At the end of the twentieth century those sites were excavated and many coins like those found in the Qumran caves were unearthed. Ancient records say that frequently Jesus was seen in south India and mistaken for Saint Thomas. He and Saint Thomas were sometimes seen speaking together. Apparently Jesus occasionally came down from his Himalayan abode to visit Saint Thomas and supervise his work.
He was buried nearby, and the earth from his tomb worked many miracles. In Marco Polo visited his tomb and took some of the red-colored earth from there. Upon his return to Venice he healed many people with it according to his own testimony.
Nearly all those who accepted the teachings of Saint Thomas were devout Brahmins of the highest level Nambudiri and Nair—many of them who had emigrated from Kashmir to Kerala who were Shaivites of the strictest order. So strict and correct were the disciples of Saint Thomas in their Brahminical character and observance that they were frequently asked by the other Hindus to perform the rites of purification shuddhi karanam for defiled objects and even of Hindu temples.
Thus the disciples of Saint Thomas were mostly of the Brahmin caste. If so, this would indicate their esoteric Christian character and affinity with those esoteric Christians of Egypt—most of whom were Essenes or descendants of Essenes.
Whatever the derivation, this was definitely a name sometimes used in reference to themselves. They were also sometimes called by others Suryan or Suryani. But they may really be derivations from Surya Vamsa. A sampradaya is a lineage of spiritual teaching stemming from an enlightened teacher, such as the Shankara Sampradaya, Ramanuja Sampradaya, Madhavacharya Sampradaya, or according to the form of God they particularly worship such as the Shaivite, Vaishnava, Shakta or Ganapatya sampradayas.
Whatever distinctive customs a sampradaya might possess, they all consider themselves to be fundamentally followers of Sanatana Dharma, the religion based on the Vedas and the teachings of the vedic seers known as rishis. And the majority of their customs and spiritual doctrines are absolutely identical and harmonious with one another.
The disciples of Saint Thomas were considered a sampradaya within Sanatana Dharma, not a separate religion. It is historical fact that they were an integral part of Hindu society in every way. But it was not used by the descendants of the first disciples of Saint Thomas. This fact underscores their fundamental difference from the religion derived from the other apostles.
History itself demonstrates the character of the disciples of Saint Thomas as a Shaivite sampradaya within Hindu religion. In A. The king, a Hindu, laid the first brick for the Ishanni temple that was built there, and upon its completion he led the first service of prayers to be conducted there.
This would not have been done if the Ishannis were not themselves considered part of Hinduism. Eventually an Ishanni kingdom district , with Mahadevar Pattanam as its capital, was established. Ganesha is the Hindu deity that is depicted with the head of an elephant and is the son of Shiva. He is always worshipped before any undertaking, including, in this instance, the beginning of education.
Because Kerala was a center of international trade, some contact took place between the Ishannis and the Christians of the Middle East and Europe. After some centuries the Syrian Christians, some of which settled in Kerala, persuaded the Ishannis to adopt their rituals and worship. Nevertheless their distinctive ways and identity were preserved. At the coming of the Portuguese colonialists to India in large numbers, however, this began to change. Christians from Europe were always received in total friendship by the Ishannis and often given places to live.
In many instances the Ishannis interceded with the local rulers in gaining residency and trade permissions for the Europeans. But sadly, on the part of the opportunistic Europeans there was no such sincere openness, and as soon as any political ascendancy was attained, pressure was brought to bear on the Ishannis to convert to the Christianity of the Westerners.
This came to an appalling climax in the last year of the sixteenth century when the Portuguese Roman Catholic Archbishop of Goa, Alexius Menezes, summoned all the Ishanni clergy and a considerable number of laymen to the town of Diamper to supposedly bring peace and reconciliation between them and the Portuguese Catholics.
In response one hundred fifty-three priests and about six hundred and sixty laymen attended. Their horror was boundless when they found themselves surrounded by Portuguese soldiers who forced them at gunpoint to surrender their precious manuscripts, which were then burned in their presence at the order of the Archbishop.
It was comparable in many ways with the vandalism of Omar, who by similar wanton destruction ordered the noble library of Alexandria to be consumed by flames.
The Syrian Christians of today believe that because of this cruel decree, no records are available with them to recover and establish beyond all dispute their past Church history.
