PROCHE-ORIENT CHRETIEN 57, 2007, 24-42

HISTOIRE ET TRADITION
LIN YING
FULIN MONKS:
DID SOME CHRISTIANS OTHER THAN NESTORIANS
ENTER CHINA DURING THE TANG PERIOD?
1. - INTRODUCTION
Since Paul Pelliot published his study on the origin of the name of
Fulin in 1914, Fulin has been widely accepted as the Persian or Sog-
dian transliteration of Rum, i.e., Hrom or From, and refers to Byzan- .
tium in the Sui (581-618 CE) and Tang periods (618-907 CE)l. It was
in the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE) .that the visits of Fulin emissaries
were clearly recorded for the first time. According to the Jiu tangshu
(the standard history of the Tang Dynasty, compiled in the 10
th
cen-
tury) and the Xin tangshu (the new standard history of the Tang Dy-
nasty, compiled in the 11 th century), the state of Fulin sent emissaries
to China seven times:
- In 643 (the 1 i
h
year of the Zhenguan period), Bo-duo-li, the king of
Fulin, made tribute of red glass, green Jinjing and so on.
- In 667 (the 2
nd
year of the Qianfeng period), (Fulin) sent envoys to
make t r i b u t ~ ofDiyejia.
- In 701 (the 1 st year of the Dazu period), (Fulin) sent envoys again
(to China).
- In 708 (the 2
nd
year of the Jingyun period), Fulin presented local
products.
- In 719 (the 7th year of the Kaiyuan period), the ruler of Fulin sent
the chieftain of Tuhuo1uo (Tokharistan) to present two lions and two
1 P. PELLIOT, "Sur I'origine du nom Fou-lin", Journal Asiatique 1914, 497-500.
See also, F. HIRTH, China and the Roman Orient, Shanghai and Hong Kong 1885
(reprint Chicago 1975); D.D. LESLIE and K.H.J. GARDINER, The Roman Empire
in Chinese Sources, Roma 1996.
FulinMonks 25
gora1s. After [several] months, he again sent the virtuous monks to
make tribute.
In May of 742 (the 1 st year of the Tianbao period), the ruler ofFu-
lin sent a virtuous monk to make tribute
2

At the beginning of the 20
th
century, F. Hirth argued that Bo-
duo-li is the Chinese transliteration of Patriarch, the title of the leader
of the Syrian Church. He considered that this Patriarch in Chinese
sources was in fact the leader of the Nestorian Church (also known as
the Church of the East) in Persia. He said:
"With the settling of so many Syrian Christians in Persia after the fall of
Antioch in 540 A.D., the Nestorian Patriarch in Persia could perhaps lay
claim to that dignity. His residence in exile was merely a makeshift; to his
own flock and to the Chinese behind them he was the patriarch of all the
Christians, whatever the heterodox clergy in the west may have thought of
it. It was the Nestorian patriarch who sent the fIrst Christian missionaries to
China, and whether he did so under orders from a still higher patriarch in
Antioch, or on his own authority, it seems not easy to decide."3
Hirth's argument had a great influence on the successive expla-
nations for these mysterious Fulin emissaries. For example, Shirotori
and Hudson in the 1930's thought that the virtuous monks sent by the
Fulin ruler in 719 and 742 were Nestorian missionaries, though they
disagreed with Hirth's viewpoints, that all the emissaries from Fu1in
were Nestorians
4
Cen Zhongmian and Van Zonglin in the 1950's and
the 1960's agreed with Hirth comp1ete1y5. On the other hand, Qi Sihe
and Barrett tended to believe that the Fulin envoys came from the
Byzantine Empire, and had no direct connection with the Nestorian
Church
6
Nevertheless, Hirth's viewpoints have affected them in an-
2 See Jiu tangshu,juan 198, Cefu yuangui,juan 971.
3 F. HIRTH, "The Mystery of Fu-lin", Journal of American Oriental Society 30,
1910,9.
4 C. F. HunSON (Wang Zunzhong tr.), Europe and China, London 1931 - Beijing
1995, 195; K. SHIROTORI, "A New Attempt at the Solution of the Fu-lin Prob-
lem", Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko, Tokyo 1956.
5 CEN ZHONGMIAN, "Liqian, Daqin and Fulin in the Chinese sources", The
Supplement of Documents on the Western Turks, Beijing 1958, 223-233; YAN
ZONGLIN, Yan Zonglin shixue wenji, Taiyuan 1998, 326-327.
6 QI SIHE, Zhongguo yu Baizhanting diguo de guanxi (China and Byzantium),
Shanghai 1956, 35-36; T. H. BARRETT, "Buddhism, Taoism and the eighth-cen-
26 Lin Ying
other way. In their opinion, the reason for which the Nestorian
Church in China changed its name from Bosi jingjiao ("Persian Re-
ligion of Scripture") into Daqin jingjiao ("Daqin Illustrious Relig-
ion"), was because it wanted to emphasize its Byzantine rather than
its Persian origin. That change of name was confirmed by imperial
edict in 745, the 4th year of Tianbao period.
Hirth's identification for Bo-duo-li is reasonable? Bo-duo-li
sounds close to Patriarch, and especially to Bathric, Patriarch in Ara-
bic. Hence, the first Fulin emissary seems to have been sent by some
Christian church connected with Byzantium. The emissaries in 719
and 742 were called "virtuous monk". Moreover, Youyang zazu, an
encyclopedia on the exotica in the 9
th
century, mentioned a Fulin
monk whose name was Wan. These records indicate a close connec-
tion between the Fulin emissaries and some religious community.
Therefore, the two questions that were first raised by Hirth are still
foci for the present discussion: Were the virtuous monks Nestorians?
What were the relations between. the Fulin monks and the Byzantine
Empire?
