Thomas the Apostle (Biblical Hebrew: תומאס
הקדוש‎; Coptic: ⲑⲱⲙⲁⲥ; Classical
Syriac: ܬܐܘܡܐ ܫܠܝܚܐ‎ Thoma Shliha;
also called Didymus which means "the twin")
was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, according
to the New Testament.
He is informally referred to as "Doubting
Thomas" because he doubted Jesus' resurrection
when first told (in the Gospel of John account
only), followed later by his confession of
faith, "My Lord and my God," on seeing Jesus'
wounded body.
Traditionally, he is believed to have travelled
outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel,
travelling as far as Tamilakam which are the
states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in present-day
India. According to tradition, Thomas reached
Muziris, (modern-day North Paravur and Kodungalloor
in the state of Kerala, India) in AD 50 and
baptized several people, founding what today
are known as Saint Thomas Christians or Mar
Thoma Nazranis. After his death, the reputed
relics of Saint Thomas the Apostle were enshrined
as far as Mesopotamia in the 3rd century,
and later moved to various places. In 1258,
some of the relics were brought to Abruzzo
in Ortona, Italy, where they have been held
in the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle.
He is often regarded as the Patron Saint of
India, and the name Thoma remains quite popular
among Saint Thomas Christians of India.
== Gospel of John ==
Thomas first speaks in the Gospel of John.
In John 11:16, when Lazarus had recently died,
the apostles do not wish to go back to Judea,
where some Jews had attempted to stone Jesus.
Thomas says: Let us also go, that we may die
with him (NIV).He speaks again in John 14:5.
There, Jesus had just explained that he was
going away to prepare a heavenly home for
his followers, and that one day they would
join him there. Thomas reacted by saying,
Lord, we don't know where you are going, so
how can we know the way? (NIV)
John 20:24-29 tells how doubting Thomas was
skeptical at first when he heard that Jesus
had risen from the dead and appeared to the
other apostles, saying, Except I shall see
in his hands the print of the nails, and put
my finger into the print of the nails, and
thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
(v. 25) But when Jesus appeared later and
invited Thomas to touch his wounds and behold
him, Thomas showed his belief by saying, My
Lord and my God. (v. 28) Jesus then said,
Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast
believed: blessed [are] they that have not
seen, and [yet] have believed. (v. 29)
== Names and etymologies ==
The name Thomas (Koine Greek: Θωμᾶς)
given for the apostle in the New Testament
is derived from the Aramaic or Classical Syriac:
ܬܐܘܡܐ‎ Toma, equivalently from Hebrew
Teom, meaning "twin". The equivalent term
for twin in Greek, which is also used in the
New Testament, is Δίδυμος Didymos.
=== Other names ===
The Nag Hammadi copy of the Gospel of Thomas
begins: "These are the secret sayings that
the living Jesus spoke and Didymos, Judas
Thomas, recorded." Early Syrian traditions
also relate the apostle's full name as Judas
Thomas. Some have seen in the Acts of Thomas
(written in east Syria in the early 3rd century,
or perhaps as early as the first half of the
2nd century) an identification of Saint Thomas
with the apostle Judas, Son of James, better
known in English as Jude. However, the first
sentence of the Acts follows the Gospels and
the Acts of the Apostles in distinguishing
the apostle Thomas and the apostle Judas son
of James. Others, such as James Tabor, identify
him as Judah, the brother of Jesus mentioned
by Mark. In the Book of Thomas the Contender,
part of the Nag Hammadi, he is alleged to
be a twin to Jesus: "Now, since it has been
said that you are my twin and true companion,
examine yourself…"A Doubting Thomas is a
skeptic who refuses to believe without direct
personal experience—a reference to the Apostle
Thomas, due to his refusal to believe the
resurrected Jesus had appeared to the ten
other apostles, until he could see and feel
the wounds received by Jesus on the cross.
=== Feast days ===
When the feast of Saint Thomas was inserted
in the Roman calendar in the 9th century,
it was assigned to 21 December. The Martyrology
of St. Jerome mentioned the apostle on 3 July,
the date to which the Roman celebration was
transferred in 1969, so that it would no longer
interfere with the major ferial days of Advent.
3 July was the day on which his relics were
translated from Mylapore, a place along the
coast of the Marina Beach, Chennai (Madras)
in India, to the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia.
Traditionalist Roman Catholics (who follow
the General Roman Calendar of 1960 or earlier)
and many Anglicans (including members of the
Episcopal Church as well as members of the
Church of England and the Lutheran Church,
who worship according to the 1662 edition
of the Book of Common Prayer), still celebrate
his feast day on 21 December. However, most
modern liturgical calendars (including the
Common Worship calendar of the Church of England)
prefer 3 July.
The Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic
churches celebrate his feast day on 6 October
(for those churches which follow the traditional
Julian calendar, 6 October currently falls
on 19 October of the modern Gregorian calendar).
In addition, the next Sunday of the Easter
(Pascha) is celebrated as the Sunday of Thomas,
in commemoration of Thomas' question to Jesus,
which led him to proclaim, according to Orthodox
teaching, two natures of Jesus, both human
and divine. Thomas is commemorated in common
with all of the other apostles on 30 June
(13 July), in a feast called the Synaxis of
the Holy Apostles. He is also associated with
the "Arabian" (or "Arapet") icon of the Theotokos
(Mother of God), which is commemorated on
6 September (19 September). The Malankara
Orthodox church celebrates his feast on three
days, 3 July (in memory of the relic translation
to Edessa), 18 December (the Day he was lanced),
and 21 December (when he died).
== Later history and traditions ==
The Passing of Mary, adjudged heretical by
Pope Gelasius I in 494, was attributed to
Joseph of Arimathea. The document states that
Thomas was the only witness of the Assumption
of Mary into heaven. The other apostles were
miraculously transported to Jerusalem to witness
her death. Thomas was left in India, but after
her first burial, he was transported to her
tomb, where he witnessed her bodily assumption
into heaven, from which she dropped her girdle.
In an inversion of the story of Thomas' doubts,
the other apostles are skeptical of Thomas'
story until they see the empty tomb and the
girdle. Thomas' receipt of the girdle is commonly
depicted in medieval and pre-Tridentine Renaissance
art, the apostle's infamous doubting reduced
to a metaphorical knot in the Bavarian baroque
Mary Untier of Knots.
=== Mission in India ===
Thomas is traditionally believed to have sailed
to India in AD 50 (but there is evidence of
his being in Taxila in AD 43, where he did
not have success) to spread the Christian
faith, and is believed to have landed at the
port of Muziris, (modern-day North Paravur
and Kodungalloor in modern-day Kerala state)
where there was a Jewish community at the
time. The port was destroyed in 1341 by a
massive flood that realigned the coasts. He
is believed by the Saint Thomas Christian
tradition to have established seven churches
(communities) in Kerala. These churches are
at Kodungallur, Palayoor, Kottakkavu (Paravur),
Kokkamangalam, Niranam, Nilackal (Chayal),
Kollam and Thiruvithamcode (half church).
Thomas baptized several families, namely Pakalomattom,
Sankarapuri, Kalli, Kaliyankal, Nedumpilly,
Panakkamattom, Kunnappilly, Vazhappilly, Payyappilly,
Maliakal, Pattamukku and Thaiyil. Other families
claim to have origins almost as far back as
these and the religious historian Robert Eric
Frykenberg notes that "Whatever dubious historicity
may be attached to such local traditions,
there can be little doubt as to their great
antiquity or to their great appeal in popular
imagination".
It was to a land of dark people he was sent,
to clothe them by Baptism in white robes.
His grateful dawn dispelled India's painful
darkness. It was his mission to espouse India
to the One-Begotten. The merchant is blessed
for having so great a treasure. Edessa thus
became the blessed city by possessing the
greatest pearl India could yield. Thomas works
miracles in India, and at Edessa Thomas is
destined to baptize peoples perverse and steeped
in darkness, and that in the land of India.
Eusebius of Caesarea quotes Origen (died mid-3rd
century) as having stated that Thomas was
the apostle to the Parthians, but Thomas is
better known as the missionary to India through
the Acts of Thomas, perhaps written as late
as c. 200. In Edessa, where his remains were
venerated, the poet Saint Ephrem (died 373)
wrote a hymn in which the Devil cries,
... Into what land shall I fly from the just?
I stirred up Death the Apostles to slay, that
by their death I might escape their blows.
But harder still am I now stricken: the Apostle
I slew in India has overtaken me in Edessa;
here and there he is all himself.
There went I, and there was he: here and there
to my grief I find him.
St. Ephrem, a doctor of Syriac Christianity,
writes in the forty-second of his "Carmina
Nisibina" that the Apostle was put to death
in India, and that his remains were subsequently
buried in Edessa, brought there by an unnamed
merchant.A Syrian ecclesiastical calendar
of an early date confirms the above and gives
the merchant a name. The entry reads: "3 July,
St. Thomas who was pierced with a lance in
'India'. His body is in Urhai (Edessa) having
been brought there by the merchant Khabin.
