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 * MacLean, "Tishbukhta", pp. 170–171!

= Jingjiao Sanwei Mengdu Zan =

Jingjiao Sanwei Mengdu Zan, often referred to as the Nestorian Gloria in excelsis Deo in English, is the earliest Chinese translation of Gloria in excelsis Deo. It was made in the 8th century, and is attributed to Adam, a Nestorian monk in the Tang dynasty. A part of the Nestorian documents, it was discovered by Paul Pelliot in the Mogao Caves in 1908, and is currently stored at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Sanwei Mengdu Zan is based on the Syrian Gloria text. It mentions the Trinity and the Holy Spirit. However, many scholars have pointed out the Buddhist, Taoist, and Manichaen influences on the language employed by the text.

Naming
Many names exist ...
 * Hymn of Perfection of the Three Majesties

Creation (8th century)
Christianity arrived in China in the 7th century, when Ishoyahb II, Patriarch of the Church of the East, sent a mission into Tang China. The mission, headed by a Syrian bishop Alopen, reached Chang'an in 635. After reading some Christian texts translated and prepared by the priests, Emperor Taizong of Tang proclaimed an Edict of Toleration for the Christians and permitted Alopen to build a monastery in Chang'an and establish his mission there. The early Chinese Christianity was known as Daqin Jiao, referring to "Daqin", a designation for the eastern parts of former Roman Empire in Chinese. It was later known as Jingjiao.

The Nestorian Gloria in excelsis Deo is attributed to Adam. He was an important figure in the early history of Christianity in China, who authored the inscription of the Xi'an Stele in 781 and was also entrusted to translate 30 texts of Jingjiao into Chinese. According to Vladmir Liščák, Adam also studied Taoist mysticism and Buddhist philosophy, and was able to use both of them to explain Christian themes.

Adam also worked together with an Indian Buddhist monk Prajna to translate the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra on the Six Pāramitās into Chinese. before working on ...

Discovery and reception (20th century)
In 1908, Paul Pelliot discovered the manuscript of Sanwei Mengdu Zan and Zunjing in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang. The two texts are written on one sheet of paper, with 46 columns of characters in total. According to Lin Wushu's analysis of the handwriting and material of the manuscript, Sanwei Mengdu Zan and Zunjing are not of the same scripture, but originally two independent manuscripts.

In 1910, Luo Zhenyu published the text on Guocui Xuebao. In 1934, Liang Jifang of Yenching University set it to tune. Liang's hymn is included as the second hymn in the Chinese hymnbook Hymns of Universal Praise, published in 1936 and 1943.

Content
The text is based on the East Syrian form of the Gloria in Excelsis Deo. It offers a praise of the Holy Trinity in the form of classical Chinese poetry. It consists of 44 lines, and each line has seven characters. According to Tang Li, Jingjiao Sanwei Mengdu Zan is the only text "which can be compared to its Syriac original" among the texts authored by Adam.

English translations
Many English translations exist ...

Theology
Sanwei Mengdu Zan demonstrates the Holy Trinity as "the Merciful Father, the bright Son and the King of pure winds", and claimed that the three all deserve praise. The scholar Tang Li further argued that the text provides an orthodox statement of the Christian beliefs on the Trinitarian God, including Jesus the Holy Son, and it does not show Nestorianism.

Holy spirit ...

Buddhism
The arrival of Buddhism preceded the arrival of Christianity in China for about six hundred years. It influenced Chinese philosophy and culture greatly, and early Christian missionaries in China borrowed Buddhist vocabulary to write about theology. Tang Li conjectured that Adam, the author of Sanwei Mengdu Zan, "had a good relationship with some Buddhist monks."

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 * An earlier version:

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