to his people, restricted any contacts with the Georgians and
requested the same from the Albanians, hoping that they would return from the
wrong way that they had already taken.[67] Indeed, since the
schism, no unity or the faith was shared anymore between the Caucasian churches.[68]
The fact
that the Miaphysite Armenian patriarch Abraham anathematized both Georgia and
Albania allows reasonable to assume that, at the beginning of the 7th
century, the Albanian Church did not share uniformity with Armenians[69] and followed the dyophysite
faith as the Georgians.
Christianity in Ādurbādagān and Sasanian policy toward Arrān (Caucasian Albania)
The
long-lasting conflict between the Sasanian and Byzantine empires is known to
have shadowed the era of late Antiquity. The struggle for predominance between
the Empire of Rome and the East on even terms had military, political, ideological,
and religious dimensions.[70]
However, unlike
Byzantium, the Sasanian Empire, as some may highlight, was comparably in a more
complicated position in terms of religion. The Sasanians proclaimed Zoroastrianism
as the state religion, with
the religious and Zoroastrian propaganda center situated in Ādurbādagān. [71] On the other side,
the Empire was already seeded by Christianity in the Parthian period. At the
time of the Sasanians, Christianity was rooted and disseminated in the whole
Ērānšahr and in adjoining lands such as Caucasia, competing effectively with
the empire’s official religion of Zoroastrianism. The successful spread of the
Gospel had forced the Sasanian court and the Magian Church[72] to prohibit the proselytizing
of Zoroastrians, Persians, Medes, and Albanians.[73]
In fact, the
religiously dualistic situation (officially Zoroastrian but already evangelized)
significantly complicated the Sasanians’ policy due to the need to secure the
loyalty of a substantial number of Christians within the empire and to ensure
the empire’s attractiveness to Christians in neighboring lands. At the same
time, the Sasanians were obligated to strengthen the only state religion of Zoroastrianism
as the officially self-proclaimed restorers of Truth and Persian Glory.[74] The religious
complicity of the empire’s internal situation and its bitter rivalry with
Byzantium led to the Sassanids’ controversial policy toward Christians, marked
by several waves of persecution and periods of relatively lenient policy. As Christianity
institutionalized and structuralized into the Church of Persia, the Sasanians no
longer ignored its influence. Shāhānshāhs, in an attempt to counterbalance the
powerful Magies, even took an interest in the various Synods of the Church,
interfering in the Catholicos’ election and managing the Church’s policy. In
552, Xusrō I Anōšīrvān promoted his own nominee (royal physician, Joseph) for
Catholicos of the Church of Persia and Patriarch Mar Ezekiel of Seleucia-Ctesiphon
(in office 570 - 581) in the Synod of 554 was requested to include the Shah’s
name in the official liturgy.[75]
The adoption
of the so-called Nestorian doctrine and the following official separation from
the Western Church established the basics of the Persian Church’s policy toward
Christians in the adjoining lands, particularly in Caucasia. At the end of the 5th
century, the See in Seleucia-Ctesiphon became a Nestorian Christianity
expansion and propaganda center,[76] affecting the Sasanian
policy toward the churches in Armenia, Albania, and Iberia.
In the
meantime, since the Council of Chalcedon, the Byzantine Empire facilitated and
propagated the Chalcedonian faith in its part of Armenia that was previously divided
between them and the Sasanians. Later, Constantinople launched a policy to
enforce the pro-Chalcedonian fraction in the miaphysite Armenian Church of the marzpanate,[77] promoting the Chalcedonian
dogma in Iberia and Albania as well.
Remarkably,
the partition of Armenia and the hostility with Byzantium prompted the
Sasanians to recognize the strategic importance of Albania as a Sasanian
bulwark behind the Armenian marzpanate and as a northern shield of the empire
against nomad incursions. The Turks, penetrating deep into Ērānšahr via
Albania’s Darband pass, generated a devastating threat to the empire’s Zoroastrian
propaganda center of Ādurbādagān, holding the last Great Fire of State Ādur Gušnasp,[78] as the most sacred
and “cathedral”[79]
fire temple, with which the Sasanians and the head or mobedān mobed (priest of
priests) of the Magian Church were affiliated.[80]
Notwithstanding
the Sassanids’ proclamation of Zoroastrianism as the only state religion, transforming
Ādurbādagān into the empire’s religious and Zoroastrian propaganda center,[81] Azerbaijan also enjoyed
developed Christian communities. The Acts of the Persian Church’s Synod of 420,
which was held under the Catholicos Mar Jabalaha I (in office 415 - 420), officially
confirmed the presence of Christianity in Azerbaijan (D’adorbigan).[82] However, scholars argue
that Ādurbādagān was evangelized earlier than the 4th century,[83] but others believe
that Christian bishops and merchants left a footprint on its soil in the 1st
century.
