Page:Introduction to the Assyrian church.djvu/190

184 HISTORY OF THE ASSYRIAN CHURCH Khrimian can rise to the throne of the "Catholicos of all the Armenians," so it was in the sixth century, when the whole Church of Persia turned to the lecturer of Nisibis as the man who could save them from their enemies and from themselves.

Aba, Mar Aba the Great, was by birth and education a Zoroastrian, and a member of the great Magian clan. Learned in the theology and philosophy of his faith, he had risen to the rank of "Andarzbed," or "instructor of Magi"; and was also secretary to the governor of the province of B. Aramai — when the call to another service came to him. That is to say he was of mature age, and he knowingly abandoned a promising career.

It was the courtesy and humility of a Christian of Jewish descent that first drew the Magian official to Christianity. Exactly in the fashion of a modern Ottoman official, he had ordered this man, whose name was Joseph, to clear out of the ferry-boat that was going over the Tigris, and let his betters go first. Twice they attempted to cross, and twice the clumsy craft was driven back by squalls of wind, and it was not till they asked the Christian to enter the boat that the passage was accomplished.

Aba frankly asked Joseph's pardon for his discourtesy, and made his acquaintance; thus discovering that he was a Christian, and not, as he had thought, a Marcionite. The influence of his new

1 In ferries on the Tigris a man who misses one crossing may often have to wait for three hours before the boat has been towed back to the crossing place against the rapid current, has crossed again, and is ready for another trip. Of course, no big man is going to wait his turn, merely because a rayat was in the boat first!

2 Marcionites were called Christians, and Christians, Mshikhai (Mshikha, or Messiah, being Syriac for Christ). Christians, as we see from other evidence, wore some distinctive dress, as they did until the present generation. It appears that Marcionites were a numerous sect in Persia at the time.