Truth About The Crucifixion — Page 140
Frye notes: It is difficult to determine what Kristiyan and Nasra designate. (p. 286). . As the Sassanian Empire covered an area stretching to Syria in the west and to north-west India in the east, it appears that the Syrian Christians were designated as Kristiyans and those of the eastern provinces as the Nasra i. e. followers of Masih. Nasri. . It is interesting to note that in the vicinity of Herat (Afghanistan), is to be found a small community whose members call themselves followers of Isa, son of Mary, of Nazara, the Kashmiri. This reference is contained in a recent book Among the. Dervishes by O. M. Burke:The followers of Isa, son of Maryam-Jesus the son of. Mary generally call themselves Moslems and inhabit a number of villages scattered throughout the Western area of. Afghanistan whose centre is Herat. I had heard of them several times, but considered that they were probably the people who had been converted by European missionaries from Eastern Persia, or else that they were a relic of the time when Herat had been a flourishing bishopric of the. Nestorian rite, before the Arabs conquered Persia in the seventh and eighth centuries. . But, from their own accounts and what I could observe, they seem to come from some much older source. . I found them through one of the deputies of the Mir of. Gazarga, the descendant of Mohammad under whose protection they are. Gazarga is the shrine where Abdullah Ansar, a Sufi mystic and great local saint, is buried in a magnificent tomb formerly much visited by the emperors of India and other notables. . There must be about a thousand of these Christians. . Their chief is the Abba Yahiyya (Father John) who can recite the succession of teachers through nearly sixty generations to-Isa, son of Mary, of Nazara, the Kashmiri. . According to these people, Jesus escaped from the cross, was hidden by friends, was helped to flee to India, where he had been before during his youth, and settled in Kashmir, where he is revered as an ancient teacher, Yuz Asaf. It is from this period of the supposed life of Jesus that these people claim to have got their message. AMONG THE. DERVISHES, by O. M. Burke, London 1973, p. 12. 144