In the post-Chalcedonian
period, the Persian Church already had the previously established diocese of Azerbaijan,
and Bishop Hosea “Osee, de Ganzak de l’Adherbaidjan” signed the Acts of the
Synod of Acacius in 486.[84] Some sources mention
that the Sasanian province of Ādurbādagān had up to 21 Nestorian bishoprics.[85]
Next, since
the end of the 5th century, the Church of Persia enjoyed the support
of the Sasanian court. The royal court welcomed the separation and supported
the Persian Church’s policy to propagate and expand the so-called Nestorian faith[86] in the empire’s
adjoining lands, including Caucasian Albania. In fact, the Persian Church had a
strong and influential Nestorian community in Albania’s principality of
Balasagan[87]
and established a bishopric in the city of Paytakaran (now Baylagan,
present-day Azerbaijan). Notably, the Albanian capital of Partaw was a Nestorian
Metropolitan See, covering
possibly the whole Arrān.[88]
The late Sasanians
considered the support and expansion of both the anti-Chalcedonian Persian and
Armenian churches as an efficient political tool to contain or minimize Byzantine
Chalcedonian influence in Caucasia, particularly preventing the Albanian Church
from adapting or following the Chalcedonian dogma. King Xusrō II found it
beneficial to exploit the division between Monophysites and Chalcedonians.
Even after
the fall of the Sasanians in the 8th century, the Persian Church
under the Patriarch Timothy I of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (in office 780 - 823)
continued its expansion deep into Albania, sending a monk named Eliya to Muqān
(the region divided between Ādurbādagān and Albania) and to areas close to the
Caspian Sea to baptize locals.
Truly, both the Persian and Armenian churches had a significant influence on
the Albanians and on their church. The miaphysite Armenian Church hardly tried
to subordinate[89]
the Albanian church in the pre- and post-Chalcedonian periods, creating strong
disagreements between religious leaders not only with the Church of Albania but
also with the Church of Iberia.[90]
As modern
scholars indicate, the influential presence of the Persian Church’s
Nestorianism in Albania, following the establishment of a Nestorian bishopric
in Paytakaran,[91] had forced the Albanian Catholicate to fight[92] it and secure its
non-Nestorian faith, as well as to counterbalance the “radiation” of
Zoroastrianism from the geographically and historically close Ādurbādagān,[93] the empire’s
Zoroastrian center.
Indeed,
the Shah’s royal court, as one may argue, launched a double-track policy:
enforcing Zoroastrianism by sending priests to establish fire temples from the
empire’s Zoroastrian center of Ādurbādagān, and projecting the Persian Church’s
influence over the Aras River, establishing the Nestorian community in the area.
In the
meantime, the establishment of the kust-ī Ādurbādāgān, resulting King Xusrō I
Anōšīrvān’s reform in the 6th century, and the military command
(isbahbadh) of Azerbaijan with the specially assigned Ādurbādagān general (spāhbed)
was aimed to strengthen Sasanian power and Zoroastrianism in Caucasia, a religiously
and security-sensitive part of the Sasanian Empire. The creation of the kust-ī
Ādurbādāgān and the office of Ādurbādagān’s general were designed to shield
Ādurbādagān, holding the Sasanian “cathedral” and the last Fire of State of
Ādur Gušnasp. Ādurbādagān’s security was fragile because of its proximity to
the war zones in Armenia with the Byzantine Empire and to Albania’s Darband pass.[94]
Indeed, the
Sasanians were highly concerned about losing control over Albania and Albania’s
Darband pass because of the Byzantine policy and the threat of the Turks, respectively.
