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Order of Nazorean Essenes
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Nestorian/Manichaean Tower, 8th Century
"Among the relics preserved within the pagoda are a nativity scene executed in mud and plaster; a statue depicting Jonah lying beneath the walls of Nineveh, which represents a fusion of Chinese and Western artistic traditions; and Syriac graffiti etched into the walls. The pagoda and monastery (only traces remain of the latter) were abandoned ca. 845 as a result of persecution. In 1300, the pagoda was converted into a Buddhist temple. However, it was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1556, which sealed many of its underground chambers and led to its final abandonment."Very little survives of the ancient art and architecture of the Gnostic Church of the East, making the Da Qin Manichaean-Nestorian Pagoda a rare relic of the past. "While the site has remained virtually untouched since its abandonment in the sixteenth century, its significance has only recently become known. Local seismic activity threatens the structural stability of the pagoda, and flooding was weakened buried sections and damaged artworks. Exposure to the elements has also eroded some of the mud reliefs. The prospect of looting and agricultural encroachment require site security. The pagoda’s exterior was restored in 1999; however, its stability is uncertain."According to info on the Nestorian/Manichaean Chinese Tablet 781 A.D., the first Monastery was built in Chang-an. This Pagoda is the surviving remains of a second. At least four others are mentioned as fully functioning centers later on and hundreds are implied to eventually exist. The remains of one southern Temple exist. "The octagonal, seven-storeyed, brick pagoda is about 32 meters high. A door on the front side of the first storey is 1.38 meters wide, while each side of the first storey measures 4.3 meters. The walls of the first storey are some 4 meters thick. Each storey, from the second storey up, has two doors, which are on different sides of alternating storeys up to the sixth and seventh storeys, when they are on the same sides. These last two storeys taper sharply, giving a distinctive structural feature to the pagoda. The pent roofs are very narrow and have brick brackets under them." |
Order of Nazorean Essenes 2008
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This
beautiful pagoda appears to be the surviving remains of a Monastic library
originally containing 530 Aramaic religious documents of the Religion of
Light. The Religion of Light is sometimes described as Manichaean,
and at other times considered Nestorian by some scholars. The eigth century
Religion of Light that entered China may be a mix of both, representing
a combined Manichaean-Nestorian group newly confederated in the earlier
wars to the west.