Christianity in Iran

Alexander Henry

Dr. Miranda Cruz

History of Christian Church

December 10, 2021

Iran today is known for being an Islamic Theocracy and democracy in the Middle

East that has a rich history with tons of contributors to who they are today. Modern-day
 Henry 1

Iran rests in a very volatile place today in between Iraq, to the west, and Pakistan, to the

east, and used to be a highly coveted land in the past that had many different empires

and rulers conquering each other with tons of different people groups flooding in at

different times. All of these different people groups also bring in tons of different

religions as well. These religions include those such as Judaism, Zoroastrianism,,

Buddhism, Islam, almost exclusively Shiia, Gnosticism, and then, of course,

Christianity.1 With all these religions having a significant place in Iranian history, Shia

Islam is the most widely practiced religion with about 90% of the Iranian people claiming

to be Shia, and even though such a majority of the people claim to be Shia, the reality is

that Chrisitianity bore its roots in the people of modern-day Iran way before Islam was

even a thing2. In this paper, we are going to discuss how those Christians got there and

what has happened to them by looking into key people, events, and developments in

the lives of these believers.

One of the first ways that we can begin to dive into these origins is by looking at

the Bible, the word that God has given to his people and the basis for Christian truth. In

the Old Testament, there are several references to the Babylonian and Archaemenid

empires which were prominent in the 6th century B.C.. When we look at the story of

Daniel, Esther, and Ezra and of the prophesies of Zechariah, Haggai, and Isaiah; and

then the historical records in 2 Chronicles, we see mention of Cyrus, the king of Persia 3.

In the first chapter of Habakkuk, God tells Habakkuk that there is going to be judgement

cast upon them through the Babylonians conquering them 4. This is the beginning of

1 Iran and Christianity: Historical Identity and Present Relevance

2 ibid
3 2 Chronicles 36:22
4 Habakkuk 1:6
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fulfillment of the prophecy in Jeremiah where God condemns the Israelites to 70 years

of exile in Babylon5. Whyle the Israelites are in Babylon, the Babylonians are conquered

by Cyrus the Great of the Archemenids. This is the start of a new empire that looks

favorably on the Jews as Cyrus, and later Darius, promote funding to rebuild the temple

for the Jews. Though the people that were exiled were technically Jews and not

Christians, it is these Jews that began to plant grassroots of belief in their God YHWH

that paved the way for Christianity to eventually take hold.

Along with these Old Testament Passages that talk about the Persian and

Babylonian empires, which are located in modern day Iran and Iraq, there are also

some references to the Persians in the New Testament as well. In fact, Luke even

writes about there being Persians at pentecost 6. He mentions there being God-fearing

Jews from all sorts of nations including the Arabs, which shows that there were people

that felt the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and took it back to their homes. Flipping the

script from the coming of the Holy Spirit to the birth of the Messiah, well before

Pentecost occurs, we hear about the Magi, or wisemen, that come from the east to

worship and give gifts to baby Jesus. Though there is a lot of mystery surrounding these

men, it is generally believed that these men were Zoroastrian 7. Zoroastrianism is an

ancient Persian/Iranian religion that base their truth off of the prophecies of a man

named Zoroaster. Zoroastrians are often astrologers and so the star of David was an

epiphany to them when they saw it. Them following that star and worshipping Jesus,

despite them being a monotheistic religion, is actually understandable as they have a

messiah in their religion as well and the prophecy is very similar to that of Jesus’s.

5 Jeremiah 29:10
6 Acts 2:5-11
7 Zoroastrianism and the Resemblences between it and Christianity
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Knowing that these men listened to the voice of God to go worship Jesus, and then

again to avoid going back to Herod shows their ability to comprehend and listen to

YHWH and share his truth back at their homes. This story is often the reference to the

roots of the earliest Christian communities in Iran 8.

In order to truly understand these connections between the Magi and Jesus and

their impact on Persian society, it is important to be able to address the immense

imprint that Zoroastrianism had on the formation of these Christian communities as well.