The strengthening of the Shāhānshāh’s administrative and military power, as
well as the religious dominance of Zoroastrianism in Caucasia, particularly in
Albania, were among the goals of King Xusrō I Anōšīrvān’s multitargeted reforms
in this part of the empire.[95]
The
Sasanians, as one may assume, believed that an only Albanian army was not able to
ensure control over the Darband pass, which held strategic importance for the empire’s
national security. In fact, the late Sasanians incorporated Albanian troops
into the Sasanian imperial army under the Ādurbādagān spāhbed’s command,
deploying a heavy military presence of up to 20,000 men and 5,000 horsemen in Albania’s
Caspian shores fortresses of Darband, Torpakh kala (Saharestan Yazdagerd),
Beshbarmag, Gilgilchay Defense Wall (Apzut Kawāt wall).[96] Additionally, the
Sasanian marzbān of the kust-ī Ādurbādagān based in Azerbaijan’s Ardebil was
responsible for supporting the troops of the Ādurbādagān spāhbed on the
Caucasian and Armenian fronts. The command also ensured the security of Ādur
Gušnasp.[97]
Furthermore,
aiming to maintain political control over Albania, the late Sasanians brought to
power the Pahlav Mehrān family as the new ruling dynasty. The powerful House of
Mehrān was one of the Seven Great Parthian Houses (wuzurg Pahlav šahrdārān)
of the empire. The House of Mehrān, which enjoyed a close relationship with King
Xusrō I[98] and held high-ranking
positions in the Sasanian military, was either a separate entity or a branch of
the Great Pahlav House of Aspahbadh (Ispahbudhan),[99] which governed Ādurbādagān[100] and commanded its army.
Intriguingly, previously, King Xusrō II Parvēz (r. 590 - 628) kept the True Cross, which was seized in Jerusalem in 614 and probably under the influence of his Christian (initially Nestorian, later possibly joined the West Syriac Church, i.e. Jacobites[101]) wife Shirin, in the empire’s capital Ctesiphon[102] as a trophy for the Nestorian Christians of the Church of Persia. However, the prime relic of Christendom was later kept in Ādurbādagān’s capital Ganzak[103] (ancient Shiz), the center of the Church of Persia’s Ganzak diocese and the home of the empire’s “cathedral” fire temple of Ādur Gušnasp.[104] King Xusrō II’s motives for capturing the True Cross and its political, religious, and ideological consequences have been the subject of active debate.[105] However, as one might expect, the fact that the True Cross was held in Ganzak’s diocese signified Ādurbādagān’s value for both Christians and Zoroastrians as the place where the Cross was stored, and as the empire’s core Zoroastrian province with the last State Fire of Ādur Gušnasp. It is hard, if not impossible, to suppose that Xusrō II tried to counterbalance the powerful Zoroastrian clergy affiliated with Ādur Gušnasp in this manner.
Baptizing of Albania’s King and “His People” by Emperor Heraclius
The abduction of the True Cross, as some scholars believe, pushed
Heraclius to declare a “Holy War” (602 - 624)[106]
against the Sasanian King Xusrō II, whom the official Byzantine propaganda presented
as the ant-Christ (“he who hates God and fights him”)[107]
to liberate the life-giving Cross and return it to Jerusalem. Heraclius ruined
and humiliated the Sasanians’ most sacred sanctuary of the Ādur Gušnasp fire
and depicted a cross on a broken Zoroastrian altar, aiming to crush the Sasanian
will to fight. After the destruction of Naxcawan (now Nakhchivan, present-day Azerbaijan)
and the devastation of Ādurbādagān’s capital of Ganzak, Heraclius wintered in
Albania in 624. Encamping near Albania’s capital of Partaw, he called Armenian,
Albanian, and Iberian princes and governors to join his service, aiming to
shrink the Sasanian manpower and enforce Christianity in Caucasia. While
stationed in Albania, he sent Ambassador Andrew to the Kagan of the Turks with
an invitation to join the campaign against the Persians on the Roman side.[108]
In 627 - 628, fighting alongside the Turks against the Sasanians, the
Emperor returned to Albania. Assessing Albania’s control over the Darband pass
and solidifying the advantages of the war with the Sasanians, he attempted to
increase Byzantine influence and dominance in this strategic country, which
blocked the Turks’ incursions deep into the Sasanian Empire.
Indeed, there is strong evidence that Heraclius in 628 met with Varaz
Grigor of Mehrān, who had just become king (Ārānšāh),[109
in Albania’s principality of Gardman. Here, as the Georgian Sumbat’s chronicle of
“The Life and Story of Bagrationi” mentions, Heraclius “baptized
Varaz-Gregor and all his people and began to build a church… .”[110]
The chronicle mentions that Heraclius converted the king and “all his people,” numbering
30,000 families. Other scholars, however, argue that it was the rebaptizing[111]
of Varaz-Gregor from the miaphysite to the Chalcedonian faith[112] that surely, as one may point out, brought
Albania closer to Byzantium.
