RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIESUnfortunately for IshO'yahbh, he failed to accompany Khusraw Parvlz
when he fled to the Byzantine empire during the revolt of Bahram
Chiibin, but he continued to pray, somewhat ambiguously, for "him
who has the right to be called king." As a result, he found himself out
of favor when Khusraw Parvlz returned.31
After the elevation of SabhrIsho' as catholicos in 596, the king was
careful to instruct him to "pray for us always, for our realm and our
lives."32 Accordingly, under SabhrIsho' the king was called "he who
is and will be protected by heavenly aid, the victorious, the strong,
the merciful, the pacifier of the world, the King of Kings, Khusraw,"
and "the good and merciful king, our master the victorious Khusraw,
King of Kings, master for eternity."33 The statement of faith submitted
by the Nestorians to Khusraw Parvlz in 612 is particularly important
in this respect. This document was drawn up in Syriac by aristocratic
Persian converts to Christianity and translated into Persian to be read
before the king. In it the king was told that the Christians prayed to
the God of the universe and asked "His omnipotent Majesty to strengthen
the throne of your Majesty by the extention of your empire throughout
the earth and to all the generations of the world," and that after God
"we venerate your glorious Majesty, and we return thanks to you for
your most abundant charity towards us and towards all the subjects
of your excellent empire. Because, just as the sun which gladdens the
entire earth by its light and warmth, your goodness spreads abundantly
over all men."34 Such language disappeared with the Islamic conquest,
when the official relationship between the Nestorians and their rulers
was broken. It only reappeared after the establishment of the 'AbbasI
dynasty, and when the caliph al-MahdI permitted the election of a
catholicos in 775 he was called "victorious king, loving God ... prince
of the believers."35
The main consideration from the Sasanian point of view was to
make the Nestorian Church responsible to the state for the loyalty of
its Christian subjects. This aspect of the relationship may have been
the work of Bar Sawma himself, the bishop of Nasibin who persuaded
the Sasanian monarch Rriiz (461-88) that if the church in Persia was
31 Guidi, Chronica Minora I, I, 15-16; H, 15; Scher, "Histoire nestorienne," H(2),
441-42.
32 Scher, "Histoire nestorienne," H(2),491.
33 Chabot, Synodicon, pp. 196,201, 456, 562-63.
34 Ibid., pp. 563, 580-81.
35 Ibid., pp. 245, 516.