A great festival."A long public tradition
in Edessa honoring Thomas as the "Apostle
of India" resulted in several surviving hymns,
that are attributed to Ephrem, copied in codices
of the 8th and 9th centuries. References in
the hymns preserve the tradition that Thomas'
bones were brought from India to Edessa by
a merchant, and that the relics worked miracles
both in India and Edessa. A pontiff assigned
his feast day and a king and a queen erected
his shrine. The Thomas traditions became embodied
in Syriac liturgy, thus they were universally
credited by the Christian community there.
There is a legend that Thomas had met the
biblical Magi on his way to India.According
to Eusebius' record, Thomas and Bartholomew
were assigned to Parthia and India. The Didascalia
(dating from the end of the 3rd century) states,
"India and all countries condering it, even
to the farthest seas... received the apostolic
ordinances from Judas Thomas, who was a guide
and ruler in the church which he built." Moreover,
there is a wealth of confirmatory information
in the Syriac writings, liturgical books,
and calendars of the Church of the East, not
to mention the writings of the Fathers, the
calendars, the sacramentaries, and the martyrologies
of the Roman, Greek and Ethiopian churches.[1]An
early 3rd-century Syriac work known as the
Acts of Thomas[2] connects the apostle's Indian
ministry with two kings, one in the north
and the other in the south. According to one
of the legends in the Acts, Thomas was at
first reluctant to accept this mission, but
the Lord appeared to him in a night vision
and said,
Fear not, Thomas. Go away to India and proclaim
the Word, for my grace shall be with you."
But the Apostle still demurred, so the Lord
overruled the stubborn disciple by ordering
circumstances so compelling that he was forced
to accompany an 'Indian' merchant, Abbanes,
as a slave to his native place in northwest
'India', where he found himself in the service
of the Indo-Parthian king, Gondophares. According
to the Acts of Thomas, the apostle's ministry
resulted in many conversions throughout the
kingdom, including the king and his brother.[3]
Remains of some of his buildings, influenced
by Greek architecture, indicate that he was
a great builder. According to the legend,
Thomas was a skilled carpenter and was bidden
to build a palace for the king. However, the
Apostle decided to teach the king a lesson
by devoting the royal grant to acts of charity
and thereby laying up treasure for the heavenly
abode. Although little is known of the immediate
growth of the church, Bar-Daisan (154–223)
reports that in his time there were Christian
tribes in India which claimed to have been
converted by Thomas and to have books and
relics to prove it.[4] But at least by the
year of the establishment of the Second Persian
Empire (226), there were bishops of the Church
of the East in northwest India (Afghanistan
and Baluchistan), with laymen and clergy alike
engaging in missionary activity.[5]Aside from
a small remnant of the Church of the East
in Kurdistan, the only other church to maintain
a distinctive identity is the Saint Thomas
Christian congregations along the Kerala in
southwest India. According to the most ancient
tradition of this church, Thomas evangelized
this area and then crossed to the Coromandel
Coast of southeast India, where, after carrying
out a second mission, he died at Chennai.
Throughout the period under review, the church
in India was under the jurisdiction of Edessa,
which was then under the Mesopotamian patriarchate
at Seleucia-Ctesiphon and later at Baghdad
and Mosul. Historian Vincent A. Smith says,
"It must be admitted that a personal visit
of the Apostle Thomas to South India was easily
feasible in the traditional belief that he
came by way of Socotra, where an ancient Christian
settlement undoubtedly existed. I am now satisfied
that the Christian church of South India is
extremely ancient...".[6]Thomas is believed
to have left northwest India when invasion
threatened and traveled by vessel to the Malabar
Coast, possibly visiting southeast Arabia
and Socotra en route, and landing at the former
flourishing port of Muziris (modern-day North
Paravur and Kodungalloor) (c. 50 AD) in the
company of a Jewish merchant Abbanes (Hebban).
From there he is said to have preached the
gospel throughout the Malabar coast. The various
churches he founded were located mainly on
the Periyar River and its tributaries and
along the coast, where there were Jewish colonies.
In accordance with apostolic custom, Thomas
ordained teachers and leaders or elders, who
were reported to be the earliest ministry
of the Malabar Church.
