monks[1] till the general disaster of Timur Leng. Since then the religious life vegetates only among them. They still have a few wandering monks, but no longer any fixed monasteries (p. 135).
Summary
In this chapter we have seen a general picture of the Nestorian Church from its definite adoption of that heresy till the 19th century. From the 7th century at latest we must count the ancient Church of Persia as committed to the heresy condemned by the Council of Ephesus. It was already schismatical. In its isolation this Church had periods of great degradation alternately with moral revivals. Mâr Abâ I, in the 6th century, deserves to be remembered as an illustrious reformer. In the 7th century the Moslem Arabs conquered Persia; so the Nestorians found themselves under new masters. The Arab capital was Bagdad; the Nestorian Patriarch came to live here, and for about six centuries his people were not altogether badly treated, while they remained the chief source of general civilization for their Moslem rulers. Jengiz Khan did them no great harm either. During this time thay had most nourishing missions all over Asia, so that their Patriarch was head of a large hierarchy, including bishops even in China. Timur Leng in the 13th century put an end to all their prosperity, destroyed their missions, and left them a poor remnant in Kurdistan. Here they had a great quarrel about the Patriarchal succession in the 16th century, out of which emerge rival lines and the beginning of reunion with Rome. During the time before Timur Leng monasticism was a flourishing institution among them; now it has practically disappeared.
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