The Nestorian pillar of Luoyang is a Tang Chinese

pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression (physical), compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column i ...

erected in 814–815 CE, which contains inscriptions related to early

Christianity in China Christianity in China has been present since at least the 3rd century, and it has gained a significant amount of influence during the last 200 years. While Christianity may have existed in China before the 3rd century, evidence of its exist ...

, particularly the

Church of the East The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...

. It is a

Nestorian Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian N ...

pillar, discovered in 2006 in

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...

, which is related to the

Xi'an Stele The Xi'an Stele or the Jingjiao Stele ( zh, c=景教碑, p= Jǐngjiào bēi), sometimes translated as the "Nestorian Stele," is a Tang Chinese stele erected in 781 that documents 150 years of early Christianity in China. It is a limestone block ...

The pillar

The title of the pillar is "Sutra on the Origin of Origins of

Daqin Daqin (; alternative transliterations include Tachin, Tai-Ch'in) is the ancient Chinese name for the Roman Empire or, depending on context, the Near East, especially Syria. It literally means "great Qin"; Qin () being the name of the founding dyna ...

Luminous Religion", one of the

Jingjiao Documents The Jingjiao Documents (; also known as the Nestorian Documents or the Jesus Sutras) are a collection of Chinese language texts connected with the 7th-century mission of Alopen, a Church of the East bishop from Sassanian Mesopotamia, and the 8th-c ...

. The pillar was erected in 814-815 CE, and moved to another location in 829 CE, as explained in one part of the inscriptions. The "sutra" which starts with a

Trisagion The ''Trisagion'' ( el, Τρισάγιον; 'Thrice Holy'), sometimes called by its opening line ''Agios O Theos'', is a standard hymn of the Divine Liturgy in most of the Eastern Orthodox, Western Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholi ...

(Qadishā Alāhā) was dedicated to a deceased Lady An () of

Sogdia Sogdia (Sogdian language, Sogdian: ) or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also ...

n descent. The inscription tells about her ancestors who came from

Bukhara Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...

in Central Asia; her relatives and clergymen from the Luoyang Daqin Monastery, who attended the funeral service also had typical Sogdian surnames such as Mi (, origin of Maymurgh) and Kang (, of

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

, or historically

Kangju Kangju (; Eastern Han Chinese: ''kʰɑŋ-kɨɑ'' < *''khâŋ-ka'' (c. 140 BCE)) was the Chinese name of a kingdom in

Central Asia< ...

). File:Sutras on the Origin of Origins of Ta-ch‘in Luminous Religion (detail-L).jpg, Detail of the rubbing of the pillar, showing a cross on a lotus flower flanked by angels (depicted in the form of

apsara An apsaras or apsara ( sa, अप्सरा ' lso ' pi, अक्चरा, translit=accharā) is a type of female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hinduism and Buddhist culture. They figure prominently in the sculpture, dance, literat ...

s) File:Sutras on the Origin of Origins of Ta-ch‘in Luminous Religion (detail).jpg, Detail of the rubbing of the pillar, showing a cross on a lotus flower flanked by angels (depicted in the form of apsaras) File:Sutras on the Origin of Origins of Ta-ch‘in Luminous Religion 3.jpg, Detail of the rubbing of the pillar File:Sutras on the Origin of Origins of Ta-ch‘in Luminous Religion 2.jpg, Detail of the rubbing of the pillar

References

External links

* SIR E. A. WALLIS BUDGE, KT.,
THE MONKS OF KUBLAl KHAN EMPEROR OF CHINA
(1928) - contains reproductions of early photographs of the stele where it stood in the early 20th century (from Havret etc.) {{coord missing, China 8th-century inscriptions Monuments and memorials in China Church of the East in China Chinese steles Luoyang 8th-century Christian texts Nestorian texts Sogdians

The pillar

See also

References

Further reading

External links