Notes on the cult of saints in pre-Islamic Iran
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52885/2683-9164.v0.n12.22700Keywords:
Christianity, cult of the martyrs, Sasanian EmpireAbstract
This paper analyzes the symbolic role played by the debate about Zoroastrian funerary practices in Christian Martyrologies of the Sasanian Empire. In recent studies, the references to the exposure of corpses have been interpreted as a reflection of a wider theological debate about creation and man’s role in it. However, the many contradictions and inconsistencies of the available evidence reveal a complex relationship between the theological literature and the narrative record. In sum, the hagiography built such conflicts as a way of establishing interfaith barriers in several contexts which, in practice, were dominated by ambiguity.
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