Patriarch Timothy I and the Metropolitan of the Turks

MARK DICKENS 1

Abstract During the reign of Patriarch Timothy I (780823), the Church of the East continued to expand into Asia. Metropolitans were consecrated for various places to the east of the Patriarchal see in Baghdad. One of these was the enigmatic Metropolitan of the Turks, about whose location scholars have disagreed for decades. This article seeks to answer the question Which Turks received the Metropolitan appointed by Timothy? by systematically examining the different Turkic groups living in Central Asia at the time. Textual and archaeological evidence is considered in support of the conclusion and the various motives and external factors that may have played a role in the conversion are discussed. Timothy I and his Correspondence Timothy I (780823)2 was one of the greatest patriarchs of the Church of the East.3 In addition to his administrative duties, he was also a prolic author, writing on science, theology and church law and penning numerous epistles. Many of the letters he wrote while Catholicos are still extant,4 two of which provide fascinating insights into the history of Christianity in Central Asia: Letter XLI to the Monks of the Monastery of Mar Maron ( ) and Letter XLVII to Sergius ( ), dated to 792/93 and 795798, respectively.5

1 This article is adapted from my doctoral dissertation, Turk ay e: Turkic Peoples in Syriac Literature Prior to the Selj uks. All translations from Syriac are my own. Abbreviations used for primary sources are listed at the end of the article. Page numbers for text and translation are separated by a slash, with volume numbers indicated by Roman numerals. Text and translation references cited individually are designated T (textus) and V (versio), following the practice of Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium. Where the original book and chapter divisions of the text are referenced in the footnotes, page numbers are given in parentheses: e.g. Governors, IV.20 (238/448). My thanks to Rastin Mehri for the use of his Ardeshir font for Pahlavi words. 2 On whom, see William Wright, A Short History of Syriac Literature (London, 1894) reprinted (Piscataway, New Jersey, 2001) pp. 191194; also Anton Baumstark, Geschichte der syrischen Literature mit Ausschluss der christlichpalastinensichen Texte (Bonn, 1922), pp. 217218. 3 Commonly and erroneously referred to as the Nestorian Church, its full name is the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. 4 See Oskar Braun, Der Katholikos Timotheos I und seine Briefe, Oriens Christianus, I (1901a), pp. 146151; Hans Putnam, LEglise et lIslam sous Timoth ee I, (Recherches publi ees sous la direction de lInstitut de lettres orientales de Beyrouth, N. S. B. Orient chr etien, Tom III) (Beirut,1975), pp. 2023. 5 Rapha tude critique avec en appendice el Bidawid, edited and translated, Les lettres du partiarche nestorien Timoth ee I: e la lettre de Timoth ee I aux moins du couvent de M ar M ar on (Studi e Testi 187) (Vatican, 1956), p. 74.

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The rst letter was written to the Maronites, a Monothelite group in northern Syria who had experienced frequent persecution from the Syrian Orthodox,6 prompting them to ask Timothy to intervene on their behalf before the caliph, Harun al-Rashid.7 The second letter was written to Sergius, the Metropolitan of Elam, a close friend of Timothys and by far his most frequent addressee.8 Both mention the appointment of a Metropolitan for the Turks by Timothy.9 Letter XLI

[1] For behold, in all of the lands of Babel [Baghdad], Pars [Persia] and Athur [Assyria], and in all of the eastern lands and amongst Beth Hinduw ay e and indeed amongst Beth S in a y e , amongst Beth Tupt ay e and . likewise amongst Beth T ay e11 and in all of the domains under this patriarchal throne this [throne] of . urk which God commanded that we be its servants and likewise its ministers that one who is this hypostasis who is from eternity, without increase, who was crucied on our behalf is proclaimed, indeed in different and diverse lands and races and languages.

6 The Syrian (or Syriac) Orthodox Church is the other main branch of Syriac Christianity, sometimes referred to pejoratively as the Jacobites, after Jacob Baradaeus, the sixth-century Syrian monk who was instrumental in organising Monophysites in opposition to the ofcial Chalcedonian Christology of the Byzantine Empire. 7 Bidawid, Timothy, pp. vivii. The Maronites re-united with Rome in the thirteenth century, the rst eastern Christians to do so. 8 Braun, 1901a, p. 150. 9 For a discussion of these letters, see G. Uray, Tibets Connections with Nestorianism and Manicheism in the 8th10th centuries, Contributions on Tibetan Language, History and Culture (Vienna, 1983), pp. 400404. 10 Timothy (Bidawid), /117 : Jerome Labourt, De Timotheo I Nestorianorum Pariarcha (728823) et Christianorum Orientalium condicione sub Chaliphis Abbasidis (Paris, 1904a), p. 45. 11 See: Jessie Payne Smith, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary, founded upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith (Oxford, 1903), p. 43. The Syriac word (Beth) has a broad range of meaning, including house, room, family, nation, race, people, and can refer to both a place name and those associated with that place. When combined with an ethnonym, as in (Beth T ay e), I leave it unglossed, since it is often unclear from the context . urk whether an ethnic group or its territory is meant. Similarly, Syriac ethnonyms for Turkic groups with the gentilic ending - ay e (e.g. T ay e, Quman ay e) are also left unglossed. . urk

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. [2] For behold, even in our days prior to these ten years that I have been entrusted with the service of the administration of the church, for even now I have been thirteen13 years more or less in this service the king of the T ay e, with more or less all of his territory, has left the godless error from antiquity, for he has . urk become acquainted with Christianity by the operation of the great power of the Messiah, that by which all are subject to him. And he has asked us in his writings [about] how he might appoint a Metropolitan for the territory of his kingdom. This also we have done through [i.e. with the help of] God. And also the letter that we wrote to him we will send to you if it is pleasing to our Lord.

Letter XLVII

The Spirit has anointed in these days a Metropolitan for Beth T ay e and we are also preparing to anoint . urk another one for Beth Tupt ay e.

Background on the Letters Letter XLI is Timothys attempt to convince the Maronites to join themselves doctrinally and ecclesiastically to the Church of the East.15 In light of this (and the controversy over his election during the rst two years of his patriarchate),16 it is understandable that he asserts his patriarchal authority in such clear terms in the letter. Although he couches it in terms of servanthood and ministry, he is uncompromising in declaring his right to sit on
12 Timothy (Bidawid), / p. 124 : Labourt, 1904a, p. 43 : Alphonse Mingana, The Early Spread of Christianity in Central Asia and the Far East: A New Document, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Manchester, 1925), p. 306. 13 As Timothy (Bidawid), p. 124 noted, Labourt, 1904a, p. 43 translated this as duodecim, rather than tredecim. 14 Timothy (Braun I), 308/309311: Labourt, 1904a, p. 43, p. 45. 15 It is, in the words of Cardinal Tisserant, un expos e de la foi nestorienne r edig e avec une intention missionnaire [Timothy (Bidawid), p. vi]. 16 Timothy (Bidawid), pp. 34; Wright, 1894, pp. 191193.

