THE

St. Thomas Christians in India

&

THE SYRO-CHALDEAN CHURCH IN MALABAR.

The origin of the Indian Church is an Apostolic one. Both history and tradition testify that St. Thomas one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ came to the East Indies, preached the Gospel and founded a Church there. The Christians of Malabar firmly believe that the Apostle in the year A.D. 52. landed at Cranganore, a place which is now an obscure hamlet, but in those days a flourishing seaport called by ancient geographers Mouziri. St. Thomas erected seven Churches on the Malabar Coast at Maliankara (Cranganore), Palur, Kottakaw (Parur), Kockamangalam (Pallipuram), Niranam, Chayal and Quilon, which are specially venerated even by Non-christians.

Among others, the Apostle converted also many Brahmin families, ordained priests and bishops and even gave them a simple form of Dravidian liturgy. Peter Jerric, S.J. Thesaurus Rerum Indicarum, Bordeaux 1616. 2-3, pt. B., P. 339, says that the Apostle founded in the East eight Archbishoprics, of which Malabar was one. St. Thomas, it is believed, baptized also the Magi who adored the Infant Jesus and who were probably from Assyria or Persia. The Apostle preached also in other parts of India. In the year 67 he was martyred at Little Mount a little distance from St. Thomas' Mount, and was buried at Mylapore, near the modern city of Madras.

All authorities concur that after the dispersion of the Apostles, St. Thomas preached among the Parthians, and the Oriental Churches in Syria and Mesopotamia have always attributed to St. Thomas the preaching of the Gospel in Asia even as far as China. At that date there had long been commerce between Europe and India, not only by caravans which took the land route through Persia, but also by ships down the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf.

The tradition is that St. Thomas journeyed down the Red Sea and halted at Socotra, whence he went on to Cranganore. If the tradition be critically discussed it must be admitted that several ancient writers mention India as the scene of St. Thomas' labours. Thus St. Ephream, the Syrian (A.D. 300-378) in a hymn about the relics of St. Thomas at Edessa depicts Satan exclaiming, "The Apostle whom I killed in India comes to meet me in Edessa." St. Gregory Nazianzen, (329-389), in a homily says; "What! were not the Apostles foreigners? Granting that Judea was the country of Peter, what had Saul to do with the Gentiles, Luke with Achaia, Andrew with Epirus, Thomas with India, Mark with Italy? St. Ambrose (340-397) writes "When the Lord Jesus said to the Apostles, go and teach all nations, even the kingdoms that had been shut off by the barbaric mountains lay open to them as India to Thomas, as Persia to Mathew."

Numerous other passages could be cited from various old liturgies and martyroligies which refer to the work of St. Thomas in India, and these passages at least show that the tradition that St. Thomas died in India was widespread among the early churches, (vide G.T. Mackenzie (a Catholic) "Christianity in Travancore" Trivandrum 1905 Nagam Aiya (a heathen) "The Travancore State Manual." Trivandrum, 1906 II. pp. 136-7-8; Dr. Medlycott, `India, and St. Thomas' London 1905)

We give from the writers the following statement : Rev. W. Strickland S.J., T.W.M. Mashall Author of "Christian Missions" and 

Gibbon (chap. 47. page 61) say:—

A plate of copper, engraved with half obliterated letters was dug up in 1543 and presented to Alphonsus de Sousa the Portuguese Governor. A learned Jew deciphered it as a donation from a king to the Apostle St. Thomas of land on which to build a church. When the foundations of the fortress of Goa were being dug, they discovered ruins of an old building, and among them, a bronze cross, with a figure of our Saviour fastened on it. What is yet more envious, in 1568 some Portuguese at Mylapore, wishing to build a Chapel on a hill near the tower where traditions said the Apostle had been martyred by the Brahmins, they discovered in digging a white marble slab, two feet long by one foot six inches wide, on which was carved in relief a cross whose four points were flowers. It was surmounted by a dove, which seemed to peck at the top of the cross. Around it was a triple arch, and beyond that were strange characters. The cross and the stone were stained with blood. After some time, a learned Brahmin was found who read the inscription in the following words. "Since the Christian law appeared in the world, thirty years after the 21st of the month of December, the Apostle St. Thomas died at Mylapore, where there was a knowledge of God, and change of law and the destruction of the devil. God was born of Virgin Mary, was obedient to her for the space of thirty years, and was God eternal. This God taught His law to twelve Apostles and one of them came to Mylapore with his staff in his hand and built a church there; and the kings of Malabar and of Coromandel, and of Pandy and of several other nations willingly resolved, agreeing together, to submit themselves to the law of St. Thomas, a holy and penitent man. The time came when St. Thomas died by the hands of a Brahmin, and made a cross with his blood."

