Discuss » Faith and Religion

question about christans from syria and ethopia in the pre islamic period.

(15 posts)

  1. azzmat
    Member

    What was the western and eastern church? Why was the double headed eagle the sign of christans of the east. How many christans lived in syria before Islam? Did they beleive that Jesus was the son of god? Did the syrian christans pray five times a day and were they allowed to pray anywhere outside of church? Did the eastern syrian christans in there five times a day prayer used to do sujda? Was there prayer like muslim namaz? question for bonus points, which civlization had the crescent moon as their symbol 1000 years before islam?

    Posted 1 year ago on 18 Feb 2010 13:45 #

  2. gv
    Member

    short answers:

    1) The western and eastern church split along the western and eastern halves of the roman empire with the western (or catholic church representing the first major schism in christianity from Rome while the eastern church centred around its patriach in Byzantium (Istanbul)

    2) presume its from the roman eagles

    3) the bulk of the syrian population was christian during the advent of islam

    4) Various sects within eastern christianity had various interpretations of Jesus's divinity.. notably the coptic church and the arrians who denied jesus being the son of god..

    5, 6 & 7 ) no idea but i'd hazard a guess they did

    8) many central asian/ middle eastern civilisations have used the crescent but notably the persian sassanians used it as their empire's symbol prior to the advent of islam

    Posted 1 year ago on 18 Feb 2010 14:07 #

  3. azzmat
    Member

    1) The western and eastern church split along the western and eastern halves of the roman empire with the western (or catholic church representing the first major schism in christianity from Rome while the eastern church centred around its patriach in Byzantium (Istanbul)
    Eastern church did not consider jesus the son of god. This was the reason for the split. The word nasrani holds the key to the answer. Why were they called nasrani or nasar?

    2) presume its from the roman eagles
    single eagle was the sign of the romans and western christans used it after the emperor constantine became christan. The eastern church used 2 headed eagle to show east and west is different and one at the same time.

    3) the bulk of the syrian population was christian during the advent of islam
    yes jewish and christan and there beleifs were the same as what muslims hold today other than considering Muhammad a prophet. Their language was syriac armanic, hebrew, greek and latin.

    4) Various sects within eastern christianity had various interpretations of Jesus's divinity.. notably the coptic church and the arrians who denied jesus being the son of god..

    5, 6 & 7 ) no idea but i'd hazard a guess they did
    This will be really interesting to find out if they prayed five times a day with sujda. Was their prayer like the namaz? Is their recitation of their religious texts is like ours or should i say is our recitation like theirs.
    8) many central asian/ middle eastern civilisations have used the crescent but notably the persian sassanians used it as their empire's symbol prior to the advent of islam
    right and the use of the cresent moon was widespread in ethopia in africa.

    Posted 1 year ago on 18 Feb 2010 14:35 #

  4. gv
    Member

    @azzmat

    the eatersn orthodox church does consider jesus the son of god but the oriental orthodox church maintains jesus is divine but a creation of god not his son as does the assyrian church etc... so just saying the eastern church is slightly misleading..

    Posted 1 year ago on 18 Feb 2010 14:39 #

  5. azzmat
    Member

    eastern/bazyintine at the time of pre Islam in syria and ethopia. After they got destroyed jesus became divine in the east due to the influence of western christanity. I am talking about a specific period in time. The eastern church were driven out by muslims and western christanity. They did not beleive that jesus was son of god and this was the christanity in syria and ethopia.
    Nestorians, Syriac Christianity
    Nestorianism

    Posted 1 year ago on 18 Feb 2010 14:47 #

  6. gv
    Member

    no jesus was declared divine and the son of god by the eastern orthodox church at the council of nicaea in AD 325 well before the islamic invasion....

    all opposing sub sects (some who accepted his divinity but denied his being the son of god or some who denied his divinity) were subsequently declared heretic...

    its not as black and white as it looks at first glance.. the various schisms within christianity are extremely complex and fragmented...

    Posted 1 year ago on 18 Feb 2010 15:00 #

  7. azzmat
    Member

    gv
    Nestorianism, Church of the East, Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople 428 – 431 Syria and ethopia. Time to do a search and the answer is waiting for you.
    council of nicaea in AD 325 was held by constantine the emperor in 325. There were later developments and in the 600ad syria and ethopia were broken off from the west.

    Posted 1 year ago on 18 Feb 2010 15:20 #

  8. gv
    Member

    umm i'm saying the exact same thing as you are

    but my point is that the eastern orthodox church (originally of constantinople) which is the major eastern church believes very much in the trinity...

    Posted 1 year ago on 18 Feb 2010 15:22 #

  9. azzmat
    Member

    Council of Nicaea in AD 325 was held by Constantine in no way settled the question of divinity of Jesus. At best it was a carefully worded compromise by both sides and the wording left the option of dissention open for the church of east. The work on theology was kept on by different sects and by 450ad there were churches in the east that have completely broken off the west. By the 600's the byzantine based in Istanbul had a very weak hold on Syria and Ethiopia. Syria was more theologically aligned with Mesopotamia and Iran that had vibrant christen communities that were fleeing persecution by the west and byzantine. Syria and Ethiopia were not practicing catholic or byzantine Christianity.
    http://xhgc18.blogspot.com/search?q=history+of+christianity

    Posted 1 year ago on 18 Feb 2010 15:49 #

  10. zia m
    Member

    Nietzsche calls Christianity the greatest curse on humanity.It destroyed the Greek civilization.He could be right.

    Posted 1 year ago on 18 Feb 2010 18:15 #

  11. azzmat
    Member

    zia m have you read the anti christ by Nietzsche. Something tells me you will greatly like that book. Also try his parable of a madman on youtube. It's from his book gay sceince. To undertsand Nietzsche it is very important to read all his books. His thought developed over time and if you reads his books in oder of publication. You will enjoy them more.

    Posted 1 year ago on 20 Feb 2010 12:47 #

  12. zia m
    Member

    azzmat,yes i did read the Antichrist a while back.You are right one has to read his complete work i intend to do so.He fascinates me.
    I'm tangled up in the antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus.
    I used to believe Jesus as a historic figure but now I'm more inclined towards the belief that he was more of a myth.
    You seem to be very well read, would love to know your opinion.

    Posted 1 year ago on 20 Feb 2010 14:48 #

  13. azzmat
    Member

    zia m I have not seen any evidence yet that Jesus was a historical figure. I also admire Nietzsche and have found him to be brutally honest.

    Posted 1 year ago on 21 Feb 2010 12:28 #

  14. azzmat
    Member

    The church of the east and western Christianity were having theological debates about divinity of Jesus and the christen of the east were translating Greek works and using their work to bolster their arguments. When Islam spread and the same people became Muslim they brought along their set of expertise and knowhow and Islam also got an infusion of Greek knowledge. You would be really shocked to know how wide spread eastern Christianity was and the work these ex-eastern christens did after accepting Islam. A lot of famous early members of Islam were eastern christens. Do you know their names and who they are? Do you know which sahaba were eastern christens before accepting Islam? Was the man trusted with compilation of the Quran an eastern christens converted to Islam. Was the first writer of the sirat rasulaah a converted christen slave? Which hadiath compilers and Muslim imams came from family that converted to Islam from Christianity?

    Posted 1 year ago on 23 Feb 2010 1:47 #

  15. azzmat
    Member

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism

    Posted 1 year ago on 13 Mar 2010 18:09 #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.