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St. Thomas in India
In the Gospel of John St. Thomas who is
called 'Didymus' appears actively just before the account of the raising of
the Lazurus from the dead. When the grieving sisters 'Martha & Maria sent a
special messenger to Jesus who was in exile at 'Peria', Jesus said "Let us
go back to Judea". All the other apostles dissuaded
Jesus from this perilous journey but
St. Thomas said "Let us go too, and be killed along with him".
Here is the sincere versus
of a bold man who was determined to follow Jesus. That same commitment
brought him from Judea to various places in India and to be a martyr for the
millions of Indian sub-continent.
Again, at the last supper,
when Jesus revealed that he is going to leave them, St. Thomas came out with
his doubt "Lord, we do not know where Thou art going; how are we know the
way there?" and Jesus answered lovingly for the whole mankind: "I am the
way; I am the truth and Life; nobody can come to the Father except through
me. Generations to come will be indebted to the doubting St. Thomas for this
illuminating glance into the eternal life.
It is interesting to note
that Malikayal' speaks of St. Thoma's arrival by sea to the port of 'Maliankara'
(Kodungallur). The commercial history of the times lends support to this
assumption. He must have either sailed from Kalyan in north India or from
the island of 'Socotra'. He established the following 7 churches and a
Christian community in Malayattor as it is narrated in
"St. Thomas parvam" by 'Rabban.
It is the hoary and
unquestioned tradition in Malabar, which is corroborated by the customs of
the place and by the ethnological research, that the Apostle was signally
successful in the conversion of the high cast 'Nambuthiri Brahmins'. Four of
the leading Brahmin families are believed to been raised to the privilege of
the priesthood. They are:
a) Palamattam (Pakalomattam)
b) Sankarapuri
c) Kalli &
d) Kalliankavu.
Some of them still exist
in 'Koravilangad' a place near Kottayam in Kerala. The head of the Malabar
Church - the Archdeacon - had to be selected from Pakalomattam. This
practice was continued among the Jacobite seceders, till a hundred years
ago. There is a strong belief throughout Malabar that St. Thomas founded 7
Churches or group of Christians in the following places and the imprints and
tradition proves it true.
Early Migration
of Christians from Palayur to Travencore
In the history of Kerala, having put a stamp that will not fade, Brahmin
families like Kalli, Kalikavu, Pagalomattom, and Shankarapuri where among
the families who received Baptism in Palayoor. The families of Shankarapuri
and Pagalomattom were given Priestly Status by St. Thomas.
In the 2nd Century AD all the four Family
migrated from Palayoor via Angamali, Kadathuruthi to Ettmanoor. The Devasom
of Ettmanoor did not allow them to stay there and sent them to a place 5 Km.
away which was the Forest of the Goddess Kali. In those days the Forest of
goddess Kali was believed to be full of Witches and Devils and people, were
scared to stay in such places. The people who came from Palayoor stayed
there without any fear not knowing about these facts. To prove this there
are documents. The entire house names, house numbers, survey numbers are
there in the Government Records. Survey 460/5, 460/6, 519/8 belonged to
these Families. During those days there was no place for worship or Burial
and the families worshipped at home and used their own property to bury the
dead. Where these 4 families stayed they established a Chapel. There still
exists 5 Graves near the famous Forest of Kali (Kalikavu) Grotto. It is
believed that these are the graves of 5 important members of these families.
This cemetery was just next to the Shakutirikal Family. Right now it is in
the procession of Claratu Bhavan Seminary.
The Koravelangattu Church: It is
believed that the above said 4 families and the Kadapoor family, which came
from Palayoor, joined together and established the Koravelangattu Church.
The Kalli and the Pagalomattom Families stayed on the Northern side of the
church and the Shankarapuri, Kalikavu and the Kadapoor families stayed on
the Southern side of the Church. So it came to be that Shankarapuri Family
got the house name Thekkedethu meaning Southern Side, and Pagalomattom
Family got the house name Vadakaedethu meaning Northern Side. There were a
lot of priests in these families for many generations.
Trade Relationships
Extensive trade relations existed between
Malabar and the Mediterranean countries even before the Christian era. The
numerous golden coins of the Roman Empire which have been found all over the
south, as well as many recent discoveries, offer abundant proof that Roman
trade centers existed along the southern coasts of India. While King Solomon
was ruling over the Israelites (B.C. 970-930), his warships brought back to
his country valuable merchandise supposed to be from Muziris (Cranganore), a
defunct international port of Malabar. While discussing the dealings of the
Phoenicians with Muziris, the Roman historian Pliny (A.D. 23-79) complained
that every year they were sending large sum of money to India for silk,
pearls, gems and spices. He also remarked that the Malabar ships were
visiting the Persian Gulf, Aden, the Red Sea and Egypt. Pliny, Ptolemy (A.D.
100-160) and the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea give much detailed
information about the trading centers of Malabar. Diplomatic relations
between India and Roman Empire existed even before the Christian era. There
were Jewish colonies in Malabar in the first century.
In South India
Regarding the
apostolate of St. Thomas in the Malabar Coast of India (Present Kerala)
we have a very ancient narrative from a manuscript preserved by an old
family at Palayur. It treats extensively about the journeys of St.
Thomas on the Malabar Coast. It is best for the interested people to go
through this narrative as a whole to have an idea of the tradition which is
rife in Kerala.
Apostle St.
Thomas reached 'Muziri in AD 51-52 from the northern part of Indian
peninsula visiting many inland-countries and sharing the Gospel in many
places as you see the imprints. Perhaps, one reason of selecting the
southern coast was flourishing Jewish settlements in along the coast in
Kodungallur, Cochin, madras etc., which date back to the Jewish Diaspora or
even back to King Solomon's trading centres. Another reason was the
flourishing Roman trade links.
"The Apostle
St. Thomas landed at Maliankara (i.e Cranganore) with Habban, the merchant.
He (St. Thomas) worked great miracles and in eight months established in
that town, the Church of Jesus Christ. Then he went to Mailepuram (Mylapore
- Madras) where he preached the Gospel of the Lord for four months and a
half and embarked for China. He remained in China for four and a half months
and returned to Mailepuram. After he had been there for a month a so, the
son - in- law of the King of 'Tiruvanchikulam' come to him and besought him
to return to Malabar. They embarked on a ship and come to Maliankara (Kodungallore),
where, in less than six months, the Apostle converted the King and his
family, 40 Jews and 400 heathens.
It is
interesting to note that Malikayal' speaks of St. Thomas arrival by sea.
The commercial history of the times lends support to this assumption. He
must have either sailed from Kalyan in north India or from the island of 'Socotra'.
St. Francis Xavier, who landed at Socotra on his way to India about AD 1545,
declared that the natives of these islands render special honours to the
apostle St. Thomas, claiming they to be the descendents of Christians
begotten to Jesus Christ through that Apostle in these countries.
Ka. Naa
Subrahmanyam quotes D'Orsay, who consolidating all the available records
states that, after forming, on the west coast, several congregations out of
Jews and Dravidi people, "Apostle St. Thomas reached Meliapore (Mylapore-Madras).
The fame of his miracles had preceded him. The Raja (King Mahadevan)
received baptism and a part of his subjects embraced the Gospel……. This
excited the hatred and jealousy of the Brahmins (The super class people &
Priests)and Apostle St. Thomas was pierced with a lance."
T.N Gopal in
the Vivekananda Prakashan commenting on this record, states "the legend also
has it that he suffered a cruel dreath at the hands of the irate Brahmins.
In so far as it points to the hostility that St. Thomas should have provoked
among the guardians of Hinduism, the legend has validity.
He was
preaching to the people Church surmounted by a cross and ordained priests.
One of the first that he ordained was the Son - in - law of the King. King
was named Andrew and the Son - in - law, Peter. Accompanied by Peter, the
Apostle went to Quilon (Kollam) where he planted a cross and baptized 2400
heathens. From Quilon, he went to the mountain place, Chayal' remained there
a whole year as he had done at Quilon and baptized 2,800 heathens and
planted a cross. At the request of the two chiefs of 'Triepalesuaram' he
returned to that village. But seeing that the people had desecrated the
cross he had erected there, he cursed the village (which at the present -
day is a heap of ruins) Nevertheless, he remained there for two months. He
again erected the cross and instructed the people so that they might not
return to heathenism and ordained priest St. Thomas, one of the chiefs who
had always remained strong in his faith. During this two months that he
remained at 'Triepalesuaram', he confirmed in their faith all the Christians
and converted 200 pagans. Not far from there, to the south, he built the
Church of 'Niranam' and ordained priests, his first disciple St. Thomas
Maliyakel who has a native of the place. He then repaired to 'Kokkamangalam',
where he dwelt one year and converted 1500 heathens erected a cross and
taught the people how to honour God. He visited again Kottakavu - Paraur,
remaining there nearly a year and converted 2,200 people.
