02-08-2010, 02:26 AM
Shlama Khulkon:
All that I have seen is a single Chinese character of the number 7, on a stelle which dates to the 8th Century. There is no corroborating evidence in support of a 27 book canon originating with the Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. The extra 5 books are most likely referring to the Western Five (II Peter, II John, III John, Jude and Revelation.
A Nestorian monk, Olopen came to China in 635 A.D. during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). The Nestorian faith was known to the Chinese as 'Qing Jiao'. Olopen built a temple in Changan, called the Da Qin Temple. The stone monument, measured 2.36 meters tall, 0.86 meter wide and 0.25 meter thick was carved in 781 A.D.
The stone carving was produced 146 years after this so-called Olopen. Olopen sounds a lot like ????????????, (yolpan) "teaching, instruction, doctrine" in Aramaic/Hebrew to me. There was a lot of time for a branch of Westernized Assyrians to establish a 27 book canon and thus influence the number of books recorded on the stone monument. Perhaps the Chinese mission was persuaded to compromise and record 27 instead of Olopen's 22. 146 years is a long time and Olopen was not there to see what group did the actual carving.
Shlama,
Stephen Silver
All that I have seen is a single Chinese character of the number 7, on a stelle which dates to the 8th Century. There is no corroborating evidence in support of a 27 book canon originating with the Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. The extra 5 books are most likely referring to the Western Five (II Peter, II John, III John, Jude and Revelation.
A Nestorian monk, Olopen came to China in 635 A.D. during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). The Nestorian faith was known to the Chinese as 'Qing Jiao'. Olopen built a temple in Changan, called the Da Qin Temple. The stone monument, measured 2.36 meters tall, 0.86 meter wide and 0.25 meter thick was carved in 781 A.D.
The stone carving was produced 146 years after this so-called Olopen. Olopen sounds a lot like ????????????, (yolpan) "teaching, instruction, doctrine" in Aramaic/Hebrew to me. There was a lot of time for a branch of Westernized Assyrians to establish a 27 book canon and thus influence the number of books recorded on the stone monument. Perhaps the Chinese mission was persuaded to compromise and record 27 instead of Olopen's 22. 146 years is a long time and Olopen was not there to see what group did the actual carving.
Shlama,
Stephen Silver