IT. - FULIN MONKS AND BOSI MONKS
In Hirth's argument, the patriarch of the Nestorian church consid-
ered himself the patriarch of Antioch, aiming to increase the prestige
of his enterprise. Nevertheless, Hirth did not give any solid grounds
to support his assertion. In fact, the Christian communities in Persia
had a long history and had shown a tendency of independence even
before the arrival of the Nestorians from Edessa in 431. In the three
Synods heid- in 410,420 and 424, the bishops from various places of
Persia allied to emphasize the high authority of their leader, the Per-
sian Catholicos. Thus, they were able to establish the two fundamen-
tal features of the Oriental Church. One was the Nicene Creed and the
other was the independence of Persian Christians from the Church in
the Byzantine world. Their Catholicos was answerable to God alone
8

tury Chinese term for Christianity: a response to recent work by A. Forte and oth-
ers", BSOAS 63.3,2002, 555-560.
? About the several identifications for Bo-duo-li, see ZHANG XINGLANG, Zhongxi
jiaotong shiliao huibian, I, Beijing 1977, 97-98.
8 W. S. McCullough, A Short History of Syriac Christianity to the Rise of Islam,
FulinMonks 27
Shortly thereafter, the influx and growing influence of Nestorians
strengthened the independence of the Persian church again. With the
support of the Sasanian emperors, the Persian Church, now Nestorian,
declared its complete independence from the West when Babowin
assumed the title "Patriarch of the East" in 498.
The Catholicos of the Persian Church thus declared himself equal
to the Patriarchs in Antioch, Alexandria and Rome. By 643, when the
Tang empire saw the first Fulin emissary, the title " Patriarch of the
East" had already prevailed for nearly a century and a half in Persia
and Central Asia. In such a situation, why would the Nestorians in
China want to borrow and use the title of "Patriarch of Antioch", in
order to glorify their enterprise in the Far East?
. In fact, the names used for Nestorians in the Tang period reveal
the very close connection between them and Persia. In 638, the first
Nestorian missionary A-luo-ben was called "Bosi monk" (Persian
monk)9. The term of "Persian monk" continued in use till 745, when
the Emperor Xuanzong declared that "Persian temple", the original
term for Nestorian churches in the two capitals (Chang'an and Luoy-
ang) be replaced with a new term, i.e., "Daqin temple". From 638 to
745, Nestorians in China called themselves Persian monks, as well.
For example, the Xian-fu monument (Daqin jingjiao liuxing Zhong-
guo bei, the eulogistic verses on the stone monument recording the
diffusion of the Illustrious Religion) records the following:
"In the Shengli period (698-700), the Buddhists slandered (our church) in
Luoyang to suppress the growth of Nestorians. In the late Xiantian period
(around 713), the Taoists made libel (of our church) in Chang'an. Luo-han,
leader of our monastery, Ji-lie, the virtuous monk, and aristocrats from the
west and monks from the monastery made their efforts to protect (our
church) and finally changed the situation."
Of Ji-lie, the virtuous monk, was also recorded in juan 546 of
Cefu yuangui:
"Liu Ze assumed the office of Dianzhong shi yushi (the imperial inspec-
tor in court) and Lingnan jianxuan shi (the inspector in the region of Ling-
nan) in 714 (the 2
nd
year of Kaiyuan). At that time, Zhou Qingli, the official
Chicago 1982, 123-126.
9 The imperial decree in 638 says: "A-luo-ben, the Persian monk, carries the scrip-
tures and religion rules from afar and presents them to the grand capital". See
Tang huiyao, juan 49.
28 Lin Ying
in charge of trade affairs in Lingnan, and Ji-lie, the Persian monk, produced
many exotic implements, aiming to present them to emperor."
Clearly, around 713 and 714, Nestorians were called "Persian
monks". The imperial decree issued by the Emperor Xuanzong in 745
(the 4th year of the Tianbao period) states:
"The Persian religion of the scriptures, starting from Daqin (referring to
the Roman Empire in the Chinese sources from the 1 st century to the 5
th
century) and coming to preach and practice, has long existed in the Middle
Kingdom. ,,10
Clearly, Nestorianism was considered as a Persian religion. In the
Xian-fu monument erected in 781 (the 2
nd
year of Jianzhong), we
find: "A-luo-ben, the virtuous monk from Daqin state", replacing
"A-luo-ben, the Persian monk" in the imperial decree of 638. This
correction shows that the Nestorians intended to stress their relation
with Daqin, i.e. the Roman Empire. Their efforts, however, seem not
to have met with immediate success. The Zenyuan xinding Shijiao
mulu (The New Catalogue of Buddhist Works in the Zhenyuan Pe-
riod), written by Yuanzhao in 800, mentions:
"(Bore, an Indian monk) collaborated with Jingjing, the Persian monk
from Daqin temple (the author ofXian-fu monument in 781) to translate the
Sutra of Six Boluomi and divided it into seven volumes. At that time Bore
didn't know the language of Hu (a language of Central Asian), while Jing-
jing didn't know Sanskrit, let alone the doctrines of Buddhism. They
claimed their work as honest translation, however, they were not able to
convey the true meaning at all. What they wanted was their own fame and
wealth alone. They even reported their translation to the Throne, hoping
their work would be issued officially. Our great emperor (the Emperor
Dezong, 780-805) was so intelligent and knowledgeable on Buddhism. He
found that their translation was poor and incorrect. Moreover, the monk
from the Buddhist temple and the monk from the Daqin temple were distinct
in theory and behaviour. Jingjing should spread the religion of Mi-shi-ke
(the Messiah). The Buddhist should spread the teaching of Buddha. So the
difference of Buddhism and some other religion was clear. The monks of
different religions were able to be discerned. The correct was thus separated
from the wrong."
