History

The Christianization of Nubia

The conversion of Nubians to Christianity started during the reign of Queen Theodora of Byzantine, through her missionary Presbyter Julian.¹ Most of the information we have of the Nubian conversion comes from the Syrian writer Ephesus who, never set a foot in Nubia, but wrote accounts of Nubia from what he had heard. Since Ephesus is a Monophysite like Queen Theodora, he opposed the Orthodox church which the Emperor Justinian was part of. Therefore Ephesus, in his writing attempted to discredit the role of the Orthodox Church in converting the Nubians to Christianity and thus giving the credit to the monotheistic church. Therefore his accounts should not be considered as fully accurate. 

Nubian Church, Old Dongola, Central Sudan.
Thanks to Omar Abdulla for the photo.

According to Ephesus, Queen Thodora sent the missionary Julian to convert the Nubians. When Justinian heard of the news, he sent a missionary from Thebes in an attempt to reach Nubia ahead of the Theodora's missionary. As soon as Queen Theodora knew of Justinian's plan, she sent a massage to the Duke of Thebes to delay Justinian's missionary until Julian would reach Nubia first. Accordingly, Missionary Julian arrived first and met with the king and princes of Nobata who were described as welcoming and generous. As Ephesus tells it, the Nobatian king immediately converted to Christianity and accepted to be baptized.

The Nobatean King then publicly announced his Christianity and confessed that “that He is the one true God, and there is no other beside.”² Although Justinian tried hard, later, to convert the Nobateans to the Orthodox faith, the Nobatean king solidly rejected and preferred Monophytism.

Wall painting from a Nubian church, Sudan.
Thanks to Omar Abdulla for the photo.

Julian continued his mission to convert all of Nubia and spent two years there, “though suffering greatly from the extreme heat.” Bishop Longinus succeeded Julian in the difficult mission covering the kingdom of Nobatai and further south to the kingdom of Alwa. Ephesus describes Bishop Longinus’s journey saying that he “baptized him (the king of Alwa) and his nobles and all his family; and the work of God grows daily.”³

In a letter to Queen Theodora, the king of Nobatai tells her of his attempts to send bishop Longinus to the Blemmeys, who were known for their harshness and animosity toward foreigners. In any case, the Blemmeys converted to Christianity in the same century, and shortly afterwards, the kingdom of Makuria in Upper Nubia followed.

Christianity greatly changed the Nubian way of life including burial traditions.⁴ Upon Christianization, the Nubians buried their dead in tombstones. Uncovering tombstones in Upper Nubia (the region controlled by the kingdom of Makuria), revealed writings of Greeks prayers related to the Orthodox Church. Thus, it is very possible that Makuria was later converted to the Orthodox faith. However, lack of historical evidence makes it difficult to make a final conclusion regarding the historical order in which the different Christian sects plaid in Nubia.

• ^{1 G. Vantini, Oriental Sources concerning Nubia (Heidelburg and Warsaw: Polish Academy of Sciences and Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1975).}
• ^{2 "The Christianization of Nubia," C. Haas, C. Haas, Nov. 2008. <http://www29.homepage.villanova.edu/christopher.haas/nubian-texts.htm>.}
• ^{3 "The Christianization of Nubia," note 2 above.}
• ^{4 See: D. A. Welsby, The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia: Pagans, Christians and Muslims on the Middle Nile (British Museum P, 2002).}