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the patriarchal throne of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, recently relocated to Baghdad.17 However, his motivations seem to have been as much missionary as political; he undoubtedly saw himself as a key gure in the proclamation of this hypostasis18 . . . who was crucied on our behalf . . . in different and diverse lands and races and languages. Although he lived his whole life in the heartland of the Arab Caliphate and thus never visited most of the extensive territory under his patriarchal authority, Timothy was very conscious of ruling over a jurisdiction much larger than any other on earth, whether civil or ecclesiastical. Not only was he a trusted gure at the caliphal court, the head of the largest dhimmi under Muslim rule (those living in Babel, Persia and Assyria); there were also far-off and exotic territories beyond the pale of Islam that were under this patriarchal throne, including the lands of the Indians (Beth Hinduw ay e), Chinese (Beth S ay e), Tibetans . in (Beth Tupt ay e) and Turks (Beth T ay e). This undoubtedly gave him considerable prestige . urk and inuence in the eyes of the Abbasid caliphs. The initial mission of the Church of the East to China took place in 635, inaugurating several centuries of Syriac Christian presence in the Middle Kingdom,19 and the famous Xian Stele was erected in 781,20 during Timothys patriarchate. Reecting on the presence of Christianity in both China and India, he wrote in Letter XIII (795798, also to Sergius) that Many monks21 have crossed the seas to Beth Hinduw ay e and Beth S ay e with only a staff . in the and a bag;22 in the same letter, he referred to the death of 23 According to Thomas of Margas Book of Governors (ca. 850 ), Metropolitan of Beth S in a y e . . the letters of Mar Timothy also mention the election of David, Metropolitan to Beth S ay e, presumably the successor to the deceased . in Metropolitan.24 Both letters connect the Tibetans ( ) with the Turks ( ). During the eighth and ninth centuries, the Tibetan Empire was a major power in both Central Asia and China.25 Timothys enigmatic reference to the imminent appointment of a Metropolitan for Beth Tupt ay e in Letter XLVII gives a tantalising insight into the ephemeral presence of Christianity in that empire.26 Although Jean Dauvillier concluded that it was already in

took place in 775, 25 years after the Abbasids established their capital in Baghdad. can be translated as either hypostasis or simply person [Payne Smith (1903), pp. 509510]. Here, Timothy undoubtedly means the former, designating the second person of the Trinity, equivalent to Gk. . 19 See: Ian Gillman and Hans-Joachim Klimkeit, Christians in Asia before 1500 (Ann Arbor, 1999), pp. 265305. I pass over here the history of the Church of the East in India, summarised in Gillman and Klimkeit, 1999, pp. 155202. 20 See: P. Y. Saeki, The Nestorian Documents and Relics in China (Tokyo, 1951), pp. 11112. The writer of the stele had presumably not heard of the death of H . enanisho II (775780) the year before, since he records that it was , H erected in the time of . enanisho, Catholicos, Patriarch. 21 can also mean solitary, hermit, anchorite (Payne Smith, 1903), p. 191. 22 Timothy (Braun II), 107/70. 23 Timothy (Braun II), 109/72. 24 Governors, IV.20 (238/448). This letter does not seem to have survived. 25 On which, see: Christopher I. Beckwith, The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia (Princeton, 1987). 26 On which, see articles IIV in Jean Dauvillier, Histoire et institutions des Eglises orientales au Moyen Age (London, 1983) and Uray, 1983.

17 This 18 Syr.

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existence before Timothys patriarchate,27 we know nothing more about this mysterious metropolitanate and the remaining evidence for Christianity in Tibet at this time is scanty at best.28 Turkic Conversions to Christianity The date of the Turkic conversion mentioned by Timothy is unclear, partly due to the awkward grammar of the sentence, which mentions in our days, ten years [ago] and thirteen years [ago]. Jerome Labourt, who rst translated this text, understood the conversion to have happened in 792, approximately when the letter was written.29 Most others, including Rapha el Bidawid (who established the dates of all of Timothys letters) have dated it ten years earlier, in 782/83.30 The grammar seems to indicate that the conversion occurred some time between ten and thirteen years prior to the time of writing. Thirteen years presumably refers to Timothys enthronement in 780, ten years perhaps to the consolidation of his authority that occurred after all the bishops acknowledged him as the legitimate Patriarch at a synod held in 781/82. Thus, the conversion in our days could have occurred anytime between 780 and 783. Writing in 1214, Mari ibn Sulaym an claimed that Timothy himself led into faith the ).31 However, Timothys letter does not say that Kh aq an, king of the Turks ( he personally converted the king, but merely that the latter had become acquainted with Christianity by the operation of the great power of the Messiah. In truth, it is difcult to see how Timothy could have led him into faith, since there is no indication that the two met, unless it took place through the correspondence between them. Two other similar events described in Syriac and Christian Arabic literature suggest that the conversion may have been facilitated either by someone in the church hierarchy located closer to the Turkic heartland in Central Asia or by members of the mercantile community that traded along the Silk Road. The conversion of the Turks to Christianity mentioned by Timothy is the second of three such events.32 The rst conversion is mentioned in the Khuzistan Chronicle (ca. 660 680), also known as the Guidi Chronicle (after Ignazio Guidi who rst published the Syriac text)33 or the Anonymous East Syrian Chronicle. In it, the anonymous writer tells how Elia,
27 Jean Dauvillier, Les provinces Chald eennes de lExt erieur au Moyen Age, M elanges offerts au R. P. Ferdinand Cavallera: pp. 260316 (Toulouse, 1948), p. 292. 28 Although a Sogdian inscription found adjacent to several Nestorian crosses inscribed on a boulder in Ladakh (northern India) was previously thought to be the work of a Christian en route from Samarkand to the qaghan of Tibet in the mid-ninth century, Nicholas Sims-Williams has since shown that it was probably written by a Buddhist, although the crosses and one or two other inscriptions in the area indicate that Christians, probably Sogdian traders, did pass through this area: Nicholas Sims-Williams, The Sogdian Inscriptions of Ladakh Antiquities of Northern Pakistan: Reports and Studies (Rock Carvings and Inscriptions along the Karakorum Highway vol. 2. Edited by Karl Jettmar (Mainz, 1993), pp. 151163. 29 Jerome Labourt, Le Christianisme dans lEmpire Perse sous la Dynastie Sassanide (224632), (2nd ed.), (Paris, 1904b), p. 14. 30 Timothy (Bidawid), 80. See the discussion in Uray, 1983, p. 402. 31 Majdal I, /64. 32 All three conversions are explored in: Erica C. D. Hunter, The conversion of the Kerait to Christianity in A.D. 1007 Zentralasiatische Studien Vol. 22. pp. 142163 (1989/1991). 33 Ignazio Guidi, Un nuovo testo siriaco sulla storia degli ultimi Sassanidi Actes de Huiti` eme Congr` es International ` Stockholm et a ` Christiania, Section I: Semitique, Sous-section B: pp. 336 (Leiden,1893). des Orientalistes, tenu en 1889 a