Judging from this record, the contemporary Chinese outside the
Nestorian communities continued to call Nestorians "Persian monks"
after the decree in 742. In the 10
th
century (late Tang and Early Song),
10 Tang huiyao, juan 49.
;
, ~ ,
FulinMonks 29
the Guiyijunshi yanei mai you po yongli (Account on the Outlay of
Wheat and Oil in the Office of Guiyi Army Commander) says:
"Give the Persian monks from Ganzhou wheat flour seven dou (1 dou=
17.5 pint) and oil one she (1 she =1.75 pint) for monthly expenditure.
Give the Persian monks who present medicine wheat flour one shi
(1 shi=2.75 bushel) and oil three she on 26, ?month."
Again, Wang Yande mentioned Nestorians in his Xizhou shi-
chengji (Ways to Xizhou) in the same period:
"There are temples of Moni (Manichaeism) and Persian monks in this
area. They are called waidao (outsiders) by the Buddhist scriptures."
Xiang Da and Jiang Boqin have identified the "Persian monks" in
these contexts as Nestorians
ll
. Clearly, Non-Nestorian Chinese living
in the two capitals (Yuanzhao at Chang'an) as well as on the frontier
(Dunhuang area) referred to Nestorians as "Persian monks" through
the Tang period.
From 638 (when A-luo-ben visited the Chinese Emperor for the
first time) to 742 (when an imperial decree officially confirmed the
change of name of the Nestorian Church), it took nearly a century for
the Nestorian church to finish the process of Sinicization. We may
question why, if A-luo-ben called himself a Persian monk, the later
emissaries from Fulin did not do the same, if they were in fact Nes-
torians.
Yishen lun (On the One God), an early Nestorian document in
Chinese, was possibly written around the Zhenguan period (627-649),
i.e., the time when Persian monks and the Fulin monks entered China.
It says:
"There is only One God in the world. HIS heaven is borderless. HE is
one, but does not inhabit one place. HE is not one place. HE never sticks to
one place. HE is not the boundary of the first place and the second place, not
that of the first phase and the second phase. For example, there is no
land-border and time-border between China to Persia, and Persia between
Fulin (Byzantium). (So is HIS nature.),,12
11 See HANG BOQIN, Dunhuang tuluofan wenshu and Sichou zhi lu (Turfan Docu-
ments and Silk Road), Beijng 1994, 37.
12 WENG SHAOJUN, Hanyu jingjiao wendian quanshi (The Chinese Nestorian
Documents: Text, Note and Critical), Shanghai 1996,118. As for the latest textual
criticism about the Chinese Nestorian sources, see LIN WUSHU, Tandai jingjiao
zaiyanjiu (Rethinking Nestorianism during the Tang period) Beijing 2003.
30 Lin Ying
Clearly, the Nestorian missionaries knew that Bosi (persia) and
Fulin (Byzantium) are different in geography. This period also saw
frequent visits of Fulin emissaries. It is reasonable to conclude that
the Fulin monks were not Persian monks, i.e., Nestorians.
After 742, Nestorians in China started to call Daqin
jingjiao (possibly, "The Illustrious Religion of Rome"). The Old
Tangshu (the standard history of the Tang Dynasty, compiled in the
10
th
century) stated that Fulin was the same as Daqin, recorded in
ancient documents. Nevertheless, the Xian-fu monument, the only
history of missionary enterprise written by Nestorians themselves, did
not mention Fulin at all. Fulin, on the contrary, seems to be a term
that was intentionally avoided in this stele. The Xu ling mishisuo jing
(The Book of Jesus, the Messiah), a Nestorian document, writes:
"Therefore, the Lord is in heaven and making his plan in the heaven and
the earth. Yishu mishihe (Jesus, the Messiah) will be born (according to HIS
plan). A big and bright star is seen on the sky by the people of the world.
Yishu mishihe (Jesus, the Messiah) will be born (according to HIS plan).
The xin xing (xin star) appears in the sky, as big as a cart wheel. The star is
in the bright and clean place, where Lord dwells. After one year or so, (Je-
sus) is born in WuIishiIian city (Jerusalem) ofFuIin state."
In the Xian-fu monument, however, the same account was written
in different words:
"The celestial world celebrated the birth of holy son from the virgin in
Daqin. The luminous stars showed the good signs and guided the Persian
sages to caU on him, and make tribute to him."
Clearly, Jerusalem, the birth place of Jesus, is Fulin in the earlier
document, while the same place is Daqin in the Xian-fu monument.
The Xian-fu monument also mentions:
"According to Xiyu tuji and historical works of the Han and Wei dynas-
ties (1 st century to 3
rd
century), the Daqin state ruled the Sea of Coral in the
south, bordered the Mountain of Treasure in north, spanned the Celestial
Land and Flower Forest in the west, and connected with the Long Wind and
Weak Water in east."
The Xiyu tuji in this text may refer to Pei Ju's work about the
western region (Xiyu) in the Sui period (written around 605-615).
Judging from the biography ofPei Ju in Sui shu, the term of Fulin had
appeared in Xiyu tuji. Moreover, during the time from 762 to 763 (the
Baoying period), Du Huan, who had travelled in Western Asia for
FuIinMonks 31
over ten years, clearly stated the connection of Fulin and Daqin in his
Jing Xingji (Account on the Journey):
"The FuIin state is to the west of the Shan state (Sham, Syria). It is thou-
sands of miles afar and separated by mountains from Shan. The country is
also called Daqin."
