Kharoba Koshuk – The ruins of ancient Nestorian Church in Turkmenistan

The Ruins of Nestorian Church in Mary region is the only church found in the Central Asia. It is located 15 kilometres north of the Old Mary Oasis (Merv). Merv was the centre of the four religion – Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Judaism – before Islamic conquest. Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion during the Sassanian period. Although Merv was being the capital of Sassanid Empire, it was the spreading centre of other religions. Combination of these religions made the birth of a new religion - the Manicheanism.

It will not wrong if we say the Sassanids become Christians before Romans. Christianity began to spread in Merv in the earlier centuries AD. Very soon the Christian church there played a significant role in the region. Merv became the starting point for the Christian missionaries going to the east, all the way to China. The bishop of Merv acquired the rank of Metropolitan and participated in the Synods of the Nestorian (Eastern) Church, taking sometimes decisive part in the complicated debates on the church policy. The written sources speak about the existence of a number of churches within the oasis, and of monasteries - at its outskirts. Archeologically is attested only one of them - Kharoba-Koshuk, and it is identified as a church. A significant part of the buried in the Merv necropolis were Christians. Artefacts pertaining to the Christian cult have been repeatedly found in Gjaurkala. The most important evidence about the special role of Christianity in Merv are the locally minted coins bearing the sign of the cross on the reverse. The last Sassanian shakh was also buried in a special construction within the garden of the Metropolian. At the time of the Arab invasions the Merv Metropolian was Iliah - one of the greatest figures of the Eastern Church, who was called "The Apostle of the Tjurks".

Three branches of Christianity – Nestorians, Melkites, Monophysites (Miaphysite) – lived in the Merv. Religious and political effects of Nestorians changed according to the conditions of the region. Nestorianism is a polysemic term, used in Christian theology and Church history as a designation for several mutually related but doctrinarily distinctive sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian Nestorius. Nestorianism is the doctrine of Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople (appointed in 428), by which Christ is asserted to have had distinct human and divine persons.