=== Death ===
According to Syrian Christian tradition, Saint
Thomas was allegedly killed at St.Thomas Mount,
in Chennai, in 72 A.D. and his body was interred
in Mylapore. Ephrem the Syrian states that
the Apostle was martyred in India, and that
his relics were taken then to Edessa. This
is the earliest known record of his martyrdom.The
records of Barbosa from early 16th century
inform that the tomb was then maintained by
a Muslim who kept a lamp burning there. The
San Thome Basilica Mylapore, Chennai, Tamil
Nadu, India presently located at the tomb
was first built in the 16th century by the
Portuguese and rebuilt in the 19th century.
St. Thomas Mount has been a revered site by
Hindus, Muslims and Christians since at least
the 16th century.
==== In history ====
According to Europeans and Chinese historians
Thomas was killed by King Vasudeva I of the
Kushan Empire.
=== Possible travel into Indonesia ===
According to Kurt E. Koch, Thomas the Apostle
possibly travelled into Indonesia via India
with Indian traders.
=== Paraguayan legend ===
Ancient oral tradition retained by the Guaraní
tribes of Paraguay claims that Tomé Marangatu
(The Good Thomas) or Paí Thome (Father Thomas),
one of the twelve apostles, lived among the
natives preaching the Gospel and doing miracles
in the name of Jesus Christ. According to
the Austrian missionary and writer, F.J. Martin
Dobrizhoffer, who spoke with the warlord of
the tribe:
..The Warlord (Cacique) said to me: "We don't
need for priests, because Holy Father Thomé
(Thomas the Apostle) walked on our homeland
himself, and he taught us about the Truth,
praying for us in the name of Jesus Christ.
Dobrizhoffer believed that it was "almost
impossible" for that legend to be truthful,
although "with the guidance of the Almighty
Power of God", there was a chance for Thomas
the Apostle to have arrived in Paraguayan
lands.Almost 150 years prior to Dobrizhoffer's
arrival to Paraguay, another Jesuit Missionary,
F.J. Antonio Ruiz de Montoya recollected the
same oral traditions from the Paraguayan tribes.
In a very famous book he wrote:
...The paraguayan tribes they have this very
curious tradition. They claim that a very
holy man (Thomas the Apostle himself), whom
they call "Paí Thome", lived amongst them
and preached to them the Holy Truth, wandering
and carrying a wooden cross on his back.
Despite all these legends and traditions,
no credible evidence exists about Saint Thomas
the Apostle and his alleged journey to Paraguay
and neighboring lands.
The sole recorded research done about the
subject was during José Gaspar Rodríguez
de Francia's reign after the Independence
of Paraguay. This is mentioned by Franz Wisner
von Morgenstern, an Austro-Hungarian engineer
who served in the Paraguayan armies prior
and during the Paraguayan War. According to
Von Morgenstern, some Paraguayan miners while
working nearby some hills at the Caaguazú
Department found some stones with ancient
letters carved in them. Dictator Francia sent
his finest experts to inspect those stones,
and they concluded that the letters carved
in those stones were Hebrew-like symbols,
but they couldn't translate them nor figure
out the exact date when those letters were
carved. No further recorded investigations
exists, and according to Wisner, people believed
that the letters were made by Saint Thomas
the Apostle, following the tradition.
=== Relic ===
==== Mylapore, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
====
Traditional accounts say that the Apostle
Thomas preached not only in Kerala but also
in other parts of Southern India – and a
few relics are still kept at San Thome Basilica
in Chennai, Mylapore, India. Marco Polo, the
Venetian traveller and author of Description
of the World, popularly known as Il Milione,
is reputed to have visited Southern India
in 1288 and 1292. The first date has been
rejected as he was in China at the time, but
the second date is generally accepted. He
also stopped at Quilon (Kollam) on the western
Malabar Coast of India, where he met Syrian
Christians and recorded their tradition of
Saint Thomas and his tomb on the eastern Coromandel
Coast of the country. Il Milione, the book
he dictated on his return to Europe, was on
its publication condemned by the Church as
a collection of impious and improbable traveller's
tales. It became very popular reading in medieval
Europe and inspired Spanish and Portuguese
sailors to seek out the fabulous (and possibly
Christian) India described in it.
==== Edessa ====
According to tradition, in 232 AD, the greater
portion of relics of the Apostle Thomas are
said to have been sent by an Indian king and
brought from Mylapore to the city of Edessa,
Mesopotamia, on which occasion his Syriac
Acts were written.