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Metropolitan of Merv, made disciples of many people from the T ay e and from other . urk peoples. Although no date is given, scholars usually date it to 644.34 The extract, which occurs at the end of the Khuzistan Chronicle, describes in detail how, while travelling somewhere in the outer border areas beyond (Merv), Elia encountered a minor ruler35 there who was going out to make war against another king. The ruler demanded that Elia demonstrate a sign for me like the priests of my gods. When the Turkic priests subsequently engaged in weather magic, so that the air became thick with clouds and wind, and thunder and lightning set in . . . then that Elia shook with divine power and he made the sign of the heavenly cross and restrained that phantasm which the rebellious demons had fabricated. And it completely vanished all at once. Then when the minor ruler saw this thing that the blessed one Elia had done, he fell down and worshipped before him. And he believed, and his entire cohort. And he [Elia] sent them down to a river and baptised all of them and appointed for them priests and deacons and returned to his region.36 The third conversion is recounted by the Christian Arabic writer Mari ibn Sulaym an in 37 his Kit ab al Majdal (Book of the Tower) (1214) and Bar Ebroyos Chronicon Ecclesiasticum (1286),38 both of whom attribute the report to another Metropolitan of Merv, Abdisho.39 Bar Ebroyo gives the following summary in his Chronicon Syriacum (1286), dated to ah 398 (1007/08 ce): And in that year, the members of a certain tribe from the tribes of the inner [or remote] Turk ay e in the east, who are called Kerait, believed in Messiah. And they became disciples and were baptised through a miracle which happened with their king.40 Bar Ebroyos more extensive account in the Chronicon Ecclesiasticum specically mentions how, after getting lost in the mountains while hunting and then being directed back to his camp by a saint who appeared to him in a vision, when he [the king] returned in safety to his tents, he called the Christian merchants who were present there and he discussed with them about faith.41 Thus, the king in Timothys account was most likely converted through contact with Syriac Christians in Central Asia, perhaps a bishop or metropolitan or, even more likely, Christian merchants. However, unlike the earlier conversion of the Turkic minor ruler and
34 Based on the fact that the narrative is preceded by a reference to Patriarch Mar Ama (646650) and followed by mention of the Muslim general Kh alid ibn al-Walid (d. 642). However, Mih aly Kmosk o has noted that we cannot state positively whether the missionary activity of Elias of Marw preceded or followed the Arab conquest . . . Thus, the exact date of the event cannot be xed (K aroly Czegl edy, Monographs on Syriac and Muhammadan sources in the Literary Remains of M. Kmosk o Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Vol. 4. pp. 19 91(1954), p. 58, based on Mih aky Kmosk o and Felf oldi Szabolcs, Sz r ok a steppe n epeir ol [Syriac sources on the peoples of the steppe] Vol. 20 (Budapest, 2004), pp. 143144. 35 Syr. can also be translated as princeling or kinglet. 36 Khuzistan, 3435/2829: Theodor N oldeke, Die von Guidi heausgegebene syrisch Chronik, (Vienna, 1893), pp. 3940: Mingana, 1925, pp. 305306. 37 Following the date given in Wright, 1894, p. 255. Scholars now consider the authorship and dating of this work to be more complex than originally thought; see: B en edicte Landron, Chr etiens et Musulmans en Irak. Attitudes Nestoriennes vis-` a-vis de lIslam (Paris, 1994), pp. 99108. 38 Following current academic conventions, I use Bar Ebroyo rather than Bar Hebraeus. 39 Chron. Eccl. II, 279281/280282 : B.O. II, pp. 444445: Mingana, 1925, pp. 308311; Majdal I, /99 100. Note that Section II of Chron. Eccl. is sometimes referred to as Volume III. 40 Chron. Syr. 204/184. As Hunter, 1989/1991 notes, there is some question as to whether the group which converted were indeed the Kerait or this was a subsequent gloss added by Bar Ebroyo. 41 Chron. Eccl. II, 279/280: Mingana, 1925, p. 309. See: Erica Hunter, The Church of the East in Cental Asia, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library, Vol. 78, No. 3 (1996), p. 140.

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the later Kerait conversion, it is unlikely that the Metropolitan of Merv was involved in this conversion, especially if it took place in 782/83, since Timothys election as Patriarch had been actively opposed by the incumbent in that ofce, Joseph. Although Timothy deposed and replaced him, his successor, Gregory was likely more concerned with bringing peace to the metropolitanate than with any missionary activity. However, there was already a metropolitanate of Samarkand, from which Christian missionaries or merchants could have made contact with these Turks. It was created either during the patriarchate of Isho yahb, according to Ibn at . ayyib (d. 1043) referring to .-T either Isho yahb I (582596), Isho yahb II (628646) or Isho yahb III (650658) or during the patriarchate of S . aliba-Zakha (714728), according to Abdisho bar Berikhas Nomocanon (1290). Abdisho also mentions that others ascribe its creation to the Patriarchs Ahai (410 414) or Silas (503523).42 The existence of a Metropolitan in Samarkand in the fth or sixth centuries is highly unlikely, since the much-closer Hephthalites did not even receive a bishop until ca. 550, but a seventh-or-eighth-century date is indeed plausible.43 Identifying the Turks in Timothys Letters The conversion described by Timothy was on a much larger scale than that which Elia of king, as opposed to Merv had facilitated 150 years earlier. The ruler involved was a kinglet, and more or less all of his territory followed his example, rather than a just his army. The identity of the Turkic tribe referred to by Timothy has been the subject of conjecture for nearly a century. Franc ois Nau asserted that this was the origin of the metropolitanates of Kashghar and Almaliq.44 However, this is highly speculative, since the rst reference we have to a Metropolitan of Kashghar is four centuries later under Patriarch Elia III (11761190), according to Amr ibn Mattai (ca. 1350), who also included it in his (Kashghar and Navekath).45 Almaliq, list of metropolitanates under the name ) based on an interpretation of the Metropolitan of Khan-baliq and al-Faliq ( in the same list of Amr, is even more problematic.46 It is more likely that the Metropolitan ), found in Amrs list and discussed below, can be equated with the of Turkistan ( metropolitanate established by Timothy.

42 Ibn at-Tayyib VI.16 (II, 123); Abdisho, Nom., 304/141142 : B.O. III.2, 426. Both authorities say that the . . Metropolitanates of Herat and China were established at the same time as Samarkand. 43 It was certainly well-established by the time of Catholicos Theodosius I (Athanasius) (853858), who refers to it in a list of metropolitanates, as recorded in Abdisho, Nom., 308/146. On Patriarch Mar Abas appointment of a bishop for the Hephthalites ( ), see Histoire, 266269 : Oskar Braun, 1915a, Ausgew ahlte Akten persischer M artyrer (Bibliothek der Kirchenv ater, Band 22), (Munich, 1915), pp. 217218 : Mingana (1925), pp. 304305. Mingana gives the date as 549, but according to Paul Peeters, Observations sur la vie syriaque de Mar Aba, Catholicos de l egkuse oerse (540552) Miscellanea Giovanni Mercati Vol. V. pp. 69112 (1946), pp. 106108, it took place in 551. 44 Franc ois Nau, Lexpansion nestorienne en Asie, in Annales du Mus ee Guimet, Biblioth` eque vulgarisation, Vol. 40 (1914), pp. 247248. Naus argument was based largely on the conclusion that a religious dignitary in the famous Inscription of Karabalghasun was a Nestorian Christian, even though Chavannes (1897), p. 85 had earlier concluded that it was impossible to determine the religion mentioned in the inscription. See: Edouard Chavannes, Le Nestorianisme et lInscription de Kara-Balgassoun Journal Asiatique, Vol. IX (ser.) No. IX (Tom.), pp. 4385. 45 Majdal II, /64, /73. Elia consecrated two consecutive metropolitans for the city, John ( ) and Sabrisho ( ). 46 Majdal II, /73. See the discussion in Eduard Sachau, Zur Ausbreitung des Christentums in Asien (Berlin, 1919), p. 22; Dauvillier, (1948), pp. 305306.

