3. Christianity in Mongolian Persia

The first khan of Persia, Hulagu, the grandson of Genghis Khan, was the more favorable to Christianity since it was the religion of both his mother and his wife. His successor, Abaka (1265-$2), followed a similar course, and the Curia availed itself of this op- portunity both to thank the khan for his kindness to his Christian subjects, and to make a vain effort for his own conversion. After a brief period of persecution under the Mohammedan Sultan Ahmad (1282-84), Khan Argun (1286-91) again favored the Chris tians and expressed willingness to engage in a cru. sade, promising to be baptized if Jerusalem should be taken. With the death of Argun, however, it became clear that the rising power of Mohamme. danism in Persia rendered it impossible for a prince

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favorable to Christianity to mount the throne. The victorious candidate, Gasan (1295-1304), embraced Islam, and as his first royal act ordered the destruction of the sacred edifices of idolaters, Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians. Buddhist priests were put to death unless they renounced their faith, and Christians were treated with ignominy, though the intercession of Hethum II. of Armenia secured the rescinding of the edict to destroy the churches. The succeeding reigns of Uljaitu (1304-16) and Abu Said brought the Christians no relief. The Persian Christians, who were Nestorians, Jacobites, and other schismatics, despite all persecution preserved their organization through their patriarchs, whose seat was at Bagdad and who controlled over twenty metropolitan sees. At this same period, moreover, the Roman Catholic Church established dioceses, orders, and lay communities in Persia in answer to the request of some of the khans to the popes, who gladly sent many mendicant monks. The majority of these wandering missionaries were more interested in the reclamation of schismatics to the Roman Catholic Church than in making new converts. Their most important colonies were at Tauris and Sultanieh, especially as in the former city many Fraticelli had settled. At Sultanieh John. XXII. erected an archiepiscopal see with six dioceses, while others were afterward created for a bishop of Tauris. The speedy dissolution of the khanate, however, rendered these archdioceses and their dependent sees short-lived.

4. Christianity in Turkestan and Hipahak

East Turkestan and southern Siberia had passed, on the division of Genghis Khan's dominions, to his third son Ogotai; while his second son, Jagatai, had received western Turkestan. Here the great majority of the inhabitants were Mohammedans, and desperate efforts were made to extirpate the Christians. Nevertheless, two papal briefs of the first half of the fourteenth century are extant which thank a Tatar prince of the region and two of his court for their protection of the Christians under their sway and for the building and the repair of churches. The Franciscans had settled at Jagatai's capital, Almaligh on the Ili, but in 1338 a persecution there brought a martyr's death both to their bishop and to a visiting Franciscan from Spain. On the other hand, Giovanni de Marignola, when on his way to China, was able, two years later, to build a church in Almaligh and preach and baptize in public. West of Jagatai's dominions lay the khanate of Kipchak, its center on the lower stretches of the Volga. The population was mixed, the invading Mongols being settled among Ossetes, Kipchaks, Cherkesses, Russians, and Greeks. Between the Mohammedan Bulgarians and Kipchaks were Christian Armenians and Ruthenians. The rulers must, therefore, be either Christian or Mohammedan. Berke, the brother of Batu, the founder of the capital, Sarai, was a zealous Mohammedan; but Sertak, Berke's son, was rumored to be a Christian. The monk Rubruk was accordingly sent to the land, only to find that the rumor was false. Mohammedanism took firm root in this branch of Genghis Khan's family. Usbek Khan (1313-41), while a firm follower of Mohammed, in 1813 granted the Metropolitan Peter a patent of protection and exemption from taxes to the Russian Church in his archdiocese. This policy of Usbek's was dictated by political expediency; but the patent was respected by his successors, though some of them again imposed taxes on the Christians. In 1261 the Greek Church received a further concession when Berke permitted the erection of a bishopric in Sarai. Pope John XXII., in 1318, made Kassa the see city of a diocese extending from Sarai to Varna, the first bishop being a Franciscan named Hieronymus. Orther Latin bishoprics were established in Soldaia, Cembalo (Balaklava), and Kertsch, often side by side with Greek sees. The Franciscans, moreover, had two dioceses, one with ten stations in the province of Sarai, and the other with seven in the province of Gazaria (Crimea). These monks developed great activity, and frequently converted to Christianity members of the Mongol royal family. For more recent missions see China; Missions To the Heathen.

(W. Heyd†.)

Bibliography: H. Howorth, Hist. of the Mongols, 3 vols., London, 1881-88; W. W. Rockhill, Land of the Lamas: Notes of a Journey through China, Mongolia and Tibet, New York, 1891; J. C. Hannah, Brief Hist. of Eastern Asia, London, 1900; J. Curtin, The Mongols, Boston, 1907; idem, A Journey in Southern Siberia; the Mongols, their Religion and their Myths, ib., 1909.