The Indian king is named as "Mazdai" in Syriac
sources, "Misdeos" and "Misdeus" in Greek
and Latin sources respectively, which has
been connected to the "Bazdeo" on the Kushan
coinage of Vasudeva I, the transition between
"M" and "B" being a current one in Classical
sources for Indian names. The martyrologist
Rabban Sliba dedicated a special day to both
the Indian king, his family, and St Thomas:
Coronatio Thomae apostoli et Misdeus rex Indiae,
Johannes eus filius huisque mater Tertia (Coronation
of Thomas the Apostle, and Misdeus king of
India, together with his son Johannes (thought
to be a latinization of Vizan) and his mother
Tertia) Rabban Sliba
In the 4th century, the martyrium erected
over his burial place brought pilgrims to
Edessa. In the 380s, Egeria described her
visit in a letter she sent to her community
of nuns at home (Itineraria Egeriae):
We arrived at Edessa in the Name of Christ
our God, and, on our arrival, we straightway
repaired to the church and memorial of saint
Thomas. There, according to custom, prayers
were made and the other things that were customary
in the holy places were done; we read also
some things concerning saint Thomas himself.
The church there is very great, very beautiful
and of new construction, well worthy to be
the house of God, and as there was much that
I desired to see, it was necessary for me
to make a three days' stay there.
According to Saint Theodoret of Cyrrhus, the
bones of Saint Thomas were transferred by
Cyrus, Bishop of Edessa, from the martyrium
outside of Edessa to a church in the south-west
corner of the city on 22 August 394.In 441,
the Magister militum per Orientem Anatolius
donated a silver coffin to hold the relics.In
522 AD, Cosmas Indicopleustes (called the
Alexandrian) visited the Malabar Coast. He
is the first traveller who mentions Syrian
Christians in Malabar, in his book Christian
Topography. He mentions that in the town of
"Kalliana" (Quilon or Kollam) there was a
bishop who had been consecrated in Persia.
In 1144, the city was conquered by the Zengids
and the shrine destroyed.
==== Chios and Ortona ====
After a short stay on the Greek island of
Chios, on 6 September 1258, the relics were
transported to the West, and now rest in the
Cathedral of St. Thomas the Apostle in Ortona,
Italy. However, the skull of Thomas is said
to be at Monastery of Saint John the Theologian
on the Greek island of Patmos.Ortona's three
galleys reached the island of Chios in 1258,
led by General Leone Acciaiuoli. Chios was
considered the island where Saint Thomas,
after the martyrdom in India, had been buried.
A portion fought around the Peloponnese and
the Aegean islands, the other in the sea lapping
at the then Syrian coast. The three galleys
of Ortona moved on the second front of the
war and reached the island of Chios.
The tale is provided by Giambattista De Lectis,
physician and writer of the 16th century of
Ortona. After the looting, the navarca Ortona
Leone went to pray in the main church of the
island of Chios and was drawn to a chapel
adorned and resplendent with lights. An elderly
priest, through an interpreter informed him
that in that oratory was venerated the Body
of Saint Thomas the Apostle. Lion, filled
with an unusual sweetness, gathered in deep
prayer. At that moment a light hand twice
invited him to come closer. The navarca Leone
reached out and took a bone from the largest
hole of the tombstone, on which were carved
the Greek letters and a halo depicted a bishop
from the waist up. He was the confirmation
of what he had said the old priest and that
you are indeed in the presence of the Apostle's
body. He went back on the galley and planned
the theft for the next night, along with fellow
Ruggiero Grogno. They lifted the heavy gravestone
and watched the underlying relics. The wrapped
in snow-white cloths them laid in a wooden
box (stored at Ortona to the looting of 1566)
and brought them aboard the galley. Lion,
then, along with other comrades, he returned
again in the church, took the tombstone and
took her away. Just the Chinardo admiral was
aware of the precious cargo moved all the
sailors of the Muslim faith on other ships
and ordered him to take the route to Ortona.
He landed at the port of Ortona 6 September
1258. According to the story of De Lectis,
he was informed the abbot Jacopo responsible
for Ortona Church, which predispose full provision
for hospitality felt and shared by all the
people. Since then the body of the apostle
and the gravestone are preserved in the crypt
of the Basilica. In 1259 a parchment written
in Bari by the court under John Peacock contracts,
the presence of five witnesses, preserved
in Ortona at the Diocesan Library, confirming
the veracity of that event, reported, as mentioned,
by Giambattista De Lectis, physician and writer
Ortona of the 16th century.
The relics resisted both the Saracen looting
of 1566, that the destruction of the Nazis
in the famous battle of Ortona, fought in
late December 1943. The basilica was blown
up because his civic eras tower lookout point
considered by the allies, who were coming
by sea from San Vito Chietino. The relics,
together with the treasure of Saint Thomas,
were intended, according to the command of
the Germans, to be sold; but the monks tumularono
inside the bell tower, the only surviving
part of the semi-ruined church.