Zoroaster came to prominence in the first half the seventh century BC in the city of

Media. Which is where the king of Assyria had kept some Israelite communities captive.

Zoroaster’s death took place around when the Jews were taken into captivity by the

Babylonian Empire. Zoroaster’s teachings began to have a deep effect on the Persian

people before Cyrus and the Achaemenian Empire rose up. 9 It is not believed that

Cyrus necessarily was a Zoroastrian, but it is believed that the Achaemenian rulers that

came after him all heralded the Zoroastrian faith. Demonstrating that Zoroastrianism

and Judaism both came into Persia around the same time. Then when we recognize

that it wasn’t until after their captivity in Persia fact that Messianic prophecy began to

happen is because God was able to use the partial truths of Zoroastrianism to explain to

his own people his plan of salvation, and possibly even to plant roots in the Persians as

well.

Knowing the impact that both Judaism and Zoroastrianism had on each other

and the Persian people, as well as the mention of Arabs at Pentecost, it is highly likely

that the roots to future Christians in the area could have stemmed from all the way back

8 ibid
9 ibid
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then. The rule of the Archaemenic Empire eventually came to an end when Alexander

the Great swooped in and took over almost all of the Middle East and was knocking on

the door of India. Then when he died, his successors were unable to hold the Persians

at bay for too long before the Parthians, a nomadic Iranian tribe, took over and came to

power around 250 B.C.. It is during this time that it is believed Christianity first started to

rise in the Iranian people.10 This is also the time of the Pentecost and along with the

Arabs being there that is mentioned previously, there were also Parthians there.

Hearing Peter’s sermon, they went home and were able to start being the Church and

worshiping God after the resurrection of Jesus. One specific name that we can talk

about in this time period is the Apostle Thomas.

The Apostle Thomas, yes doubting Thomas, is known for his missionary journeys

to India, which he writes extensively about in the Gospel of Thomas. Establishing the St

Thomas Christians which are still worshiping in India to this day. However, on his way to

India, he is said to have also made an impact on the Persians and Parthians as well. 11

Though it is somewhat debated, we do know that Thomas would have had to at least

travel through Persia to get to India, and the Church in India actually prefers reading the

Bible in Syriac which is a language that originates from the Middle East and has lots of

Persian roots12. In the Acts of Thomas, Thomas actually references Parthian kings that

stood up for him when he was threatened to get left in Egypt 13. He wrote, “And then the

kings of Parthia, and they that bare office, and the great ones of the East made a

resolve concerning me, that I should not be left in Egypt, and the princes wrote unto me

10 Christianity in Persia and the Status of Non-Muslims in Modern Iran p.10

11 Origen’s commentary on Genesis
12 Neill, Stephen (2004) [1984]. A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521548854.
13 Book of Thomas
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signifying thus (and every noble signed his name to it, Syr.)” This shows that us that

Thomas had at least spent enough time in Parthia to befriend even the highest of

people. This shows us that there was significant interaction between Thomas and the

Parthians.

With these roots set by Thomas and the other Parthians that were at Pentecost,

Iran began to truly have a solid foundation for churches and Christianity. Christianity

actually showed up even before Islam did. And with heavy Christian impactors like

Nestorian and the Monophysites, it is no surprise that there were tons of solid Christian

communities present in Persia. Along with this, as the Persian empire began to expand

in the 3rd Century, it began to overtake many different Syriac and Greek-speaking

communities that already had strong Christian beliefs 14. With this growth and influx of

Christians, many people started to convert and churches began to pop up all over the

place. However, with that, because of Rome’s claim to Christianity, many Persians

began to assume that all Christians had loyalty to Rome and started to spread rumors

about these Christians being spies and being disloyal to the Persian Kings. This led to

heavy persecution for those Christians. This eventually led to the Persian church

declaring itself independent of Rome and Constantinople. 15

Within the Persian Christian communities, one of the most attractive practices

was asceticism. This is confirmed by the work of Aphraates, who wrote a ton of different

treatises throughout the beginning of the 3rd century A.D.. The church continued to

develop into the 5th and 6th centuries to the point where they were starting to develop

Christian schools. One of the biggest schools that was built was the school at Nisibis.