There he went
by the southern road to Maliankara and was pleased to see the flourishing
state of that Christian community. He stayed there only two weeks and
started for the north, proceeding to 'Palayur' where in one month he
baptized 1,280 pagans, and according to his habit, erected a great cross.
Towards the end of the year, 59 (AD 59) he returned to Maliepuram (Mylapore).
He came back
to Malabar and the Angels protected him during the journey. He remained two
months in 'Maleattur' and converted 220 pagons. He stayed a whole year at 'Niranam'
and was satisfied with the faith of the people there and with the exemplary
life they led, and gave Confirmation to all those that had not yet received
sacrament. He proceeded to 'Chayal' taking with him his disciple, St. Thomas
Rabban Malikayal. During the year he stayed there, he built a Church and
ordained priests and conferred the holy sacrament of Confirmation on all who
had not yet received it. After that he took leave of the Christians and told
them that they would never see him again.
And he
started for the country of Tamils. St. Thomas Rabban and Peter, the
son-in-law of the King, accompanied him for seven miles and a half and took
leave of him.
Proof of his Arrival
Historians
today believe that St. Thomas planted the seed of the gospel on Indian soil.
This is the general trend of their thinking:
During Apostolic times there were well frequented trade routes, by land and
/ or water, connecting North-West India (today Pakistan), the West Coast and
the East Coast, with North Africa and West Asia. Thus Alexandria, Aden,
Socotra, Ormuz, Ctesiphon, Caesarea, Taxila, Broach,
Kodungallur (Muziris) and even Rome were inter-linked.
The witnesses
of different authors belonging to different places, Churches, cultures,
centuries and races ( and often speaking different languages) supporting the
Apostle’s Indian mission provide an almost unassailable bulwark of evidence,
along with the South Indian tradition that is woven into a myriad details of
folklore, placenames, family traditions, social customs, monuments, copper
plates, ancient songs, liturgical texts etc..
The following are some of the early references to the Indian sojourn of St.
Thomas in foreign sources: (All these testimonies are of a date prior to the
commencement of the Malayalam or Kollam era, i.e. A. D. 825. Many of these
belong to centuries immediately following the first Ecumenical Council of
325.)
One of the earliest works
to refer to St. Thomas as the Apostle who evangelized the India of today is
the Syriac work entitled 'The Doctrine of the Apostles', which according to
critics, date from the second century A.D .Here are the Passages:
1. 'The Doctrine of the Apostles'
'After death of the Apostles, there were Guides and Rulers in the Churches;
and whatever the Apostles communicated to them, and they had received from
them, they taught to the multitudes. They, again, at their deaths also
committed and delivered to their disciples after them everything which they
had received from the Apostles; also what James had written from Jerusalem
and Simon from the City of Rome, and John from Ephesus and Mark from the
great Alexandria, and Andrew from Phrygia and Luke from Macedonia and Judas
St. Thomas from India, that the epistles of an Apostle might be received and
read in the Churches in every place, like those Triumphs of their Acts which
Luke wrote, are read, that by this the Apostles might he known...'
'India and all its own countries and those
bordering on it, even to the farthest sea, received the Apostles' Hand of
Priesthood from Judas St. Thomas, who was Guide and Ruler in the Church
which he built there and ministered there.'
2. The Acts of Judas St.
Thomas, Century: 2nd/3rd (c. 180-230),
Church represented: Syrian
One of the
source books for the life and mission of St. Thomas the Apostle is the work
called: 'The Acts of St. Thomas' which dates probably from early 3rd
Century.
It is understood to be an
apocryphal work; but serious scholars seem to favour the historical
foundation for the main statements made in the work, as for example, the
travel of the Apostle to the Indus Valley, reference to names which sound
similar to historical potentates of Northern India, e.g.,
Gondophares.
It is known
that apocryphal, legendary writings take their origin around certain
historical events, which in the course of the development of the work get
mixed-up and even lost to some extent amid the highly exaggerated, even
fantastic details, stories and narrative embellishments. Even if we set
aside these details, we may still consider the main outlines of the work. We
may for instance, consider the following extracts from these Acts:
(a) 'When
the Apostles had been for a time in Jerusalem, they divided the countries
among them in order that each one might preach in the region which fell to
him; and India fell to the lot of Judas St. Thomas.' What may be
considered here is not so much the fact of the lots being cast as the fact
of India being mentioned.
(b) The
Acts say that St. Thomas was not willing to accept the same decision and
said: 'I am a Hebrew; how can I teach the Indians?' It is perhaps quite
unlikely that an Apostle would have refused to go on his mission as soon
as it became known to him. For our purpose that is not what we should
worry about. What is to be noted is rather the fact that 'Indians' are
mentioned in the narrative. We may say the same with regard to what
follows in the Acts narrative. The Apostle says stubbornly: 'Whithersoever
Thou wilt, O Lord, send me: only to India I will not go...'
3.
St.
Jerome (342- 420)
"He (Christ) dwelt in all places: with St.
Thomas in India, Peter at Rome, with Paul in Illyricum."
4.
St. Gaudentius ( Bishop of Brescia, before 427)
"John at Sebastena, St. Thomas among the Indians, Andrew and Luke at
the city of Patras are found to have closed their careers."
5.
St. Paulinus of Nola (d. 431)
"Parthia receives Mathew, India St. Thomas, Libya Thaddeus, and Phrygia
Philip".
6.
St. Gregory of Tours (d. 594)
More about St.Gregory’s testimony see ch. IV. ‘St.
Thomas the Apostle, according to the narrative of his martyrdom is stated
to have suffered in India. His holy remains (corpus), after a long
interval of time, were removed to the city of Edessa in Syria and there
interred. In that part of India where they first rested, stand a monastery
and a church of striking dimensions, elaborately adorned and designed.
This Theodore, who had been to the place, narrated to us.’
7. St. Isidore of
Seville in Spain (d. c. 630)
"This St. Thomas preached the Gospel of Christ to the
Parthians, the Medes, the Persians, the Hyrcanians and the Bactrians, and
to the Indians of the Oriental region and penetrating the innermost
regions and sealing his preaching by his passion he died transfixed with a
lance at Calamina...a city of India, and there was buried with honour".
8. St. Bede the
Venerable (c. 673-735)
"Peter receives Rome, Andrew Achaia; James Spain;
St. Thomas India;
John Asia....
In addition to these there are many breviaries,
martyrologies, other liturgical books and calendars of the Syrian,
Alexandrian/ Greek, Latin and other Churches belonging to a period before
the commencement of the Quilon era, which bears ample testimony to St.
Thomas’ Indian Apostolate.
India at that Time
In the
viewpoint of broader understanding the land INDIA can be introduced as
follows:
"It is certainly not as small as the present political INDIA. As per the
ancient historians and travelers, India is the farthest part of the
inhibited world towards the east.
Political and Commercial context
From the time
of invasion of Alexander the Great in 326 BC crossing the Indus river, India
became more open to the countries of the west. He conquered King Poros (the
kning of present Punjab) historically and broke the great barrier, the
empire of Persia which had separated people of western countries including
Greece from India and opened a channel for direct communicatuion.
Eminenet scholars of those times; Ptolemy, Aristobolus etc'. and others
gives reference to it.
After the death of Alexander, the great Indian king Chandraguptha Mourya
liberated Punjab from greek domination by a friendly alliance with the
Seleukos Nicator. Owing to this better atmosphere, many Greek merchants and
others were attracted to Indian subcontinent. They and their successors
exchanged ambassadors and many other western kingdoms followed it such as
Egyptian Ptolomies. Many of them like 'Megasthenes' wrote books and defined
boundaries of Indian subcontinent in it.
Communication
between the western world and India became less frequent preceded to the
Christian era due to the rise of new Parathian Empire. It was for a
short period and Roman empire rised and started developing trade and
commerce with the precious goods of east. Again Parathian Empire raised in
between and a toll was levied for trade to Rome. This
forced Romans to find a sea route to the east - especially to India.
This created a problem with the Arabs as they were loosing the importance.
After a lot of conflicts and problems, the incidents favoured Roman ambition
to set sail for India. Hence about 0005 AD., Strabo could write : ' ……. I
found that about 120 ships sail from 'Mycos-Hormos' to India.'
The Indian
Kings like 'Pandyan' of Madurai have opened embassies in Rome and the
trade was immense as the western world was a good market for Indian goods.
India was in a flourishing stage during that period.