Tombstone of Thomas, brought to Ortona from
Chios along with the relics of the Apostle,
is currently preserved in the crypt of St
Thomas Basilica, behind the altar. The urn
containing the bones instead is placed under
the altar. It is the cover of a fake coffin,
fairly widespread burial form in the early
Christian world, as the top of a tomb of less
expensive material. The plaque has an inscription
and a bas-relief that refer, in many respects,
to the Syro-Mesopotamian. Tombstone Thomas
the Apostle on inclusion can be read, in Greek
characters uncial, the expression 'osios thomas,
that Saint Thomas. It can be dated from the
point of view palaeographic and lexical to
the 3rd–5th century, a time when the term
osios is still used as a synonym of aghios
in that holy is he that is in the grace of
God and is inserted in the Church: the two
vocabulary, therefore, indicate the Christians.
In the particular case of Saint Thomas' plaque,
then, the word osios can easily be the translation
of the word Syriac mar (Lord), attributed
in the ancient world, but also to the present
day, is a saint to be a bishop.
==== Iraq ====
The finger bones of Saint Thomas were discovered
during restoration work at the Church of Saint
Thomas in Mosul, Iraq in 1964, and were housed
there until the Fall of Mosul, after which
the relics were transferred to the Monastery
of Saint Matthew on 17 June 2014.
== Historical references ==
A number of early Christian writings written
during centuries immediately following the
first Ecumenical Council of 325 mention Thomas'
mission.
=== Acts of Thomas ===
The main source is the apocryphal Acts of
Thomas, sometimes called by its full name
The Acts of Judas Thomas, written circa 180–230
AD/CE, These are generally regarded by various
Christian religions as apocryphal, or even
heretical. The two centuries that lapsed between
the life of the apostle and the recording
of this work cast doubt on their authenticity.
According to the text, following the Ascension,
the Apostles cast lots as to where each should
go and Thomas drew India. A man named Habban
recruited (or enslaved) Thomas to work as
a builder and architect, on behalf of king
Gondophares, the ruler of the Indo-Parthian
Kingdom. The journey to India is described
in detail. After a long period working at
the royal court at ancient Taxila, Thomas
ordained leaders for a church there.
He left in a chariot for a kingdom named Mazdai
(possibly Muziris), in South India. The king,
Misdeus (or Mizdeos), was infuriated when
Thomas converted the queen Tertia, the king's
son Juzanes, sister-in-law princess Mygdonia
and her friend Markia. Misdeus led Saint Thomas
outside the city and ordered four soldiers
to take him to the nearby hill, where the
soldiers speared Thomas and killed him. After
Thomas' death, Syphorus was elected the first
presbyter of Mazdai by the surviving converts,
while Juzanes was the first deacon. (The names
Misdeus, Tertia, Juzanes, Syphorus, Markia
and Mygdonia (c.f. Mygdonia, a province of
Mesopotamia) may suggest Greek descent or
or cultural influences. Greek traders had
long visited Muziris. Greek kingdoms in northern
India and Bactria, founded by Alexander the
Great, were vassals of the Indo-Parthians.)
According to some accounts, Vasudeva I, Kushan
emperor circa 191 to 232 AD/CE, reputedly
repatriated the bones of Thomas from Mylapore
to Edessa.
=== Doctrine of the Apostles ===
3rd century; Church represented: Syrian "After
the death of the Apostles there were Guides
and Rulers in the Churches… They again at
their deaths also committed and delivered
to their disciples after them everything which
they had received from the Apostles; … (also
what) Judas Thomas (had written) from India".
India and all its own countries, and those
bordering on it, even to the farther sea,
received the Apostle's hand of Priesthood
from Judas Thomas, who was Guide and Ruler
in the Church which he built and ministered
there". In what follows "the whole Persia
of the Assyrians and Medes, and of the countries
round about Babylon… even to the borders
of the Indians and even to the country of
Gog and Magog" are said to have received the
Apostles' Hand of Priesthood from Aggaeus
the disciple of Addaeus
=== Origen ===
3rd century (185–254?), quoted in Eusebius;
Church represented: Alexandrian/ Greek Biographical.
Christian Philosopher, b-Egypt, Origen taught
with great acclaim in Alexandria and then
in Caesarea. He is the first known writer
to record the casting of lots by the Apostles.
