The Role of the Petrine Ministry in the Ecumenical Relationship between the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the Catholic Church

Chapter 1:  The Ecclesiology of the Church of St Thomas Christians in the pre-Portuguese Period

The MOSC agrees with the Catholic Church or rather with the Catholic Indian Oriental Churches (the Syro Malabar Church and the Syro Malankara Church) to a great extent on the Ecclesiology of the Church of St Thomas Christians in the pre-Portuguese period. But there are differences of opinion on certain points with regard to the early ecclesial affiliations and hierarchical relationship as well as to the apostolic succession. I am dealing with both these aspects of the Ecclesiology of the St Thomas Christians in the pre-Portuguese period in this section.

1.1  The Areas of Agreement with the Catholic Church

It has become clear in the consultations of the Joint International Commission for Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the MOSC that there are many points of historical and theological importance on which both these Churches can agree. Misunderstanding and hostility owing to historical vicissitudes and partisan allegiance gave way to open discussions and a Christian way of sharing. It helped both Churches to present their historical theological views and standpoints in an atmosphere of Christian freedom and mutual respect. Both Churches have realized that their Christological faith is the same and there is no Christological difference between them. Both these Churches believe that St Thomas, the Apostle, preached the Christian faith in India and established the Church here by instituting the priesthood and erecting a hierarchy here. It is agreed upon that the faith which the St Thomas Christians lived was the same practiced in other apostolic churches. There existed perfect ecclesial unity in the Church of St Thomas Christians in the pre-Portuguese period and the Church of St Thomas Christians was fortunate to realize the dream of Christ who prayed for the unity of all his disciples. The controversial claim of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and of the faction of the St Thomas Christians who has pledged allegiance to the Patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox Church Antioch was another point of discussion. Both the Catholic Church and the MOSC have categorically rejected the standpoint of the Syrian Orthodox Church that the latter had hierarchical supremacy over the Church of St Thomas Christians in India in the pre-Portuguese period. ← 27 | 28 →

Another key point on which both Churches agreed upon was the nature of the relationship between the Church of St Thomas Christians and the East Syrian Church in Persia during the pre-Portuguese period. It was a hierarchical relationship which did not hinder or weaken the growth of the Church of St Thomas Christians, but it accelerated her growth with the restoration of the hierarchical and episcopal structure. Both the MOSC and the Catholic Church hold the same view on the nature and the structure of the hierarchy of the Church of St Thomas Christians during the pre-Portuguese period. These points on which the MOSC and the Catholic Church agree will be discussed in this section.

1.1.1  The Origin of the Church of St Thomas Christians

Regarding the origin of the Church of St Thomas Christians there is fundamental unity between the MOSC and the Catholic Church which is represented by the Syro Malabar Church and the Syro Malankara Church. The belief that the Church of St Thomas Christians was founded by St Thomas, the Apostle, is a wide-spread conviction of the Christians of Malabar and it is as old as the Church itself. Placid Podipara, one of the most eminent modern scholars of the Syro Malabar Church, writes on the apostolate of St Thomas, the Apostle, in the following way: “The Thomas Christians are the most ancient Christians of Malabar, the south west coast of India. Some affirm, some doubt, some deny the origin of the Thomas Christians from the preaching of the Apostle St Thomas. Tradition is strong and persistent in South India, or precisely in Malabar and in Coromandel near Madras that the Apostle St Thomas evangelized these places, met with his death near Madras and was buried in Mylapore near Madras. In Malabar this tradition is lived by the Thomas Christians who claim to be the descendents of the converts of the Apostle. In Coromandel the same tradition is centered round the Mylapore tomb which, though empty, is nevertheless believed to be that of the Apostle”⁶. It is remarkable that the Hindus of Kerala also share the tradition of the apostolate of St Thomas in South India⁷. There are explicit references in the writings of Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, Rufinus of Aquileia, Socrates, Acts of Judas Thomas and the Clementine Recognitions to the Apostolate of St Thomas in Parthia to which India belonged those days.⁸ According to the “Acts of Judas ← 28 | 29 → Thomas”, St Thomas reached Northwest India and founded Christian communities there by preaching the gospel. The arrival of St Thomas in Northwest India is by now accepted as a historical event on the basis of the fact that certain coins unearthed from this region had the inscriptions of the name of the Parthian King Gondophoros, whose name figures as Gudnapar in the St Thomas tradition mentioned in the Syriac work Acts of Judas Thomas⁹.

