RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIESthese issues were important-among Christians in the Sasanian empire
in the sixth century. Gabriel, bishop of Hurmuz, wrote against the
Manichaeans and Chaldaeans in about 540; Daniel (ca. 550) wrote
against Marcionites, Manichaeans, and Chaldaeans; Bud Periodeutes
(ca. 570), the translator of Kaltla wa Dimna, wrote against Mani-
chaeans and Marcionites; a certain Ara wrote against the Magians
and Bardai~an; Bar Qusin (ca. 570) wrote two books against the
Chaldaeans; and AQudemmeh composed two orations on whether the
will has power in (its) nature.^177 The Synod of Ezechiel in 596 ex-
pressed its detestation and rejection of the "diabolic fictions" of the
followers of Mani, Marcion, and Bardai~anY8 The terminology used
by the catholicos ishO'yahbh I in a letter written in 585, in which he
calls God the "good governor," the "just judge," and the "wise pro-
vider for this world and the future world," appears to be aimed at the
Marcionites.^179
Nestorian objections to astral fatalism seem to parallel those of the
Magians. Both opposed the fatalistic denial of the human ability to
act in a way making people truly responsible for their actions. In
addition, this issue was related to the internal factional politics of the
Nestorian Church, where the monks and clerics who were writing the
tracts against fatalism were ranged against aristocratic Christian Per-
sian laymen who favored astrology and were themselves court as-
trologers and physicians. In about 596 Gabriel bar Rufina was expelled
from Nasibin because he knew too much about the course of the stars
and the zodiac.^180 The storm broke out over I:Ienana of Adiabene who
was director of the school at Nasibin from about 571 until his death
in 610. He was allied to the Persian aristocrats in the church and
favored the position on original sin which became normal for most
Christians. The Synod of Sabhrisho' in 596, in pointed reference to
I:Ienana, excommunicated those who believed that Adam had been
created immortal, that human nature was sinful, and that people did
not sin of their own free Will.18l Babai the Great was commissioned
to purge the monasteries of the followers of I:Ienana along with the
177 Assemani, BO, lIl(1), 147-48, 194,219-20,225,230-31.
178 Chabot, Synodicon, pp. 114,373.
179 Ibid., pp. 193, 453.
180 Guidi, Chronica Minora I, 1,17; II, 16-17.
181 V66bus, "Theological Anthropology," pp. 122. But I:I'nana is also quoted as
saying that God is responsible for the virtues of people but they are responsible for
their own sins; see A. Scher, "Traites d'ISaile docteur et de I:Inana d'Adiabene," PO
7 (1911), 81.