From 1905 to 1907 archeologists working in Turfan and Tunhuang in western China found hoards of ancient scrolls written in Chinese. These were religious documents. Most of these scrolls were Buddhist but several of them were Christian and were composed by Assyrian missionaries of the Church of the East and their Chinese converts. As every Assyrian should know, an Assyrian Christian known as Al-lo-pan was welcomed by the Tang emperor of ancient China in the year 635 AD. Al-lo-pan was given imperial favor and was commissioned to translate the scriptures from Syriac-Aramaic into Chinese and to have churches and monasteries built and to win converts. A monument honoring the Assyrian Church of the East was erected by the Chinese government in the year 781. This monument, which bears a cross and inscriptions in Syriac-Aramaic and Chinese, has been preserved and is one of the most important and famous ancient relics of the Assyrian Church of the East. This monument is known as the Nestorian Stone. Christianity thrived in China until the Confucists began persecuting foreign religions-which at that time included Buddhism and Christianity. The Church of the East returned to China when the Mongols, many of whom were Nestorian Christian, established the Mongol Empire. When the Mongol Empire declined so did the Church of the East in the Far East. These documents discovered by the archeologists included some that were written by Al-lo-pan himself. Others were written later by other Chinese Christians who were adherents of the Church of the East. These documents present some problems. Al-lo-pan struggled with Chinese and some of the words he used to express Christian concepts were not the most ideal. For instance, Al-lo-pan uses the word Buddha for God. (Also several Syriac words are written phonetically in Chinese and are not translated.)It should be remembered that Al-lo-pan was an innovator. No one before him had attempted to communicate Christianity to the Chinese. Al-lo-pan had the daunting challenge of creating new terminologies to proclaim Christian concepts to a totally foreign culture. Later Assyrian missionaries improved on Al-lo-pans work. Some of the missionaries attempted to communicate the Christian message to the Chinese by using themes familiar to them through Buddhism and Taoism. Nevertheless, the teaching of the Orthodox faith is presented in these scrolls. Samuel Hugh Moffett proclaims that Al-lo-pans Jesus the Messiah Sutra is full gospel. The essentials are there from original sin, to the substitutionary atonement , from the virgin birth to the cross, from the ten commandments to repentance and correction, from eternal punishment for unbelief, to salvation by faith not works, from condemnation of idols to love of enemies, from the equivalent of the Pauline injunction to be subject to governing authorities to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and care for widows and orphans
These Assyrian Christian documents discovered in China are an important part of the great legacy of the Church of the East. However these writings are not authoritative scripture. The Holy Gospel is proclaimed by the Church in the Divine Liturgy and in the Holy Bible. These scrolls are the teachings of missionaries and attempts by the Church to introduce the Chinese to Christianity. A new book is coming out that misrepresents the Church of the East and these documents. Martin Palmer has written a book entitled The Jesus Sutras: Rediscovering the Lost Scrolls of Taoist Christianity. In his writings Mr. Palmer refers to the Assyrian Church as a lost religion and calls the Ancient Holy and Apostolic Assyrian Church of the East Taoist Christianity. Taoism, like many other religions, does contain some truths and profound insights, however Taoism is a polytheistic idolatrous religion and is pagan. Calling the Church of the East Taoist Christian is like calling the Holy Church the Hindu-Christian Church or the Buddhist-Christian Church. This is an insult. Mr. Palmer, heavily borrowing from the research of P.Y. Saeki, used the works of Mr. Saeki to relocate an ancient Assyrian Church in China that is still standing and is well preserved. US News and World Report featured a story on Mr. Palmer in its March 5, 2001 edition and his discovery of this ancient Assyrian Church found in China. (In a speech Mr. Palmer makes the false claim that the church building he located is the first ancient church found in the far east. Several ruins of Assyrian church buildings have been discovered in central Asia and China including one in Goachan, China.) This discovery was part of an effort by Martin Palmer to publicize his new book. The article was full of inaccurate information about the Church of the East. For instance it states that the Church of the East was based in Afghanistan. While there was a bishop in Herat in what is today Afghanistan, the Churchs headquarters was Seleucia-Ctesphon and later Baghdad. The article never mentions the Assyrian Church by name neither by its proper name The Church of The East nor by the more commonly used Nestorian Church. There was no mention in the article to the fact that this church still exists, neither was there any references to the modern Assyrians. Palmer suggests in the article that the Church of the East was a deviant form of Christianity that incorporated pagan beliefs from Buddhism and Taoism into its theology and practice.