This should be the reason
St. Thomas selected India as his mission field which was well known to
Palastinians and there was all means of communication which was prevailing
at that time.
The historic proofs of St.
Thomas mission in India are many. Taking into account traditional evidence
available in India and abroad. It may may be said that the Apostle was
approximately 17 years in India. Viz.. about 4 years in Sindh, 6
years years at most in Malabar, and 7 years at Mailepuram or Mailapore.
Crosses carved on stone, some of which are attributed to St. Thomas by
unbroken tradition, have not been lost to posterity.
Government of India bringing out two stamps in commemoration of the Indian
apostolate of St. Thomas, one in 1964 and another in 1973, and the
Holy See proclaiming St. Thomas‘The Apostle of India’ and in Cardinal
Tisserant bringing his bones to India and Kerala in the year 1963.
Historians
today believe that St. Thomas planted the seed of the gospel on Indian soil.
This is the general trend of their thinking: During Apostolic times there
were well frequented trade routes, by land and / or water, connecting
North-West India (today Pakistan), the West Coast and the East Coast, with
North Africa and West Asia.
Thus Alexandria, Aden, Socotra, Ormuz,
Ctesiphon, Caesarea, Taxila, Broach,
Kodungallur (Muziris)
and even Rome were inter-linked.
The witnesses of different authors belonging
to different places, Churches, cultures, centuries and races ( and often
speaking different languages) supporting the Apostle’s Indian mission
provide an almost unassailable bulwark of evidence, along with the South
Indian tradition that is woven into a myriad details of folklore, place
names, family traditions, social customs, monuments, copper plates, ancient
songs, liturgical texts etc..
King
Gondophares
The apocrypha
book "Acts of St. Thomas' mentions about his connection with the Indian
King. Till the middle of the 19th century even the existence of such a king
was legendary. How ever, a large number of coins were discovered in Kabul,
Kandahar, and in the western and southern Punjab, bear the name 'Gondophares'.
Ruins of
Taxila, Pakistan, where the apostle St. Thomas is said to have begun his
missionary work in India. A yearly festival commemorating the coming of St.
Thomas attracts up to 60,000 people.
To go in detail,
A 2nd century AD work in Syriac, many poems by Ephraem (3rd/4th century),
many folksongs in South India, a historical narrative committed to writing
some five hundred years ago in Kerala, timehonoured traditions prevalent in
many parts of India speak of the arrival, travels, and activities of a
visitor from around Alexandria in India in the First Century A D.
The crediblity of this 'St. Thomas legend,' as
described in Kerala-Mylapore tradition, in the Song of St. Thomas Rambhan,
in the Margam Kali songs etc., and in the Acts of Judas St. Thomas has been
vehemently questioned and denied by the vast majority of western scholars
during the major part of the 19th century.
It has been said and with quite some truth that this vehemence was at least
partially due to the fact that many westerners refused to believe that their
own present religion, though originally from the East, had arrived in
another country, that too a 'pagan' and 'idolatrous' country like India many
centuries before it had come to their own motherlands in Europe. Whatever
the truth of this one thing is certain: these western scholars left no stone
unturned in their attemps to disprove the Indian 'legend' about the travels
of the Alexandrian visitor St. Thomas.
Among the strongest arguments used were
1] that there is no king of the name
Gondaphares (as mentioned in the 2nd C. Acts) in Indian history, none of
his coins had ever been discovered, no geneology of Indian kings mentions
such a name etc. and
2] it is not possible to associate the
specific places, routes etc. mentioned in the Acts, traditions, songs, and
narratives with first century contacts with the west. These are the only
two objections we are dealing with here and analysing in the light of
numismatics developments in the subcontinent.
A most dramatic discovery in the field of
numismatics in India effected a magical change in the understanding of this
whole story. This was as a result of the excavations made both to
the east and west of the river Indus. Long before any coins or inscriptions
of Gondaphares had been discovered, the name of the king was familiar to the
western world in connexion with the visit of St. Thomas in India. In the
several texts of these apocryphal books the king's name appears variously as
Gudnaphar, Gundafor, Gundaphorus, and Goundaphorus. His brother Gad's name
also is mentioned there. Yet those names were totally unknown to history
until large numbers of coins of this King were discovered. On his coins it
appears , in Karoshti, as Guduphara or, occasionally, Godapharna; in Greek,
as Undopheros, Undopherros or Gondopherros, which apparently represent local
pronunciations of the Persian Vindapharna 'The Winner of Glory'.
The Greek
rulers of the Punjab were ultimately overcome by the Saka tribes of central
Asia...They established principalities at Mathura, Taxila, and elsewhere. We
are here concerned with one of these Persian Princes, known to the Greeks as
Gondopharnes, who was in 50 A.D. succeeded by Pacores. His kingdom comprised
Taxila, Sistan, Sind, Southern and Western Punjab, the NWFP, Southern
Afghanistan, and probably part of the Parthian dominions west of Sistan.
Hence he could be considered both as an Indian king and as a Parthian.
Dr. Fleet. One of the scholars concludes:
'There is an
actual basis for the tradition in historical reality' and St. Thomas did
visit the courts of two Kings reighning there, of whom one was Gundupphara -
the Gondophares of the Takht - i - Bhai inscriptions and the coins - who was
evidently the ruler of 'an extensive territory which included as a part of
it much more of India than simply a portion of the Peshawar District'
7
Churches of Malabar (Estd. by St.
Thomas)
1.
Cranganore or Maliankara
(Present Kodungallore)
2.
Palur or Palayur ( A place
near Thrissur)
3.
Paraur or Kottukavu (A
Place near Cochin)
4.
Kokkamangalam (
A place between Allappy and Kottayam)
5.
Niranam (A
place near Tiruvalla)
6.
Chayal or Nilakkal
(An interior hill side place near Sabarimala)
7.
Quilon or Kollam
Niranam Church
Niranam,
almost midway between Quilon and Kokkamangalam is now in the hands of
Jacobites. The church underwent many reconstructions and modifications. At
present, the fourth building is in the place of the original Church that was
believed to be founded by Apostle St. Thomas. It was consecrated by His
grace Vattasseril Geevarghese Deanious, The Malankara Metrapolitan on 14
Fabruary, 1912 AD.
The Apostle and Prince Kepha proceeded from
Quilon in a northeasterly direction and arrived at Thrikapaleswaram, near
Niranam. Thrikapaleswaram had Hindu temples at that time, and to provide a
place of public worship to the Christian community, the Apostle planted a
cross a few furlongs away to the west of one of the temples. The
non-Christian people in the locality did not like this and they pulled it
out and cast it into the nearby river.
This desecration took place sometime after the
Apostle had left the place for Chayal or Nilackal. Two Christians from
Thrikapaleswaram went there and requested the Apostle to re-visit their
place and set matters right. The cross that had been thrown out into the
river moved downwards floating on the waters for some distance, and
eventually rested on a strip of land on the opposite bank of the river. Here
at Niranam a new site for a church was secured. During this second visit,
the Apostle stayed at Niranam for two months and during this period two
hundred persons were baptized by him giving new vigor and strength to the
Christian community. Local tradition is that most of the Nambuthiries having
been made Christians by St. Thomas, left the place after giving the boxes
containing the documents relating to their landed properties to a Kymal or
Nair chieftain, who has since been known as Niranam Petti Kaymal. Of the
various miracles performed by St. Thomas at Niranam, the most remarkable was
the restoration of life to a child of a barber put to death by
anti-Christian families, who wanted to throw the responsibility for the
crime on the Apostle
What the Ramban Song Says?
The Apostle and Prince Kepha proceeded from Quilon in a northeasterly
direction and arrived at Thrikapaleswaram, near Niranom. Thrikapaleswaram
had Hindu temples at that time, and to provide a place of public worship
to the Christian community, the Apostle planted a cross a few furlongs
away to the west of one of the temples. The non-Christian people in the
locality did not like this and they pulled it out and cast it into the
nearby river.
This
desecration took place sometime after the Apostle had left the place for
Chayal or Nileckal. Two Christians from Thrikapaleswaram went there and
requested the Apostle to re-visit their place and set matters right. The
cross that had been thrown out into the river moved downwards floating on
the waters for some distance, and eventually rested on a strip of land on
the opposite bank of the river. Here at Niranom a new site for a church
was secured. During this second visit, the Apostle stayed at Niranom for
two months and during this period two hundred persons were baptized by him
giving new vigor and strength to the Christian community. Local tradition
is that most of the Nambutiris having been made Christians by St. Thomas,
left the place after giving the boxes containing the documents relating to
their landed properties to a Kymal or Nair chieftain, who has since been
known as Niranam Petti Kaymal. Of the various miracles performed by St.