Clearly, the fact that Fulin was the ancient Daqin was known to
the Chinese in 781 when Jingjing, the leader of the Chinese Nestorian
Church wrote the inscription on the Xian-fu monument. The sources
on the western region in the Tang period also indicated that the term
of Fulin became more popular from the Sui period onwards. The term
Daqin, i.e., the Roman Empire, no longer appeared in the Tang geo-
graphic documents. The Xian-fu monument provided additional evi-
dence for this point. When the geographic location of Daqin was ex-
plained, the inscription just talked about Xiyu Tuji (possibly Sui pe-
riod) and historical works of the Han and Wei dynasties (1
st
to 3
rd
century). Contemporary geographical works, on the contrary, were
never mentioned, even in passing. This may further indicate that the
Chinese Nestorian Church did not want to emphasize the connection
between the ancient Daqin and the present Fulin. The question then
arises: Why did the Nestorian leader prefer Daqin, a term that was no
longer in use, to Fulin, the contemporary term for Rome? Jingjing's
selection possibly resulted from this fact: Bo-duo-li, the Fulin king,
was not Dongfang fazhu (the Ruler of Law in the East, the title for the
Patriarch of the Oriental Church in Xian-fu monument); the Persian
monks were different from the Fulin monks. Therefore, the hidden
reason was that the Nestorians did not want to be confused with some
other Christian group. They claimed that they were from Daqin, i.e.,
ancient Rome, rather than Fulin, i.e., contemporary Rome.
Ill. - WAN AND THE ELEMENTS OF
DIOSCORIDES' MATERIA MEDICA IN YOUYANG ZAZU
Duan Chengshi (803?-863), a well known man of letters in the
late Tang dynasty, recorded 19 kinds of herbal plants in his Youyang
zaza, an encyclopedia of exotic things and religious stories. Of the 19
kinds of plants, 15 plants originated from Fulin or had names in the
Fulin language. Duan Chengshi also mentioned Wan, a Fulin monk. It
was Wan who gave the botanical knowledge to him. Notably, these
accounts were organized in a very regular format, for instance:
32 Lin Ying
"The Bosi zaojia (cassia pod) has its habitat in the country Bosi (persia),
where it is termed hu-ye-yen-mo, while in Fulin it is styled a-li-lru-fa. The
tree has a height of from three or four zhang, and measures from four to five
chi in circumference. The leaves resemble those of juyuan (Citrus medica),
but are shorter and smaller. During the cold season it does not wither. It
does not flower, and yet bears fruit. Its pods are two chi long. In their inte-
rior are shells. Each of these encloses a single seed of the size of a finger,
red of colour, and extremely hard. The interior (the pulp) is as black as mi
(Chinese ink) and as sweet as yi (sugar-plums). It is eatable, and is also em-
ployed in the pharmacy.,,13
Generally, these plants were described in the same format: prove-
nance, their names respectively in the languages of Persia, Fulin and
India, and morphological description, size of plant, leaves, flowers,
fruits or seeds and their taste, then the pharmacological function. This
model looks quite different from the descriptions of other Chinese
plants in this book, for instance:
"xiantao (fairy peach), comes from the altar established for Su Dan in the
place of Binzhou. If one pray for it wholeheartedly, the xiantao will con-
stantly be seen to fall down to the altar. Sometimes there are as many as five
or six. It resembles stone in size. It is red and yellow. When it is broken, the
interior seems to contain kernels of three layers. To grind it into fme powder
and make drink. This drink can cure various diseases, in particular, perverse
trends.,,14
Clearly, Duan Chengshi's botanical descriptions in Youyang zazu
stressed the strangeness and miraculous effect of plants. Given that
western medicines were widely accepted and used in Tang Chinese
society, we can surmise that these descriptions of Fulin plants may be
taken from some other concurrent pharmacopoeia. Now let us com-
pare the 'description in Youyang zazu with three well-known pharma-
copoeia in the Tang period.
First, Longnaoxiang in Youyang zazu,
"Longnaoxiang, comes from the country of Polio It is called in Poli
gu-bu-po-lu. It also has its habitat in Bosi. The tree grows to a height of
eight and nine zhang. It is as large as six and seven wei (one wei equals the
length that one adult stretches out his arms) in circumference, with round
leaves, white at the back. It bears neither flowers nor fruits. The trees are
13 FANG NANSHENG, Yauyang zazu: a Version a/Textual Criticism, Beijing 1981,
entry 799.
14 See note 13, entry 793.
FulinMonks
33
divided into the slim sort and the fat sort. The slim tree produces the polu
resin. Now it is said that the slim tree produces longnaoxiang gao, while the
fat tree produces polu resin. The resin is from the middle of the trunk. It is
taken out by cutting off the trunk. The resin flows out of the top of tree.
Cutting down the trunk and making a container to receive the resin. It is
utilized as medicine in another manner.,,15
Second, longnaoxiang, the same plant in Xinxiu bencao (com-
posed in 659):
"Longnaoxiang, the tree resembles shan-mu (China fir). It is said that the
polu resin comes from the qingzhi (liquid resin) in its root, while the long-
naoxiang resin comes from the ganzhi (solid resin) in the trunk. Its seeds
resemble doukou (round cardamom). Its bark has scale and shell. Its resin
resembles the longnao (head of dragon). The resin tastes pungent and is very
effective in warding off bad trends. It (also) cures indigestion, and keeps
one's mouth fragrant. It is said in the past that the resin comes from the
country ofpolu, thus it is called according to the name of its country. Practi-
cally it is the resin of shan tree (China fir). The Shan tree grows in southern
China, but no one tries to take out the resin from it. It is possible that the
local shan tree can not produce resin, as the local banana tree has no
fruits.,,16
Third, Poluomen zaojia (cassia Rod) in bencao shiyi, written by
Chen Zangqi in the first half of the gt century:
"Abo le, it tastes bitter and is very cold in nature. It has no poison. It cures
the hotness between the atrium of heart, winded heart, yellow bone. It re-
moves cold and hot, and kills the three worms. It grows in the country of
Foshi. Its seeds resemble pods, round and long in shape. It tastes sweet and
good to eat. It is also termed Poluomen zaojia (Indian pOd).,,17
At last, Longnaoxiang in Haiyao bencao, completed in the early
10
th
century, shortly after the end of the Tang period,
"According to Tao Hongjing (?- 502 AD?), 'the tree grows in the country
of Lu in the West Sea. It is the resin from the middle of trunk. It resembles
white glue. It calms the heart and increases sperm. There is also black long-
IS See note 13, entry 785.
