Yazdegerd I, Persian Emperor

IEZDEGERD I, PERSIAN EMPEROR. - Of the Sassanid dynasty, he became emperor in 399 and died in

420. It was I

a kind of Constantine in Persia — who put an end, through the intervention of St. Mārūtā (v.), to the period of persecution against Christians begun by Sapore II in the middle of the fourth century. “He ordered that throughout his Empire the churches destroyed by his ancestors should be splendidly rebuilt and the overturned altars diligently restored, and that those who for God had been tested by chains and blows should obtain freedom, and that the priests and rulers, with all their community, should be without fear and without danger. And this took place at the time and on the occasion of the election of our reverend... Mar Isacco, bishop of Seleucia-Ctesifonte, katholikós and head of the bishops of all the East [399].” Thus state the acts of the Synod of Seleucia-Ctesifonte of 410 (cf. J. B. Chabot, Synodicon orientale, Paris 1902, p. 18). I. therefore granted public freedom to the Church in Persia, which was able to organize itself. I. convened the Synod of Seleucia in 419 and advised the Persian bishops to remain united with the West. At the same time I. maintained good relations with the Byzantine court, both through the good offices of St. Mārūtā and, later, in 419, through one of his envoys, probably the bishop of Seleucia, Jahballāhā (op. cit., p. 37).