76 chapter one
that gives reason to believe that there were serious relations between
the Nestorian church and the local aristocracy.^234
Th ere was a Christian mission in Semirechie that was sent by Sog-
diana and is attested to in the preserved necropolises, dated to the
sixth or the seventh century, the church at Aq-Beshim, dated to the
eighth century and the Christian inscriptions in Syrian and Sogdian
languages. So when the Turkic tribes came to this region, they found
a Christian population. As has been pointed out, Christianity became
especially popular among the Karluks, as well as among the Qïrghïz liv-
ing further east who left stelae with crosses and runic inscriptions.^235
V. Bartol’d writes that according to Syrian authors, patriarch Timo-
theus (780–819) was receiving letters from the Turkic ruler as well as
from other kings who were presented as having converted to Christi-
anity through his eff orts.^236 According to A. Mingana, there was a sec-
ond large-scale Turkic conversion to Christianity in 781–782 A.D. and
patriarch Timotheus established a Central Asian bishopric in order to
admonish the Turks-Christians especially.^237
Th e Sogdian trade center Panjikand also saved traces of Christian
presence. Th e famous sixth–eighth century wall paintings from Panji-
kand, depicting rituals of various religions, present a very interesting
subject—“Joseph sells grain in Egypt”. Th e details of the iconography
give ground to suggest that it could have had a Christian prototype.^238
However, another monument that also provides evidence for the pen-
etration of Christianity into Central Asia deserves special interest—the
temple in the Turkic capital Ordukent (Suyab) dated to the mid-
seventh-early eighth century.^239 It was erected outside the shahristan
but it was still situated close to the latter.
Th e long life of Christianity in Central Asia and the penetration
of some typical features of the Nestorian church into the region are
also traced through the so-called kayraks in present-day Kirghizstan.
Th ese are fl at, relatively large funeral stones with equilateral crosses
(^234) Enoki 1964, 72 and n. 114—quoted aft er Litvinsky 1996, 424; also see, Haussig
1992, 218 ff .; Foltz 1999, 69 f.
(^235) Litvinsky 1996, 425. For the bishoprics of the Karluks that appeared between
ninth and tenth century see, Beliaev 2000 (2nd ed.), 228.
(^236) Bartol’d 1964 (Vol. 2, Pt. 2), 275. For the deeds of the patriarch and for the
Nestorians in general, also see, Mackerras 1990, 333; but cf. von Gabain 1949, 47–48.
(^237) Mingana 1925, 12–13—quoted aft er Foltz 1999, 70.
(^238) Beliaev 2000 (2nd ed.), 227 f.
(^239) Beliaev 2000 (2nd ed.), 228; Vysotskii 1989.