The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Shahdost
bishop AD 341–343; martyred c. 342/343 · Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon · Martyr · Seleucia-Ctesiphon (Sasanian Persia)
The Nicene Age
Who Shahdost was
Archdeacon to Simeon bar Sabbae, and the man who took the primacy of the Persian church in the worst year to hold it. He was bishop barely two years before he was arrested and put to death with a hundred and twenty-eight companions — clergy, monks and consecrated women. The fullest account of him is in the Chronicle of Seert, a ninth-century Nestorian compilation, which gives him a vision of Simeon on a ladder of light calling him up; that source is four centuries late and the archive flags it as such. His name is Persian: shāh-dūst, ‘friend of the king’.
Also listed in martyrs and bishops beyond the great sees.
Common questions
When did Shahdost live?
Shahdost is dated bishop AD 341–343; martyred c. 342/343 in the archive, which places Shahdost in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Shahdost?
Shahdost is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Sozomen and Chronicle of Seert. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Shahdost from?
The archive associates Shahdost with Seleucia-Ctesiphon (Sasanian Persia).
Who were Shahdost’s contemporaries?
The archive links Shahdost to 3 other figures, including Simeon bar Sabbae, Barbaʿshmin and Shapur II. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (2)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Ecclesiastical History II.12–13 (the persecution under Shapur II)
c. AD 445The Magi and Arch-Magi traversed the whole country of Persia, studiously maltreating the bishops and presbyters.Sozomen · Ecclesiastical History II.12–13 · source text
Chronicle of Seert (Histoire nestorienne), ed. Scher, Patrologia Orientalis — LATE ATTESTATION, ninth century
c. AD 900The Shahdust of Ctesiphon was from Beth Garmai… He was the archdeacon of Shemʿon Bar Sabbaʿe.Chronicle of Seert · Chronicle of Seert I.§ on Shahdost
An Arabic ecclesiastical history of the Church of the East, compiled from earlier Syriac sources and surviving incomplete. Edited with French translation by Addai Scher, Histoire nestorienne (Chronique de Séert), Patrologia Orientalis 4, 5, 7 and 13 (1908–19).
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 301 · Hripsime and her company, AD 301
- AD 303 · The Great Persecution begins, AD 303
- AD 303 · The search of the church at Cirta, AD 303
- AD 306 · The Council of Elvira, AD 306
- AD 311 · Galerius’ edict of Serdica, AD 311
- AD 313 · The Edict of Milan, AD 313
- AD 314 · The Council of Arles, AD 314
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Shahdost.