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Detail of the stele

The Nestorian Stele or Nestorian Stone, formally the Memorial of the Propagation in China of the Luminous Religion from Daqin (大秦景教流行中國碑; pinyin: Dàqín Jǐngjiào liúxíng Zhōngguó bēi, abbreviated 大秦景教碑), is a Tang Chinese stele erected in 781 which celebrates the accomplishments of the Assyrian Church of the East in China, which is also referred to as the Nestorian Church (albeit inaccurately). Image File history File links Zhongwen. ... The UTF-8-encoded Japanese Wikipedia article for mojibake, as displayed in ISO-8859-1 encoding. ... Japanese name Kanji: Hiragana: Korean name Hangul: Hanja: Vietnamese name Quốc ngữ: Hán tá»±: A Chinese character or Han character (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is a logogram used in writing Chinese, Japanese, rarely Korean, and formerly Vietnamese. ... Image File history File links Stone_1-1-.jpg Nestorian Stele. ... Image File history File links Stone_2-1-.jpg Nestorian Stele, recording the spread of the Religion of Light (Christianity) from Rome to China. ... Image File history File links Stone_2-1-.jpg Nestorian Stele, recording the spread of the Religion of Light (Christianity) from Rome to China. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... For the band, see Tang Dynasty (band). ... Stele is also a concept in plant biology. ... July 31 — The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Assyrian Church of the East... Nestorianism is the doctrine that Jesus exists as two persons, the man Jesus and the divine Son of God, or Logos, rather than as a unified person. ...

The stele documents the existence of Christian communities in several cities in northern China and reveals that the church had initially received recognition by the Tang Emperor Taizong in 635. It is a 279-cm tall limestone block. It is also translated as A Monument Commemorating the Propagation of the Ta-Chin Luminous Religion in the Middle Kingdom (the church referred to itself as "The Luminous Religion of Daqin", Daqin being the Chinese term for the Roman Empire). Emperor Taizong of Tang China (January 23, 599–July 10, 649), born Li Shimin (李世民 Lĭ ShìMín), was the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty of China from 626 to 649. ... For other uses, see Limestone (disambiguation). ... Daqin (Ch:大秦) is the ancient Chinese name for the Roman Empire. ... For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ...

It was erected on January 7, 781, at the imperial capital city of Chang'an (modern-day Xi'an), or at nearby Chou-Chih (盩厔; Pinyin Zhouzhi). The calligraphy was by Lü Xiuyan (呂秀巖), and the content was composed by the Nestorian monk, Jingjing (景淨), in the four- and six-character euphemistic style (駢體文) Chinese (total 1,756 characters) and a few lines in Syriac (70 words). On top of the tablet, there is a cross. Calling God "Veritable Majesty", the text refers to Genesis, the cross, and the baptism. It also pays tribute to missionaries and benefactors of the church, who are known to have arrived in China by 640. is the 7th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... July 31 — The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. ... For other uses, see Changan (disambiguation). ... Xian redirects here. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Calligraphy is an art dating back to the earliest day of history, and widely practiced throughout China to this day. ... 11th century book in Syriac Serto. ... This article is about the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... For other uses, see Genesis (disambiguation). ... A reliquary in the form of an ornate Christian Cross Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope... This article is about the Christian religious act of Baptism. ... Events May 28 - Severinus becomes pope, but dies the same year. ...

The stele was unearthed in the late Ming Dynasty (between 1623 and 1625) beside Chongren Temple (崇仁寺), where it was housed for several centuries. It is now displayed in the Stele Forest in Xi'an.^[1] For other uses, see Ming. ... Stele Forest (碑林; pinyin: Bēilín), aka Xian Stele Forest Museum or Xian Beilin Museum, is a museum for steles and stone sculptures which is located in Xian, China. ...

The Nestorian Stone has attracted the attention of some anti-Christian groups, who argue that the stone is a fake or that the inscriptions were modified by the Jesuits who served in the Ming Court. There is no scientific or historical evidence to support this claim. Seal of the Society of Jesus. ...

Numerous Christian gravestones have also been found in China in the Xinjiang region, Quanzhou and elsewhere from a somewhat later period. There are also two much later stelae (from 960 and 1365) presenting a curious mix of Christian and Buddhist aspects, which are preserved at the site of the former Monastery of the cross in the Fangshan District, near Beijing^[2]. For the county in Shanxi province, see Xinjiang County. ... The characters 泉州 are also used for Senshū, an alternate name for the former Japanese province of Izumi. ... Fangshan District (Simplified Chinese: 房山区; Traditional Chinese: 房山區; Hanyu Pinyin: Fángshān Qū) is situated in the southwest of Beijing and 38km away from downtown Beijing. ... Peking redirects here. ...

Location

The Nestorian Stele is on exhibit at the Xi'an Beilin Museum (Forest of Steles Museum) in Xi'an, Shaanxi. The Nestorian Stele is located in Room Number 2 and is the first stele on the left after the entry.

References

1. ^ P. Y. Saeki, Nestorian Documents and Relics in China, 2nd ed. (Tokyo: Maruzen, 1951).
2. ^ A. C. Moule, Christians in China before the year 1550 (London: SPCK, 1930), pp. 86−9.

(Peter) Yoshiro Saeki, (1871-1965), Japanese scholar of religion, was consulted on the rebuilding of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb blast of August 6, 1945. ...

See also

• Nestorianism in China
• Daqin Pagoda
• Religion in China
• Jesus Sutra

The form of Christianity often called Nestorianism but better described as the Church of the East spread widely across the continent of Asia following the banishment and condemnation of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, at the Council of Ephesus in 431. ... Remnants of the pagoda Daqin Pagoda (大秦塔) in Zhouzhi, Shaanxi Province, China is the remnant of the earliest surviving Christian church in China. ... Chinese monk lighting incense in a temple in Beijing. ...

External links

• Fulltext: from Wikisources (in Chinese)
• stele text in English from researchers at Fordham University; actually 1919 translation of C. Horne
• Large photograph of a rubbing of the stele from University of Birmingham (scroll to bottom of page)
• "The Jesus Messiah of Xi'an" ― translation and exposition of doctrinal passages in the stele text. From B. Vermander (ed.), Le Christ Chinois, Héritages et espérance (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1998).
• Photos of a replica of the Nestorian Stele in Xi-an; photos are of a replica located in Japan Japanese text.