14 Shaw, Ian J. Christianity: The Biography- 2000 Years of Global History

15 ibid
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This development also leads to growth in the way that they can now have the breathing

room to dispute over different theologies. One of the biggest ones that actually led to a

split, was the idea of who Christ is. Lots of the Christians wanted to take on the

Chalcedonian definition of Christ, but many other Syriac churches did not want to. 16

Persia started to develop even more in the sense that it began to build strong

connections and relations with other churches outside of Persia. Mar Aba I was a

prominent figure who converted from Zoroastrianism and actually got theologically

trained at one of the Christian meccas of Edessa and was eventually the head of the

East Syrian Church. He was eventually exiled out of Persia, but his impact remained.

And Christianity was able to maintain itself through the spreading words of Syriac and

Coptic Merchants and truly began to spread all throughout the Persian empire. 17

Unfortunately, this relatively peaceful time for the Christians did not last. By the

6th Century, a lot of Christian communities began to face heavy opposition to an up and

coming religion in Islam. ALthough in the beginning, Muhammed was a fan of the fact

that Christianity and Judaism were monotheistic, he taught that they had both strayed

away from the truth. Unfortunately, the explosion of Islam eventually led to intense

confrontations from Muslims and they began to conquer Christian communities militarily.

Charged by jihad, holy war, many Muslims felt like it was their duty to fight those that

didn’t believe the truth from where they stood. 18 Though there were still Christian

communities left, the vast majority of Persia and all of the Middle East had been overrun

by Islam. This made being a Christian in a place like Iran very difficult.

16 ibid
17 ibid
18 ibid
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All the way until present day Iran, the nation has been completely dominated by

Islam and is even considered a Theocracy. There has been heavy persecution of

Christians in Iran as they held the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979. This led to the

immense persecution and deaths of many Christians in the nation. Iranians today often

see Christianity as a Western Religion and are used to blame the failed Christian West.

This persecution eventually led to most Christians leaving Iran and moving west. 19 With

all of the turmoil and religious trauma that the Iranian people have gone through, there

are actually a lot of present day Iranians that are open now more than ever to the

Gospel message20. They are tired of the violence, and just like anyone would, they

desire freedom to believe whatever they want. Though it is still pretty dangerous to be a

Christian in Iran, the time is now if we really want to make an impact. There are

Christians there now that could really use our help and love and I think that the church

in America needs to do a better job at showing them this.

When a lot of people think of Iran, their minds instantly go to terrorism and Islam,

but the reality is that they have one of the most beautiful and complex histories of all

time. With impact from all sorts of religions from Zoroastrianism to Islam to Judaism and

to Christianity. THere is a beautiful history of Christians in Persia that have a rich

theological history and Biblical impact. It is time to change our perceptions of Islam and

start truly diving into their culture so we can learn how to best love them and minister to

them just like the Lord called us to.

19 ibid
20 Iran and Christianity: Historical Identity and Present Relevance
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Sources

Bradley, Mark. Iran and Christianity: Historical Identity and Present Relevance.

Continuum, 2011.

James, M. R. “The Acts of Thomas.” Gnostic Library,

http://gnosis.org/library/actthom.htm.
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Origen, .., and Ronald E. Heine. Homilies on Genesis and Exodus. Catholic University

of America Press, 2010.

Shaw, Ian J. Christianity, the Biography: 2000 Years of Global History. Zondervan,

2016.

Tavassoli, Sasan. Christian Encounters with Iran: Engaging Muslim Thinkers after the

Revolution. I.B. Tauris, 2011.

Van Gorder, Christian A. Christianity in Persia and the Status of Non-Muslims in

Modern Iran. Lexington Books, 2010.

Williams, Jackson Abraham V. Zoroastrianism and the Resemblances between It and

Christianity. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1906.