Pothen, The Syrian Christians of Kerala. Among the books burned were many copies of three books. The third was a book on esoteric healing and the making of amulets from gems and herbs as the Essenes had also done called The Medicine of the Persians. They now exist only as nearly-forgotten names.
Not only were the books brought to Diamper destroyed, Archbishop Menezes later went from church to church searching for more books and burning entire libraries in many places—even in areas where the Portuguese had no political jurisdictions whatsoever. The liturgical texts containing the rites of the Saint Thomas Christians were especially sought out and destroyed because they revealed how utterly the other churches had departed from the original ways of Christianity, and because they expressed the correct view of Jesus as a Son of God by attainment and not as the creator God incarnate.
A list of forbidden books was made at Diamper, and any who read or listened to them being read were automatically condemned.
The official acts of the Synod particularly inveighed against the Ishannis who taught school and made provisions for the religious instructions of the students in Hindu religion, keeping the images of Hindu deities in the schools so the students could learn and perform their daily worship. Those who sent their children to schools taught by Hindus where they, too, worshipped the deities, were declared excommunicated from a church to which they did not even belong!
The Ishanni participation in the worship of Hindu temples was the norm for them since they were a Hindu sampradaya, so that, too, was soundly castigated. Priests who dared to have themselves registered as Nair Brahmins were condemned, not for a religious reason, but because it supposedly made them liable to be called up for military service. It is also an intensely experienced way of life for many.
Determined not to miss the a. Mass, they set out from their homes at some vague hour after midnight. When they find the church door closed, they fall asleep waiting. For my aunt Annamma, who devoted one decade of the rosary every day for my becoming a good Christian, the church was like home.
In her last days—she died at 87 recently—she would finish at the confessional, then turn around to ask her son in a loud whisper if she had missed any sin, much to the amusement of others, for her memory remained perfect. The priest would smile and reply that her confession would more than do. He would often add that she might save some for the next one! Annual parish festivals still draw big crowds, many Christians abroad catching a flight back home to attend.
Few are memorable or enriching, however, unless you like milling crowds and scary fireworks. Gone are the days of my childhood when we boys hefted a statue of St. Sebastian onto our shoulders and carried it along the maze of village footpaths at twilight.
At each house we visited, the priest intoned the prayers in a quiet voice, the sacristan ringing his little bell at intervals. The smoke from the swinging incense burner wafted in the breeze. The Hindu homes welcomed us with lighted candles at their gates. Sebastian, shot through with arrows and pinned to a tree stump, showered his blessings on all as he chased away disease and sickness. A young man served as a one-person choir, pumping the bellows of a harmonium with one hand, the fingers of the other running along the keys.
Lawrence stood in front of the makeshift altar, an old wooden desk covered with a torn white sheet, murmuring the prayers. Then he started intoning Kyrie Eleison, its unfathomable melody piercing even our mischievous, bored hearts. Although decades have passed, I still recapitulate the melody of the prayer, returning myself to those moments of magic. Lynn Johnson is a Pittsburgh-based photojournalist who seeks out elusive and abstract subjects— including language, disease, and hate crimes.
Her book In the Footsteps of St. Thomas corroborates the evidence that has existed for centuries. This does not come from the Bible or other texts that historians find unreliable, although written sources described his travels as long ago as 1, years.
On-site investigation is the new key to unlocking the truth about St. Serena Fass finds much to support the beliefs that the faithful in India hold firm to, although there are still plenty who dispute them. In those pioneering days, India was the magnet that drew Europe to the East. When Columbus chanced upon what was later called the West Indies, it was India he thought he had reached. Some of it stretches the imagination while the rest is at least as plausible as the Turin Shroud, albeit with less publicity.
Keeping a low profile has been the secret of survival. Levels of hostility to Christians in India are on the rise, and the belief that St. Thomas was martyred by either a local ruler or a Brahmin priest hardly lessens what is considered by some Hindus to be a blood libel. His original south Indian resting place was not in a Christian stronghold, and he was buried without much ceremony. The Catholic Church maintains a neutral stance on the proposition that Christianity might have been established in India long before it was in most of Europe.
There is more evidence of St. Serena Fass has collated traditions handed down over almost 2, years, along with a physical trail that includes some very old Crosses. Crucifixes are rare, as would be expected of a community that started long before the Corpus became an accepted part of Christian imagery. Relics of St. Thomas are less common than his tombs, of which there are purportedly six. A fascinating reliquary exists in Mylapore.
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