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In contrast, Paul Pelliot suggested that the Metropolitan of the Turks did not have a xed see like that of Samarkand. Rather, being attached to a nomadic people, it was peripatetic, with its centre de gravit e at Otrar, a city on the Syr Darya located about 250 km north-east of Chach (Tashkent).47 Although this is possible and may have a precedent in the earlier bishopric created for the Hephthalites, Pelliot gave no specic reasons for choosing Otrar and we have no textual or archaeological evidence of Christianity in that place. Finally, Annemarie von Gabain suggested that the ruler in question was an Uighur qaghan, discussed below.48 Whether it happened in 782/83 or 792/93, the conversion occurred several decades after a coalition of Uighur, Qarluq and Basmil forces overthrew the Second T urk Empire in 742, to be replaced in 744 by the Uighur Empire, also centred in Mongolia. To the south, the short-lived T urgesh domination of the Ili River Basin and Sogdiana (716740) had already disintegrated. By 766, the remnants of the T urgesh had submitted to the Qarluq Turks, who now ruled over much of the former Western T urk territory, especially the Yeti Su or Semirechye (Seven Rivers) area.49 However, reecting their initial relationship between 742 and 744, the Uighur ruler was called qaghan, while the Qarluq ruler used the lower title ).50 yabghu (O.T. Perhaps signicantly, two other Turkic polities converted to major world religions during this period. In late 762 or early 763, while in China helping to put down the Anlu-shan rebellion, the Uighur ruler B og u Qaghan (759779) converted to Manichaeism after encountering some Sogdian devotees of that faith. Upon returning to his capital, Karabalghasun, he proclaimed it the ofcial religion of his empire.51 Shortly afterwards, according to several Arabic sources, the king of the Khazars converted to Judaism during the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid (786809).52 The conversion to Manichaeism necessarily rules out the Uighurs as candidates for Timothys T ay e, despite von Gabains thesis that the ruler in question was Alp Qutlugh . urk og u Qaghan, Bilg a Qaghan (Tun bagha, 779789).53 Although he murdered his cousin B took over power and inaugurated a period of anti-Sogdian and anti-Manichean policy,
47 Paul Pelliot, Recherches sur les chr etiens dAsie centrale et dExtr eme-Orient, Vol. 1 (Paris, 1973), pp. 67, followed by Dauvillier (1948), pp. 285286 and Hunter (1989/1991), pp. 158159. The latter posits that the Oghuz appear to have been the subjects of the conversions of A.D. 644 [Elia] and 781/2 [Timothy], but in the light of the evidence presented here, this seems unlikely. 48 The title qaghan, meaning supreme ruler, was used rst by the Juan-Juan before it was borrowed into Old Turkic (O.T. ). It was the functional equivalent of the titles and Son of Heaven used by the Greeks and Chinese, respectively. In the Turkic world, it came to be used only by dynasties that were linked to the royal Ashina clan, such as the rulers of the First and Second T urk Empires, the Khazars, the Uighurs, and the Qarluqs. 49 The Tibetan capture of Beshbaliq (near modern-day Urumchi, China) in 790 resulted in the Uighurs losing control of the southern and western parts of their empire, thus enabling the Qarluqs to strengthen their power base there. 50 Ibn Khurd., 12. As Clauson notes, this ancient title was conferred by the xa gan on close relatives and normally carried with it the duty of administering part of the xa gans dominions. See: Gerard Clauson, An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth Century Turkish (Oxford, 1972). See: EI, s.v. Yabghu. With the collapse of the Uighur Empire in 840, it seems that the Qarluq leader inherited the title of qaghan. See: Peter B. Golden, The Karakhanids and early Islam, Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 349351. 51 Colin Mackerras, The Uighurs The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 329335. 52 Omeljan Pritsak, The Khazar Kingdoms Conversion to Judaism, Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Vol. 2. (1978), pp. 276278. 53 G. Uray, Tibets Connections with Nestorianism and Manicheism in the 8th10th Centuries, Contributions on Tibetan Language, History and Culture, pp. 399429 (Vienna, 1983), p. 403.

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this probably meant no more than a return to the natural cults of the Turkic peoples.54 Muslim geographical and historical accounts are uniform in asserting that Manichaeism was the primary faith of the Uighurs (referred to as the Toquz Oghuz in Arab accounts) at this time.55 Although there is abundant evidence of Christianity in the subsequent Uighur Kingdom of Qocho (ca. 8601284),56 we have no record of an Uighur ruler converting to Christianity in either the Uighur Empire or the Uighur Kingdom. Gardizi (ca. 1050) specically notes, The To guz O guz X aq an traditionally belongs to the Manichaean sect. There are, however, within his metropolis and dominions Christians [tars a].57 Other Central Asian Turkic tribes mentioned in Old Turkic inscriptions and by Muslim writers in the eighth and ninth centuries include the Basmil, Khalaj, Kimek, Kirghiz, Oghuz, Pecheneg, Qarluq, Qipchaq and T urgesh.58 Of these, we know nothing of Christianity urgesh, but there are either denite or possible amongst the Basmil, Kimek, Pecheneg59 or T Christian connections with the Oghuz, Kirghiz, Qipchaq, Khalaj and Qarluq. Tracing the early history of the Oghuz is very difcult; although the ethnonym occurs ), the referent is in the eighth-century Orkhon Turkic and Uighur inscriptions (O.T. not always clear, since the word itself essentially means tribe, tribal union.60 The earliest reference to the group that is later known as the Oghuz (Ar. , Ghuzz) occurs in Baladhuri (d. 892) and refers to events during the caliphate of al-Mu tas .im (833842), after the time of 61 Timothy, but there are no references to Christianity amongst them at this point, already too late for the conversion in question. Daniel Chwolson, followed by Wilhelm Barthold,62 made much of the fact that two of the sons of the Oghuz leader Selj uk (d. 1009) had biblical names, as recorded by Bar Michael, Yabghu [or Payghu?], Ebroyo (1286)

