Editing Yazdegerd I (section)

=== Background ===
[[Image:Gold coin of Shapur II, struck c. 320.jpg|thumb|alt=Obverse and reverse sides of a coin of Shapur II|[[Gold dinar]] of [[Shapur II]] ({{reign|309|379}})]]
Yazdegerd I, like all other Sasanian rulers, was an adherent of [[Zoroastrianism]].{{sfn|Payne|2015|p=2}} One of his predecessors, the powerful Sasanian shah [[Shapur II]] ({{reign|309|379}}), was thought to have brutally persecuted the [[Christianity in Iran|Christians of Iran]] from 340 to 379 in a "Great Persecution".{{sfn|Payne|2015|p=25}} Although later shahs – Yazdegerd I, [[Bahram V]] ({{reign|420|438}}), [[Yazdegerd II]] ({{reign|438|457}}), [[Peroz I]] ({{reign|459|484}}), [[Khosrow I]] ({{reign|531|579}}) and [[Khosrow II]] ({{reign|591|628}}) – were also said to have persecuted the [[Church of the East]], the church quickly expanded.{{sfn|Payne|2015|p=25}} According to [[Hagiography|hagiographical]] sources, this was due to the "unwavering hostility of Zoroastrian religious authorities toward Christians."{{sfn|Payne|2015|pp=25-26}}

Persecution of the Christians, however, was limited to their religious leaders who had failed to meet the commitment demanded of them by the court.{{sfn|Payne|2015|p=43}} Although Shapur II disciplined leading priestly leaders for insubordination, neither he nor his court persecuted the Christian population as a whole;{{sfn|Payne|2015|p=43}} the "Great Persecution" was fictional.{{sfn|Payne|2015|p=43}} According to the modern historian Eberhard Sauer, Sasanian shahs persecuted other religions only when it was in their urgent political interest to do so.{{sfn|Sauer|2017|p=190}} Shapur II's killing of Christians was due to the priestly leaders' refusal to participate more fully in the management of the empire.{{sfn|Payne|2015|p=43}} This was finally achieved during Yazdegerd's reign, when the priestly leaders agreed to cooperate with the court.{{sfn|Payne|2015|p=44}}