16 TANG SHENWEI, Jingshi zhenglei daguan bencao, Wuchang 1904, book 12,
section one, first-class trees.
17 The work is not extant. Some chapters are preserved in the pharmacopoeia pub-
lished in the Sung dynasty (960-1279). Longnaoxiang can not be found in its ex-
tant text (it is also possible that the Bencaa shiyi, as its title reveals, aimed to re-
cord botanical information not included in Xinxiu bencao). I give the writing of
Abole, which is similar to Poluomen zaojia, recorded in Youyang zazu.
34 Lin Ying
nao, curing the wind sore and scar. It better when ..
When employing it directly to the eyes, It WIll hurt the . The Mmgyl
bielu says, 'in the case of dystocia, grind a bit of mto po;vder, an.d
blend it with fresh water. This drink will reduce the pam at once. In addI-
tion the Lu country presented longnaoxiang during the reign of Emperor
, . fr th' try ,,18
Taizong. So we know that 10ngnaoxIang comes om IS coun .
The Xinxiu bencao, Bencao shiyi, and Haiyao bencao are
major material medica composed in the period. In
with them the description in Youyang zazu IS expressed In a dIStInct
way. The 'Chinese pattern emphasized the and dis-
eases treated by the plants. Moreover, a major part of.quo-
tations from earlier pharmacopoeia, in accordance wIth the ChInese
academic tradition. The morphological description, however, is given
less attention. The phonetic rendering of plants were neglected to-
tally, or just mentioned in a passing word.
The botanical writings in Youyang zazu, on the other hand, were
similar to Dioscorides' Materia Medica (written around 78 AD). For
example, the fourth entry "Kupeiros (Cyperus rotundus)" in Dios-
corides' Book 4, "Aromatics", writes:
"Kupeiros, The Roman (call it) the roote of the Bullrush, others the
rush. Somme call Cyperus, as well as Aspalathus, by the name of ErySIS-
ceptrum. It hath leaues like to Porrum, but long and more slender; a stalke
of a cubit high or higher, with corners like a luncus, upon the top .whereof
there is a growing-out of ye little leaues and of ye seed, the roots lIe under,
of which also there is vse, long as of ye oliva, cleaving together, or round,
black, well-smelling, bitter. It growes in tillowed places, as also in marishie.
But that is ye best (roote) which is heaviest, full, to breake,
rough, with a certaine sharpenesse, but such as IS ye
SyIian, and that from the Cycladean Islands. a power m
opening ye narrow mouths of the vasa and It IS dlUretIcall,. bemg dranck It
helps such as are troubled with the Calculus, and ye m:d also for
them that are a scorpione morsi, and it is good fro the prefrigeratlO vuluae,
and the obstruction thereof, it being applied by way of domentation, drawing
downe the menstrual. It is good also for the vlcera oris, yea although they be
feeding (or fretting), being dryed and beaten to powder: It mixed with
ye malagmata calfacientia, and it is usefull for the .thickning
Somme speake also of another kinde of Cyperus whIch growes m IndIa, lIke
18 SHANG ZHlJUN (ed.), Haiyao bencao, Beijing 1997, 55-56.
FulinMonks
35
Ginger, which being chewed, is found to tast like saffron and to be bitter,
and being applied like an ointment, presently it gets off the hayre.,,19
Dioscrides' description starts with the names of plant in various
languages. It was followed with a morphological description, given in
the order of size of tree, leaves, trunk, and fruit, then different prove-
nances, and finally the curative functions. These similarities can be
easily found, revealing the western origin of the text provided by
Wan. Moreover, the Arabic translation (of unknown date) of Dio-
scrides also showed some interesting points.
"Aqurun / al-wajj, Its leaves resemble those of the iris, but are fmer, and
its roots are not unlike those of the iris, but are finer, wined, they are not
straight but bent and have nodules outside, are of a whitish color, slightly
sharp in taste and not foul-smelling.
The best wajj is white, thick, not corroded, full and sweet-smelling. The
one originating from the city called Chalcis, as well as the one from the land
called Galatia and named asplenon (sleenless), are of this kind.
The power of its root is hot and, if it is stewed and its water is drunk, it
produces much urine. The root water helps against pain in the side (ribs,
pleura), in the chest and the liver, against colic and torn muscles. It dis-
solves swelling of the spleen and helps against strangury and the bites of
insects (reptiles). It is as effective against pain in the uterns as iris water.
The juice ofthe wajj root clears obscurations of eye.
The wajj root is a useful ingredient in electuaries.
2o
Compared to the text of Dioscorides
21
, the Arabic translation is a
free rather than a literal rendering. The abstruse Greek medical terms
are replaced with vocabulary that can be easily understood. This
transformation was explained by Al-Safadi in al-Ghaith al-musajjam
(Cairo, 1305):
"The Second method is that of Hunain b. Ishaq, al-Janhari and others.
Here the translator considers a whole sentence, ascertains its full meaning,
without concern for the correspondence of individual words. This method is
superior, and hence there is no need to improve the works of Hunain b.
Ishaq.,,22
19 John GOODYER (tr.), Robert T. GUNTHER (ed.), The Greek Herbal of Dio-
scorides (1
st
ed. 1635, Facsimile of the 1934 edition, London), 8.
