than by conversions. The thought was taking root that a man born in the Church naturally belonged to it; but that it was out of the common for folk to join it from outside, or for men to work with the object of winning them.[1]
In recommending marriage, however, Tamuza had to guard his people against marriages condemned by the Christian conscience, though even applauded by the Magian code. This was one of the standing temptations of all Persian Christians; and their obedience to their stricter law was one of the standing provocations that their existence offered to Zoroastrians, That the incestuous unions of Magianism should be unknown now—thanks to the influence of a faith that borrowed this point of its morality at least from Christianity—is not the least of the triumphs (albeit an indirect one) of the faith.
Tamuza died a natural death—a thing sufficiently unusual among bishops of the period for Bar-Hebræus to note the fact specially—but in spite of this encouraging event it was hard to find any one who, at the time of his departure, would accept the dangerous post. After a considerable interval, one Qaiuma (Cajumas) volunteered for the perilous honour; on the ground that he, being already an old man, had little to lose by a speedy death, and that such service as his age could render was at the disposal of the Church. The date of his consecration is both uncertain and unimportant. For a few years (five, according to Bar-Hebræus) he acted as an avowed stop-gap in the see; and then the accession of Yezdegerd and the commencement of friendly relations with the Christian Empire of Rome offered a prospect of definite peace for the Church, The Catholicos at once offered to lay down an office which he had only accepted when it
- ↑ B.H., p. 42.