Thomas at Niranam, the most remarkable was the restoration of life to a
child of a barber put to death by anti-Christian families, who wanted to
throw the responsibility for the crime on the Apostle.
Palayoor Church
Palur or
Palayur was the stronghold of the Nambudiri Brahmins ('the super class
people in Indian communities) when St. Thomas arrived from Kodungallur.
Isralites had a settlement at Palayur, two thosand years ago. Ruins of an
ancient Jewish Synagogue are still seen outside of a Brahmin temple about a
furlong away from the Church. Broken pieces of idols, sculptures and
remnants of the old temple were lying around the church till a short time
ago. Two large tanks on the west and east gates are tell-tale relics of the
ancient glory of the Hindu temple.
During the
Portuguese time, an attempt to dismantle the old Church to construct a new
one was given up owing to the sentimental objection of the local people.
later on, however, a new church was built carefully so as to enclose the old
one which had wooden walls.
Palayur was
once the seat of a Bishop. This is evident from the Bull of Pope Gregory
XII, dated 15th March 1580. It admonishes and directs athe faithful to 'be
obedient to their prelate Mar Abraham and George of Christ, the Bishop of
Palayur'. 'Obedite vero in Domino Abrahamo Archiepiescopo, vestro Georgio
item Episcopo Palurensi'. Incursions and persecutions by Hyder Ali and Tippu
Sultan, the tyrants of Mysore, in the seventeenth centrury, reduced this
flourishing Catholic centre to the state of decadence.
Important Historical Monuments at Palayoor
- The Boat Jetty (Bottukulam)
where St. Thomas landed at Palayoor.
- Thaliyakulam -The pond where St. Thomas baptized the local people.
- The replica of Chinna Malai(of Mylapore - Madras) where St. Thomas
attainted martyrdom in AD 72.
- The historical remnants of old Aryan Temple.
- Historical Museum.
- 14 granite life size statues of various scenes from the life of St.
Thomas installed on the main entrance of the Church.
- The Jubilee Door in front of the entrance of the main hall of the
Church, depicting various important Biblical events, carved in Burmese
teak
The beginning of British
rule in India (1797-93) saw the slow and steady rise of the present
Church. Strangely enough, there is not a single Brahmin house, at
present, in the Palayur village.
How to reach Palayur?
Palayoor is a part of Thrissur District and is located on the west Cost
of Kerala. By road it takes 28 Km to reach Palayoor from Thrissur. It is
on Thrissur - Chavakad route, via Pavaratty. To travel by train catch
Thrissur - Guruvayur train (24 Km). From Guruvayur to Palayoor take a
bus or a taxi/auto rikshaw (2 Km). Nedumbasserry International Airport
is only 80 Km from Palayoor.
Nilackal Church
All the
Churches, save the one at Chayal (Nilakkal), are on the coast or very near
it. Chayal is situated very much in the interior on the Sabarimala Hills.
The old Church is now in a dilapidated state amidst jungles.
when St.
Thomas was doing missionary work that he established seven churches and
among those church, Nilackal (Chayal) was contained. The Apostle returned
from Niranom to Chayal or Nileckal. According to the Ramban song the Apostle
worked here for one year and during this period one thousand and one hundred
persons were converted to Christianity.
There is not any historical
evidence about St. Thomas’ missionary work at Nilackal but it is written in
old metal plates, Marthomma charitham , Veeradiyan song and many historians’
writings about certain vague assumptions that St. Thomas established a
church at Nilakkal.
Many
Christian families in Kanjirappally, Ayroor, and other places trace their
origin to Nilakkal. There is a Mar St. Thomas Church at Ayroor which is
still named Chayal (Nilakkal). Efforts were made recently to rebuild a
church at Nilakkal which led to opposition from the Hindu community, even
though there are evidences of a Christian Church and a Hindu temple which
existed there side by side in olden days, as can be found now in many other
places in Kerala. The difficulties were solved by the
magnanimous approach from both Hindu friends and Christian leaders, and the
help extended by the Kerala Government. Following this a new church
has been built under the joint auspices of all the Christian
denominations at the site agreed upon by all concerned, a little
distance away from the earlier site. This church is having historical
significance as the first Church built and dedicated by all the
denominations together as a symbol of the heritage from St. Thomas.
The history
of Kanjirappally in a Nanam Monam language (old dialect of Tamil) reveals
the early settlers of Kanjirappally. One of the forefathers of Thommi Periya
Veettil (A.D.1320) was a Trustee of Nilackal church. He, his family and
friends moved from Nilackal (Chayal) to Kanjirappally because of the attacks
from Pandi Nadu robbers given the name by many as wild animals.
Kottakkavu
Church
Kottakkavu near Parur was the next center
where the Apostle preached the Gospel and founded a church. According to the
Ramban song the Apostle succeeded in receiving into the Christian fold one
thousand seven hundred and seventy persons at this center
Kodungallore Church
(Maliankara)
Besides Jews, Brahmins,
Kshatriyas, Nairs, and Chettiars were among the earliest converts to
Christianity. The first Brahmin convert was a young member of a Niranam
Brahmin family that had settled down in Cranganore engaged in some business.
His father, who decided to cast him away from the family, did not like the
young man's conversion. The Apostle called the young convert and asked him
to live with him. The young man, who had received the Apostle's name in
baptism agreed to live with him and came to be known as Thomas Maliyakal, in
recognition of his Brahmin family name. Subsequently he was raised to priest
hood, and after sometime was given the title of Ramban or Archpriest. In
course of time a Jewish Synagogue as well as a Hindu temple at Cranganore
were transformed into Christian churches. Accompanied by Prince Kepha, who
was consecrated as the Bishop of Cranganore and Malabar, St. Thomas left
Cranganore to preach the Gospel elsewhere.
Kodangalur or Cranganore
became the centre of Christianity, the Mother Church of Malabar; it was
there that the Apostle established the first bishopric with Xanthipus as
Bishop.This coastal town, situated 40 Kms. to South-West of Trichur, Kerala,
lies in 10o 100 North latitude and 76o 10o East longitude.
Ancient Musiris or Kodungallur where St. Thomas Arrived
The schematic map of the region around Kodungallur gives only a
faint suggestion of the landscapes of the area, which is hardly above sea
level and abounding in canals and lagoons and prone to flooding in the rainy
season. The landstrip, 5 to 10 Km. broad near the sea
shore, shows every sign of being newly formed by the sea receding in recent
times.It is now not possible to locate the ancient site
of Musiris harbour, nor that of Mahodayapuram of the Chera Kings precisely
at any of the present sites of the environs of Kodungallur.
No structure or building existing today in the area can be dated back
to more than 6 centuries.
Kodungallur of today is
not even a shadow of its glorious secular past. We have sufficient
historical testimonies to Muziris as a magnificent harbour and the seat of
the Chera Kings under the name of Thiruvanchikulam, which bring us down to
about 8th century AD but the data are too scanty to enable us to reconstruct
a continuous story of the city even upto that period. After that we
experience a long period of darkness. We only know that Kodungallur
continued to be a city of considerable importance, so that the Portuguese
and the Dutch and later the English thought it worthwhile to make it one of
their main bastions of power.
The Hindu compiler of the
Travancore State Manual has no doubt about the
Malabar tradition: "There is no doubt as to the tradition that St.
Thomas came to Malabar and converted a few families of Nambudiris, some of
whom were ordained by him as priests such as those of Sankarapuri and
pakalomattam. For, in consonance with this long-standing traditional belief
in the minds of the people of the Apostle’s mission and labours among high
caste Hindus, we have it before us today the fact that certain Syrian
Christian women particularly of a Desam (place) called Kunnamkulam wear
clothes as Nambudiri women do, move about screening themselves with huge
umbrellas from the gaze of profane eyes as those women
do, and will not marry except perhaps in exceptional cases, and those only
recently, but from among dignified families of similar aristocratic
descent."
"Upto the
fall of the Chera Kingdom the St. Thomas Christians were under the
Chera Kings...In the early centuries, Cranganore was the centre of
Christians. But the situation changed with the invasion of Arabs. The St.
Thomas Christians and the Jews moved to other places. Angamale rose up in
importance during this period". (STCEI, II, p. 31, "The Pre-Portuguese
Period", by Xavier Koodapuzha).
