Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/54

42 42 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. merous churches were governed by very enlightened, though heretical ecclesiastics, and who, moreover, de- spatched missionaries of their doctrines to Ceylon, India, and even the Chinese empire, where they greatly cor- rupted those of true Christianity. From the monument of Si-gnan-Fou, of which we shall presently speak, some authors have concluded that Christianity was first carried to China by the Nestorians. But this appears to us extremely doubtful ; for, leaving out of the question for the moment the opinions of those who have distinctly affirmed that the Chinese were first evangelised by St. Thomas or his disciples, we have the most authentic testimony that the first propagation of the faith in Upper Asia was by orthodox Catholics, un- touched by any taint of heresy. Ebedjesus, a Syrian writer, much versed in the Christian antiquities of the East, expresses himself thus in his Canonical Epitome: — " The Catholicos Saliba-Zacha founded the metropolitan sees of Heria (in Khorassan), of Samarcand, and of China, though some have affirmed that they were insti- tuted by Achaaus and Silas." * Thus, according to Ebedjesus, many have thought that Achats and Silas established the metropolitan sees of China. Now Achasus, the Archbishop of Seleucia, was at the head of the orthodox Chaldean Christians, from 411 to 415; Silas was patriarch of the Nestorians from 503 to 520 ; and Saliba-Zacha held the same see from 714 to 728. If, therefore, it should be admitted, in contradiction to the opinion of many, that the metropolitan see of China- was established by Saliba-Zacha, it only appears more certain that the Chinese must have been converted
 * "Ebedjesus Sobensis in Epitome Canonum," par. 8. cap. 15.