A History Lesson – Iranian Christians and King Louis XIV of France
In response to protests from other Christian countries about the persecution of Christians, Iranian rulers declared that this was not the case and that Christians enjoyed freedom and great blessings within their territories. However, they continued their oppression and persecution in the same way at home.
A review of historical documents indicates that in some historical periods after the majority of Iranians converted to Islam, Iranian Christians were severely persecuted and discriminated against by rulers who claimed to be Muslims.
In particular, the Safavid kings, who considered themselves very religious and Shiite, sometimes went to extremes in this regard, to the point where the cries of Christians about their oppression rose to the sky and reached the ears of non-Iranians as well.
Interestingly, in response to protests from other Christian countries about the persecution of Christians, Iranian rulers always declared that this was not the case and that Christians enjoyed great freedom and blessings within their territory. However, they continued their oppression and persecution in the same way at home.
Radio France recently published a historical anecdote, using historical documents about the relations between the governments of France and Iran, showing how three and a half centuries ago the King of France sent an ambassador to the court of the Safavid Shah regarding discrimination and oppression against Christians in Iran.
Iranian Christians and Louis XIV
Historical documents show that the officials of Shah Suleiman the Safavid severely persecuted Christians in Armenia and elsewhere, and Louis XIV, the then King of France, as the protector of Christians, considered it his duty to ask the Shah of Iran to take care of Christians in his realm.
Shah Safi II, son of Shah Abbas II, was the eighth king of the Safavid dynasty. He was crowned in Isfahan in 1666, 348 years ago, but in the first year of his reign, the country was so plagued by chaos and various natural disasters that the court astronomers concluded that the coronation had taken place at an inauspicious hour and that the king should therefore be re-crowned and change his name. Thus, Shah Safi II was re-crowned as Shah Suleiman in 1667. The Hasht Behesht Palace in Isfahan is one of his relics. It was during this king's reign that the ambassador of Louis XIV, King of France, came to Isfahan.
Before he went to Isfahan as an ambassador, François Picquet was the French consul in Aleppo from 1652 to 1660 and the bishop of Baghdad from December 1674 to 1680. The main reason for his trip to Iran was the dire situation of Iranian Christians during the reign of Shah Suleiman the Safavid. The Shah's agents were severely persecuting Christians in Armenia and elsewhere, and Louis XIV, as the protector and patron of Eastern Roman Christians, Roman Catholic churches, and Christian missionaries, considered it his duty to ask the Shah of Iran to take care of the Christians in his realm. As the bishop of Baghdad, François Picquet was also an evangelizer of Christianity in the Iranian realm.
François Picquet and his companions left Aleppo for Isfahan on May 1, 1681. After staying in Diyarbakir, Erzurum, the monastery of Saint-Jean-Baptiste on the banks of the Tigris, known as the Och-Kilas, Yerevan, Nakhchivan, and Tabriz, they finally arrived in Isfahan on July 14, 1682. Given that François Picquet, in addition to being an ambassador to Louis XIV, also held the position of bishop, he had to wait a while for the king to accept him at court, and during this time he had no right to evangelize or preach religion. Finally, on October 3, after two and a half months of waiting, the king granted the French ambassador permission to return. A grand ceremony was held in Isfahan for this purpose. Five of the king's eunuchs, under the command of court officials, had prepared five horses adorned with silver bridles and embroidered saddles to take the ambassador and his companions to the court.
That day, the French who lived in the Armenian quarter of Isfahan had come, rich and colorful, to accompany their sovereign's special envoy. Twenty servants on horseback escorted the French ambassador. After passing through the luxurious halls and past the country's great men who had come to greet him in gold-embroidered robes, François Piquet finally entered the hall where the king was present and presented the king with the bag containing Louis XIV's letter. Then, in Italian, he spoke in praise of the king and his ancestors, whose lineage went back to Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet of Islam. In his letter, which also began with praise of the king, Louis XIV had asked His Majesty not to withhold his favor and consideration from the Christians.
In a letter written by the Safavid king in response to Louis XIV's letter, he assures that he will not withhold his kindness and consideration from the Christians in his realm. He writes: Before the letter of His Majesty reached us, our intelligence, which is like the sun, was aware of the oppression that was being inflicted on the Christians and an order had been issued in their support. The letter from the Shah of Iran was reassuring. But before leaving Iran on April 15, 1684, François Picquet wrote in a letter to his colleague in Paris: This king is different from others and his minister is so devoted to the law of Muhammad and Allah that he thinks that he is doing God a great service by persecuting and humiliating the Christians.