David Daniel makes the following comment on the historicity of the apostolate of St Thomas in India: »Historical as well as apocryphal works of later historians and also traditional belief fill this vacuum of contemporary evidences. The earliest and original references of the missionary travel of St Thomas to India are found in the works of the writers of the early Church such as Origen (185–254), Hippolytus (160–235), Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius of Caesaria (260–340) and in the Acts of Thomas (200) and the Book of Doctrines of Apostles composed about 250 A. D.«¹⁰.

The most significant witness of the Indian apostolate of St Thomas is the ancient Malabar tradition which is not contradicted by any other rival tradition. According to the Malabar tradition, St Thomas, the Apostle, landed in the port of Muziris near Kodungallur (Cranganur) on the Malabar coast of Kerala in 52 A. D.¹¹ There exist family traditions in Malabar, according to which the ancestors of these families were ordained by St Thomas, the Apostle and the succession of the priesthood still continues in them through their progeny. Pakalomattam, Sankarapuri, Kalli, Kalikav, Koykkam, Madeipur, Muttodal, Nedumpally, Panakkamattam, Kottakali etc are some of these ancient families in which the priesthood, handed over by St Thomas, the Apostle, still continues. The written accounts of the Malabar tradition in their modern form do not seem to be older than the 16^th century. The most important among them are 1) the Veeradian song, 2) the song of Rabban Thomas, and 3) the Margamkali dance. The St Thomas Christians of Malabar used to make pilgrimages to the tomb of St Thomas in Mypapore near Chennai. Chinnamalai, the place of his martyrdom, was also venerated even before the arrival of the Portuguese missionaries. Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller, who visited the tomb about the year 1295 testifies it. Marignoli, the Papal legate in China, who visited Mylapore (1394) refers to the veneration of the tomb of St Thomas and others such as Blessed Oderick ← 29 | 30 → (1324, 1325), Amr son of Matthew (Christian Arab writer, 1340), Mar Solomon of Basora in his Book of the Bees, and Nicholas de Conti (Italian merchant, 1425–1430) write on the tomb of St Thomas in Mylapore¹². The East Syrians of Mesopotamia offer evidence for the apostolate of St Thomas in South India. The East Syrians had great respect for the St Thomas Christians. The Acts of Judas Thomas was most probably composed in the East Syriac ecclesial milieu in Mesopotamia, and the way in which the Indian apostolate of St Thomas is described is a clear testimony to the belief of the East Syrians that the Church of the St Thomas Christians was founded by St Thomas himself. There are clear statements in the Divine Office of the East Syrians about the apostolate and martyrdom of St Thomas in South India. The East Syrians believed that the body of St Thomas, the Apostle, had been transferred from Chennai to Edessa; they always respected the Indian tradition of the apostolate and martyrdom of St Thomas and venerated the mortal remains of the Apostle at the tomb in Mylapore. They venerated St Thomas as the master of their apostles Addai and Mari¹³. Also Bar Hebraeus, the Catholicos (1266–86) of the Persian Church, writes about the missionary activity of St Thomas, the Apostle, in India¹⁴.

The Portuguese missionaries also testified the flow of pilgrims to the tomb at Mylapore and opened the tomb in 1523; they found in it a vessel containing earth, fragments of a skull and a few bones with the iron head of a lance (arrow?). St. Ephrem testifies that the body of St Thomas was transferred from India to Edessa. An ancient East Syrian calendar has an entry for July 3^rd which says: “July 3, Thomas who was pierced through by a lance in India…; his body is in Edessa where it was translated to by the merchant in the Greek Khabin”. Chronicon Edessenum (XXXVIII) says that in the Greek era 705 (393 A. D.), on August 22^nd, the relics of St Thomas were solemnly deposited in the church dedicated to the Apostle in Edessa. The relics had been already there years ago. The Acts of Judas Thomas hint at a stealthy removal of the body of the Apostle to the west, after his burial¹⁵. St John Chrysostom testifies to the apostolate and tomb of St Thomas, the Apostle, in South India: »How could the Apostles who spoke only Hebrew draw all these people to the faith? How were they able to preach to the Scythians, the Indians and the Samaritans? It was because the Holy Ghost had given them ← 30 | 31 → the gift of tongues; they raised altars everywhere amongst the Romans, the Persians, the Scythians, the Moors and the Indians. We know not where the bones of Aaron, Daniel or Jeremiah are laid to rest; but we do know the place of burial of Peter, John and Thomas«¹⁶. A certain Theophilus, the Indian, who seems to have been a native of Maldives, came to India as a delegation of Emperor Constantius in 354. Another foreign Christian, Theodore, a monk, who visited India, reported to Gregory of Tours that there existed the ‘House’ or Monastery of St Thomas in India¹⁷.