54 Colin Mackerras, The Uighur Empire according to the Tang Dynastic Histories: a study in Sino-Uighur relations, 744840 (2nd ed.) (Canberra, 1972), p. 10. See also: Mackerras (1990), p. 333. 55 These accounts are all based on the report of Tam m ibn Bah . rs journey to the Uighurs in 821, shortly after the conversion mentioned by Timothy took place. See: Vladimir Minorsky, Tam m ibn Bah . rs Journey to the Uyghurs, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 12 (1948) pp. 275305. See also Ibn Khurd., 22; Ibn al-Faqih, 388; Qud ama, 203. 56 On which, see: Li Tang, A History of Uighur Religious Conversions (5th16th Centruies) Asia Research Institute, Working Paper Series (2005), pp. 3941. 57 Gardizi, 134. This Persian term for Christians M.P. (tars ag); N.P. (tars a), from the verb , tarsid an, to fear. See: Shlomo Pines, The Iranian name for Christians and the God-Fearers, Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities II (Jerusalem, 1968). 58 Ibn Khurd., 2223; Ya qubi, 113; Ibn al-Faqih, 388: Minorsky (1948), pp. 283284. The earliest Muslim source of information on Central Asian Turkic tribes is Ibn Khurd adhbih (ca. 885), who may not necessarily reect the situation a century earlier, at the time of the conversion in question. Due to the geographical location in Central Asia, the Bulghars and Khazars are not considered here. The Bashkir, Burdas, Chigil, Sarir, and Yaghma are also discounted, since they are only mentioned in later sources. So too are the Tatars, mentioned in the Old Turkic ine-Usu inscription (759), since it is unclear if they runic Orkhon inscriptions (720735) and the Uighur runic S were Turkic or Mongolic at this time. 59 The origins of the Pechenegs are very obscure (EI, s.v. Pe cenegs, 289), so it is unclear if they were even present in Central Asia at the time of the conversion. 60 Talat Tekin, A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic (Bloomington, 1968), 234/267, 235/268, 237/271; G. J. Ramstedt, Zwei Uigurische Runeninschriften in der Nord-Mongolei Journal de la Societ e Finno-Ougrienne, Vol. 13. (1913), pp. 1213, pp. 1617. 61 Baladhuri II, pp. 205206. 62 Daniel Chwolson, Syrisch-Nestorianische Grabinschriften aus Semirjetschie M emoires de lAcad emie imp eriale des sciences de St.-P etersbourg (St Petersburg, 1890), p. 107; Wilhelm Barthold, Zur Geschichte des Christentums in Mittel-Asien bis sur mongolischen Eroberung (Turnhout and Leipzig, 1901), p. 42.

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Moses and Arslan63 but this suggests the inuence of the Jewish Khazar qaghan under whom Selj uk and his Oghuz warriors served, rather than any Christian connection. More concretely, as Barthold noted, the Persian writer Qazwini (d. 1283/84) says of the Oghuz that they are Christians who were allied to the Saljuq sultans until the time of Sanjar ibn Malikshah [11181157]. Following a report of Biruni (ca. 1000), Qazwini describes a spring in the land of the Kimek at which is a rock with the imprint of a human beings foot and the imprint of his palms with their ngers, and the imprint of his knees, as if he were kneeling, and the imprints of a boys feet, and the imprint of the hoofs of a donkey. And the Ghuzz Turks kneel before it when they see it because they are Christians and attribute it to Jesus.64 Although relevant to the history of Christianity amongst the steppe peoples, this is long after the conversion in question and seems to reect the incorporation of oral traditions about Christianity into Turkic shamanistic practices, rather than the more structured version of the faith, involving a clearly-dened ecclesiastical hierarchy, that is reected in Timothys correspondence. Based on rather scarce data, Anatoly Khazanov suggests that there was a penetration of Christianity to the Qirghiz, although a part of the Qirghiz aristocracy converted to to represent the Syriac word (mar), Manichaeism.65 However, the use of O.T. lord, master in an Old Uighur inscription erected by an ethnic Kirghiz almost certainly refers to a Manichaean teacher, not a Christian one.66 There are certainly references to the tars a, a Persian term for Christians,67 in the Kirghiz oral epic Manas, but these have yet to be analysed and it is unclear how far back they can be traced, given the way that oral epics evolve over time.68 Since the Kirghiz were subject to the Uighurs in the late eighth century, they cannot be the Turks described by Timothy. If indeed Nestorianism became widespread among the Qyrghyz, as Sergey Klyashtorny maintains, this did not happen until the mid-ninth century, after they had ousted the Uighurs from power.69 Christianity amongst the Qipchaq Turks (known in western sources as the Cumans) is attested by various later authorities, including Marvazi (ca. 1120) and Michael the Syrian (1195). Marvazi relates that the Q un [part of the Qipchaq tribal confederation] . . . came from the land of Qit ay [China] . . . they [were] Nestorian Christians, and had migrated from their habitat, being pressed for pastures.70 Similarly, after describing how they moved from the Central Asian heartland to somewhere north of the border of the kingdom of
218/196. to Amina Elbendary for her translation from the Arabic of Qazwini II, . Birunis original report does not equate the Ghuzz worshipping the imprints with Christianity (Biruni, 255). The report is am al-Marj also repeated in Qazwini I, 397 and Vladimir Minorsky, The Khazars and Turks in the Ak an, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. IX (1937), p. 147, neither of which make the link to Christianity either. 65 Anatoly Khazanov, The Spread of World Religions in Medieval Nomadic Societies of the Eurasian Steppes Nomadic Diplomacy, Destruction and Religion from the Pacic to the Atlantic (Toronto, 1994), p. 20. 66 Ramstedt (1913), pp. 49. 67 See the footnote above, in the discussion of Christianity amongst the Uighurs. 68 Manas III, 60, 61, 147, 185, 263. The use of this Persian term, applied to Nestorian Christians throughout Central Asia in several different literatures, suggests that this refers to Syriac Christians encountered earlier in the history of the Kirghiz, rather than the Russian Orthodox Christians that the Kirghiz came into contact with in the nineteenth century. 69 C. p, p-p I, p , Vol. V, (1959), p. 169. 70 Marvazi, IX.3 (29, 98).
63 Chron. Syr. 64 My thanks

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the Greeks, Michael notes of the Quman ay e that they adhere much to the nation of Christians that are found in the land now, although their customs are confused.71 However, although there are clear references to Qipchaq rulers converting in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries to Orthodox or Catholic Christianity (in Georgia, Russia and Hungary), there is no information on when they adopted Nestorian Christianity and certainly no references to rulers converting in the eighth century.72 There has been speculation that the Metropolitan of H . alih . in Amr ibn Khalaj in one manuscript, Mattais list of metropolitanates, which is rendered as refers to the Khalaj Turks, who lived in western Turkistan and Afghanistan.73 If so, this is another example of a Metropolitan attached to a nomadic tribe, but there are no other references to this enigmatic metropolitanate and the concurrent mention of a Metropolitan of Turkistan in Amrs list suggests that the Turks that Timothy referred to are distinct from the H . alih . /Khalaj. Furthermore, Abdisho bar Berikha (1315/16) includes in his list H of metropolitanates . alih . , that is H . alwan and Hamadan, (H alih (Khalaj).74 suggesting that the reading in Amr should indeed be . . ), not Equating this metropolitanate with H . alwan and Hamadan in western Iran clearly negates any connection with the Khalaj in western Turkistan and Afghanistan. The Qarluqs However, a good case can be made for identifying the T ay e in Timothys letter with the . urk ).75 Qarluq Turks, also mentioned in the Orkhon Turkic and Uighur inscriptions (O.T. The most convincing evidence is found in Narshakhis History of Bukhara (943/44), where we read that, in Muh . arram, ah 280 (March/April, 893 ce) the Samanid Amir Isma il went to ght T ar a z, where he experienced great difculty. Finally the am r of T az came out . . ar with many dihq ans (landed gentry) and accepted Islam. T ar a z was thus subjugated. A large .
71 Michael XIV.4 (570571/III, 155). 72 The ethnic origin of the Q un, before

