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COE history
#1
I seem to remeber rweading somewhere that at one time (maybe 1000 years ago??) the COE was a very large denomination, maybe even the largest.
Can anyone help?
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#2
Shlama Akhi Michael,

Yes, please see "John Stewart, Nestorian Missionary Enterprise: The Story of a Church on Fire (Edinburgh: T &T Clark, 1928), pp 204-213"

John Stewart Wrote:Whole peoples with their rulers had become Christians and it seems certain that there were few places in the whole Asia that were not reached at some time or other as the outcome of the marvelous activity of that wonderful church which extended from China to Jerusalem and Cyprus, and in the eleventh century is said to have outnumbered the Greek and Roman churches combined.

The estimated population at the turn of the 11th century was around 80 million souls. Then Tamerlane put an end to it (almost.) Within 200 years of it's height it went to only around 100,000 souls.
+Shamasha Paul bar-Shimun de'Beth-Younan
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#3
I think its worth pointing out that the "Church of the East" has both the oldest surving Liturgy on record, and also the oldest one in continuous use.


And that this point actually has some bearing even on the issue of Aramaic Primacy. Because well if you have the oldest liturgy, its in Aramaic, and you are a Christian church. Part of the heritage that comes from the Liturgical tradition is having scriptures to go with them, as far as being read in Lectionary readings etc.


Anyway the Liturgy of the Holy Apostles, Mari and Addai, is dated around AD 200. Which beats most other liturgies by I think 150-400 years depending on which one your talking about. And there are some aspects of the liturgy, which are very remniscent of material from the Didache, AD 100. So anyway I think, this liturgy is an important piece of evidence that documents the ancient literary heritage that would also serve as the basis for evaluating some of the antiquity claims that would be made in reference to the Peshitta.
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