20 Franz ROSENTHAL, The Classical Heritage in Islam, London 1975,197.
21 GUNTHER,6-7.
22 ROSENTHAL, 17.
36
Lin Ying
In the process from translation to representation, the special style
of Arab pharmaceutical writing was shaped. It is based on the pattern
of Dioscorides but more practical and flexible. The Kitab al-adwiya
al-mufrada written by Ahmad al-GhafiqI (?-1164) provides us an
example of the finest Arabic Materia Medica:
"Basbayij, polypody. It grows on moss-grown rocks and on the trunks of
old oak trees and on the tree moss [ushna]. It is about a span high and re-
sembles the plant called ptiris, the male fern [al-sarakhs]. On it is some
down which is long but not as fine as that of ptiris. The root has branches
like the fish called polyp [kathIr al-arjul]. It is as thick as a fin?er. If
rubbed the color of its interior appears to be green. Its flavor IS astrmgent
and indlined to sweetness; this is the best. It is desiccative with pungency.,,23
We can conclude now that the text in Youyang zazu was written in
the format of Arabic materia medica that were derived from Diosco-
rides' work, therefore, it was so distinct from concurrent Chinese
pharmaceutical documents.
Wan's writing, on the other hand, did not follow the western
model completely. It is clear that Wan wrote for All
the plants were described in Chinese measures, hke ChI (around
33 cm) and Zhang (around 330 cm). Similar Chinese botanicals that
would have been known to readers were given as parallels for under-
standing. In short, Wan was likely to have lived in China for years,
otherwise, he could not know Chinese plants so well.
The botanicals in Wan's narrative fall into three categories: first,
plants both from Persia and Fulin; second, plants rr:om third,
plants from Fulin. When a botanical from or IndIa,
gave its'llame in the language of Fulm m the begmmng. For a
plant, no Persian or Indian names followed. for the .Fulm
plants their specific usage in Fulin was given, whIle for the or
Indian plants we just learn their function in Xiyu (western reglOn), a
general term covering the wide range ?f India, Persia and the
west in Chinese sources. Clearly, Fuhn formed a key word m Wan s
23 M. LEVY, Early Arabic Pharmacology, Leiden 1973, 110. According to
Levy, "al-Ghafiqi who, in turn, copied the excellent work of the earlter
Ibn Samajun, who must now be as one bo:a:n
sts
and
pharmacologists of the entire Arabic penod far Ibn and al-
Ghafiqi in his wide learning." Ibn Samajun (832-932?) IS nearly m the same pe-
riod of Youyang zazu.
FulinMonks 37
narrative, echoing Wan's identity as a monk from Fulin. The pharma-
ceutical knowledge of India and Persia were also important in the
text. Some plants were of Persian origin or their Persian names were
given. Clearly, Wan knew Persian and Indian botanicals as well.
The above analysis naturally leads us to the following questions:
Why did Wan called himself a "Fulin monk"? Where and what did
Fulin denote in Wan's self-introduction? Did Fulin refer to Byzan-
tium in this text? In short, where did Wan and the other Fulin monks
come from?
N. - WERE THE FULIN MONKS LIKELY TO BE MELKITES
IN CENTRAL ASIA?
Were the Fulin monks and emissaries from Constantinople, i.e.
the official envoys sent by some Byzantine emperor? The Greek
sources and Chinese documents do not provide positive evidences for
this hypothesis.
Some Chinese scholars believed that the Byzantine Empire
wanted to ally with China in the Far East to confront the Arabs in the
beginning of the 7th century. The Fulin emissaries and monks, there-
fore, had a diplomatic task like the envoys sent by the escaped Per-
sian emperors and principalities in the Central Asia. Nevertheless,
China was not in the scope of Byzantine emperors in this period. For
example, Taugas, China in Theophylact Simocattes's History (written
in the early i
h
century), was a distant and legendary country. How
could the Byzantine emperors plan to ally with such an untrue land?
In fact, the BYzantines made alliance with the Khazar Qaghanate,
their northern neighbor. It was the Khazars that pinned Arabs back in
the north and mitigated the military pressure on the empire
24

The Chinese sources on Fulin envoys, on the other hand, assume
some religious aspects to them. Nevertheless, Byzantine emperors
seldom appointed priests to do diplomatic work except when the des-
tination was the Pope's office in Rome. Moreover, fine textiles, pre-
cious stone works, and beautifully bound books were the main diplo-
matic gifts from the empire to the western kings, while gold coins and
gold and silver works consisted of the gifts to the eastern nomadic
24 P.B. GOLDEN, The Khazar Studies, Budapest 1980.
38
Lin Ying
chieftains. Comparing to this list, the gifts from Fulin covered red
glass (tableware? in 643), green Jinjing (in 643), medicine (diyejia in
667, opium according to Hirth's identification), and animals (lions
and gorals in 719). Glass work was no doubt a famous product in the
Levant, however, it was unlikely that glassware would be sent as a
royal gift because glass looked quite ordinary according to the Byz-
antine taste. Animals and medicines, too, seem out of the ordinary for
Byzantine diplomatic gifts. Also, the Fulin envoy in 719 was in fact
from Tokharistan rather than Constantinople.
A close look at the provenances of the Fulin gifts shows that they
were more likely to originate from Tokharistan in Central Asia. The
Xin Tang shu (the new standard history of Tang, compiled in the 11th
century) writes:
"Tuhuoluo (Tokharistan), is called Tuheluo or Duhuoluo, and Tuhuluo in
the Northern Wei period (386-534). It is to the west of Pamir and to the
south of Oxus River. It was Bactria in ancient time. People in Tuhuoluo also
includes the Hephthalites. There are 100,000 soldiers in this country. The
population of men is more than that of women in local people. ID the north
of this country, there is a Boli mountain (glass mountain)."
Moreover, in the same volume:
"Julan, is called Juluowan or Julanmo, borders on Tuhuoluo (Tokharis-
tan). It is 3,000 li in circumference. ID the south of it is the Daxue shan (big
snow mountain). ID the north is the Julu he (Kokcha River?). It produces
Jinjing, which is carved out of stone. ID 646 AD (the 20
th
year of Zhenguan),
its king, Hu-ti-po sent envoy to make tribute. His address looked like a
Buddhist sutra."