Placid Podipara also writes about the later written testimonies for the apostolate of St Thomas in India. Gregory of Tours (+ 595) reproducing the words of the traveller Theodore who had visited India, writes: “…in that region of India where he (St Thomas) first rested, there is a monastery and a church of admirable dimensions, carefully adorned and kept up”. He also says that the remains of St Thomas were in Edessa. Podipara states that many Fathers of the Church give testimony to the South Indian apostolate of St Thomas, the Apostle. “Now, St Ephrem, St Gregory Nazianzus, St Ambrose, Gaudentius, St Jerome, Paulinus of Nola, several ecclesiastical calendars, martyriologies, and other works explicitly connect St Thomas with India so much so that, as Dr Mingana says, for the Syrians and the Christian Arab writers, India and Thomas are synonyms”¹⁸. St Ephrem writes on the Indian apostolate of St Thomas as follows:

“The One-Begotten his Apostles chose,
Among them Thomas, whom he sent,
To baptize peoples perverse, in darkness steeped.
A dark night then India’s land enveloped,
Like the sun’s ray Thomas did dart forth;
There he dawned, and her illumined”¹⁹.

The comments of T. K. Velupillai, a Hindu scholar of Kerala, reveal how far the Hindus appreciate the belief of the St Thomas Christians regarding the apostolate ← 31 | 32 → of St Thomas in India: »The Malabar Christians believe the visit of St Thomas to be a historical verity, a title to the undisputed ancient character of their church. Many are writers of eminence who hold that the coming of the Apostle to Malabar was nothing more than a myth. “The reason why many scholars are so skeptical about the matter seems to be (1) the iconoclastic attitude towards tradition introduced by the modern Prussian school of historians, (2) the imperfect acquaintance with sources which are not available in the European languages and a general disbelief in them, and perhaps (3) a natural disinclination to believe how India which lay outside the Roman empire and is identified with Hinduism should possess the tomb of one of the twelve apostles of Jesus…” To some extent the actual fact has suffered in its appreciation through the bleak freezings of neglect. The political supremacy of the western nations for the last five hundred years has invested the facts recorded in their histories with an air of sanctified authority. The doubt thrown on the tradition by European writers makes it untrustworthy in the eyes of the historians… What is the authentic evidence of the facts of history which are said to have transpired nearly 2000 years ago? It is not reasonable to hope that the visit of St Thomas could be proved by certified records in the archives of government; nor is it right to think that the transactions should, if true, be recorded on stone or copper…The evidence available on the subject and the circumstances which explain and supplement its point unmistakably to the truth of the traditional account. The first landmark in the realm of tradition which has solidified itself during the last nineteen centuries is the belief preserved in the memory of the Malabar Jews. They affirm that when they landed in Malabar in 69 A. D. they found there a colony of Christians«²⁰.

The Jewish colonies in South India paved the way for the apostolate of St Thomas in India²¹. According to Thomas Koonammakkal, an eminent Syriac scholar of the Syro Malabar Church, the trade relationship of the Mediterranean world, Mesopotamia and Persia with India must have begun already in the third and second millennium BC. There were flourishing civilizations in these lands in those centuries. Jews started visiting South India for trade purposes already as part of the commercial enterprises of Solomon in the tenth century BC. Several Jews settled on the Malabar Coast after the Babylonian captivity. These Jews were Aramaic speakers as they learnt Aramaic in the Babylonian exile. There were other later migrations of ← 32 | 33 → Jews to India. The priority of the Apostles of Jesus Christ was to preach the Good News to the Jews living scattered all over the world. The first missionary enterprise of St Thomas, the Apostle, was to the Jews in the Persian Empire and later he went to the Jews in South India and preached the Good News to them. The first seven Christian communities in South India were all near Jewish settlements²².

Xavier Koodapuzha, one of the leading theologians of the Syro Malabar Church, responding to the paper entitled “The Life and Nature of the St Thomas Christian Church in the Pre-Diamper period” presented by A.M. Mundaden, one of the prominent historians of the Syro Malabar Church, at the Headquarters of the Syro Malabar Church in India, highlights the presence of the Jewish community in South India as a cause of the apostolate of St Thomas in India: »The presence of Jewish traders in India is a matter of unique importance. In the Encyclopedia Judaica, 2^nd print, Vol IV, pp. 493–498 valid arguments are presented by the author in favour of the existence of Jews in India from ancient times before Christ. In the article ‘Bene Israel’ the author refers to a community which had reached India during the time of the persecution (175–163 BC) under Antioches Epiphanes. King Solomon’s (972–932 BC) tradesmen accompanied by the Phoenician merchant Hiram traded with Indian ports. “For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Hurram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.” (2. Chron. 9, 21). Peacocks, elephants etc are not found in Palestine and neighbouring countries and in the light of the ancient trade route which existed between India and the Middle East it is reasonable to think that these were from India. It is also evident from the teak beams etc. found in the ruins of Babylonia«²³