Archaeology & Roman Coins in The Area
The Church of Ollur, Thrissur was founded only in 1718. Before that they
used to go for Mass to Pazhuvil church which was founded in 960. Before
that, the tradition goes, they used to go to Enammavu founded in 500. The
Enammavu church recognises the unimportant Noth Pudukad church as its mother
church (400 A.D). This church in its turn originated
from the Mattam church (Ca. 140 A.D), which traces its origin to the Palayur
church founded by St. Thomas. What is important is that the people of
all these places unanimously subscribed to the truth of the chronology,
although time has brought about great changes in the status of each place,
and yet the traditions concerning the origin of each church is recognised by
all the churches unanimously. Similarly almost all the churches of Kerala
trace their beginnings to one or other of the St. Thomas Churches or to
churches which derive from one of those churches. Thus these traditions have
no less value than documents written on paper or stone.
Large numbers of Roman coins
have been discovered on the Malabar coast
(e.g. from Eyyal between Cranganore and Palayur, and from Kottayam in North
Kerala). Just two years back more than a thousand Roman gold coins were
found buried in Parur, also not very distant from Cranganore. What is
interesting is that the majority of these coins belong to a period of some
80 years from Augustus to Nero (B.C. 27 to A.D. 68).
The Periplus has this remark,
"There are imported here (the Malabar Ports), in the first place a great
quantity of coin, ...."
The Kodungallur Connection of St. Thomas (Reason,
History and Necessity)
During Apostolic times
there were well frequented trade routes, by land and / or water, connecting
North-West India (today Pakistan), the West Coast and the East Coast, with
North Africa and West Asia. Thus Alexandria, Aden, Socotra, Ormuz,
Ctesiphon, Caesarea, Taxila, Broach, Kodungallur (Muziris) and even Rome
were inter-linked.
Kodungallur -The Cradle of Christianity in india: The growth of
Christianity in Kerala along the sea-coast and its geographical dispersion
indicate the importance of Kodungallur in the spread of the gospel message
in Kerala and India. According to the strong Kerala tradition as found
embedded in the Ramban Song and in the collective
consciousness of the whole land and people irrespective of creed or
denomination Kodungallur (Maliamkara) was the headquarters of Apostle
St.Thomas from where he organised and operated his
various mission projects and apostolic journeys to the various
mission centers.
Kodungallur-Mission Headquarters: There were a number of factors that
must have prompted the saint to make Kodungallur his mission headquarters.
For example he himself had first landed in the land of Kerala in Chera
country and our India at Kodungallur. Even if he had gone to the land of
King Gondophares earlier, as far as present day India is concerned it was
Kodungallur that first came into contact with the Apostle and his message.
And the possibility that the Apostle might have first come to Kodungallur
itself, the port most accessible to foreign ships, and primum emporium
Indiae, before embarking for Taxila or Gandhara along the coastal route
could not be totally rejected.
In fact something quite similar happens in the Song
of St. Thomas Ramban:
"St.St.
Thomas, my namesake, the great teacher of the religion of grace,
(He) in company with Avan, the agent of King Cholan,
Embarked in Arabia and arrived at Maliamkara
..........................................................................
Thereafter he made haste and soon reached Mylapore."
We see him
constantly running to and fro between Kodungallur and
his far flung mission stations. Perhaps he had to come to the great
port city to get information, instructions and / or funds from abroad via
the captains of the many ships that arrived at Kodungallur. (Both in the
writings of foreign travelers and historians and in the Sangham literature
there are innumerable references to the flourishing international trade that
went on at Kodungallur and about the thriving flow of aliens into the land.)
Even as late
as 849 A.D. "the Pahlavi, Kufic, and Hebrew signatures at the end of the
second set of the Tharisapalli Christian copper plates show that merchants
of different races and nationalities were members of the trade-centre. These
three sets of signatures represent the Persian, Arabic, and Israelite groups
respectively and it is possible that they included Jews, Christians, and
even Muslims(?) as indicated by the personal names."
"In one
month’s time him to come back to the Kerala country,
The nephew of the King of Tiruvanchikkulam arrived in that land (the
Cholan’s land),
And, kissing his blessed foot, entreated. They voyaged in a ship,
And, undoubtedly, came to Maliamkara...."
Kodungallur - Mission Successful: Another reason why the Apostle
constantly harks back to Kodungallur was that his missionary efforts in that
cosmopolitan Gateway City of India had proved
highly rewarding from the very beginning.. During his very first week in
India,
"There (in
Kodungallur) by his miraculous deeds, in eight days he established the
religion"
Returning there from Mylapore at the invitation of the King from
Kodungallur in the company of the King’s nephew,
"Together with the King’s family, three thousand heathens, unbelievers,
As well as forty Jews who had settled in the country,
Received baptism in a year and a half."
Thus the capital of the Chera empire receives the Apostle and his message
with an open heart, and thereafter becomes the fountainhead of faith for
the whole country. Therefore:
"There for worship (St.St. Thomas) erected a church and a cross."
Not only
that. Now that the King of Tiruvanchikkulam and the whole royal family had
accepted the message St. Thomas forthwith consecrates the King’s nephew a
bishop:
" Grace
to become priests and bishops of the religion
And knowledge of the mysteries of it (the religion) he gave in public.
The reigning King Anthrayos’ (Andrew’s)
Nephew Keppa (Cephas) he consecrated a bishop."8
And now with Bishop Keppa, the King’s nephew he starts his journeys to
various parts of the Kingdom and is very successful in his mission all
over the Kingdom.
After successfully preaching the Gospel in Quilon, Trikkapeleswaram,
Chayal, Gokkamangalam, and Kottakkayal,
"Travelling southwards he arived at Maliamkara,
And was glad to find everything in proper order there."
After another trip to Mylapur he is in Kodungallur again on his way to
Parur from Palayur and Malayattur.
" His first
desciple Keppa,(Cephas) [the King of Tiruvanchikkulam’s nephew, ] who
never had parted from him,
He dressed (him) in his garment, and on his head he placed his hand.
As the governance of his believers he entrusted to him.
He quickly enjoined on them to accept (Cephas) as they (accepted) him.
Thus , as in
many other places and continents, it was royal patronage that made things
easy for the spread of the Christian religion in Kerala. This would also
explain how the Christians in Kerala came to enjoy all those royal
privileges and rights like the seventy two privileges mentioned in the
various copper-plate grants and other trading rights granted by the 'Tazhekkattu
Sasanam' etc.
it was there
that the Apostle established the first bishopric with Xanthipus as Bishop.
In remembrance of the ancient tradition of Cranganore, His Holiness Leo XIII
allowed in 1886, the Bishop of Damao (the now extinct diocese in the Bombay
Presidency) the use of the title 'Archbishop of Cranganore'.
Kokkamangalam Church
Kokkamangalam,
far to the north of Quilon, Niranom and Nileckal, was the next centre of the
missionary activities of
St. Thomas. The Ramban song says that the Apostle spent one year at
Kokka-mangalam and baptized one thousand and six hundred persons to
Christianity. Kokkamangalam is about 20 miles south of Parur. After planting
a cross and opening a church there the Apostle left the place. During the
absence of the Apostle unknown hands removed the cross from its site and
threw it into the nearby backwater lagoon. The cross moved with the water
current and reached Pallipuram. The believers at Pallipuram installed the
cross solemnly at a suitable place and a church was opened there.
Kollam Church
Quilon was the next scene of the labors of the
Apostle. Quilon (Kollam),
still a big town, almost the second capital of the Travancore State, is one
of the most ancient Episcopal Sees in India. It was erected by Pope John
XXII in 1330. The Church built by St. Thomas in Kollam, one of the great
Catholic centres of India (in later stage), is believed to have
existed for upwards of a thousand years, when it
was swept away by the sea. The majority of the people of Quilon
belonged to the Chettiar caste, the recognized trading caste of the time. A
good many of them accepted the Gospel attracted by the preaching of the
Apostle and the miracles performed by him. Many inhabitants of Quilon hated
the new religion and migrated from Quilon to Vanjinad to keep themselves
away from the influence of the new religion; After erecting a cross for the
worship of the converts who numbered about one thousand and four hundred,
the Apostle left Quilon.
Martyrdom of St.Thomas
After
escaping from the shelter at Littlemount St. Thomas came to a near by hill
which was very difficult to access but was frequently visited by during his
stay in Mylapore. One day his murderers sought him there and were on the
point of seizing him. Unbroken tradition maintains that while the Apostle
was praying before the cross carved by him on a stone, an assassin suborned
by King Mahadevan's priest and ministers, crept up stealthily and pierced
him with a lance from behind. The Apostle was reported to have fallen on the
stone cross and embraced it; his blood crimsoned the stone cross and the
space around.
Specification: A hill very steep on the eastern side, the mount slopes
gradually towards the west and stretches over 75 Acres. It was a dense
forest land and now only a thick undergrowth of shrubs are seen except few
straggling trees around the neck.
