Recently I happened to read an article in one of my local
newspapers questioning the belief that St.Thomas had founded the Church in
Kerala. As a Mar Thoma Nasrani who takes pride in the tradition that St.Thomas
himself came to Kerala and baptized our ancestors to the Faith, I take it my
duty to translate an article by Mr.K.N.Daniel regarding the matter. This
article was written by the author in 1952 to commemorate the ‘19th
Centenary of the Landing of St.Thomas in Kerala’
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The Testimony of the Traditions
Legends are usually passed down the generations through word
of mouth. Each generation adds its own tale to the legend. As a result the
legend becomes corrupted over the centuries. The legend of St.Thomas in Kerala
is 19 centuries old. Therefore one cannot take the legend in its face value.
Yet historians sometimes resort to legends to learn the
history of a place. They consider the legend as a stepping stone. How do they
do this?
They reject all the details in the legend. They reject the
great acts of St.Thomas but accept that there is a chance that St.Thomas might
have come to Kerala at a certain point of time. With this as the foundation,
they look for further evidences to support or reject their theory.
Let us first look if there was any possible way by which the
Apostle could have reached Kerala.
According to three historical texts dating back to the first
century, Kodungalloor was one of the major ports of India. Kerala had strong
trade links with the rest of the world. Many ships from the Middle East used to
arrive in Kerala. Even Dr.Milner, a staunch opposer of the legend , accepts
this fact.
Tradition of the Church in the Eastern Coast
From the days of the emergence of the Church in the Eastern
Coast, they have maintained that St.Thomas had come and worked there. About
this there are no arguments. So, the tradition of the Eastern Coast complements
the tradition of the Western Coast.
Tradition of the Church of
Socotra
In the 16th century, St.Francis Xavier had stated
that the Church of Socotra was founded by St.Thomas(The Life and Letters of
St.Francis Xavier by H.J.Coleridge,Vol 1 P118).If the Apostle had travelled
from Aden to North India, he would not have visited Socotra. But if he had set
sail for Kodunalloor, he could have landed
in Socotra. Therefore the tradition of Socotra strengthens our tradition.
Tradition of the Chaldean Church
If the Church in Kerala was not founded by St.Thomas then it
could only have been founded by the
Chaldean Church. This is also the main
theory put forward by those who reject the legend.
In Kaplingathumana’s Kerala Ulpathi it is stated that people from Baghdad had
converted the Perumal to Christianity in February 14th 317 A.D . It
is also a well-known fact that Canai Thoma arrived in Kerala in the 4th
century with a group of Syrian Christian immigrants.
So if this theory is true, the Chaldean Church is the mother
of the Kerala Church. If so, it is hard to believe that the Kerala Church could
forget its mother and even more improbable is the fact that the Chaldean Church
should forget its daughter.
From the 4th century to 16th century
the 2 churches have been in close contact. So the chance of a memory loss is
feeble.
So let us further investigate these claims by looking at the
traditions of the Chaldean Church. In the 14th century a Chaldean
Christian had stated that the tomb of St.Thomas lies in Mylapore(Asseman Bible.Orient IV P.34).In the beginning of the
13th century a Chaldean Bishop had stated that St.Thomas was buried
in Mahlapore(Mylapore) in India(Book of
Bee. P 105).
One of the manuscripts didn’t have Mylapore in it. So there
is an argument that it was a latter addition. But it is more likely that a word
was missed while the manuscript was being copied from one to another. Even if
the word was a later addition, it would have been added by a Chaldean. It is
impossible to imagine someone from here(Kerala) going there and adding the
word.
Another interesting fact is that the Chaldean Church was
founded by a disciple of the Apostles. So it would be irrational to presume
that the Chaldean Church would give its daughter the honour of being
established by the apostle himself, if it were not really so.
In 250AD a Chaldean from Edessa states that “India, all its
cities and nearby cities till the ocean at the other end “ was the realm of the
Apostle’s work(Cureton’s Ancient Syriac Documents P.33).The “India” referred
here could only be Kerala , as the phrase “till the ocean at the other end “
does not suit northern India.
Some historians argue that the India referred to here is
Arabia. But no one else have ever stated that St.Thomas had preached in Arabia.
So it is improbable that our author was specifying Arabia. One of his
contemporaries from the same town had written the book The Acts of Thoma in
which it is mentioned that Thoma preached in India. It is widely accepted that
this “India” is really India. How can one argue that two people living in the
same town in the same period had different perceptions of India?
In Dr.Mingana’s Early Spread of Christianity in India (P.13)
it is clearly stated that the Chaldeans knew India very well and the chances of
mix up were nil. From the above statements it can be summarized that during the
3rd century, Chaldeans believed that St.Thomas had preached in South
India.
Knanaya Tradition
Knanaya Christians(Southist) pride themselves as the
descendants of Canai Thoma, the leader of the first batch of Syrian migrants. There
has always been competition between the Northists and Southists(Knanaya)
factions.The Northists claim that they were evangelized by St.Thomas. Even
though they were rivals, the Southist have never seriously challenged this
claim. Had Canai Thoma been the founder of the Kerala Church, Knanaya
Christians would never have let the Northists create the legend. Yet the
tradition of the Knanaya Christians accept that St.Thomas had arrived in Kerala
and founded the Church here. They themselves had arrived only in 300AD(This is
according to their Old Songs).
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I hope that the above article has convinced you that there
is much truth in the Legend of St.Thomas. For those Kerala Christians who still
doubt in the legend, what further proof do you require to believe that you
received your faith from Doubting Thomas?
Before I conclude, let me remind you that Faith does not
require proof. There is no real need to convince anyone whether we received our
Faith from St.Thomas or not. It does not matter what others believe in. What
matters is what YOU believe in. Let your actions be your testimony.
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to
believe.”
, 