A.M. Mundadan comments on the apostolate of St Thomas in India in the following words: »Another factor to be noted is that the scholars who deny or admit the apostolate of St Thomas in India, do not take into account the Indian tradition at all. The Indian tradition on the other hand does not know any north Indian apostolate of St Thomas. But the Indian tradition suffers from one disadvantage, namely that it still remains in the initial stage of scientific investigation, while the western tradition has been fairly well scrutinized scientifically«²⁴ ← 33 | 34 →

The foundation of Christian communities by St Thomas through the proclamation of the Word of God and the performance of miracles among Hindus is a deep-rooted tradition of the St Thomas Christians. The tradition of the seven and a half communities of St Thomas Christians points to the apostolate of St Thomas. Maliankara, Palayur, Kottakkavu, Kokkamangalam, Niranam, Chayal (near Nilackal) and Kurakkenikollam are the seven communities established by the Apostle. He converted the Jews first and then the high-caste Hindus²⁵. Considering all possible arguments for and against the apostolate of St Thomas in South India David Daniel makes the following concluding remarks: »To conclude, therefore, there is no rival tradition for the origin of Christianity in Kerala other than that attributed to St Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles of Christ; secondly, no other place in the world other than Mylapore in Madras claims to have the tomb of St Thomas and thirdly historians of repute outside India testify to the Indian Apostolate of St Thomas, from early centuries. Above all, therefore, St Thomas stands as the founder of Christianity in India and as the Apostle of the East«²⁶.

Bernard Thoma, another historian of the St Thomas Christians added further important arguments in order to substantiate the concept of the South Indian apostolate of St Thomas, the Apostle. He puts forward the following points: (1) the very existence of the St Thomas Christians and their ancient tradition of the apostolate of St Thomas, (2) the tomb of St Thomas and the ancient tradition of its veneration, (3) the seven churches (communities) founded by St Thomas in Kerala, (4) the families whose members received the priesthood from St Thomas, (5) the feast of St Thomas traditionally celebrated among the St Thomas Christians with an eight-day prayer in which the priests are to say special prayers which commemorate the missionary work and martyrdom of the Apostle, (6) the “Veeradiyan pattu” (song of the Veeradiyans) which was sung by a caste known as “Veeradiyans” who visited the houses of the Thomas Christians for singing this song that elucidates the history of the St Thomas Christians from the time of the apostolate of St Thomas, (7) the St Thomas Christians have been called “Nazranis”; this is unique for the Christians in South India. It is assumed that this term had originated even before the term “Christians” was commonly adopted for the Christians in Antioch. Bernhard Thoma argues that the above-given facts strongly support the Indian apostolate of St Thomas²⁷. ← 34 | 35 →

His Beatitude Major Archbishop Mar Varkey Vithayathil, the Father and Head of the Syro Malabar Church, one of the Individual Churches in the Catholic Church, expresses his opinion about the apostolic mission of St Thomas in South India in the following words: »Several testimonies, however, converge to give the balance definitely in favour of the Indian apostolate of St. Thomas. These are broadly speaking three: 1. The western tradition, 2. The Indian tradition, and 3. Witness to the tomb of the apostle in Mylapore«²⁸. He is of the opinion that the documents or written material on the apostolate of St Thomas in South India may have perished in the auto-dafé at the time of the Synod of Diamper²⁹. Dr Paulos Mar Gregorios Metropolitan of the MOSC summarizes his arguments on the issue of the apostolate of St Thomas in India in two points: »First, there is no negative evidence against the Apostle Thomas founding the Church in India. Secondly, the probability that the Church in India goes back to the Apostle Thomas is fairly high, and the circumstantial evidence supports rather than negates the inference«³⁰.

