Remnants of the pagoda

Daqin Pagoda (大秦塔) in Chang'an, Shaanxi Province, located by Louguan temple, China, is the remnant of the earliest surviving Christian church in China. Chang'an ( is an ancient Capital of more than ten dynasties in Chinese history. ( Postal map spelling: Shensi) is a north-central province of the People's Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings The church and the monastery were built in 640 by members of the Assyrian Church of the East, also referred to as the Nestorian church. Events By Place Europe Tulga succeeds his father Suinthila as king of the Visigoths. The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East (ܥܕܬܐ ܩܕܝܫܬܐ ܘܫܠܝܚܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ ܕܐܬܘܪ̈ܝܐ ‘Ittā Qaddishtā wa-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi Nestorius Nestorius (c  386 &ndashc  451) was a pupil of Theodore of Mopsuestia in Antioch in Syria (modern Daqin is the name for the Roman Empire in the Chinese language of the time. Daqin ( is the ancient Chinese name for the Roman Empire and the Near East. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial

History

Persecution of Christians in China led to the abandonment of Daqin in about 845. Christianity in China is a growing minority religion that comprises Protestants (called 基督教 Jī dū jiào or Christ Religion) Catholics Much later, in 1300, a Buddhist temple was installed in the pagoda. Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered Tower with multiple Eaves common in China, Japan, Korea An earthquake severely damaged the pagoda in 1556 and it was finally abandoned. An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth 's crust that creates Seismic waves Earthquakes are recorded with a Seismometer Due to the earthquake, many of the underground chambers of the complex are no longer reachable. Daqin was "rediscovered" in 1998 and its roots in early Chinese Christianity were recognized.

The pagoda today

Inside the pagoda, artistic works in both Western and Asiatic style can still be found, among them Jonah at the walls of Nineveh, a nativity scene and Syriac graffiti. According to the Hebrew Bible ( Tanakh / Old Testament) and Qur'an, Jonah (; Arabic: يونس, Yunus or Nineveh ( Akkadian: Ninua; Aramaic: ܢܝܢܘܐ Hebrew נינוה Nīnewē; Arabic نينوى Naīnuwa) A nativity scene may be used to describe any depiction of the Nativity of Jesus in art, but in the sense covered here also called a crib or manger in the See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language Many of these artworks are made from mud and plaster, which suffered during prior centuries from exposure to the elements. Seismic activity and flooding endanger the stability of the pagoda. In 1999, the pagoda's exterior was restored, but overall stability was not improved. Further restoration of the site is planned, as well as exploration, most probably by remote probe, of the collapsed underground chambers. ^[1]

References

1. ^ Touchstone Journal; April 2007 "Christ on the Silk Road" http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=20-03-030-f

See also

• Nestorianism in China
• Memorial of the Propagation in China of the Luminous Religion from Daqin
• Nestorian Stele

External links

• Did Christianity Reach China In the First Century?
• Site from China about location
• Orthodox article on site