The adoption of Nestorius' teaching, who had been condemned at the First Council of Ephesus in 431, effectively separated the Assyrian Church from the Byzantine church. The decisions were clearly aimed at pleasing the Zoroastrian Persian kings, who were at constant war with the now Christian Byzantine Empire: the previous pro-Byzantine Catholicos Babowai had been executed, and the Persians had given protection to Nestorian refugees since 462. As Zoroastrians, they viewed family life sacred and abhorred the monastic movement of the Christians.