Another Brahmin from a distant country gave a similar translation of it, without concert with the first. All this was attested at the time and sent to Portugal to Cardinal Henry, afterwards king. In 1521 a sepulchre was found at Mylapore, containing bones and the head of a lance, part of an iron-shod stick, and an earthen vessel. The tradition of the place left little doubt that these were relics of the Holy Apostle.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relates that King Alfred the Great, in gratitude to God for his victories, in 883, sent gifts not only to Rome but to the shrines of St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew in (Mylapore) India (vide specimen pages of "The Catholic Encyclopedia", 1906 p. 15. But some historians have erred in asserting that St. Bartholomew the Apostle also preached and was buried in East India. Historians testify that at the time of King Alfred the Great the church of St. Thomas in Mylapore was in the possession of the Syrian Christians, and it was then called by them Beth Thoma or Marthoma. Beth Thoma is by some mistakenly construed into Bartholomew. It is simply a mistaken meaning of the Syriac terms Beth Thoma or Marthoma (house or place of St. Thomas.) On the other hand, we have no tradition that St. Bartholomew ever came to East India. The place of St. Bartholomew's preaching and shrine was India Citerior. (Arabia Felix or Ethiopia) and Alban in Armenia major respectively. (Brev. Rom. 24th August) We have examples to show that some western authors have changed many oriental terms and proper names by misunderstanding them namely, Talitha cum from Tlithacum, Ephphetha from Ethpathah, Eli!, Elil,! or Eloi Eloi! lamma sabacthani, from El, El, lmana sbactan. Caepha from Kepa and so on.

 indian church history classics : vol. i. the nazranies

The acts (part II. c. 8) of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea I. in 325, show that a certain John represented himself to the Council and subscribed in the symbol of the Faith as Bishop of Great India and Persia (vide Labe, Sacrosancta Concilia" Venice, 1728, Tom II., lib. 2.c. 27. col, 235; Fr. Samuel Giamil, `Genuinae Relationes' Rome, 1902 p. 578.)

In 345 a.d., a Syrian Christian Colony came to Malabar from the East, under the leadership of a rich Aramean merchant named Thomas Cana of Jerusalem, who traded from the Persian Gulf down to this Coast and settled at Cranganore. The Colony was gathered from Bagdad, Nineveh and Jerusalem. They numbered four hundred Christians in seventy-two families, among whom were some priests and deacons and a bishop named Joseph of Edessa. They introduced here the Syrian liturgy, hence forward all Christians in Malabar adopted the same Syrian liturgy entitled Sacrum Beatorum Apostholorum; and so they are called even to-day Syrian Christians. The Malabar Church henceforward was especially protected even by heathen kings of Malabar from whom Thomas Cana obtained many honours and royal privileges for the Christians. (vide "Travancore State Manual II. p. 138)

Some writers think that St. Thomas the Apostle brought the Syrian liturgy into India. To verify this assertion, two conditions must be supposed; i.e. the Apostles ought to have had a determination to observe everywhere the liturgy in the Syriac, or the people of India ought to have known the Syriac. But it is clear that neither of these hypothesis can be proved. Because the ablest liturgical writers and linguists hold that in the days of the Apostles Mass was celebrated in the language that prevailed in those places where the Apostles went to spread the light of the Gospel; and the Syriac was unknown to the people of India. A recent writer (F.C.J. "A short life of St. Thomas the Apostle of India" Madras 1906-pp-52-53) says:— "They (Indians) went on for a century or more worshiping in their own churches with the simple Dravidian liturgy and their own local priests. But gradually the Persian Christians who traded in those parts substituted their own liturgical formularies for the Dravidian liturgy, explaining that Syriac was the language of our Lord himself, and that St. Thomas himself framed their own liturgy in his own language the Syriac. The Madras churches readily yielded to these introductions but the Malabar church took some time. Meanwhile priests began to come from Persia and become incumbents of the churches. By 500 a.d., both sides of the Peninsula lost their Dravidian liturgy."

The Syrian Christians in Malabar are also even to-day called Nazarani-Mapilas, or St. Thomas' Christians. The appellation Nazaranies, was given to the primitive Christians in the early centuries. It originated from the derision of the Jews who called the Christians Nazaranies, as Jesus was from Nazareth and called `Nazarenus'. The Syrian Christians are also called Mapilas. The term Mapila is a compound Malayalam word Maha (great) and Pilla (son) hence it means Prince or Royal sons, which are the honorary titles granted to Thomas Cana and his followers by Cheraman Perumal, Emperor of Malabar. The Syrian Christian priests are entitled Cathanars, which is also an abreviated form of the Malayalam words Carthan Governor and Nathar (lord) i.e. governing lord of the Parish. The Syrian Christian Bishops are entitled Abuna and Mar. The term Abuna in Syriac means our Father and Mar means my Lord, which are titles of respect corresponding to Dominus in Latin, Monsigneur in French and Italian, Dom in Portuguese and Spanish. The Syrian Christians attach the title Mar to the names of Popes, Angels and Saints also; ex. gr. Mar Papa or Mar Pios Papa, Mar Michael, Mar Joseph, etc. (vide The Madras Catholic Directory for the year 1910. page 204-5-6-7)

The Syrian Church in Malabar and its Doctrine.

