'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎504] (563/714)

PERSIA
of old-fashioned superstition, are inspired by a teacliing which
alone among Oriental heresies, seems to be imbued with ideas of
amelioration and progress. How far the gentler and more amiable
aspects of Babism would prevail if that faith ever found itself in
the ascendant, it is more hazardous to predict. 1 incline to think
that the ' old man " would still be found unregenerate ; and that, even
if such an issue could be described as a victory for civilisation, it
would not, as some have fondly imagined, be synonymous with an
overture to Christianity.
There are some who hold different opinions, and who see in the
increasing popularity of the Babi movement, in the wide-spread
Persia as though secret revolt against the authority of the Koran,
christian aiK ^ 111 the prevalent tendency in Persia towards specula-
missions five inquiry and extreme latitude of religious opinion, a
favourable opening for the proselytising zeal of the Protestant
Church. Persia has even been described as the most hopeful
among the fields of missionary labour in the East. While con
scious of the valuable work that has been and is being done by
the representatives of English, French, and American Mission
societies in that country, by the spread of education, by the display
of charity, by the free gift of medical assistance, by the force of
example, and while in no way suggesting that these pious
labours should be slackened, I am unable, from such knowledge as
I possess, to participate in so sanguine a forecast of the future.
Before I give my reasons for this opinion, let me cast an eye in
brief retrospect over the history of Christian effort in Iran.
If Mr. Thomas's suggested translation of the Hajiabad Inscrip
tion be correct, it may even be that a Christian king sat upon
History of ^ ie throne of Persia, in the person of the renowned
Chris- Shapur I as early as 241-272 a.d . But it would be
tiamty . .
unwise to speak with any confidence of this hypothesis.
The second Chosroes or Parviz ( a.d . 591-628), the last great sove
reign of the same dynasty, seems for a time to have professed a
dubious sort of Christianity, which he picked up while in exile with
the Romans. He worshipped the Virgin, prayed to saints and
martyrs, and adopted St. Sergius as his own patron saint. He
1 Vide his Early Sasmnian Inscriptions, pp. 73-101, where he reads the name of
Jesus in the epigraph. So great a scholar, however, as Dr. Martin Haug finds no
such reference at aTl, and interprets the inscription as referring to an unsuccessful
bowshot on the part of the King (Essays on the Sacred Language etc. of the Par sees}