Clearly, glass and Jinjing were products from Tokharistan. Ac-
cording toCefu yuangui (encyclopedia edited on the basis of gov-
ememental archive, compiled in the early 11th century), glass, Jing-
jing and medicine were frequent tributes from countries in this region.
The consequent questions arise: Why was Fulin, namely, Rome,
connected with Tuhuoluo (Tokharistan), in Central Asia? And for
what reason did the Fulin monks call themselves Romans if they
actually started their trips from Tuhuoluo?
A review of the history of the Church of the East may help us to
answer these questions. The Council of Chalcedon in 451, with the
support of Marcian and his empress Pulcheria, denounced the Mono-
physites (or Jacobites) as heretics. After that, the followers of the
FulinMonks 39
Chalcedon decrees were called Melkites (malkaya in Syriac), that is,
people :vho were loyal to the Byzantine emperors and empire. During
the penod from 431 to 616, the Melkites controlled the big cities of
Egypt Syria with the support of an imperial army. They were
mostly CItIzens who spoke Greek and supported the Byzantine Em-
pire. The on the other hand, were Syriac-speaking peasants
and Ill. the countryside. In 616 Syria was conquered by the
SasanIan PerSIans, and then conquered by the Arabs in 630. After
that, the Melkites lost their Byzantine military protection and were
suspected and persecuted by the new rulers. Because of their loyalty
towards the Byzantine empire, they were called Rumagis, i.e. Ro-
mans, in the Sasanian period. This name continued in use during the
Islamic times.
25
From the 6
th
century to the 8
th
century, many of the Melkites in
Syria were moved east by the Sasanian King of Kings and the Arabic
occured at least twice. The first forced migra-
tIOn took place III 590 when Khusro I destroyed Antioch and moved
the citizens into some place near Ctesphon. The Melkites were or-
dered to build a new city which was officially named Antioch. This
new however, was usually called Rumaghan, i.e. the city
of Romans, III the Sasanian period. After that, Ctesphon became the
center of the Melkite church in Mesopotamia. The settlements of the
gradually extended into many regions of the Sasanian em-
They were managed by a Catholicos in Ctesiphon, the Sasanian
who was sent by the Patriarch of Antioch. J.M. Fiey, on the
baSIS of a collected in Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris, suggested
that the MelkItes had established a Catho1icos in Central Asia as early
as the Sasanian period
26

. In the following Islamic period, the Arab rulers allowed Chris-
tIans and Jews to preserve their beliefs. The Melkite Catholicos and
25 Hugh " The Melkite Church from the Islamic Conquest to the Cru-
sades: and Adaptation in the Byzantine Legacy", The 17 international
Byzantme Congress, Washington D.e., 1986 Major Pa'Pers New Rochelle 1986
325-343. ",
seal, see Ph. GIGNOUX, "Sceaux chretiens d'epoque sassa-
rude, Iramca Antzqua (Gent) XV, 1980, 305-306. The discussion on it see J M
FIEY, "Le sceau sassanide d'un catholicos melkite d'Asie centrale'"
Orient Chretien 45, 1995,6-9. '
40 Lin Ying
bishops survived the military and political turmoils. Nevertheless, the
7th and 8
th
centuries saw intense military conflicts between the Arabs
and the Byzantines. The lingering wars might cause large-scaled mo-
vements of population in the borderland, and result in an increasing
number of Melkites in the east. Since Byzantium was seen as the ma-
jor enemy of the Arabs, the Melkites were no doubt the first object of
persecution. In the mid_8
th
century, Du Huan writes in his Jingxingji:
"When the Fu1in people were captured and moved into the countries of
the Arabs, they often stuck to their customs, even if they had to pay with
their life (for this persistence).,,27 .
In this situation, the Melkites were forced to move again by al-
Mansur, the founder of Baghdad in 762. According to Ibrahim bin
Yuhanna (?-after 969 AD):
"Les Agareniens, dit Thrahim, deciderent de chasser 1es chretiens de son
entourage. lIs 1es transfererent dans un 10intain pays de Perse appe1e Shash.
lIs y exilerent le catholicos en meme temps que les siens. Certe tribu (sic)
emigree s'appelle: 'Co10nie des Roums'. Ce nom convenait d'ailleurs bien a
1eur groupement.,,28
Shash has been identified as Sas, i.e., Tashkent
29
. There are diver-
gent opinions on the time of the establishment of the Melkite Catholi-
cos in Tashkent. Nevertheless, we at least know that the seat of the
grand Melkite Catholicos was in Sogdiana by the mid-8
th
century30.
According to al-Biruni of Khwarazm (Abu Rihan Mohammed aI-
Biruni 973-1048), some Christians were Melkites in Syria, Iraq and
Khurasan. Judging from a Melkite calendar recorded in his work,
27 Cf. DU YOU: Tong dian, juan 191. The Jingxingji is not extant. Some texts
were preserved in Du You's Tong dian.
28 See the French translation by H. ZAYAT in POC 2, 1952,23.
29 More introduction ofthe identification, see Mgr J. NASRALLAH, "L'Eg1ise mel-
chite en Iraq, en Perse et dans l' Asie centrale", POC 26, 1976, 21.
30 There are more evidences for the Melkite community in Sogdiana after the 9
th
century. A fragment found from the Nestorian library of Bu1ayiq (after 866 CE)
contains the first phrase of Psalm 33 in Greek followed by its continuation in
Sogdian. The Sogdian translation agrees in part with the Greek of the Septuagint
but also shows the influence of the Syriac Peshirta version. This document points
to the Melkites, the only Syrian church which ever used Greek in their liturgy. See
. Nicho1ass SIMS-WILLIAMS, "Sogdian and Turkish Christians in the Turfan and
Tu-Huang Manuscripts", Turfan and Dun-Huang: the Texts Encounter of Civili-
zations on the Silk Route, Edited by A1fredo Cadonna, Firenze 1992, 43-61.