Placid Podipara, after having analyzed the several aspects of the tradition of the apostolate of St Thomas in South India, confirms it in the following manner: »In the light of all that we have brought out above, we say that the Malabar and the Coromandel traditions in their substance enjoy more than what one would demand of traditions that are in possession? There are no rival traditions nor rival tombs nor rival Thomas Christians in the whole world. The details and the definiteness of these traditions, above all the Mylapore tomb and everything connected with it, both oral and written, the Mesopotamian attitude towards the same, would seem sufficient enough, we think, to soften the assertion that all South Indian traditions depend on the Acts or on the Edessan or Persian and Mesopotamian Churches«³¹. Placid Podipara makes the following concluding remarks regarding the South Indian apostolate of St Thomas in the article entitled “The South Indian Apostolate of St Thomas” which originally appeared in Orientalia Christiana Periodica 18 (1952): »When treating of the India of the Apostle St Thomas, South India cannot be ignored, for it claims him as its Apostle and ← 35 | 36 → this claim remained unchallenged for centuries before anyone thought of questioning it. The St Thomas Christians of Malabar have a tradition immemorial, constant, definite and living, about their origin from the Apostle St Thomas, a tradition woven into the fabric of their daily lives, which their Hindu neighbours and interested foereigners admit. The Coromandel Coast, too, has its monuments and oral traditions, centred on the tomb at Mylapur and the two Mounts nearby. The age-long attitude of the Syrians and Saracens adds its witness. Foreign accounts, far from contradicting, rather give support to the South Indian tradition, which is shaken by no insuperable difficulties«³².

George Nedungatt SJ criticizes the tendency in the West to consider the apostolate and martyrdom of St Thomas, the Apostle, in India as a mere tradition that was not anchored in history. The West believes that the Indian tradition of the apostolate of St Thomas had its origin in the apocryphal work, “Acts of Thomas”, which was generally regarded as a fiction³³. Nedungatt asks, if the places of the martyrdom of the apostles Peter, Paul, John and Andrew given in the apocryphal Acts of Peter, Paul, John and Andrew correspond to the traditions of their martyrdom in the respective Churches, why can’t the place of martyrdom of Apostle Thomas given in the Acts of Thomas correspond to the South Indian tradition of the apostolate and martyrdom of Thomas, the Apostle, which was recorded by the Fathers of the Church even before the composition of the Acts of Thomas (ca. 230 AD)?³⁴ Origen’s witness to the martyrdom of St Thomas, the Apostle, in India is prior to the Acts of Thomas and Pope Benedict XVI rightly mentions it before referring to the apocryphal work Acts of Thomas³⁵. Nedungatt refutes the position of those scholars who question the historical reliability of the Acts of Thomas by postulating solid arguments³⁶ and hails the apostolate and martyrdom of St Thomas, the Apostle, in India as a historical truth supported by the writings of the Fathers of the Church and the ancient ecclesial tradition in India³⁷.

After having explored the historical background and the studies, observations and comments of various scholars of both the Syro Malabar Church and the ← 36 | 37 → MOSC, I find it unreasonable to reject the South Indian Apostolate of St Thomas, the Apostle. The evidences found in the tradition of the St Thomas Christians, the references and statements found in the historical and liturgical works of the East Syrian Christians, the testimonies given by the Fathers of the Church as well as the foreign travelers and the standpoint of the secular historians of Kerala substantiate the belief of the St Thomas Christians that they received the Christian faith from St Thomas, the Apostle, who came to South India for evangelization. The apostolate of St Thomas, the Apostle, in India is one of the central tenets of the Ecclesiology of the MOSC. T. I. Varghese, a prominent historian of the MOSC, highlights the aspect of the apostolic foundation of the Malankara Church as a pivotal point of the Ecclesiology of the Malankara Church: “The origin of Christianity in India has been the subject of controversy among historians owing to the near absence of documentary evidence for the first few centuries. The consciousness, however, of the Thomas Christians, which is well-founded on their tradition is that the Christian message was brought to them by St. Thomas, one of the apostles of Jesus”³⁸. Both the Indian Catholic Oriental Churches share the tradition of the Apostolate of St Thomas, the Apostle, in India and consider it as one of the principal tenets of their Ecclesiology, too. The joint statement issued on November 18^th 1993 by the Joint International Commission for Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the MOSC emphasizes this point: “The origin of the Church of St Thomas Christians in India was due to the work of St Thomas the Apostle”³⁹. It speaks of the consciousness of the St Thomas Christians of the apostolate of St Thomas, the Apostle in India and also of the foundation of their Church through him: “They had a deep awareness of the apostolic origin of their church”⁴⁰. ← 37 | 38 →

1.1.2  The Faith and Practice of the Church of St Thomas Christians

There was consensus between the MOSC and the Catholic Church on the faith of the ancient Church of St Thomas Christians in the pre-Portuguese period. The members of the Joint International Commission for Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the MOSC agreed upon the faith of the St Thomas Christians in the pre-Portuguese period. The St Thomas Christians had the same faith which was professed in all the apostolic Churches elsewhere. The joint statement of the Dialogue Commission goes like this: “They believe that the Church so established had in possession all the essential features which were needed for its life and ministry similar to all other contemporary apostolically established churches elsewhere around the world. It had a Christian faith, a worshipping form, a code of moral conduct, a ministry, a method of gospel proclamation etc. Although a fuller development were of later centuries, no one doubts the presence of a nuclear form of all these as they were to be found in other early Christian communities”⁴¹.

