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During the Christological discussions in the 5th century, Nestorious, the Archbishop of Constantinople, argued that the human and divine essences of Christ are separate and that there are two natures: the man, Jesus, and the divine Logos. His view about Christ was condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431, but this did not prevent it from spreading from Mesopotamia to inner Asia. Then, the church of the East was separated from that of the West. The doctrine of the Archbishop of Constantinople has always been identified with him specifically and was named Nestorianism.1
First the Edessa School and then Nisibis became important centers for Nestorianism.2 Babeaus, the priest of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital city of both the Persians and Sasanids, also made a great contribution to the spread of Nestorianism.3 The people converted to Nestorianism began to live under Sasanian rule - they were usually protected against die Byzantine Empire. Then, in the 7th century, Nestorian Christians came under the rule of Islam. The caliphs maintained the policy of protecting native churches against the Byzantine Empire; hence, the Nestorian patriarchs were respected under Islamic rule. During the 14th century, the Mongol conquest swept over Arab land and Hulagii invaded Baghdad. Mongol rule did not change the conditions of the Nestorian Christians. Hulagü's wife was a true Christian and many Turkic and Mongolian people were converted to Nestorianism. Rabban Sawma, the patriarch of the Nestorian church, was himself an Uighur Turk.4
The Nestorian Christians under Ottoman Rule
In the 16th century, the Ottomans became the ruler of the land on which the Nestorians lived. At that time, the Nestorian church in Mesopotamia streched from Tal, Diz, Kiu, Valto, Tohuma, CiIu, Baz, Isjazin and the Cilo-Sat mountains in the south part of Hakkàri, to the left wing of the greater Zab river. In other words, the church was between the intersection point of the Euphrates and Bohtan rivers, the north and the south of the Urumia lake in Persia and the Musul vilayat of Ottoman administration and the Firat river.5
Under Ottoman rule, Nestorian Chrisitians became members of the Ottoman millet system in which people were classifed according to their religion; they were included in the Armenian millet.6 They lived freely under Ottoman rule and it is...