they merged with the Qipchaqs, is unclear. see: Peter Golden, Religion among the Qip caqs of Medieval Eurasia, Central Asiatic Journal, Vol. 42. pp. 180237 (1998), p. 185. As with the Pechenegs, we know little about the Qipchaqs or their ancestors at the time of the conversion that Timothy describes (see EI, s.v. Kip cak). Omeljan Pritsak, Two Migratory Movements in the Erasian Steppe in the 9th11th Centuries, Proceedings of the 26th International Congress of Orientalists (New Delhi, 1968), p. 160 suggested that the migration in question took place ca. 900. On Christianity amongst the Qipchaqs, see Golden, (1998), pp. 217222. 73 Majdal II, /73; M. Siouf, Notice sur un patriarche nestorien, Journal Asiatique, Vol. VII, No. XVII, pp. 8996, p. 95. 74 Syn. Or., 619 Jacques-Marie Vost e, 1940, Ordo Iudiciorum Ecclesiasticorum, collectus, dispositus, ordinatus et compositus a Mar Abdi so Metropolita Nisibis et Armenia (Vatican City, 1940), p. 56. 75 Tekin, (1968), 236/270; Ramstedt, (1913), pp. 1617, pp. 2425. I am not the rst to make this equation. It was also made by the Russian scholar Sergey Klyashtorniy, followed by A. B. Nikitin, a fact I became aware of only after independently coming to the same conclusion [p (1959), p. 168; A. p p , mu* pm u p u: umpu, mp, , (Moscow, 1984), p. 127]. Unfortunately, since their publications are in Russian, they have been overlooked by non-Russian scholars dealing with this issue. It is also suggested in several unconnected statements found in Gillman and Klimkeit, (1999), pp. 214, 218, 222, but these are not linked together by the authors and the theme is not developed any further. See also similar statements in Hans-Joachim Klimkeit Christian Art on the Silk Road, K unstlerischer Austausch. Artistic Exchange: Akten des XXVIII. International Kongresses f ur Kunstgeschichte, Berlin, 1520 Juli 1992, (Berlin, 1993), pp. 481482.

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church was transformed into a grand mosque, and the khut .ba (sermon) was read in the name of the Commander of the Faithful Mu tadid bill ah.76 T . abari (d. 923) speaks of Isma il raiding the land of the Turks, conquering their capital and capturing their king and his wife Kh at un.77 This is further corroborated by Mas udi (d. 956), who tells us that the Turks were the Kharlukhiyya, the Arabic term for Qarluq.78 Bar Ebroyo also mentions this event, in an extract dependent on T . abari. Since the latter does not mention the Christian status of the Turks involved, neither does Bar Ebroyo.79 Taraz (also known at various times as Talas), located 300 km north-east of Chach (Tashkent), was the Qarluq winter capital80 and the fact that the church was large enough to be transformed into a grand mosque suggests that it was probably a cathedral, the residence of at least a bishop, if not a metropolitan. Although Dauvillier mentioned the conversion of the Talas/Taraz church into a mosque and suggested that the churches there and in Bukhara were attached to the putative metropolitanate centred on Otrar, he gave no evidence for this.81 It seems much more likely that the metropolitanate was located in Talas/Taraz itself. As for Bukhara, where we also hear of a church being converted into a mosque,82 it probably came under the Metropolitan of Samarkand, since both cities lay within Samanid territory.83 The Qarakhanid dynasty, which was established in Kashghar ca. 943 and whose ruler Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam ca. 955, is now generally believed to have originated from the Qarluqs.84 The report of Ibn Miskawayh (d. 1030) and later Ibn al-Athir (d. 1233) that 200,000 Turkish tents adopted Islam in ah 349 (960/61 ce)85 probably referring to the Qarluqs seems to have completed the process. It is a curious mirror image of the 200,000 Kerait that Bar Ebroyo describes converting to Christianity in 1007/08 CE86 and seemingly involved the same process noted in Timothys letter, whereby the ruler was followed by more or less all of his territory. If Timothys T ay e were the Qarluqs, who then ruled a Christian polity for over a century . urk (until Isma il ibn Ah . mad defeated them), this may help explain the later establishment of a metropolitanate in Kashghar during the period 11761190, mentioned above. Indeed, the link between the former Christian dynasty and the future Muslim Qarakhanid state may have been quite direct, as Peter B. Golden suggests: Ism a l S am an s [Qarluq] opponent at T az may have been Oghulchak Kad r Khan, son of Bilge K ul Kad r Khan . . . This . ar
76 Narshakhi, 8687. The Samanids were a Persian Muslim dynasty based in Bukhara, loyal allies of the Arab Caliphate. The practice of turning Christian churches into mosques can be traced back at least as far as the conversion of the church of St John into the Grand Mosque of Damascus under Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marw an (685705), as recorded in Baladhuri I, pp. 191192. 77 A Turkic word (borrowed from Sogdian) originally meaning lady or wife, this title was used for the qaghans wife. See: Clauson (1972), pp. 602603. 78 Tabari XXXVIII, 11; Mas udi 3284 (V, 1319). See also the discussion in Omeljan Pritsak, Von den Karluk . zu den Karachaniden, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl andischen Gesellschaft, Vol. CCI (1951), pp. 288290; Istv an Zimonyi, The Origins of the Volga Bulghars (Szeged, 1990), pp. 169172 and Narshakhi, p. 150. 79 Chron. Syr. 166/151. We may be sure that if Bar Ebroyo had known about the church in Taraz, he would have mentioned this fact. 80 Ibn Khurd., 21. 81 Dauvillier (1948), p. 285. 82 Narshakhi, 53. 83 Not long after, Ibn al-Faqih (ca. 902) described the church at Samarkand as a well-known site, one of le plus dignes de demeurer sur la face du temps et le plus e es d etre effaces. (Ibn al-Faqih, pp. 296297). loign 84 See: Pritsak (1951); Golden (1990), pp. 354357. 85 Ibn Misk. V, p. 196; Golden (1990), p. 354. 86 Chron. Eccl. II, 281/282: Mingana (1925), p. 309.

