century, with bishops in both northern capitals, and there were probably other dioceses besides Chang'an and Lo-yang. Nestorian Christians like the Bactrian Priest Yisi of Balkh helped the Tang dynasty general Guo Ziyi militarily crush the An Lushan rebellion, with Yisi personally acting as a military commander. Yisi and the Church of the East were rewarded by the Tang dynasty with titles and positions as described in the Xi'an Stele. It is unlikely that there were many Christian communities in central China, and the only inland Chinese city south of the Yellow River where a Christian presence can be confirmed in the Tang dynasty is Chengdu. And two monasteries have been located in Chengdu and Omei Shan, both in Sichuan. Shortly afterwards Thomas of Marga mentions the monk David of Beth ʿAbe, who was metropolitan of Beth Sinaye during the reign of Timothy I (780–823). Timothy I is said also to have consecrated a metropolitan for Tibet (Beth Tuptaye), a province not again mentioned. Epitaphs were found dating from the Tang dynasty of a Christian couple in Luoyang of a Church of the East Christian Sogdian woman, who Lady An (安氏) who died in 821 and her Church of the East Han Chinese husband, Hua Xian (花献) who died in 827. These Han Chinese Christian men may have married Sogdian Christian women because of a lack of Han Chinese women belonging to the Christian religion, limiting their choice of spouses among the same ethnicity. Another epitaph in Luoyang of a Nestorian Christian Sogdian woman also surnamed An was discovered and she was put in her tomb by her military officer son on 22 January, 815. This Sogdian woman's husband was surnamed He (和) and he was a Han Chinese man and the family was indicated to be multiethnic on the epitaph pillar. In Luoyang, the mixed raced sons of Nestorian Christian Sogdian women and Han Chinese men has many career paths available for them. Neither their mixed ethnicity nor their faith were barriers and they were able to become civil officials, a military officers and openly celebrated their Christian religion and support Christian monasteries. Decline In 845, a decree issued by Emperor Wuzong demanded that foreign religions like Christianity be cast out of the kingdom. The decree required that Christians be forced to return to laity and become taxpayers. The decree had tremendously negative effects on the Christian community and