Archbishop of Constantinople (428–431) and founder of a branch of Syrian Christianity that long dominated Christian life and learning in Central Asia. The Christians who followed him formed the Church of the East, represented across the cities of Central Asia and as far as the borders of China. These Christians played a key role in translating Greek works into Arabic, particularly in Baghdad under the Abbasids and Samarkand under the Umayyad.

Further reading: Samuel Moffett, A History of Christianity in Asia, Volume 1: Beginnings to 1500, Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1998.