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defeat (893) was perhaps responsible for his withdrawal to the Kashgar region . . . it was here that a Karakhanid prince, Satuk (perhaps his son or nephew) converted to Islam.87 Since Kashghar was an important centre for the Eastern Qarakhanid Qaghanate (which formally split from the Western Qaghanate in 1041/42), perhaps the memory of the Christian past of the ruling dynasty provided an environment favourable for the Church of the East to establish a metropolitanate there. Textual and Archaeological Support This process of conversion to Islam, in many instances from Christianity, is perhaps also reected in legends that circulated in the Su tariqah founded in Central Asia by Khoja Ah . mad Yassavi (d. 1166). These legends describe the holy war waged by the descendents of Caliph Ali in order to bring Islam to Central Asia, in which they fought with the (tars alar), Christians in Uzgand (Uzgen, Kyrgyzstan), Ferghana, Chach (Tashkent), Isjab (Sayram, Kazakhstan), Kashghar and several other cities. Of particular interest are references to the ruler of Kashghar, who was a Christian; he is called M ung uzliq Aq Qarakh an, but his Christian name is given as Yuhann an [a common name amongst Syriac Christians] and the conversion of Magians and Christians to Islam at Qarghal q, a fortress near Talas/Taraz. Although, as De Weese notes, the historicity of the account is highly suspect, the frequent mention of Christians in this text surely reects some degree of historical reality.88 There is also signicant archaeological evidence for the presence of Christianity in the Yeti Su area (modern day northern Kyrgyzstan and southern Kazakhstan), the heartland of the Qarluq realm, during the eighth and ninth centuries. In Taraz itself, various Christian artefacts have been discovered, including a Syriac inscription mentioning Peter and Gabriel,89 ossuaries with crosses on them,90 a clay vessel fragment with a cross on it,91 and a building which has been identied as a church, although this has been disputed.92 Other artefacts have been unearthed at Krasnaya Rechka (mediaeval Saryg), Aq-Beshim (mediaeval Suyab) and various other places in northern Kyrgyzstan that were formerly under Qarluq rule.93 In particular, two churches have been partially excavated in Aq-Beshim. At least one (and possibly both) can be dated to the eighth century.94 Finally, in nearby Tokmak
357, following Pritsak (1951), pp. 288291. Yasavian Legends on the Islamization of Turkistan, Aspects of Altaic Civilization III: Proceedings of the thirtieth Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference, (Bloomington, 1990), pp. 812. 89 A. H. p (Alma-Ata, 1941), pp. 2122. 90 . . p p p, p p p p, (1957), p. 110; Frantz Grenet Les pratiques fun eraires dans lAsie centrale s edentaire ` lislamisation, (Paris, 1984), p. 180. de la conqu ete grecque a 91 K. M. p p , : (Tashkent, 1994), p. 99. 92 Marie Adelaide Lala Comneno Nestorianism in Central Asia during the First Millennium: Archaeological Evidence, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, Vol. XI (1997), p. 41. 93 Much of this evidence is summarised in . . p & . . p, p ppp p, mppuu pu m pu* uu: pumum, (Tashkent, 1994); , (1994); Grigori L. Semenov, Studien zur sogdischen Kultur an der Seidenstrae, (Wiesbaden, 1996), pp. 6268; Lala Comneno (1997), pp. 4045; Wassilios Klein, Das nestorianische Christentum an den Handelswegen durch Kyrgyzstan bis zum 14 Jh (Turnhout, 2000), pp. 101125. 94 Wassilios Klein, A Newly Excavated Church of Syriac Christianity along the Silk Road in Kyrghyzstan, Journal of Eastern Christian Studies Vol. 56 (2004), pp. 2547.
87 Golden (1990), p. 88 Devin DeWeese

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and Burana, hundreds of Christian gravestones, dating from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, were found in the 1880s.95 Perhaps the earlier presence of Christianity in the area enabled the faith to ourish again when Mongol rule introduced a greater degree of religious tolerance. Motivations and Factors in the Conversion Religious conversion is a complex phenomenon, especially when rulers are involved.96 Thus, the political dimension of the conversion that Timothy reports should not be underestimated. Although there were undoubtedly personal, even spiritual, reasons that the king of the Turks adopted Christianity, strategic factors were probably also involved. As Khazanov has noted, the rulers and aristocracy of nomadic societies understood well the changes taking place in the political situation and the new possibilities, or even the necessity, of adjustment and readjustment.97 The Qarluq yabghu would have been very aware that Manichaeism was the state religion of the Uighurs to the north. He was probably also apprised of the growing status of Judaism amongst the Khazars to the west. Although, as qaghans, the other two Turkic rulers had more status than he did, he may well have considered that adopting a world religion would increase his prestige in the nomadic world. Khazanov argues that the Khazar conversion to Judaism was a declaration of political and ideological independence . . . from the two major rival and partner states: the Muslim Caliphate and Christian Byzantium. By adopting Judaism, the Khazars made a strong political statement about not being assimilated or conquered by either of the empires to the south, as well as opening their state up to Jewish merchants, scholars and craftsmen.98 Similarly, the Uighur conversion to Manichaeism constituted a proclamation of ideological independence, along with a demonstration of political force, manifest in the Uighur demand that the Chinese prohibition on Manichaeism be removed.99 Again, a Manichaean state undoubtedly appealed to Sogdian Manichaean merchants, scholars and craftsmen, whose subsequent presence played a major role in the cultural elevation of the Uighurs.100 The Qarluq yabghu may well have been inuenced by similar motives in his conversion to Christianity. Having already allied with the Arabs against the Chinese and Uighurs in
95 Daniel Chwolson, Syrisch-Nestorianische Grabinschriften aus Semirjetschie M emoires de lAcad emie imp eriale des Science de St.-Petersbourgh (1890); Daniel Chwolson, Syrich-Nestrianische Grabinschriften aus Semirjetschie Neue Floge (St Petersburg,1897). The rst gravestone in Chwolsons initial 1886 report was originally dated to 858. He later corrected this to 1258 [Daniel Chwolson Syrisch Grabinschriften aus Semirjetschie, M emoires de lAcad emie imp eriale des Science de St.-P etersbourg, Vol. VII (1886), pp. 78; Chwolson (1890), p. 15], but the literature continues to refer to the incorrect date, giving the impression that the earliest stones are from the ninth century [e.g. Mingana (1925), p. 334; Dauvillier (1948), p. 290; Lala Comneno (1997), p. 40]. A second stone, originally dated 911, was later discarded by Chwolson as too indistinct [Chwolson (1886), p. 8; Chwolson (1890), p. i]. Thus, the earliest gravestone in Chwolsons corpus can only be dated to 1201 or possibly 1186 [Chwolson (1897), pp. 56]. Another gravestone not included in Chwolsons corpus has been dated to either 789 or 909, but Wassilios Klein has shown that the date should rather be read as 1114/15 (Klein (2000), pp. 163165). Since there are only two possible gravestones from the twelfth century (both with problematic readings) and the vast majority of the corpus dates from the mid-thirteenth to the mid-fourteenth centuries, they cannot be used as direct evidence of Christianity amongst the Qarluqs. 96 For an excellent discussion of conversion to world religions in the Eurasian steppe, see: Khazanov (1994). 97 Khazanov (1994), p. 15. 98 Khazanov (1994), pp. 16, 18. 99 Khazanov (1994), p. 19. 100 Later on, the Uighurs fullled the same function for the Mongols.