Origen's original work has been lost, but
his statement about Parthia falling to Thomas
has been preserved by Eusebius. "Origen, in
the third chapter of his Commentary on Genesis,
says that, according to tradition, Thomas's
allotted field of labour was Parthia".
=== Eusebius ===
Eusebius of Caesarea: 4th century (died 340);
Church Represented: Alexandrian/Greek Biographical
Quoting Origen, Eusebius says: "When the holy
Apostles and disciples of our Saviour were
scattered over all the world, Thomas, so the
tradition has it, obtained as his portion
Parthia…" "Judas, who is also called Thomas"
has a role in the legend of king Abgar of
Edessa (Urfa), for having sent Thaddaeus to
preach in Edessa after the Ascension (Eusebius,
Historia ecclesiae 1.13; III.1; Ephrem the
Syrian also recounts this legend.)
=== Ephrem the Syrian ===
Ephrem: 4th century; Church Represented: Syrian
Biographical Many devotional hymns composed
by St. Ephraem bear witness to the Edessan
Church's strong conviction concerning St.
Thomas's Indian Apostolate. There the devil
speaks of Saint Thomas as "the Apostle I slew
in India". Also "The merchant brought the
bones" to Edessa.
Another hymn eulogizing Saint Thomas reads
"The bones the merchant hath brought". "In
his several journeyings to India/ And thence
on his return/ All riches/ which there he
found/ Dirt in his eyes he did repute when
to thy sacred bones compared". In yet another
hymn Ephrem speaks of the mission of Thomas:
"The earth darkened with sacrifices' fumes
to illuminate", "a land of people dark fell
to thy lot", "a tainted land Thomas has purified";
"India's dark night" was "flooded with light"
by Thomas.
=== Gregory of Nazianzus ===
Gregory of Nazianzus: 4th century (died 389);
Church Represented: Alexandrian. Biographical
Note: Gregory of Nazianzus was born AD 330,
consecrated a bishop by his friend St. Basil;
in 372 his father, the Bishop of Nazianzus,
induced him to share his charge. In 379 the
people of Constantinople called him to be
their bishop. By the Orthodox Church he is
emphatically called "the Theologian". "What?
were not the Apostles strangers amidst the
many nations and countries over which they
spread themselves? … Peter indeed may have
belonged to Judea; but what had Paul in common
with the gentiles, Luke with Achaia, Andrew
with Epirus, John with Ephesus, Thomas with
India, Mark with Italy?"
=== Ambrose of Milan ===
4th century (died 397); Church Represented:
Western. Biographical Note: Saint Ambrose
was thoroughly acquainted with the Greek and
Latin Classics, and had a good deal of information
on India and Indians. He speaks of the Gymnosophists
of India, the Indian Ocean, the river Ganges
etc., a number of times. "This admitted of
the Apostles being sent without delay according
to the saying of our Lord Jesus… Even those
Kingdoms which were shut out by rugged mountains
became accessible to them, as India to Thomas,
Persia to Matthew..."
=== 
Gregory of Tours ===
Saint Gregory of Tours (died 594) Saint Gregory's
testimony: "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."
== Writings ==
Let none read the gospel according to Thomas,
for it is the work, not of one of the twelve
apostles, but of one of Mani's three wicked
disciples.
In the first two centuries of the Christian
era, a number of writings were circulated.
It is unclear now why Thomas was seen as an
authority for doctrine, although this belief
is documented in Gnostic groups as early as
the Pistis Sophia. In that Gnostic work, Mary
Magdalene (one of the disciples) says:
Now at this time, my Lord, hear, so that I
speak openly, for thou hast said to us "He
who has ears to hear, let him hear:" Concerning
the word which thou didst say to Philip: "Thou
and Thomas and Matthew are the three to whom
it has been given… to write every word of
the Kingdom of the Light, and to bear witness
to them"; hear now that I give the interpretation
of these words. It is this which thy light-power
once prophesied through Moses: "Through two
and three witnesses everything will be established.
The three witnesses are Philip and Thomas
and Matthew"
An early, non-Gnostic tradition may lie behind
this statement, which also emphasizes the
primacy of the Gospel of Matthew in its Aramaic
form, over the other canonical three.
Besides the Acts of Thomas there was a widely
circulated Infancy Gospel of Thomas probably
written in the later 2nd century, and probably
also in Syria, which relates the miraculous
events and prodigies of Jesus' boyhood. This
is the document which tells for the first
time the familiar legend of the twelve sparrows
which Jesus, at the age of five, fashioned
from clay on the Sabbath day, which took wing
and flew away. The earliest manuscript of
this work is a 6th-century one in Syriac.
