This study discusses some of Barsauma`s reforms in the Nestorian Church. The law dealing with the marriage of clerics in the Nestorian Church and Christians` perspectives (both clerics and laics) on marriage and celibacy with regard to Barsauma`s reform and to his followers made the object of research in a previous study. Barsauma and his followers` reasons for such a reform were determined by internal and external, historical, political, and social influences. The external reasons were determined by the influence of Zoroastrian ethics, whereas internal reasons were determined by the need to set a limit to Monophysitism. With time, the reform and its rules have been cancelled. The study also analyzes the monasticism and the celibacy in the Siro-Oriental space.

Keywords: Barsauma, marriage, celibacy, the Nestorian Church, Zoroastrianism, Monophysitism, monasticism

ALEXANDRU STANA