FulinMonks
41
there were two Melkite settlements in Merv (found by Barsibia) and
Nisapur, which continued down to the 11 th century31.
It is notable that the Melkites in the Islamic period were called
"Romans", that is, people of Fulin. In the Sasanian period, "Rome"
referred to the Byzantine territory and subjects, as we can find in the
above-mentioned Nestorian texts, composed before the mid i
h
cen-
tury. After that, "Rum" specifically pointed to Melkites in the Arabic
vocabulary32. The Melkite community in Shash was called Rumagy-
ris, the city of Rum. The Melkite Catholicos in Central Asia bore the
title "Catholicos of Rumagyris" and this seems not to have changed
till the I t
h
century. Therefore, when the Melkite Catholicos in Cen-
tral Asia sent his envoys to China, they would naturally have told the
Chinese emperors that they are priests of the Romans - that is, monks
from Fulin.
V. - CONCLUSION
In comparison to the plentiful scholarship on Christianity in me-
dieval western Europe, the history of Christianity in Central Asia and
the Far East remains obscure. Moreover, the enterprise of the Nes-
torians is the sole subject when Christian mission in this vast area is
discussed. Nevertheless, the existence of several different Christian
communities to the east of the Euphrates may naturally lead us to
question this monochromatic picture.
Why did only Nestorians develop missions towards the east,
especially after the Arab conquest in Persia? Did the Jacobites and
Melkites play any role in the eastward spread of Christianity in the
era of Pax Arabica?
It is within this international background that the Chinese sources
on the Fulin monks make sense to us. That the Fulin monks did not
leave a stone monument like that of the Nestorians hints at the limita-
tions of their enterprise. Nevertheless, the difference drawn between a
Fulin monk and a Bosi monk, and the fragmentary Greek Materia
Medica in Youyang zazu remind us that the history of Christianity in
31 Jean DAUVILLIER, "Byzantins d'Asie centrale et d'Extreme-Orient au Moyen
Age", Revue des etudes byzantines XI, Paris, 1953,66-67.
32 Encyclopedia Is/arnica, "Rum".
42 Lin Ying
Persia and Central Asia is not the sole property of the Nestorian
Church, but also includes the eastwards diffusion of other eastern
churches.
LINYING
33
Associate Professor, Department of History
Zhongshan (Sun-Yat-San) University
Guangzhou 510275
People's Republic of China
e-mail: hssliny@mai1.sysu.edu.cn
SOMMAIRE : LIN YING, Les moines Fulin : Est-ce que d'autres chretiens que
les nestoriens sont entres en Chine pendant la periode Tang? -Les moines
Fulin, mentionnes dans les sources chinoises de la periode Tang, ont eM consi-
deres comme des pretres nestoriens de Perse ou des emissaires byzantins de
Constantinop'e, bien que l'histoire de I'Eglise nestorienne et la situation dans les
pays de la frontiere orientale de Byzance ne fournissent pas de preuves solides
pour ces theses. Dans le present article on essaie de montrer que ces moines
Fulin venaient d'une communaute chretienne autre que nestorienne. lis pouvaient
etre des melkites, chretiens syriens fideles aux decisions de Chalcedoine.
33 I am grateful for the library access and other supports from Dumbarton Oaks
and the Program of Hellenic Studies, Princeton University, when I prepared the
first draft of this article in 2002. After that, Professor Cai Hongshen and Professor
Lin Wushu, my PhD supervisors in Zhongshan University, read the second and
third draft and gave many advices on the Chinese sources related to this subject.
My special thanks go to Dr Lester Ness, who spent a lot of patience and time to
improve the English writing and style of my final draft.
PROCHEORIENTCHRETIEN 57, 2007, 43-57
HISTOlRE ET TRADITION
ARYEH KOFSKY
SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH AND CHRISTOLOGICAL
POLITICS IN THE EARLY SIXTH CENTURY
The following brief essay aims to illustrate the dialectics between
ecclesiastical and imperial power. It covers a turbulent decade in ec-
clesiastical history, 508-518, whose story has been told more than
once; though not quite in the same way. I try to offer here some dif-
ferent emphases and nuances of outlook on the relatively familiar
course of events and its various interpretations.
From the beginning of the Constantinian empire the history of
theology, particularly of Christology, had to take into account its en-
tanglement with the concept of an imperial Church. This tendency
reached a climax in the reign of Justinian, the theologian among the
emperors; but it was already signalled by Emperors Zeno (474-491)
and Anastasius (491-518), who introduced political power and au-
thority to carry through a particular ecclesiastical course of action in
theological matters, especially in the Christological formulary com-
promise of Zeno's Henoticon (482) and the Henoticon politics of his
successor, Anastasius
1
When Emperor Zeno characterized Constanti-
nople as "the mother of our devotion and of the orthodox religion of
all Christians" (mater nostrae pietatis et christianorum orthodoxae
religion is onmium)2, he was expressing the Christian capital's self-
awareness and this characterization signalled a program of imperial
ecclesiastical hegemony exercised by the chosen city ofGod
3

1 On Zeno's Henoticon, see S. SALAVILLE, "L'affaire de I'Henotique," Echos
d'Orient 18, 1916-1919,255-65; IDEM, "L'Henotique de Zenon," Echos d'Orient
18, 389-97; W. H. C. FREND, The Rise of the Monophysite Movement:
Chapters in the History of the Church in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries, Cam-
bridge, 1972, 174-83.
2 Cod. lust. 1.2.16, ed. P. Krueger, Berlin, 1877.
3 H. HUNGER, Reich der neuen Mitte. Der christliche Geist der byzantinischen
Kultur, Graz, Vienna, Cologne, 1965, 53; A. GRILLMEIER, Christ in Christian

:i
,
"
'I