a sect of ancient Christians, still said to be subsisting in some parts of the Levant; whose distinguishing tenet is, that Mary is not the mother of God. They take their name from Nestorius bishop of Constantinople, whose doctrines were spread with much zeal through Syria, Egypt, and Persia.

One of the chief promoters of the Nestorian cause was Barhumas, created bishop of Nisibis, A.D. 435. Such was his zeal and success, that the Nestorians, who still remain in Chaldea, Persia, Assyria, and the adjacent countries, consider him alone as their parent and founder. By him Phrozes the Persian monarch was persuaded to expel those Christians who adopted the opinions of the Greeks, and to admit the Nestorians in their place, putting them in possession of the principal seat of ecclesiastical authority in Persia, the see of Seleucia, which the patriarch of the Nestorians has always filled even down to our time.—Barhumas also erected a school at Nisibis, from which proceeded those Nestorian doctors who in the fifth and sixth centuries spread abroad their tenets through Egypt, Syria, Arabia, India, Tartary, and China.

He differed considerably from Nestorius, holding that there are two persons in Jesus Christ, as well as that the Virgin was not his mother, as God, but only as man.

The abettors of this doctrine refuse the title Nestorians; alleging that it had been handed down from the earliest times of the Christian church.

In the tenth century, the Nestorians in Chaldea, whence they are sometimes called Chaldeans, extended their spiritual conquests beyond Mount Imaus, and introduced the Christian religion into Tartary properly so called, and especially into that country called Karit, bordering on the northern part of China. The prince of that country, whom the Nestorians converted to the Christian faith, assumed, according to the vulgar tradition, the name of John after his baptism, to which he added Nestorians, added the surname of Presbyter, from a principle of Nestorius' modesty; whence it is said his successors were each of them called Presbyter John until the time of Gengis Khan. But Moheim observes, that the famous Presbyter John did not begin to reign in that part of Asia before the conclusion of the 11th century. The Nestorians formed so considerable a body of Christians, that the missionaries of Rome were industrious in their endeavours to reduce them under the papal yoke. Innocent IV. in 1246, and Nicolas IV. in 1278, used their utmost efforts for this purpose, but without success. Till the time of Pope Julius III., the Nestorians acknowledged but one patriarch, who resided first at Bagdad, and afterwards at Mosul; but a division arising among them, in 1551 the patriarchate became divided, at least for a time, and a new patriarch was consecrated by that pope, whose successors fixed their residence in the city of Ormus in the mountainous part of Persia, where they still continue, distinguished by the name of Simeon; and so far down as the last century, these patriarchs persevered in their communion with the church of Rome, but seem at present to have withdrawn themselves from it. The great Nestorian pontiffs, who form the opposite party, and look with a hostile eye on this little patriarch, have since the year 1559 been distinguished by the general denomination of Elias, and reside constantly in the city of Mosul. Their spiritual dominion is very extensive, takes in a great part of Asia, and comprehends also within its circuit the Arabian Nestorians, and also the Christians of St Thomas, who dwell along the coast of Malabar. It is observed, to the lasting honour of the Nestorians, that all the Christian societies established in the East, they have been the most careful and successful in avoiding a multitude of superstitious opinions and practices that have infected the Greek and Latin churches. About the middle of the 17th century, the Romish missionaries gained over to their communion a small number of Nestorians, whom they formed into a congregation or church; the patriarchs or bishops of which reside in the city of Amida, or Diarbekir, and all assume the denomination of Joseph. Nevertheless the Nestorians in general persevere to our own times in their refusal to enter into the communion of the Romish church, notwithstanding the earnest entreaties and alluring offers that have been made by the pope's legate to conquer their inflexible constancy.