Simeon of Bēt Arsham, ‘Letter’ on Bar Sawma and the Heresy of the Nestorians’

Abstract

Simeon of Beth Arsham was a defender of miaphysite Christology during roughly the first half of the sixth century. He is one of the theologians and church leaders who played a role in the eventual development of a distinct miaphysite church in the aftermath of the Council of Chalcedon (451). Simeon was actively involved in Christological disputes with members of the Eastern Church, who had adopted the Dyophysite Christological doctrine since the 80s of the 5th century.

It was in this context that Simeon’s ‘Letter’ On Bar Sawma and the Heresy of the Nestorians’ was written. It recounts the history of the formation and spread of ‘Nestorianism.’ Simeon’s Letter is an important source both on the formation of ‘Nestorianism’ and its spread in the Sasanian Empire, as well as on the Christology of the Iberian Church.

The ‘Letter’ is a well-known source in Georgian historiography, and its fragment, which concerns the Iberian Church, was actively used by Georgian historians. A detailed study of the source convinced us that its fragmentary understanding in Georgian historiography led to inaccuracies.

The article discusses the religious situation in the Sasanian Empire at the end of the fifth and beginning of the sixth centuries. The article publishes for the first time a full Georgian translation of Simeon of Beth Arsham’s ‘Letter’ with relevant research.