RESOURCESmay have been composed by a Nestorian at Sinjar toward the end of
the eighth century. The Syriac text is published with a Latin translation
by J. Corluy as "Acta Sancti Mar Abdu '1 Masich," AB 5 (1886): 5-
- The Arabic text is published with a French translation by P. Peeters
as "La passion arabe de S. 'Abd al-Masih," AB 44 (1926): 270-341.
For other such works, see H. Feige, Die Geschichte des Mar 'Abhdfso <
und seines }i.ingers Mar Qardagh (Kiel, 1890), and J. M. Fiey, "Les
Saints Serge de l'Iraq," AB 79 (1961): 102-14.
For modern scholarship on Christianity in the East, one can start
with F. C. Burkitt's Early Christianity outside the Roman Empire
(Cambridge, 1899) and Early Eastern Christianity (London, 1904).
L. Duchesne's Early History of the Christian Church from Its Foun-
dation to the End of the Fifth Century, tr. C. Jenkins (New York,
1912-24) and L'Eglise au VIe siecie (Paris, 1925) are still among the
best surveys. Later surveys include J. B. Kidd's The Churches of Eastern
Christendom from A. D. 451 to the Present Time (London, 1927;
New York, 1974) and A. S. Atiya's A History of Eastern Christianity
(London, 1968).
The process whereby a Christian population was created in Sasanian
Iraq is treated by M. L. Chaumont in "Les Sassanides et la christiani-
sation de l'empire iranien au IIIe siecle de notre ere," RHR 165 (1964):
165-202, and by J. Neusner in "The Conversion of Adiabene to Chris-
tianity," Numerz 13 (1966): 144-50. For Christian Arabs at Hira, see
R. Aigrain, "Arabie," in Dictionnaire d'histoire et de geographie ec-
ciesiastiques (1924), III, col. 1158-1139; for Christians in lower Iraq,
see Y. Y. Maskiin'i, "Nasara Kaskar wa Was it qab'il aI-Islam," Machriq
58 (1964): 633-47. An introduction to the religious and political
consequences of the spread of Christianity in Sasanian territory may
be found in T. N6Ideke's, "Syrische Polemik gegen die persische Re-
ligion," in Festgruss an Rudolf von Roth (Stuttgart, 1893), pp. 34-
38; J. P. Asmussen's "Das Christentum in Iran und sein Verhiiltnis
zum Zoroastrismus," Studia Theologica 16 (1962): 1-22; and A. Guil-
laumont's "Justinian et l'eglise de Perse," DOP 23/4 (1969-70): 39-
The classic treatment of Christianity in the Sasanian empire is
J. Labourt's, Le Christianisme dans l'empire perse sous la dynastie
sassanide (224-632) (Paris, 1904). Subsequent studies include S. Vailhe,
"Formation de l'Eglise de Perse," Echoes d'Orient 12 (1910): 269-
75, and E. Tisserant, "Nestorienne (Eglise)," in Dictionnaire de theo-
logie Catholique (1931), XI: 157-323. More recently, see B. Spuler,