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{{Short description|First Assyrian Christian missionary to China}}
{{Infobox Chinese|image=Alopen in the Xian Nestorian Stele.jpg|caption=The name "Alopen" (阿羅本) in the [[Xi'an Stele]].|t={{Linktext|阿|羅|本}}|s={{Linktext|阿|罗|本}}|p= Āluóběn|mi={{IPAc-cmn|a|1|.|l|uo|2|.|b|en|3}}|mc=alapuən<sup>X</sup>}}
'''Alopen''' ({{zh|t=阿羅本}}, {{floruit|AD 635}}; also "Aleben", "Aluoben", "Olopen," "Olopan," or "Olopuen") is the first recorded Assyrian [[Christianity|Christian]] [[missionary]] to have reached [[China]], during the [[Tang dynasty]]. He was a missionary from the [[Church of the East]] (also known as the "Nestorian Church"),<ref name="Moffett">{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Gerald H.|title=Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ8BFk9K0ToC&pg=PA14|year=1999|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-4680-8|page=14}}</ref> and probably a [[Syriac language|Syriac speaker]] from the [[Sasanian Empire]] or from [[Roman Syria#Syria in the Byzantine Empire|Byzantine Syria]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yeung |first1=Daniel H. N. |editor1-last=Huang |editor1-first=Paul Z. |title=Yearbook of Chinese Theology 2018 |date=2018 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-38497-2 |page=39 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HIR1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39 |language=en |chapter=The Multiple Identities of the Nestorian Monk Mar Alopen: A Discussion on Diplomacy and Politics}}</ref> He is known exclusively from the [[Xi'an Stele]], which describes his arrival in the Tang capital of [[Chang'an]] in 635 and his acceptance by [[Emperor Taizong of Tang]]. His is the earliest known name that can be attached to the history of the [[Church of the East in China]].

==History==
[[File:Nestorians-1-.jpg|thumb|right|Detail of the [[Xi'an Stele]] artifact, mentioning Alopen]]
Alopen's name is known only from the Chinese of the [[Xi'an Stele]]. This may be a transliteration of the Semitic "Abraham"<ref>{{Citation | last = Saeki | first = PY | author-link = P. Y. Saeki | title = The Nestorian Documents and Relics in China | edition = 2nd | place = Tokyo | publisher = Academy of Oriental Culture | year = 1951}}.</ref> or ''aloho punoya,'' "the conversion of God."<ref>{{Citation | last = Ethridge | first = J.W | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WKkAAAAAcAAJ&lpg=PA85 | title= The Syrian Churches | place = London | publisher = Longman, Green, Brown & Longmans | year = 1846}}.</ref> Amy Chua posits that his name could be a transcription of "Ruben",<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Chua |first=Amy |url=https://archive.org/details/dayofempirehowhy0000amyc/page/71/mode/1up |title=Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance–and Why They Fall |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-385-51284-8 |edition=1st |location=New York |page=71 |oclc=123079516}}</ref> Alexis Balmont rather advocates for Ardaban.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Balmont |first=Alexis |title=Le christianisme chinois du haut Moyen Âge |publisher=[[Éditions du Cerf (publisher)|Cerf]] |year=2025 |isbn=978-2204168694 |edition=1st |location=Paris |page=323}}</ref> 

According to the Stele, Alopen and his fellow missionaries came to China from [[Daqin]] (or Ta Tsin – the [[Byzantine Empire]]) in the ninth year of [[Emperor Taizong of Tang|Emperor Taizong]] (Tai Tsung; 635), bringing sacred books and images.<ref>{{cite book |title=Jingjiao: the Church of the East in China and Central Asia |editor1-last =Malek | editor1-first = Roman | editor2-last = Hofrichter | editor2-first = Peter |year=2006 |isbn= 978-3-8050-0534-0 |publisher= Steyler Verlagsbuchhandlung | chapter= Remnants of Christianity from Chinese Central Asia in Medieval ages| last = Ding | first = Wang}}</ref> He would have come to China via the [[Silk Road]]. The Church of the East mission benefited from Taizong's policy of [[religious tolerance]], which reversed measures his father [[Emperor Gaozu of Tang|Gaozu]] had taken against [[Buddhism]] and other foreign religions and influences.<ref name="Moffett" /> Many of the religions that were tolerated entered through the Silk Road: [[Zoroastrianism]], [[Manichaeism]], [[Judaism]], [[Islam]], and [[Christianity]]. Taizong appreciated [[Jesus]] as another [[Junzi#Confucianism|sage]], and Christian doctrines as being profound and promoting peace, and therefore welcome to be preached throughout the Empire.<ref name=":0" />

