Seleucia-Ctesiphon
Twin cities on the Tigris that formed the royal capital of the Sasanian kings of Persia. Their bishop, the catholicos, was head of the Church of the East, whose first general synod met here in 410.
Seleucia and Ctesiphon stood on opposite banks of the Tigris, about thirty kilometres below modern Baghdad, and together made up the capital of the Persian empire. The acts of the synod of 410 call the place “the great city”, chief of all the cities of the East (Synodicon Orientale p. 257). That synod named its bishop grand metropolitan and head of all the bishops of the Persian empire (Synodicon Orientale canon 21, p. 272) and refers to his church as the church of Kokhe (Synodicon Orientale canon 12, p. 266). It also ruled that the bishops should gather here every two years, when the king was in residence (Synodicon Orientale canon 6, pp. 264–265). See the Church of the East Organises at Seleucia-Ctesiphon.
What happened here
- 1 February AD 410, firm dateThe Church of the East Organises at Seleucia-Ctesiphon
With the leave of the Persian king Yazdegerd I, forty bishops of his empire meet in the capital under Isaac, bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. They accept the creed and canons of Nicaea and set their church in order under one head, the catholicos.
Primary sources
Synodicon Orientale
- Synodicon Orientale p. 257archive.org
- Synodicon Orientale canon 21, p. 272archive.org
- Synodicon Orientale canon 12, p. 266archive.org
- Synodicon Orientale canon 6, pp. 264–265archive.org