Yazdgerd I ruled the Sasanian Empire with a notably tolerant policy toward Christians and Jews — unusual enough that Syriac Christian sources referred to him as "the Sinner" for refusing to persecute their communities, while Armenian sources called him comparatively benign. His reign coincided with the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in 410 AD, which effectively organized the Church of the East under Persian jurisdiction, a direct consequence of his political pragmatism.
He died in 420, tradition holding that he was kicked by a mysterious horse near a spring in Tus — an ending suspiciously convenient for the Zoroastrian nobility who had resented him for two decades.
Yazdgerd I ruled the Sasanian Empire with a notably tolerant policy toward Christians and Jews — unusual enough that Syriac Christian sources referred to him as "the Sinner" for refusing to persecute their communities, while Armenian sources called him comparatively benign. His reign coincided with the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in 410 AD, which effectively organized the Church of the East under Persian jurisdiction, a direct consequence of his political pragmatism.
He died in 420, tradition holding that he was kicked by a mysterious horse near a spring in Tus — an ending suspiciously convenient for the Zoroastrian nobility who had resented him for two decades.