National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

279. MARSARCHIS

*marchachi* V *marsarchin* TA³ *marsarcho* VL
*marchis* VB *marsaquis* FB *masarchim* TA¹
*marisarchis* LT *marsarchis* F, P, P⁵ *morsachis* G
*marsachis* VA, Z; R

We ought probably to read « Marsarghis », Syriac Mar-Sargis, « Holy Sergius », which in
Mongolian has given Mar-Särgis and Mar-Sirgis, in Chinese transcriptions 馬薛里吉思 Ma
Hsieh-li-chi-ssŭ, or Ma Hsieh-êrh[兒]-chi-ssŭ, or Ma Hsi[昔]-êrh-chi-ssŭ. The name is very
common among the Nestorians; in the list of seventy odd names of priests engraved on the Nestorian
stele of A. D. 781, there are four different Mar-Sargis, if not five.

It is PALLADIUS who discovered the principal Chinese texts relating to Mar-Sargis's tenure of
office at Chên-chiang (see « Cinghianfu ») and to the churches he built : six churches in Chên-chiang
or the immediate neighbourhood of Chên-chiang, and one in Hang-chou (see « Quinsai »). These
texts have been translated by MOULE and L. GILES in *TP*, 1915, 627-686, and again in *Mo*, 145-160;
cf. also T'u Chi, 117, 3 *a-b*. Mar-Sargis's family came from Samarkand. His grandfather and his
father had served as Court physicians. He himself was called to the Court by Qubilai in 1268
to make a presentation of sherbet; later on, in 1273, he accompanied Sayyid Ajall to Yün-nan;
in 1275, he served in Chê-chiang and Fu-chien; in 1277, or early in 1278, he was first appointed
governor (*daruγači*), and a little later reappointed but only vice-governor (vice-*daruγači*) of Chên-
chiang (Mong. *daruγači*, from *daru-*, « to press », just as its Turkish synonym *basqaq* is from *bas-*,
« to press »; the two verbs mean also « to impress », « to print »). Mar-Sargis remained in office at
Chên-chiang three years according to Polo, five years according to the inscription due to Liang
Hsiang. From Polo's mention of « three years » for Mar-Sargis at Chên-chiang as well as in his
own case at Yang-chou (see « Yangiu ») — the case of « Çulficar » at the asbestos mines of « Ghinghin
Talas » might be added — YULE (*Y*, II, 178) deduced that the normal term of office in Qubilai's
time must have been of three years. As a matter of fact, such a rule, which was moreover in
agreement with Chinese custom before and after the Mongol period, was expressly laid down in 1291,
but not strictly enforced (cf. *TP*, 1915, 638). For Mar-Sargis, « three years » appears to be too short,
as Mar-Sargis arrived at Chên-chiang in February 18, 1278, at the latest, and is said to have been
still in office when he founded a monastery there in 1281; but there are some difficulties, linked
perhaps with Mar-Sargis's transfer from the position of a *daruγači* to the lower one of a vice-*daruγači*
(cf. *TP*, 1915, 638, 644-645, 648; *Mo*, 145, 156).

Whatever the case may be, Mar-Sargis seems to have remained the rest of his life in the region
of Chên-chiang, and to have exerted some influence there. He was still alive in 1295, as appears
from a new document which CH'EN Yüan discovered in the 通 制 條 格 *T'ung-chih T'iao-ko*
section of the 大 元 通 制 *Ta-Yüan t'ung-chih* of 1323, and to which MOULE (*Mo*, 233) merely