Archeological Details: This credit too goes to Portuguese as they
revived the Catholic life here, cleared the ruins and built a sanctuary in
1545.
Location
: Eight miles from Fort St. George, Six Miles from
South west of Santhome-de-Meliyapore (Burial Place of St. Thomas), Two miles
from Little Mount, 300 Ft. above sea level
Local Name:
Parangi Malai (In Tamil)
Importance : This is one of the three places on the
Coromandal coast actively associated with the mission of St. Thomas.
Tomb of
St.Thomas
Specification: The context of the excavation in 1523 which was noted by
'Marignolli' in 1349 who made written statements. The process of excavation
is contained in a document which has the form of a statement, made under
oath, by a Portuguese, Diego Fernandes' an old man of good conduct and it is
found in the archives of the society of Jesus in Rome among the Goa
manuscripts.
This Church stands in the
position of the Church built by Apostle St. Thomas himself. It had gone
through many alterations and re-constructions through centuries and you
learn that stages as you go along with the chain of burial place excavation.
It cannot be stated exactly with historical certitude the year when the
Saint's remains were taken from milapore but we have situations that match
with the records to assume the approximate time.
The
story of excavations begins here...
To add reliability, let us hear to St. Gregory of Tours (538-593 AD)He
states in his book (in Latin) "Liber de miraculis S. St. Thomase"
Excavation
I
circumstance of opening: The son of King Mahadevan fell ill
and he said afflicted "I will open the grave of the Apostle and take a relic
from his remains to hang it on my boy's neck so that he will live." It said
that he had a vision of the Apostle on the way to grave. His another son 'Vizayan'
who was a baptized Christian and the Bishop Paul Sitaraman opened the grave
of Apostle and gave some earth soaked with the blood of Martyrd Apostle to
the King.
This seems now to have been the first opening of the tomb - says:
cf Zaleski in his 'Apostle St. Thomas in India pp.90,92, 186-87.
Excavation II
It was when the remains of the Apostel was transfered to Edessa. St. Gregory
of Tours records that it happend many years after the Apostles death. We can
conclude it is before 373 AD because in this year St. Ephraim passed away
and in his records he speaks about the relics of St. Thomas preserved in
Edessa, Asia Minor. Some historians says it happend during the reign of King
Abgar IX in Edessa who was converted to Christianity and made it the 'State
Religion'. The Christians of India was under the Jurisdiction of the Bishop
of Edessa during the period, which made things easier. On august 22, 394 AD,
the casket containing the relics was transfered to the new Church in Edessa.
says cf.
Medlycott in his
'India and Apostle St. Thomas,, p.279 and Zaleski
pg 86-87.
In about AD. 1144,
when the places which the crusaders had conqured in Asia fell back into the
hands of Turks, the relics were recovered from the ruined Church, and
removed to the Island of 'Chios', in the Meditteranian, to prevent from
desecration. The relics remained in'Chios' till AD 1258 and then transfered
to Ortona, on the Adriatic Coast on 6th Sptember 1258 in a ship called 'Leo
Acciaiuoli'.
After the opening of the tomb to bring the relics to Edessa, the tomb a was
not opened untill the arrival of Portuguese in July 1523 AD, after more than
1300 years. These many years the tomb and sorrounding was kept sacred with
identification of the spots since the Edissa transfer was not complete but
left back few of the relics.
The
portuguese excavation is interesting.
Excavation III
The context of the excavation in 1523 was based on the notes of 'Bishop
Marignolli' in 1349 who made written statements in this regard. The process
of excavation is contained in a document which has the form of a statement,
made under oath, by a Portuguese, Diego Fernandes' an old man of good
conduct and it is found in the archives of the society of Jesus in Rome
among the Goa manuscripts.
The details
of manuscript in short. Diego Fernandus said that he has arrived at San
Thome at Mailapur in March 1517 and invited to see the tomb.
He found the ruined body of a Church with the monument and a Moor (whose
ancestors were Christians) entrusted to light the house of Apostle. He also
showed some signs of the Apostle and shared his testimony of getting the
eyesight through the Apostle. After decision to dig the monument with the
knowledge of Fr. Antonio Gil and first found the bones of the first King
converted by St. Thomas. All the authority and reputed people including the
Captain made their confession and began to open the grave at one o'clock
past mid day on a Saturday of july 1523.
THE
PROCESS
They first dug 10
spans deep and found plastered walls well made with bricks, embedded in
mortar and lime. On removing the eartch again 2 spans of mortar a. This also
cleared but came upon a similar layer. After that they found 3 spans of
loose earth. Under that one more mortar layer for two spans.again 2 spans
further there was 2 stone slabs with no inscription on them. On removing it
again they found loose earth. It was midnight and the work was stopped for
the day.
Digging was
resumed on Sunday early from the morning. Four spans of loose earth was
scooped up. At this stage the tomb was 16 spans deep. There upon was sand
and quicklime. On clearing this, they came upon 'Some bones of the skull'
then some of the spine .. at the foot of the tomb, there was an erthen
vessel with a capacity of six gallon filled with full of earth. Further, a
spear head entirely of 'Malabar iron' having the shape of an olive leaf and
stuck on a portion of a wooden shaft were discovered in the tomb at the
place of corresponding to the thigh.
Fr. Antonio
sent for the captin Manuel di Faria and later the priest put the bones in
the smaller receptacle of the coffer and after a solemn procession, closed
it with a lock… Captain Manuel di Fria took the keys with him to hand over
to the viceroy of Goa.
Till 1558-59,
things remained calm, in between Francis Xavior came here in 1545 and tokk a
piece of bone. Then, during the Vijayanagara Invasion, Relics were taken to
Chandragiri and he returned it back to Santhome. Later, the Viceroy of Goa
planned to shift the Relics into the proposed big Basilica in Goa,
eventually the plan was cancelled and the Bishop of Cochin 'Dom Frey jorge
de Themudo' became the custodian and it was kept in the Cochin cathedral
till 1600 AD. His successor testifies in his reports of 1600 AD
'recorded as "This April of 1601 AD, I sent these Relics and the iron (tip
of the lance) to Santhome and they are already there with the other ones"
and it proves that the one half of the relics were there in Santhome.
Then the King of Golconda invaded and took possession of Santhome for 11
years till they were ousted by the French in 1672. Before the Golconda
entry, to avoid disecration, the portuguese placed the Relics in a 'Martban
Jar' and buried it in the Chapel of the Sepulchre, later removed and kept in
secrecy with a resident of madras 'Antonio Coelho' and again brought
to the Church custody when the situation was normal.
Excavation IV
In April 1729 Ad, the tomb was re-opened in order to distribute
earth to the pilgrims. Now the upper part of the plaxce within the Chapel
towards the east where an alter had formerly been erected, was opened.
Conclusion
The last
reference to the Reliquary is the pasytoral Visit to the Cathedral by His
Excellancy Dom Reed da Silva, Bishop of Mylapore after he took charge in
1887. The Monstrance was opened and examined after breaking the seals.
"it was found to contain the among other Relics, the piece of spear, a small
piece of the Apostle's bone. This is all that the Cathedral possess"
"ORTONA,
THE POSSOSSOR OF MYLAPORE TREASURE"
In return to
this treasure, the Arch Bishop of Cathedral Chapter, Clergvand Faithful have
send to the Faithful of the Archdiocese of Madras and mylapore an important
Relic from the hand that touched the wound of Jesus
Christ on 13th December 1953.
The position of the St. Thomas Books
The books of
St. Thomas and the books on St. Thomas are the most important historical
source for knowledge of the contemporary life of Jesus Christ that exists
outside of the Bible. Some of them are the most significant manuscripts
ever found for the history of earliest Christianity.
They also show light into the regional
diversification history of Early Christianity in specific parts of the
world. And they tells us the customs and truths of the early Christian life
with historic significance.
However, we cannot deny the chance of purposeful
misrepresentation with idiotic interests when it interlaces with fancy
traditions and legends while passing through ages which contradicts with the
root purpose of Salvation through Jesus Christ, not through any of the
Apostles or saints. Hence, Let these books be historic references and
imprints of great Christianity in the early centuries, written down with
good intention to serve the same purpose for generations. We respect
these books and authors but they don't fall into the category of Holy Books.
Gospel of
Thomas
The Gospel of
St. Thomas is extant in three Greek fragments and one Coptic manuscript. The
Greek fragments are P. Oxy. 654, which corresponds to the prologue and
sayings 1-7 of the Gospel of St. Thomas;
P. Oxy. 1, which correponds to the Gospel of St. Thomas
26-30, 77.2, 31-33; and P. Oxy. 655, which corresponds to the Gospel of St.
Thomas 24 and 36-39.