This gospel was first referred to by Irenaeus;
Ron Cameron notes: "In his citation, Irenaeus
first quotes a non-canonical story that circulated
about the childhood of Jesus and then goes
directly on to quote a passage from the infancy
narrative of the Gospel of Luke. Since the
Infancy Gospel of Thomas records both of these
stories, in relative close proximity to one
another, it is possible that the apocryphal
writing cited by Irenaeus is, in fact, what
is now known as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.
Because of the complexities of the manuscript
tradition, however, there is no certainty
as to when the stories of the Infancy Gospel
of Thomas began to be written down."
The best known in modern times of these documents
is the "sayings" document that is being called
the Gospel of Thomas, a noncanonical work
whose date is disputed. The opening line claims
it is the work of "Didymos Judas Thomas" – whose
identity is unknown. This work was discovered
in a Coptic translation in 1945 at the Egyptian
village of Nag Hammadi, near the site of the
monastery of Chenoboskion. Once the Coptic
text was published, scholars recognized that
an earlier Greek translation had been published
from fragments of papyrus found at Oxyrhynchus
in the 1890s.
== Saint Thomas Cross ==
In the 16th-century work Jornada, Antonio
Gouvea writes of ornate crosses known as Saint
Thomas Crosses. It is also known as Nasrani
Menorah or Mar Thoma Sleeba. These crosses
are believed to date from the 6th century
as per the tradition and are found in a number
of churches in Kerala, Mylapore and Goa. Jornada
is the oldest known written document to refer
to this type of cross as a St. Thomas Cross.
Gouvea also writes about the veneration of
the Cross at Cranganore, referring to the
cross as "Cross of Christians". It is widely
perceived as the symbol of Saint Thomas Christians.
There are several interpretations of the Nasrani
symbol. The interpretation based on Christian
Jewish tradition assumes that its design was
based on Jewish menorah, an ancient symbol
of the Hebrews, which consists of seven branched
lamp stand (candelabra). The interpretation
based on local culture states that the Cross
without the figure of Jesus and with flowery
arms symbolizing "joyfulness" points to the
resurrection theology of Saint Paul; the Holy
Spirit on the top represents the role of Holy
Spirit in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The lotus symbolizing Buddhism and the Cross
over it shows that Christianity was established
in the land of Buddha. The three steps indicate
Calvary and the rivulets, channels of grace
flowing from the Cross.
== See also ==
Gospel of Barnabas
List of Patriarchs of the Church of the East
Mar Thoma Syrian Church
Saint Thomas of Mylapur
São Tomé
St. Thomas' Church for a listing of all churches
and chapel named in his honour
Throne of St. Thomas
== References ==
== Bibliography ==
Harvey, Susan Ashbrook (2005). "Julian Saba
and Early Christianity". Wilderness: Essays
in Honour of Frances Young. A&C Black. pp.
120–134.
== Further reading ==
A.C. Perumalil, The Apostles in India, Patna
(India), XTTI, 1971.
George Menachery, Ed., The St.Thomas Christian
Encyclopaedia of India, esp. Vol.2, 1973.
George Menachery, Ed., The Nazranies, Indian
Church History Classics, Vol.1, 1998, esp.books
fully reproduced in it by Mackenzie, Medlycott,
Farquar& many others.
Glenn W. Most, Doubting Thomas. Cambridge,
Mass., London: Harvard University Press, 2005
(a study in the reception of Thomas' story
in literature and art).
Charles Nicholl, "The Other Thomas," London
Review of Books vol. 34 no. 21 (8 November
2012), pages 39–43.
Pierre Perrier and Walter Xavier. Thomas Fonde
L'église En Chine (65-68 Ap J.-C.). (Paris:
Jubilé, 2008). ISBN 9782866794828.
== External links ==
Saint Thomas the Apostle|checked=true
Apostle in India, The tomb of the Apostle
Mylapore santhomechurch built over the tomb
of Saint Thomas
Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
Mylapore Diocese of Jacobite Syrian Church
St. Thomas Indian Orthodox Church – Greater
Washington
A.E. Medlycott, India and the Apostle Thomas,
London 1905 (e-text)
Niranam Valiyapally and Saint Thomas
The Nasrani Syrian Christians Network
Official Site of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian
Church
Mar Thoma Churches all over the world
Passages to India
Orthodox Church Portal
Saint Thomas – Apostle of India
The Little Gospel of St Thomas (Sri Lankan
film dramatisation)
