The Tekke carpet is thought to have been influenced by the Nestorians and contain the three crosses of Calvary in its design.

Today throughout Khiva and most of Central Asia the dominant religious landscape is a blend of Sunni Islam, Suffism and Shamanist folk religion. Added to this is, the remnants of Soviet atheistic ideology and a rise in post Soviet nationalism. Within Uzbekistan today, there are few signs of Christianity bar the odd Orthodox Cathedral. However, between the fourth and fourteenth centuries Christianity was prevalent throughout Central Asia, with major Cathedrals in cities such as Samarkand and Merv, and archbishops operating throughout the region.

Founded by Christian sects that had been branded heretics and driven out of Christendom, the Church in Central Asia was made up of a variety of different theological traditions. These sects included the Marianites, (who believed that the Holy Trinity was made up of Father, Son and Holy Virgin Mary) the Collyridians, Ebionites, Eutchyians, Monophysites and Arians. However, it was the Nestorians who became the largest, most influencial and most widely spread of these Christian sects, leaving Central Asia with a millenium of Christianity.
The Nestorian movement was born out of a theological schism in the Church regarding the deity of Christ. The Bishop of Constantinople, Nestorius, preached that the conception of Christ was brought about solely by the divine intervention of the Holy Spirit making Mary the mother of Jesus but not the Mother of God. This was considered heresy by the Bishop Cyril of Alexandria, reputedly the most unpleasant saint to have ever lived. Bishop Cyril declared that a denial of Mary as the Mother of God was tantamount to a denial of the divinity of Christ.

This stone plinth in Western China contains Nestorian writings in various scripts and stands as testimony to their influence eastward.

Theological rumblings continued until the Emperor of Rome convened the ecumenical council of Ephesus where he hoped the matter would be resolved. However, Bishop Cyril antagonised and alienated many of the Eastern Bishops by starting the council before they had actually arrived. The Eastern Bishops on arrival refused to join the council and formed their own, promptly excommunicating Bishop Cyril who in turn did the same to Bishop Nestorius. The Roman representatives, last to arrive, sided with Bishop Cyril and expressed their condemnation of Bishop Nestorius. As a result, Bishop Nestorius was exiled along with his followers and the Nestorian Church was born.
Followers of Nestorius moved to Edessa in Turkey where they established a theological college. However, this was closed down by Rome and the Nestorians moved further East to Persia. Whilst many settled in Persia, the Nestorians were focussed on spreading the Christian Gospel far wider and many became missionaries.
Christianity, like Buddhism and Islam, travelled along the trade routes of the Silk Road, moving ever Eastwards. The Nestorians encouraged not only monks but also lay people to become missionaries. As such Nestorian traders were able to combine their work and the spreading of their faith, without the need for religious hostelries and church funds, which often hampered monks and other ecclesiastical orders. The Nestorians were also keen to serve the people's they met with good works and set up training schools where monks and lay people would learn about medical work and how to teach literacy. As a result of their literacy campaigns, the Nestorians taught the White Huns, the Uighars and other Turkic groups to read their own languages.

Hojelli, near Nukus, still contains ruins with crosses on them located near sacred burial sites.

Whilst Nestorians experienced persecution in the West and also amongst some of the Zoroastrian population of Persia, they were also accepted into the courts of many a ruler in Central Asia, valued for their scholarship, hard work and honesty. In some cases this led to the conversion of the King as was the case in Merv, (in modern day Turkmenistan) in 644, and there were reputedly many Christian Turkic groups in the lands around the Oxus River. By the eighth century Christianity was well entrenched in Bukhara and the region around the Oxus river. Crosses and other Christian imagery appear on the coinage of that region.
The Arab invasion of Central Asia led to many, including some Christians to convert to Islam. However, once the Caliphate was established, Christians were allowed to practise their faith but not to proselytise, build new churches or display the cross on buildings. They also had to pay the tax that all non Muslims paid to the Caliph. Despite these constraints, Nestorians were respected and valued by the Arabs for their scholarship and many Nestorians held important positions in the Arab Caliphate. Most of the Caliphs appointed Nestorians as their personal physicians.
Nestorian Christianity is also thought to have influenced Islam due to the meetings of the teenage Mohammed with a Nestorian Monk in Syria. They had many theological discussions which may have led to Mohammed's sympathy with the 'people of the book'. He is also thought to have been influenced by the Nestorians strong opposition towards images, rejecting icons and crucifixes.
Al Beruni, the historian from Khiva, referred to the Nestorians as the most civilised of the Christian groups under the Caliphate. They are reputed to have passed on Greek medical, mathematical and other academic knowledge to the Arabs who in turn were to reintroduce them back to Europe.