It is the most significant
manuscript ever found for the history of earliest Christianity.
When was the Gospel of St. Thomas written?
This is a question hotly debated by scholars. Many scholars say
that it was written at about the same time, even perhaps somewhat before,
the gospels in the bible. Their argument is that most of the sayings in St.
Thomas show no signs of having any dependence on, or knowledge of, the
Biblical gospels and so St. Thomas' sayings derive from oral tradition and
not from written Biblical texts. This doesn't seem to have been possible
after the end of the first century when the Biblical texts began to be
authoritative in Christianity. Other scholars find bits of evidence that
indicate that St. Thomas was indeed dependent, in part, on Biblical texts,
and surmise that the author of St. Thomas must have edited out almost all
indications of the particular styles and ideas of the Biblical authors.
Those scholars date St. Thomas in the mid second century A.D.
Who wrote the Gospel of St. Thomas?
No one knows. The four canonical gospels and St. Thomas and other
gospels such as the Gospel of Philip (found at Nag Hammadi) were given their
names some time in the second century. Scholars of the New Testament
generally agree that none of the gospels were written by people who had ever
met Jesus of Nazareth during his lifetime. But at a later date names were
assigned to them that were associated with famous individuals in the
earliest church. The name of the person who supposedly wrote the Gospel of
St. Thomas is given in the first lines of the text as "didymos Judas St.
Thomas." The word "didymos" is Greek for twin and the word "St. Thomas" is
Aramaic for twin. The individual's name was Judas, and his nickname "the
twin" is given in two languages. The canonical gospels mention a man named
St. Thomas and John calls him didymos St. Thomas. There are also several
individuals named Judas mentioned in the canonical gospels in addition to
Judas called Iscariot. The bottom line is that we do not know who wrote the
Gospel of St. Thomas and we cannot be sure which Judas mentioned in the New
Testament also was nicknamed St. Thomas.
Where was the Gospel of St. Thomas found?
Portions of Greek versions of the Gospel of St. Thomas were found in
Oxyrhynchus Egypt about one hundred years ago and these can be dated to
about 140 A.D. or somewhat before. A complete version in Coptic (the native
Egyptian language written in an alphabet derived from the Greek alphabet)
was found in Nag Hammadi Egypt in 1945. That version can be dated to about
340 A.D. The Coptic version is a translation of the Greek version. Thus
most, if not all, of the Gospel of St. Thomas was written prior to 140 A. D.
Is the Gospel of St. Thomas Gnostic?
It all depends on what you mean by Gnostic. If you mean by
Gnostic the belief that people have a divine capacity within themselves and
that they can come to understand that the Kingdom of God is already upon the
earth if they can come to perceive the world that way then St. Thomas is
Gnostic. But if you mean by Gnostic the religion upon which the Nag Hammadi
texts are based, a religion that differentiates the god of this world (who
is the Jewish god) from a higher more abstract God, a religion that regards
this world as the creation of a series of evil archons/powers who wish to
keep the human soul trapped in an evil physical body then no, St. Thomas is
not Gnostic. This differentiation is very important, because some scholars
reason that if St. Thomas is Gnostic (in the first sense) then it is Gnostic
(in the second sense) and, as they believe,Gnosticism (in the second sense)
is a second or third century heresy, they conclude that the Gospel of St.
Thomas is heretical, late in date, and without very much historical value in
regard to Jesus of Nazareth.
What is the basic perspective of the Gospel of St.
Thomas?
It is that the Kingdom of God is spread out upon the earth now, if people
can just come to see it; and that there is divine light within all people, a
light that can enable them to see the Kingdom of God upon the earth.
Further, the perspective of St. Thomas is that the Image of God in the
beginning (Genesis chapter One) still exists and people can assume that
identity, an identity that is neither male nor female. The image of God is
differentiated from the fallen Adam of Genesis chapter Two. The Gospel of
St. Thomas advocates that people should restore their identities as the
image of God now, and see the Kingdom of God on earth now. St. Thomas reads
the first two chapters of Genesis in a straightforward way, there were two
separate creations of mankind; the first is perfect, the second flawed.
Rather than waiting for a future end-time Kingdom to come, St. Thomas urges
people to return to the perfect Kingdom conditions of Genesis chapter one.
For St. Thomas Endzeit (the final culmination of things) already existed in
the Urzeit (the primordial creative time of the past).
Does the Gospel
of St. Thomas reflect the views of Jesus?
Maybe. There was once a Q gospel and a Mark gospel. These were
revised and combined into a Matthew gospel and a Luke gospel. So there were
four interrelated texts that testify to a single view of Jesus; that he was
a man who predicted the early end of this world and its violent replacement
by a future Kingdom of God. If these texts have it right, then St. Thomas is
divergent from Jesus' own perspectives. But there is also a John gospel
testifying to the present reality of God's Kingdom and the presence of the
divine in the world. John's gospel, like St. Thomas' gospel, focuses on the
actuality of the divine in the present. So one must decide for oneself
whether the John/St. Thomas perspective reflects Jesus' own ideas or whether
Q/Mark and then subsequently the revised versions called Matthew and Luke do
so.
What is Q and what
does it have to do with St. Thomas?
If you realize that Matthew and Luke are revised versions of Mark you will
see that an extended set of sayings are in Matthew and Luke that do not
occur in Mark. Those sayings, it is generally agreed in scholarship, were
taken by both Matthew and Luke from a mid-first century document that
consisted of a list of Jesus' sayings. That document, which German scholars
called "Quelle," has come to be known as Q. It does not exist any longer,
but it can be recovered by analysis of Matthew and Luke (simply put, Q was
the written list of sayings that we find both in Matthew and Luke but not in
Mark). Q was nothing more than a list of sayings. The Gospel of St. Thomas
is also nothing more than a list of sayings. Many of the sayings are the
same, but most of the sayings in St. Thomas are not in Q. St. Thomas is the
same sort of thing as Q was but St. Thomas is not Q. Probably St. Thomas and
Q circulated separately in the middle or the later part of the first
century. Their points of view are quite different, St. Thomas stresses the
presence of the Kingdom of God now. Q insists that the Kingdom of God will
arrive at some future time.
How Many of the Sayings in the Gospel of St. Thomas
come from Jesus?
Who knows for sure? If you take the set of sayings that are in
St. Thomas and that are also in the gospels of Mark or Matthew or Luke (no
sayings in St. Thomas are also in John) then you have a set of sayings that
rather reliably come from Jesus. Scholars commonly are so influenced by
biblical texts that they assume that any sayings in St. Thomas that don't
sound like sayings in Matthew/Mark/Luke are therefore not sayings of Jesus.
However, it is quite possible that St. Thomas retains sayings that the
biblical gospels don't retain and, indeed, that St. Thomas is more reliable
as a guide to the sort of thing Jesus said than the biblical gospels are.
Matthew/Mark/Luke give by and large the same point of view regarding Jesus
as a teacher. St. Thomas (and to some extent John) gives a somewhat
different point of view. Perhaps St. Thomas' point of view derives from
Jesus himself. Or, perhaps, not.
Why isn't the Gospel of St. Thomas in the Bible?
We don't know how the texts in the bible were chosen. Whatever
happened occurred principally in the middle of the second century. However
the choices were made, it could well have been that St. Thomas was unknown
to those who made them. Or there might have been elements of St. Thomas that
were distasteful to them. Or, given a preference for narrative biographical
gospels, St. Thomas might have been thought irrelevant. We know hardly
anything about the process of canonical gospel choice.
Will the Gospel of St.
Thomas be added to the Bible?
No. The biblical canon is not open for debate, it is a closed entity.
A church that adds St. Thomas to its collection of scriptures would move
outside the margins of orthodox Christianity and no well-known denomination
has the slightest intention of adding St. Thomas to its scriptures.
The Gospel of
St.Thomas the Apostle (Thoma Sleeha)
Introduction
The Gospel of
St.Thomas is a collection of traditional Sayings(logia) of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It is attributed to Didymos Judas Thomas, the "Doubting Thomas" of
the canonical Gospels, and according to many early traditions, the twin
brother of Jesus ("didymos" means" twin" in Greek). We have two versions of
the Gospel of St.Thomas. The first was discovered in the late 1800's among
the "Oxyrhynchus Papyri", and consists of fragments of a Greek
version, which has been dated to CE. 200. The second is a complete version,
in Coptic, from Codex II of the Nag Hammadi. These are the secret
sayings which Lord Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.Gospel
of St.Thomas
1) And He said,"Who
ever finds the inner meanings of these sayings will not experience death."
2) Jesus said,
"Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will
become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he
will rule over the All."