Finally, it is safe to assume that Emperor Heraclius, aiming to enforce
Byzantium’s religious and thus political influence in Albania, considered the
conversion or re-baptizing of Albania’s king and “his people” into the faith, which
Byzantium had and Georgia already enjoyed, as an effective tool to break
Albania’s closeness to the Sasanian royal court and to recruit Christians to
his army. From the Albanian side, it was a strong attempt to obtain
Chalcedonian Byzantium as a powerful ally, minimizing the pressure from the pagan
Sasanians as well as from both anti-Chalcedonian churches - the Nestorian
Church of Persia and the miaphysite Armenian Church.
CONCLUSION
Late Antiquity’s permanent rivalry for dominance between the Sasanian and
Byzantine empires was multidimensional, covering ideology and religion. The
Zoroastrian nature of Iran and the Orthodox Christianity of Byzantium
significantly impacted Christianity’s development in Iran and in the adjoining South
Caucasian countries.
Despite the availability of Armenian interpretations, however, the lack
of indigenous Albanian (Udi) sources complicates the reconstruction and
analysis of Christianity’s development in Albania and its church’s
Christological affiliation. The issue of the Albanian Church’s doctrine reflects
the complexity of Christianity in the country, which at the time was presented
by the influential communities of so-called Nestorians, Miaphysites, and
dyophysite Chalcedonians.
The presented attempt to analyze evidence allows us to believe that the
Albanian Church, in the post-Chalcedonian 6th - 7th centuries,
with high probability, enjoyed the Chalcedonian dogma and shared this faith
with neighboring Iberia (Georgia). The church schism in 607 - 609 enforced the
Chalcedonian faith in Caucasia, strengthening the independence of the Georgian
and Albanian churches. It prompted the Miaphysite Armenian patriarch to
anathematize both Georgia and Albania.
The solidifying of the Chalcedonian faith was in Byzantine strategic
interests. Constantinople, launching a multi-targeted policy in Caucasia and
aiming to enforce its influence, was greatly interested in fortifying
Christianity and, particularly, the Chalcedonian faith.
On the other side, the Sasanians, using the dogmatic opposition of the
Miaphysites and dyophysite Chalcedonians, attempted to minimize or eliminate
Byzantine influence in the region. The Shah’s court supported both non-Chalcedonian
factions - the miaphysite Armenian and the Church of the East (“Nestorian”
Persian Church) - to counterbalance the See of Constantinople, using them as an
effective tool to control Caucasia and Albania, in particular.
Moreover, the Sasanians, as part of Xusrō I’s reforms that followed the
establishment of the kust-i Ādurbādagān, tried to enforce Zoroastrianism and
the royal court’s power, projecting Ādurbādagān’s administrative and military
functions up to Albania’s fortress of Darband on the Caspian shores. It was in
the Sasanians’ national interests to secure control over strategically located
Albania, shielding Ādurbādagān’s sacred fire and controlling the militarily
vital Darband pass, preventing Albania and its church from falling under the Byzantine
religious and political influence.
The Sasanians would under no circumstances allow the loss of control over
the Darband pass because the Turks were their enemies and allied with the
Byzantines. Later, the same strategy was adopted by the Muslim Arabs as they
confronted Byzantium after the fall of the Sasanians.
It is reasonable to assume that the policy of preventing the loss of
control over the strategic Darband pass by the Sasanians and later by the Arabs
could be considered as one of the key reasons for the final fall of the
Chalcedonian faith in Albania, following the Islamization of the country.
Indeed, after conquering Albania in the 8th century, the Arabs deployed a
significant military force there. The Arab garrison stations became nuclei of
the new religion, initiating the Islamization and the gradual decline of
Albania’s Christianity. The Arab officials forced the Albanian Church to
abandon its previous doctrinal affiliation and adopt the Anti-Chalcedonian
confession of faith. At the time, masterpieces of the Albanian language, or
non-Armenian manuscripts of the Church of Albania, were probably destroyed.
Finally, regarding the baptism of Varaz-Gregor of Albania by Heraclius,
it was certainly a strong strategic, political, and religious move that
benefited both Byzantium and Albania. The Emperor enforced the Chalcedonian
faith, increasing control over strategically located Albania, and, for the
Albanians, it was a strong attempt to gain a powerful ally, securing political
and religious independence from the pagan Sasanians and Miaphysites.
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* Khalifa-zadeh M., Research Professor, Ph.D, Canadian Historical Association, 130 Albert Street, Suite 1912, Ottawa, ON, K1P5G4, Canada
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