city
Samarkand
Samarkand (Afrasiyab), Uzbekistan · Silk Road / overland route
39.657, 66.947
Attested. The metropolitan see is attested; its founding date is uncertain.
Samarkand was the chief Sogdian city and a Church of the East metropolitan see, created by Patriarch Sliba-zkha (714-728) according to the usual account, though sources give dates from the 5th to 8th centuries. Syriac graffiti near Urgut and a Psalm ostracon from Panjikent show Sogdian Christians writing Syriac. Sogdian merchants carried the faith to China.
Source stance: insider. Church lists; Sogdian and Syriac finds (neutral).
People and groups named here
- Patriarch Sliba-zkha (714-728)
Related places
Sources
- Pleiades place 59915: Marakanda
Pleiades Gazetteer (ISAW, NYU). Accessed 2026-11-11.
- CHRISTIANITY iii. In Central Asia and Chinese Turkestan
Nicholas Sims-Williams, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Samarkand - Crossroad of Cultures (UNESCO World Heritage List no. 603)
UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Accessed 2026-11-11.
Further reading
Councils here
None in this list.