St.Thomas and the Church of Kerala



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’

********************.

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).

                                                                *************************

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.”


                                                 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Demo