I wrote a letter to US News and World Report in response to the several untruths and distortions in the article (Did Christianity Thrive in Ancient China? by Bay Fang US News and World Report 5 March 2001 internet site: https://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/010305//china.htm) I wrote:While I was delighted to see that another one of our ancient churches has been discovered and that this discovery is being publicized I was disappointed to see inaccurate information in the article about Nestorian Christians. The Nestorian Church, more properly called the Ancient Church of the East, was based in the region of Iraq and Iran and not Afghanistan. This Church has survived until today and its adherents are called Assyrian or Chaldean Christians. During the Middle Ages we had many churches across all of Asia. Thousands in Mongolia, China and India belonged to the Nestorian church however due to persecutions only our churches in The Middle East and India have survived until this day. Although we were called Nestorians after Nestorius, a Patriarch of Constantinople who served from 428-431 AD, we hold our church to have been founded by the Holy Apostles Saint Thomas and Saint Thaddeus, who were disciples of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We still speak Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ among ourselves and use the Holy Language during our religious services. If any one is interested in learning more about Nestorian Christians they can visit the large Assyrian-American or Chaldean-American communities in Chicago and Detroit, read A History of Christianity in Asia by Samuel Hugh Moffett, or visit the official web site of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Church of the East at www.cired.org or visit the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies at www.jaas.org
Thank You, Stephen Andrew Missick
It is good that this Assyrian Christian literature written in Chinese is being published but Mr. Palmer is misrepresenting the Church of the East. The Assyrian Church is theologically orthodox and has faithfully maintained the teachings of the Holy Apostles. Mr. Palmer is attempting to imply that that the Church of the East is a radically deviant form of Christianity that is heavily influenced by idolatrous religions. Mr. Palmer is sensationalizing the Chinese scrolls and distorting their meaning. For more accurate information concerning the Assyrian Church in China several books are available. These books, unlike the writings of Mr. Palmer, deal accurately with the so-called Jesus Sutras. These books include A History of Christianity in Asia: Volume I: Beginnings to 1500 by Samuel Hugh Moffett, By Foot to China: Mission of the Church of the East to 1400 by John M. L. Young and Christians in Asia Before 1500 by Ian Gillman and Hans-Joachim Klimkeit. (Other good scholars who researched the Assyrian Church in the Far East include P.Y. Saeki and A.C. Moule)
As soon as I am able I will write a rebuttal to Mr. Palmers book and include it in The Ancient Church of the Far East: Assyrian Christianity in Imperial China, yet another paper I am working on. (I have already had my research on the Assyrian Church in Mongolia and India published in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. It will be difficult for me to write this paper right now since I am working on several research projects already and am preparing to go on an expedition to the Khabour River Valley Assyrians in eastern Syria. Afterwards I hope to go on a trip to Mongolia to attempt to locate the Erkuts, the last surviving Mongolian Nestorians and then attempt to reintroduce the Church of the East to the Mongols)
I hope it was not Mr. Palmers intent to slander the Church of the East as he has. Perhaps he meant well but was unable to properly research the history and teachings of the Assyrian Church of the East. At a speech given at the Asia Society entitled The Da Qin Project: Early Christianity in China (see internet site below) Mr. Palmer does make a few good comments but unfortunately descends into his delusions about revolutionizing Christianity. One good thing Mr. Palmer is attempting to do is his effort to turn the old church he relocated into a museum of ancient Christianity in China. The leadership of the Church of the East should get behind this project. If they do first they should gently rebuke Mr. Palmer for calling the Holy Church Taoist Christian.
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