3) Jesus said,
"If those who lead you say, 'See, the Kingdom is
in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you,
'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom is
in and around you. When you know your selves, then you will be known, and
you will be aware that you who the sons of the living Father. But if you do
not know your selves, you are in poverty, and you who are the poverty."
4) Jesus said,"The
man old in days will not hesitate to ask a little child seven days about the
place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last,
and they shall be a single one."
5) Jesus said,
"Recognize what is
in your sight, and that which is hidden from you shall be revealed to you.
For there is nothing hidden which shall not be manifest."
6) His disciples
questioned, and said to Him, "Do you want us to fast? How shall we pray?
Shall we give alms? What diet shall we observe?" Jesus said,
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For there is nothing hidden
that shall not be manifest, and there is nothing consealed that shall remain
without being revealed."
7) Jesus said,
"Happy is the lion which the man will eat; and the lion will become man and
abominated is the man whom the lion will eat, and the lion will become man."
8) And He said,
"The Kingdom is like a wise fisher man who cast
his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of small fish. Among
them the wise fisherman found a fine large fish. He threw all the small fish
back into the sea and chose the large fish without difficulty. Whoever has
ears to hear, let him hear."
9) Jesus said,
"Now the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered them. Some
fell on the road; the birds came and gathered them up. Others fell on the
rock, did not take root in the soil, and did not produce ears. And others
fell on thorns; they choked the seed(s) and worms ate them. And others fell
on the good soil and produced good fruit: it bore sixty per measure and a
hundred and twenty per measure."
10) Jesus said,"I
have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am guarding it until it blazes."
11) Jesus said,
"This heaven will pass away, and the one above
it will pass away. The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. In
the days when you consumed what is dead, you made it what is alive. When you
come to dwell in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one
you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?"
12) The disciples said
to Jesus, "We know that You will depart from us. Who is to be our leader?"
Jesus said to them, "Wherever you are,
you are to go to James the righteous, for whose sake heaven and earth came
into being."
13) Jesus said to His
disciples, "Compare me to someone and
tell Me whom I am like." Simon Peter said
to Him, "You are like a righteous angel." Matthew said to Him, "You are like
a wise philosopher." Thomas said to Him, "Master, my mouth is wholly
incapable of saying whom You are like." Jesus said,
"I am not your master. Because you have drunk,
you have become intoxicated by the bubbling spring which I have measured
out." And He took him and withdrew and told
him three things. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him,
"What did Jesus say to you?" Thomas said to them, "If I tell you one of the
things which he told me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me; a
fire will come out of the stones and burn you up."
Acts of Thomas
Regarding the apostolate of St. Thomas in the Malabar Coast of India
(Present Kerala) we have a very ancient narrative from a manuscript
preserved by an old family at Palayur. It treats extensively about the
journeys of St. Thomas on the Malabar Coast. It is best for the interested
people to go through this narrative as a whole to have an idea of the
tradition which is rife in Kerala:
Acts of Thomas is an apocryphal book, written in syriac, in the 3rd century.
It is the most ancient document on the missionary activities of St. Thomas
in India although the description of the Aposle's activities are limited in
outlook and nature. The book is also, considered as one of the "oldest and
most idiomatic monuments of Syriac literature". The original manuscripts are
found in the British Museum .This book gives a detailed account of Apostle
Thomas’ labors in nine parts.
After the
ascension of Jesus Christ, the Apostles met in Jerusalem and portioned all
the countries of the world among themselves. India which at that time
included all Middle East to the present India fell to the lot of St. Thomas.
A certain merchant
by name Habban - the Raja Vaidehika of Indian King Gundnaphor came to
Jerusalem looking for a carpenter to take home to the King. Christ appeared
to Habban and asked him whether he was there for a carpenter. He said “yes”.
Jesus introduced himself as Jesus the Carpenter from Nazareth and sold his
slave Thomas to Habban for twenty pieces of silver and pointed Thomas to
him. Habban asked Thomas whether Jesus was his master. Thomas answered “Yes,
he is my Lord.” Habban told Thomas, “He has sold you to me outright.” Thomas
was dumb founded. In the morning, Thomas prayed, “Lord, Let thy will be
done” and went with Habban. He took with him nothing except the twenty
pieces of silver which Jesus gave him.
They took the sea
route to India and landed in a port called Sandruk Mahosa . Here Habban was
received by the local King. They attended the wedding of the King’s daughter
and St. Thomas demonstrated his ability of miracle healing on the troubled
daughter of the King by the laying on of hands. There after they continued
their journey in India. They reached the Kingdom of Gundaphorus and Thomas
was commissioned to build a palace for the King in the shores of the River.
However St. Thomas out of his pity gave away the money to the poor and could
not build the palace. He was put in the prison. However that night the
King’s brother Gad died and he was told the beautiful palace beside the
river in the heavens was his brothers. He came back from the dead and told
the story to the King. They were later converted to the Christian way.
After ordaining
one Xantippus (Xenophon) as deacon to the churches in North India St. Thomas
traveled throughout India and converted many to Christianity. Among them are
the names of: King of Mazdai, a noble lady by name Mygdonia, Tertia the
queen of Mazdai. He was martyred outside the cities on a mountain at the
hands of four soldiers.
The author of The Acts of Judas St. Thomas
(A. D. 180 - 230).
Ephraem of
Nisibis and Edessa in his hymns (d. A. D. 373).
Gregory of Nazianzus, Hom. XXXIII.
Ambrose, Ballerini, II., 389.
Jerome, Migne. P.L., XXII., 588.
There is then
another succession of writers who say that he went to Parthia: these are all
dependent on Alexandria:-
Origen, comm.
on Genesis, III.
The Clementine Recognitions, IX, 29
Eusebius, H. E., III., I.
Rufinus, H. E.,II.,5.
Socrates, H.E., I., 19. 17
We find that
Clement, Origen, Eusebius and others who assign Parthia to St. Thomas all
must have written before the Christian leaders had an opportunity to come
together and evaluate the spread of the Gospel in various parts of the
world. But once the representatives of the different Churches came together
at Nicaea for the first Ecumenical Council in 325 and exchanged notes we
find almost all the testimonies recorded thereafter unanimously speaking of
India as the field of Apostle St. Thomas and we hear less and less about
Parthia, although it is true, some later authorities appear to attempt a
reconciliation of the two traditions.
In spite of
what has been written about the differences between the Syriac and Greek
texts of the Acts,
Gondapheres
according to most scholars outside Kerala, is the King to whose court the
Apostle came in the company of Habban the merchant. Writers in contact with
Edessa and Mesopotamia, which had considerable and constant contacts with
India, generally give ‘India’ as the field of St. Thomas. The so-called
Alexandrian witnesses speak of Parthia, basing their evidence perhaps on a
tradition that originated not in Alexandria itself but Caesarea Maritima,
the great port of Herod with which Clement, Origen, Eusebius, etc. had
intimate contacts (see biographical notes above). But as these authorities
were also connected with the School of Alexandria many call this today the
Alexandrian tradition.
It is quite
possible and probable that St. Thomas was recruited by the royal
representative from Caesarea. Caesarea was perhaps the one port where the
latest architectural technologies were being effectively utilised, and it is
natural that one who wanted to have some new form of construction would turn
to that place. Was St. Thomas in reality working in Caesarea as a carpenter
and architect?
The western
tradition and the Indian East Coast tradition, thus definitely point to the
Apostle’s
Indian Apostolate.
The Songs of
Thomas
The Songs of
Thomas is handed down through generations and written down in 1601.By
tradition these songs were written by Thomas Ramban the first Brahmin
convert to Christianity
The first of the
Apostles visit lasted for eight days. During this short stay the Apostle had
made several conversions. He then proceded to Taxila and later traveled all
through the land of India and China.
The song tells
that Prince Peter or Kepha of Muziris (actually means Egyptians. This word
is even today is used to denote foreigners from Middle East) who was one of
the Apostle's first converts visited St. Thomas in the Pandya Kingdom
(Andhra Pradesh) and requested him to return to Malabar. Apostle came back
to Coromandal coast. The request was granted and the Apostle accompanied
Prince Kepha to Kerala, where headed by the other members of the Cranganore
royal family three thousand non-Christians received the faith and were
baptized in the course of eighteen months. Among these converts there were
forty members of the Jewish community including Rabbi Paul of the Cranganore
Synagogue where every Saturday the Apostle used to go and read and explain
the Old Testament for the Jewish congregation. Though Rabbi Paul received
baptism and became a Christian, a good number of the Cranganore Jewish
community continued to stick fast to their ancestral religion and gave the
Christians the name "Nazaranis ", meaning followers of the man from Nazareth
i.e.; Jesus Christ.
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