Many writers say that the faith and doctrine of the Syrian Church in India was Nestorian from the early times till the end of the 16th century and that the Portuguese Missionaries in India brought back this Church to the Union of the Holy Catholic Roman Church in a Synod held by them at Diamper in Malabar in the year 1599. But the Syrian Catholic Christians here contend that they were always good Catholic Christians without any heresy and that Portuguese did not convert them from any heresy but only made them submit to the jurisdiction of the Bishops of Latin Rite, having cut off their relation with the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon. They prove their contention from the early historians and even from the facts and deeds of the early Portuguese in India. Some of their arguments may be referred here. In the earliest histories there is no mention at all of Nestorian heresy in India.

(1) Among the former travellers to India the Alexandrian Cosmas Indicopleustes who passed Malabar and saw there in 535, the Christians, Priests and Bishop, does not mention of Nestorian heresy.

(2) King Alfred the Great of England hearing the miracles worked in the tomb of St. Thomas in India sent in 883 gifts to the shrine at Mylapore by means of two ambassadors named Sighelm and Athelstan.

(3) Marco Polo a Venetian who came to India in 1295 speaks about the miracles worked in the tomb of St. Thomas.

(4)The first Latin Missionary, John of Monte Corvino who was sent by Pope Nicholas IV. visited in 1291 the Church of St. Thomas Apostle in India and remained there more than one year and does not mention of Nestorian heresy.

(5) Another Latin Missionary, Friar Jordan, a French Dominican visited Malabar about 1320 and he afterwards was appointed as Bishop of Quilon by Pope John XXII. at Auignon, and the same Pope addressed a letter in 1330 to the chief of Nazarene Christians at Quilon and no mention of Nestorian heresy.

(6) In 1348, Pope Clement VI. sent John Marignoli as his Legate and the Christians of St. Thomas at Quilon paid him his expenses. He stayed at Quilon for 14 months, Marignoli himself says:- "And these latter (St. Thomas Christians) are the masters of the public weighing office (Qui habent stateram ponderis totius mundi) from which I derived, as a perquisite of my office as Pope's Legate, every month a hundred gold fanams and a thousand when I left". (Fanam is an old coin valued half a shilling.)

(7) Assemani `Bibliotheca orientalis', Rome 1728, IV. 442, says:- In process of time the prosperity of the Christians of Quilon and Cochin so increased that they gave themselves a King. The first, Baliartes, called King of the Christians of St. Thomas, reigned in Malabar, and when after him some of his sons had reigned, at last by the law of adoption the dynasty passed from the Christians to the heathen Kings of Diamper. When the Portuguese first came to these shores the Malabar Christians were obeying the King of Cochin.

In 1439 Pope Eugene IV. sent a letter to the Christian King of Malabar in which Pope commences as follows:- "To my most beloved son in Christ, Thomas, the illustrious Emperor of the Indians, Health and Apostolic Benediction; There often has reached us a constant rumour that Your Serenity and also all who are the subjects of Your Kingdom are true Christians". (Wadding's Annales Minorum, p. 60)

It is certain that the Christians were nuemerous (Gibbon says that when the Portuguese first opened the Navigation of India, the St. Thomas Christians of Malabar had 140 Churches and 200,000 Parishioners) and were found from the Cochin State to Cape Comorin. In a list of inscriptions which has been sent into the Travancore Durbar by the Archaeological Surveyor, Mr. T.S. Ganesa Pillai, it is stated that at Cape Comorin on the south and southwest of an old Church called Tomaypalli or Thomas-Church, there are two granite pillars with inscriptions recording edicts in favour of Christians. The dates given are equivalent to A.D. 1526. The inscriptions are translated as follows by Mr. T.S. Ganesa Pillai:-

"The following are the contents of a royal edict which was issued to the Church and to the chief of the fisher Christians on the 15th day of the month of Sittrai in the Kollam Era 669, concerning the grant from the harbour dues for the expense of cocoanut oil for lighting the lamps in the Church at Kumari Muttom. A tax on nets in the harbour, a toll of one fanam on every ship that touches at the port, and one fanam on every laden boat that leaves the port, the toll on rice and all other perquisites in the harbours at Kumari Muttom and Kovalam, and the tithe of fish caught in or brought to these harbours. The exemption of the left hand and right hand tax (idankai valankai panam) and other imports of all sorts and thecess to maintain the army and to reward the soldiers is granted to all who live within the four boundaries.

Download this book