References to Christianity can be found in Persian literature from the earliest period. Christian beliefs and institutions are frequently mentioned in various genres (lyric, epic, didactic, mystic), and many works contain allusions to legends of Christian saints, martyrs, and ascetics.
The terminology referring to Christianity in Persian prose and belles lettres falls into two categories: words and phrases that entered Persian from Arabic sources, mainly the Quran, religious literature, and pre-Islamic Christian Arab poetry, and those that appear to have entered as a result of contacts with Christian communities in Persia.
Noteworthy examples of the first category are ebn Allāh(son of God),Rūḥ-Allāh, ṯāleṯ ṯalāṯa(third of the three), rūḥ al-qods or qodos(holy spirit), oqnūm(person of the Trinity), enjīl(Gospel), ḥawārī(disciple),rāheb(monk) and rohbān(monks), qessīs(priest), shammās(deacon),osqof(bishop), baṭrīq(patriarch), jāṯalīq(catholicos), ṣalīb(cross),zonnār(girdle), ṭaylasān(pallium), deyr(monastery), ṣoumeʿeh(cell),nāqūs(church bell), qandīl(lamp), Fesḥ(Easter), and taʿmīd or maʿmūdīya (baptism). Some of these terms are loanwords that entered Arabic as a result of contacts with Christianity in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times. Persian or persianized forms in the second category are fewer,for example, Angelīūn(Gospel), chalīpā(cross), sokūbā(bishop),kashīsh(priest), kelīsa(church), yaldā(Christmas). Some are of Syriac origin and must have entered Persian directly, rather than through Arabic.
Also noteworthy is the large number of Persian literary expressions and compounds built on the names ʿĪsā(Jesus), Masīḥ(Messiah),Maryam(Mary), and tarsā, for example,dam-e ʿĪsā(breath of Jesus),noṭq-e ʿĪsā(words of Jesus), morgh-e ʿĪsā(bird of Jesus), khom-e ʿĪsā(wine jar of Jesus), khar-e ʿĪsā(ass of Jesus), sūzan-e ʿĪsā(needle of Jesus), Masīḥā-nafas(having breath like that of the Messiah),reshteh-ye Maryam(Mary’s thread), rūzeh-ye Maryam(Mary’s fasting),jāmeh-ye tarsā(garment of the Christians), deyr-e tarsā(monastery of the Christians), khaṭṭ-e tarsā(Greek writing). These expressions are generally noted in Persian dictionaries(cf. Āryān, 1960).
Another sign of the lasting impact of Christianity on the culture and literature of Persia is the abundance of idioms and proverbs reflecting the experience of living beside Christians and the opinions of Muslim Persians about them. Some refer to the dam-e ʿĪsā, khom-e ʿĪsā,khar-e ʿĪsā, morgh-e ʿĪsā, noṭq-e ʿĪsā, or the rūḥ al-qods. At least sixty have been noted by Dehḵodā, and even more are in vernacular use.