| Mār Sargīs | |
| Birth Date: | Unknown |
| Birth Place: | Samarkand? |
| Home Town: | Samarkand |
| Death Date: | Unknown |
| Venerated In: | Church of the East |
Sergius of Samarkand, also known as Mār Sargīs or Mar Sergius, was an ascetic and missionary of the Church of the East in which he is considered a major saint. His name is associated with numerous locations in Central Asia.[1] Not much is known about his life except that he had retreated to the Altai Mountains and,[2] according to Mari ibn Suleiman's Book of the Tower and a letter written in about 1009 by Abdishō, the Metropolitan of Merv, to Catholicos-Patriarch John V in Baghdad, Mar Sergius is responsible for the conversion of the Keraites.[3]
The Keraites' conversion to East Syriac Christianity around the year 1007 AD was recorded in the 12th-century Book of the Tower by Mari ibn Suleiman, and the 13th-century Latin: Chronicon Ecclesiasticum by Bar Hebraeus:[4] [2]
wrote in Christians in Asia before 1500: "The name of the Christian saint he [the king] met is given as Mar Sergius, who, as we know, hailed from Samarkand and who became a very popular saint in Central and East Asia, various monasteries being dedicated to him."[2]