J. Kurian of the MOSC explains the nature and the structure of the Church of St Thomas Christians with reference to the other Christian Churches: “The Church that had its historical beginning at the Pentecost grew up in and through Eucharistic communities around Jerusalem. These communities, guided by the apostles met at the temple and houses, had certain common features as given in Acts 2, 43–47 and 4, 32–37. Confrontation with Judaisers resulted in evolving a developed structure of the Church with possibilities of cultural diversity (Acts 15). Autonomous communities with presbyters and bishops to lead them in apostolic faith and practice were the general phenomena of the first and second century Christian Church. It was possibly this structure that existed in the ancient Indian Church of St Thomas without much interruption till the 16^th century”⁴². The Church of St Thomas Christians received the faith of the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) through the Church of the East in Persia. There was valid priesthood in the Indian Church⁴³. ← 38 | 39 →

C. V. Cheriyan of the MOSC writes on the faith of the Church of St Thomas Christians in the pre-Portuguese period: “We do not have any document which will give us the details of the faith of the Malankara Church during the pre-Portuguese period. However, the references made by European missionaries who visited Kerala during the 16^th century give us some idea about the faith of the Christians of Kerala during the period. Bishop Roz says that the Christians in Kerala accepted the faith from St Thomas and remained in it very firm although Nestorian presbyters ruled over them. Testimonies by European visitors such as Ferdinand Paz (A. D. 1554) and Nunes Barreto are equally significant. From a close study of the references contained in the writings of these visitors it will be clear that the Christians in Kerala understood the mysteries of the Christian faith, that they were firm in the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, that of the incarnation as well as of the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar, that they professed all the articles of the Nicene Creed, the equality of the divine persons and the two natures and one person of Christ. Thus it will be seen that it was “the Catholic or Orthodox faith” that the Malankara Christians professed”⁴⁴.

T. I. Varghese speaks of the faith of the Church of St Thomas Christians during the pre-Portuguese period as follows: “They believe that the Church so established had in possession all the essential features which were needed for its life and ministry similar to all other contemporary apostolically established churches elsewhere around the world. It had a Christian faith, a worshipping form, a code of moral conduct, a ministry, a method of gospel proclamation etc. Although a fuller development were of late centuries, no one doubts the presence of a nuclear form of all these as they were to be found in other early Christian communities”⁴⁵.

According to Koonammakkal, the Church of St Thomas Christians possessed a pre-Nicean apostolic simplicity during the pre-Portuguese period. He elaborates it as follows: “Many of the post-Nicean doctrinal developments just did not reach their consciousness. The post-Constantinean doctrinal ← 39 | 40 → formulations and theological controversies did not occur to them. Simplicity of doctrine or the lack of doctrine is the hallmark of this apostolic version of Christianity. The third-fourth century theological situation of Syriac Churches elsewhere attests to this… St Thomas Christians until the arrival of the Portuguese on the scene clung on to this original, primary apostolic simplicity of the gospels”⁴⁶.

The St Thomas Christians received the Portuguese Christians whole-heartedly and permitted them to celebrate the Eucharist in their churches. It shows that they did not think that the Portuguese had a different faith. They only insisted on retaining their ancient rite, traditions and their ecclesial relationship with the Seleucian Patriarch⁴⁷. C. V. Cheriyan says that the St Thomas Christians were not concerned about the subtle details of the faith of the bishops who came from Persia to help them⁴⁸. Pallipurathukunnel is also of the opinion that the St Thomas Christians had the true orthodox faith, even though there were Nestorian formulas and expressions which were of very subtle nature as well as superstitious practices and errors⁴⁹. Podipara says: “The liturgical and other books they had had from Mesopotamia contained Nestorian formulas. But as they did not know anything of the theological or controversial nature of these formulas, they were not in any way affected by the heretical aspect of such formulas which remained a dead letter in their books”⁵⁰.

