CHRISTIANSwhose authority and status depended on its acceptance. Concerning
the limited effectiveness of the Nestorian leadership in this respect,
Isho'yahbh I declared in 585 that "two things are exploited by Ma-
gianism: the small number of those who apply themselves to virtue
and discipline, and the great number of those who make virtue and
discipline consist of many words and elegant forms."144
In fact, the lay members of the community and some clergymen and
monks tended to break down the distinctions built up by the religious
leaders through their everyday relations with the members of other
religions. At the same time, continuing conversion brought outside
influences into the church throughout the entire period. One early
indication of this may be seen in the condemnation of funeral customs
of pagan origin. These customs were regarded as un-Christian by the
Synod of Ezechiel in 576 because they indicated a lack of genuine
faith. It was said that when someone died, the mourners grieved and
became enraged, the women cut their hair and tore their clothing,
lamented and wailed, used tambourines, flutes, and castanets, and
plunged into deep mourning doing things "far from the spirit of Chris-
tianity." This behavior of the women was approved by the laity "de-
void of the knowledge of God."145 About the same time, Bar 'Idta
tried to prevent pagan singing at a marriage procession in Margha
and wished to replace it with priests singing the Christian liturgy. But
the relatives of the groom would not hear of it, and it is said that the
pagan songs attracted demons who possessed the bride and were only
driven out by priests and deacons singing the Psalms.^146 The twenty-
fifth canon of the Synod of Ish6'yahbh I in 585 found it necessary to
censure Christians who, through ignorance or imprudence, mixed with
those of other religions and took part in the festivals of Jews, heretics,
and pagans, or incorporated things carried over from the festivals of
other religions into their own.147 The twenty-eighth canon of the same
synod was directed against those clerics who "enter taverns and inns
to eat and drink voraciously and make festival like dissolute folk."148
The religious leaders themselves were responsible for a degree of
contact and collaboration with non-Christians. Both the existence of
the situation and one of the reasons for condemning it may be found
144 Chabot, Synodicon, pp. 185-86,445.
145 Ibid., pp. 117,376.
146 Budge, Rabban Hormtzd, I, 178-79; n, 271.
147 Chabot, Synodicon, pp. 158,417-18.
148 Ibid., pp. 159, 418.