چکیده:
From the time of the Parthian rule, many Christians entered the borders of Iran because some Roman emperors launched large-scale religious persecutions against Christians. Christians had favorable conditions to attend to their religious affairs during the reign of the first Sasanian kings, especially during the time of Shapur I. However, in the fourth century AD, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. For more than a century, a common hypothesis has emerged among researchers that Shapur II of the Sasanian dynasty launched large-scale religious persecutions against Christians in the fourth century AD. The Syriac testimonies, which, like a tradition, addressed this issue from the fifth century AD onwards, are the main sources for the existence of these persecutions. On the other hand, some researchers, with the presupposition of the existence of such persecutions, have tried to interpret the limited sources of the fourth century AD accordingly. In this article, we have examined various sources related to this topic, including historical sources of the fourth century AD and Syriac testimonies, and have shown that there are many contradictions and biases in the reports of Christian sources regarding the religious persecutions of Shapur II in the fourth century AD, which seriously question their credibility. Ultimately, we concluded that no large-scale religious persecution against Christianity took place during the time of Shapur II, and they continued to grow within the Sasanian Empire.
خلاصه ماشینی:
The Letter of Emperor Constantine to Shapur II Many researchers consider the reason for Shapur II’s treatment of Christians to be the Christianization of Constantine, the Roman emperor, and his claim to support all Christians, and consequently the Sasanian court’s view of Iranian Christians as a fifth column of the enemy (Nafisi, ١٣٨٣: ٣٩؛ ٤٣ :١٩٠٤ ,Labourt؛ ٤٦-٤٥ :١٩١٦ ,Yohannan؛ ٨٨-٨٧ :١٩٧٠ ,Fiey؛ Boyce ١١٩ :١٩٧٩؛ ١٠-٧ :١٩٨٢ Brock؛ ٢٥ :١٩٨٤ ,Widengren؛ ١٢٦ :١٩٨٥ ,Barnes؛ Schwaigret ١٢٠-١١٤ :١٩٨٨؛ ١٣٠ :١٩٩٢ ,Brock؛ ٣٧٧-٣٧٣ :١٩٩٣ ,ferWieseho؛ ,Baum and Winkler ١١-١٠ :٢٠٠٣؛ ٩٦ :٢٠٠١ ,Fowden؛ ٢٣٧ :٢٠٠٢ ,Stausberg؛ ٢٤٦ :٢٠٠٥ ,McDonough؛ ٢١٠ :٢٠٠٧ ,Dignas and Winter؛ ٧٨-٧٧ :٢٠٠٩ ,Daryaee ؛ ١٠٠٠ :٢٠١٢ ,Walker).
Ammianus Marcellinus is one of the most important sources that writes about these wars; he makes no mention of their religious motivation, and Ephrem the Syrian, despite criticizing the destruction caused by Shapur II’s attack in these wars, considers him the instrument of the death of the apostate Emperor Julianus; because from his point of view, Julianus is a persecutor and tormentor of Christians )10 :2016, Smith(.
On the other hand, in the Syriac sources of the Church of the East, until the lifetime of Emperor Constantine, Shapur II did nothing against Christians, and it was after his death that their religious persecution began.
The large number of these sources and their various reports also misled many contemporary researchers and led to the claim that the existence of a large-scale religious persecution against Christians in the time of the Sasanian Shapur II was a historical truth.
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