The MOSC and the Catholic Church, of course, the Catholic Oriental sui iuris Churches in India, namely, the Syro Malabar Church and the Syro Malankara Church, have the same view about the faith of the ancient Church of St Thomas Christians to which they originally belong. This is clearly expressed in the Joint Statement “Report on the Identity of the Pre-Portuguese Church in India”. It reads as follows: ← 40 | 41 →

“We believe that this original Indian Church was basically of the same faith and practice as other churches founded elsewhere in the world at that time. As St Clement of Rome (ca. 30-ca.100) in country and towns, they (the Apostles) appointed their first-fruits, after testing them by the Spirit, as episkopo and deacons for those who would believe…and gave them a procedure (epinome) so that if these should fall asleep, other tested men should succeed them in their ministry (leitourgia).

We believe the Church in India was thus the one, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church, living by the Word of God, in Eucharistic communion with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, and also with all Christians everywhere and at all times, abiding by faith and baptism in the Body of the incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, and bearing fruit for the glory of the Lord, guided and governed by the episcopal ministry as established by the Holy Apostle Thomas.

This is the foundation of Identity as the Church in India. Much in our practice has changed or developed through the centuries… But we have remained, despite all these changes, faithful to our basic identity in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. We did not become heretics or schismatics as many from the west regarded us. It is this basic identity to which both our churches adhere despite our not being in Eucharistic communion with each other”⁵¹.

1.1.3  The Absence of Division in the Church of St Thomas Christians till the Arrival of the Portuguese Missionaries

The Church of St Thomas Christians had an undivided status till the arrival of the Portuguese missionaries. Even though this Church had ecclesial relations and contacts with other Churches in the pre-Portuguese era, it never led to any conflict or division in the Church. The welcome speech of His Holiness Baselius Marthoma Mathews I, Catholicos of the MOSC on the occasion of the reception given to Pope John Paul II at Kottayam on February 8^th, 1985 points to the absence of divisions in the undivided Church of St Thomas Christians in the pre-Portuguese period: “There existed only an undivided single Christian Church in this land before five centuries. The children of St Thomas formed a single flock. But the children of St Thomas are pathetically divided today. Our Christian brothers who came from the West brought all the divisions, which existed there, here also. We existed once as a single Church welcoming all those who ← 41 | 42 → came from abroad in the name of Christ as members of the one body of Christ. We received the Portuguese too in that way with its consequences. Oh! Pity to us! Who will re-establish to us that unity? Who will heal these wounds bleeding for centuries?”⁵² The Indian Church kept its unity and remained a single undivided Church till the arrival of the Portuguese⁵³.

Though a separate community came into existence with the arrival of the group of Christians under the leadership of Thomas of Cana in the 4^th century, it did not lead to a division in the Malankara Church. This is clearly stated in the editorial of the 4^th volume of the Journal of the MOSC “The Star of the East” (1982) in the following way: “The first such separation in the Indian Church came with the immigrant Christians under Thomas of Cana in the 4^th century. In violation of the Christian principle which forbids the organization of a Church on a racial or ethnic basis the descendents of the Cananite immigrants seem to have set themselves up as a separate group – the Suddhists or Southists, as distinct from the main body of Indian Christians who then became the Northists, who lived north of the river. There was communion between them, but no intermarriage”⁵⁴.

In general there was unity and harmony in the Church of St Thomas Christians. There was unity in faith and governance till the arrival of the Portuguese colonialists. All the Christian Churches in India belonging to the common heritage of the St Thomas Christians have this awareness and conviction that they have the same ecclesial roots and heritage which they shared till the arrival of the Portuguese. Xavier Koodapuzha says: “Until the 16^th century there were neither doctrinal nor ritual divisions among the Thomas Christians. They had the same faith and the same communion and had also the same rite which was the East Syrian rite”⁵⁵. According to Archbishop Mar Joseph Powathil, the Church of St Thomas Christians maintained their unity till the arrival of the Portuguese missionaries⁵⁶. Archbishop Mar Joseph Perumthottam writes on ← 42 | 43 → the unity of faith in the Church of St Thomas Christians till the 16^th century: “Mar Thoma Nasrani Church of India can legitimately be proud of having kept up unity of faith and communion for more than 16 centuries, which perhaps no other Church of any tradition can claim”⁵⁷. V. C. Samuel, one of the leading theologians of the MOSC, underlines the unique feature of unity found in the Church of St Thomas Christians in the pre-Portuguese period. He criticizes the Roman Catholic Church and the Portuguese colonialists for the division in the Indian Church in the following words: “Thus the Indian Church, which till then had been united, came to be divided. One part continues in the Roman Catholic Church, and the other seeks an Eastern ecclesiastical identity undisturbed”⁵⁸.

