Barshabba

Barshabba, whose name means "son of the deportation", was the first recorded East Syriac bishop of Merv. He attended the synod of Patriarch Dadishoʿ in 424. Barshabba, or at least his name, lies at the root of an elaborate legend about the introduction of Christianity to eastern Iran and central Asia.

The surviving versions of the legend of Barshabba are from no earlier than the 7th century. He was venerated from eastern Iran to China, but no further west. He was venerated both in the Church of the East, with which the historical bishop was associated, and among the Melkites of central Asia. According to al-Bīrūnī, the Melkites of Khwarazm kept his feast on 21 June. (In al-Bīrūnī's account, his name is misspelled Bršyʾ and his life mis-dated to "about two hundred years after Christ".) built churches and founded a school. He died and was buried, but by a miracle came back to life and lived another fifteen years before dying a final time. In the Sogdian version, he is credited with founding monasteries in Fars, Gorgan, Tus, Abarshahr, Sarakhs, Marw al-Rudh, Balkh, Herat and Sistan. The legend, combined with the evidence of the synod, would give Barshabba a pontificate of at least 69 years. The legend is consistent with the archaeological evidence for the introduction of Christianity to Merv in the 4th century.