{{quote|太宗文皇帝，光華啓運，明聖臨人，大秦國有上徳曰阿羅本，占青雲而載真經，望風律以馳艱險。貞觀九祀，至扵長安。<br>
In the time of the accomplished Emperor Taitsung, the illustrious and magnificent founder of the dynasty, among the enlightened and holy men who arrived was the Most-virtuous Olopun, from the country of Syria. Observing the azure clouds, he bore the true sacred books; beholding the direction of the winds, he braved difficulties and dangers. In the year AD 635 he arrived at Chang-an.|Extract from the [[Xi'an Stele]], about the arrival of Alopen.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Holm |first1=Frits Vilhelm  |title=The Nestorian Monument: An Ancient Record of Christianity in China |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Nestorian_Monument:_An_Ancient_Record_of_Christianity_in_China/Translation_of_the_Nestorian_Inscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Wikisource |url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E7%A7%A6%E6%99%AF%E6%95%99%E6%B5%81%E8%A1%8C%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E7%A2%91%E9%A0%8C}}</ref>}}

According to the Stele, Taizong welcomed Alopen and arranged for the translation of the holy writings he had brought with him at the Imperial Library. Upon studying them, Taizong, a great scholar and patron, found them most acceptable and arranged for their dissemination. Indeed, four [[Jingjiao Documents|documents]] from the early period of Christianity in China date to around Alopen's time.<ref name= Moffett /> Three years later, in 638, Taizong issued an official declaration protecting the Church of the East. He erected China's first Christian church and recognized twenty-one priests, likely all Persians, to administer it. Under Taizong's son and successor [[Emperor Gaozong of Tang|Gaozong]], who continued this policy of toleration, Alopen's status expanded even further, and he was appointed [[bishop]] over the many churches built by the emperor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nestorian Tablet: Eulogizing the Propagation of the Illustrious Religion in China, with a Preface, composed by a priest of the Syriac Church, 781 A.D. |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/eastasia/781nestorian.asp |access-date=January 28, 2010 |work=East Asian History Sourcebook |publisher=www.fordham.edu/halsall}}</ref>

After Alopen's time, the Church of the East was prominent in China for the remainder of the Tang Dynasty's power. Different emperors treated it differently, with some showing it the tolerance it received in the early decades, and some openly persecuting it. The Church of the East disappeared with the fall of the Tang Dynasty in the early 10th century. It did not return for three centuries, when it was reintroduced by the [[Mongols]].<ref name="Moffett" /> The story of Alopen became prominent again in the 17th century, when the [[Xi'an Stele]] was rediscovered and the Chinese were surprised to find that the "new" religion being preached by the missionaries, had actually been in existence in China more than 1,000 years earlier.

==See also==
* [[Adam (monk)]]

==References==
{{Library resources box|by=no}}

{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120206012925/http://www.christianityinchina.org/Common/Admin/showNews_auto.jsp?Nid=304&Charset=big5 Early Christianity in China]
*Samuel Hugh Moffett, "[http://bdcconline.net/en/stories/alopen Alopen]," ''[[Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity]].''

{{Christianity in China}}
{{Syriacs}}
{{Church of the East in China}}
{{Notable foreigners who visited China}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alopen}}
[[Category:Christian missionaries in China]]
[[Category:Church of the East in Shaanxi]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:7th-century bishops of the Church of the East]]
[[Category:History of Christianity in Asia]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian clergy]]
[[Category:Assyrian Christian clergy]]
[[Category:Place of birth unknown]]