The quarrel between Acacius and Bar-soma had been a personal feud—devoid, so far as we are aware, of any great influence on the Church. But while it was raging, a controversy of another kind had arisen in Persia, culminating in one of the strangest episodes in the history, not of the Sassanid house only, but of kingship itself.

Kobad (or Qawad) had followed Balas on the throne; and in his days one Mazdak, a Magian of high rank, had started the preaching of doctrines which purported to be only a reform in the religion of Zoroaster, but which were in effect productive of a revolution both in Church and State.

All men were equal, according to this very modern-spirited zealot;^[1] and all life, including animal life, was sacred and inviolable. All property was common, and "property" included women. The gospel proclaimed by this new prophet was a Socialism of the most communistic variety, coupled with Vegetarianism, Humanitarianism, and perhaps a few other polysyllabic "isms" which some believe to be the offspring of modern thought alone.

We know too little, unfortunately, of the inner life of the Assyrian Church to say what effect, if any, was produced on it by this new gospel. Thus