St. John Chrysostom About the Religious Life of Sasanian Iran

Abstract

The writings of John Chrysostom contain information about the religious life of Persian society. Along with information about the official religion of Sasanian Iran (Zoroastrianism) the John Chrysostom’s writings provide information indicating the gradual spread of Christianity in Persian Empire. The information about Zoroastrianism reported by John Chrysostom concerns mainly two aspects: (1) the cult of Fire and (2) the priestly estate. The most notable feature of this part of data is the anachronistic identification of the inhabitants of Ancient Babylon as Persians and the resulting definition of the Babylonians as fire worshipers. This can be explained by the fact that in the Late Antiquity non-Roman Asia was associated just with Persia, and all the inhabitants of the territories located east of the Euphrates were perceived as the Persians, no matter what historical era was discussed. John Chrysostom also notes the tendency of Zoroastrian priests (magoi) to perform their rituals in a state of religious ecstasy. John Chrysostom’s references to the spread of Christianity in Sasanian Iran are more numerous. He reports (1) on the widespread preaching of the Christian faith in Persia, (2) on anti-Christian persecution by the Persians, (3) on the appearance of numerous martyrs in Iran and (4) on the erection of Christian churches there. All this information is confirmed both in Western (i.e. Classical) and in Eastern (i.e. Persian and Syrian) literary sources as well as archaeological excavations. An analysis of the information reported by John Chrysostom shows that he adhered to the usual for Late Antiquity paradigm of perception of the Oriental world. In addition, it should be noted the reliability of the John Chrysostom’s information about the religious life of Sasanian Iran, which testifies to the reliability of the writings of John Chrysostom as a historical source.