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the Battle of Talas (751), it was natural that the Qarluqs should seek ties with a religion represented in the Caliphate. The rather brutal history of jihad in Central Asia probably ruled out the idea of adopting Islam. Christianity, however, posed no such military (or taxation) threat to the Qarluqs. Though Timothy does not say what was communicated in his correspondence with the ruler, the latter surely became aware of the Patriarchs status in the Abbasid court and the extent of his jurisdiction. For his part, Timothy probably took every opportunity to impress these things upon the Turkic king. Additionally, parallel to the Khazars and Uighurs, conversion to Christianity would have induced more Sogdian Christian merchants, scholars and craftsmen to visit and even move to Qarluq territory. Finally, we may note the Qarluq-Tibetan alliance against the Uighurs and Chinese in the late eighth and early ninth centuries, precisely when Timothy was appointing these metropolitans. Perhaps their mutual relationship with the patriarchal throne of Timothy played a role in the development of their political ties (or conversely, the latter may even have facilitated the former). Following the example of the Hephthalite ruler ca. 550, the king of the Turks requested a Metropolitan for his people. It is unclear how much time elapsed between the conversion and the request for (or indeed the appointment of) the rst Metropolitan. Timothys reference ) suggests that a certain amount of correspondence had been to his writings ( exchanged between the two, presumably translated between Syriac and Old Turkic (or Sogdian) along the way.101 Of special interest is the kings request regarding how he might appoint a Metropolitan for the territory of his kingdom. The statement is in the third person, suggesting that the king wanted to appoint his own Metropolitan, rather than leave it in Timothys hands. Perhaps, if signicant time had elapsed since rst requesting a Metropolitan, he was growing impatient and wished to do the job himself. Furthermore, he presumably did not want to be put under the authority of the Metropolitan of Samarkand, due to its location in Muslim Samanid territory. It was imperative that he have his own Metropolitan, located in his territory. The Samanid conquest of the Qarluqs a century later clearly demonstrated the need for the latter to remain independent from the former at the time of the conversion.102 This desire for independence can also be seen in T . abaris reference to the following comment of al-Mamun, governor of Khorasan and future caliph, in the year ah 195 (810/11 ce): Jabgh uyah has abandoned obedience; Kh aq an, the ruler of Tibet, is acting up . . . and I have 103 uyah as no strength for even one of these matters. Barthold rightly identies the Jabgh the yabghu of the Qarluqs.104 It is perhaps no coincidence that both rulers who had recently acquired Nestorian metropolitans were now causing trouble for the Caliphate. Based on Timothys statement in Letter XLI that this also we have done, the rst Metropolitan was probably chosen sometime around 792/93. Timothys statement in Letter XLVII that the Spirit has anointed in these days a Metropolitan for Beth T ay e almost . urk
I of Bulgaria, under whom the Christianisation of the Bulgarians proceeded apace. Although he was wooed by the Catholic Church after being baptised in 865, the Popes refusal to grant him an independent national Patriarch ultimately convinced Boris to side with the Orthodox Church. 103 Tabari XXXI, 71. . 104 Wilhelm Barthold, Turkestan down to the Mongol Invasion, (London, 1968), p. 202.
101 Regrettably, this correspondence has not survived. 102 A parallel can perhaps be seen in the example of Boris

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certainly refers to the same event, rather than to a subsequent Metropolitan.105 Had clergy from the Church of the East previously been amongst his people or would this be their rst contact with the church hierarchy? We have no way of knowing if the priests and deacons appointed for the minor ruler by Elia of Merv 150 years previously had inaugurated a presence amongst the Central Asian Turks that continued down to Timothys time. More likely, any previous contact with clergy was probably with representatives of the Samarkand metropolitanate, as suggested above. Postscript What evidence do we have that the metropolitanate which Timothy established for the Turks lasted beyond the Samanid conquest in 893? Lists of metropolitanates in the Church of the East can be found in the works of Elia Jauhari of Damascus, Ibn at . ayyib, Abdisho bar .-T 106 Berikha and Amr ibn Mattai. Elias list, co-incidentally compiled in 893, the same year the Province of that Talas/Taraz was conquered by the Muslims, mentions only 108 (Samar)Qand,107 as does Ibn at . ayyib (d. 1043). However, Abdishos Order of Ecclesiastical .-T Judgements (1315/16)109 includes the following text:

Description of the metropolitans of the exterior. First, the metropolitan of Persia and the maritime islands. Second, that of Damascus, Jerusalem and the sea-coast. Third, that of Merv and Nishapur. Fourth, that of the T ay e. Fifth, that of the Raziq ay e,111 that is to say, Rayy, Qum and Qashan. Sixth, that of the . urk Heratians, that is to say, Herat. Seventh, that of Aran and Alania. Its seat is Barda ah and Shnika,112 a part of Armenia. Eighth, that of the islands of the seas and that which is beyond, of Dabag and S . in and Mas . in.

These Metropolitans are listed after the six that have the right to take part in electing a Catholicos. Thus, the Metropolitan of the T ay e ranks tenth overall.113 Finally, Amr, . urk (the Metropolitan of Turkistan) 22nd in his list, right writing ca. 1350, ranks
105 A reasonable assumption, given the letter was written between 795 and 798. See the discussion on this in Uray (1983), p. 403, n. 415. 106 Sachau (1919), pp. 2122 contains a good summary of the relevant lists of metropolitanates. 107 B.O. II, pp. 458460. 108 Ibn at-Tayyib VI.16 (II, 123). He gives the full form . . 109 Vost e (1940), p. 13. 110 Syn. Or., 619620: Vost e (1940) pp. 5657. 111 The Raziq ay e were residents of the old Persian city of Ragha, now called Rayy, located near Tehran. 112 J.-B. Chabot suggested that this is a corruption of Armenian Sinnik (Syn. Or., 620, n. 2). 113 The list is contained in Canon XXI from the Synod of Ishaq (Isaac) (410), updated by Abdisho to reect . the situation in his time.

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behind the Metropolitan of Samarkand.114 Both Abdisho and Amr reect the situation in the thirteenth or fourteenth century, a time when Christianity again ourished for a short while in Turkistan, as attested to by the aforementioned gravestones found in the Yeti Su region. However, it is unclear if the metropolitanate of the Turks/Turkistan mentioned by these two authors was a continuation of that established by Timothy or a subsequent creation. Brief as these references in Timothys correspondence are, they are immensely important in the difcult task of reconstructing the history of Syriac Christianity in Central Asia. If indeed the Qarluq Turks were those who converted to Christianity during Timothys patriarchate, then a signicant part of the Turkic world was part of the Christian oikumene for most of the ninth century. Abbreviations Abdisho, Nom. = Mai, 1838 Baladhuri I = Hitti, 1916 Baladhuri II = Murgotten, 1924 Biruni = Sachau, 1879 B.O. = Assemani, 17191728 Chron. Eccl. = Abbeloos & Lamy, 18721877 Chron. Syr., T = Bedjan, 1890 Chron. Syr., V = Budge, 1932 EI = Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition Gardizi = Martinez, 1982 Governors, T = Budge, 1893a Governors, V = Budge, 1893b Histoire = Bedjan, 1895 Ibn al-Faqih = Mass e, 1973 Ibn at . ayyib = Hoenerbach & Spies, 1957 .-T Ibn Khurd. = de Goeje, 1889 Ibn Misk. = Margoliouth, 1921 Khuzistan, T = Guidi, 1903a Khuzistan, V = Guidi, 1903b Majdal I = Gismondi, 1899 Majdal II = Gismondi, 18961897 Marvazi = Minorsky, 1942 Manas = p & , 19781982 Mas udi = Pellat, 19621997 Michael = Chabot, 18991910 M.P. = Middle Persian Narshakhi = Frye, 1954 N.P. = New Persian
114 Majdal

II,

/73.

134 O.T. = Old Turkic Qazwini I = Eth e, 1868 Qazwini II = W ustenfeld, 1848115 Qud ama = de Goeje, 1889 Syn. Or. = Chabot, 1902 116 T . abari = Various, 19871999 Timothy (Bidawid) = Bidawid, 1956 Timothy (Braun I) = Braun, 1901b Timothy (Braun II), T = Braun, 1915b Timothy (Braun II), V = Braun, 1915c Ya qubi = Wiet, 1937

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Mark Dickens School of African and Oriental Studies, London University