K. M. George of the MOSC writes on it: “In fact the members of the ancient Christian community, irrespective of their present church affiliation, firmly share this deep conviction. This provides a common ground for the self-understanding of the presently separated churches which emerged from the undivided tradition of 1653 years or so”⁵⁹. K. M. George expresses the fact that there was no division in the Church of St Thomas Christians till the arrival of the Portuguese in clear terms. He says: “…This is done in an ecumenical spirit remembering that the ancient Christian community in India was one body, one family and one church until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16^th century who came as traders and as missionaries of the Roman Church but soon became colonial and ecclesiastical overlords. With their occupation of this ancient Eastern Church started a series of unfortunate divisions that plague us till this day. The present writer fervently hopes that the loss of the St Thomas Christians would be restored in the 21^st century”⁶⁰. He continues: “The real division occurred after the mid 17^th century, precisely after the historic pledge of the Coonan Cross in 1653 when the Christian community rose in protest against the Portuguese and the Roman Catholic colonial domination of the ancient Christians of St Thomas. The history up to this point is common to all presently different churches that were one and the same church in the pre-Portuguese period”⁶¹. It was the Roman Catholic Church ← 43 | 44 → that divided the Church of St Thomas Christians in India through her colonial domination⁶². The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church supported the division of the Church of St Thomas Christians and protected the faction that was brought under his jurisdiction⁶³.

The joint statement of the Catholic Church and the MOSC is a clear expression of the conviction of the historicity of the fact that there was no division in the Church of St Thomas Christians till the colonization of the Portuguese missionaries. The Joint Statement which is named “Report on the Identity of the Pre-Portuguese Church in India” reads as follows: “On one aspect of the identity of the pre-Portuguese Church in India we agree – namely that it was a single, undivided Church. The division between the so-called Southists and Northists was not a division in the Church. It was based on geography and supposed ethnic differences, but did not lead to any break in communion. The many vicissitudes of history do not seem to have caused a schism or division in the Indian Church in the first fifteen centuries of its existence“⁶⁴.

The Church of St Thomas Christians witnessed the unique Christian unity till the event of the Coonan Cross Oath (1653). The history of the Church of St Thomas Christians till the 17^th century presents a rare phenomenon in the whole Christendom because of the unique unity found in the Church. The MOSC is convinced of the absence of divisions in the Church of St Thomas Christians till the arrival of the Portuguese colonialists who were seen as officially commissioned agents of the Roman Catholic Church. It was the Roman Catholic missionaries who caused the first division in the ancient Church of St Thomas Christians in India.

1.1.4  The alleged Antiochian Relation of the Church of St Thomas Christians

The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church in India put forward the theory that the Church of St Thomas Christians entered into an ecclesial relation with the Patriarchate of Antioch in the 4^th century. Cor Episcopa Dr. Kurian Kaniyamparambil ← 44 | 45 → of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church tries to substantiate this theory through the following arguments: (1) Knai Thomma, who reached Kerala in the 4^th century was not from Persia, but from the Antiochian Church. He argues that if they had come from Persia, it would have been known as a Persian Colonization instead of a Syrian colonization. (2) If they took refuge in Kerala due to the Christian persecution in Persia, why did only a few of the Christians come to Kerala? Why did the others not follow them? (3) Knai Thoma is not known as a Persian merchant, but a Syrian merchant. (4) The immigrants with their bishop Mar Joseph together with the Christians of Kerala have never been known as Persian Christians, but Syrian Christians. (5) They are known as Syrian Christians, because they have been subject to the Patriarch of Antioch and have always followed the Syrian liturgy and faith. Wherever there are such Christians in the world, they are called Syrian Christians. (6) There is no proof for this immigration in the Catholicate of Bagdad or Seleucia, but there is evidence for it in the Antiochian Patriarchate⁶⁵.

The Jacobite historians even consider Mar Gregorius of Jerusalem who arrived in Malabar in 1665 as a restorer – not an introducer – of Jacobitism and Antiochene rite which, according to them, died out under the latinization imposed by the Synod of Diamper. This is because they presuppose the existence of Jacobitism in Malabar from the beginning, a supposition that is groundless. They argue that if it were not so, it would have been impossible to introduce so quickly a new rite among such a vast number of people. But this is not so surprising as it seems⁶⁶. The Patriarch of the Jacobite Church never had jurisdiction over the Church of St Thomas Christians in the pre-Portuguese period and there does not exist any evidence for it⁶⁷.

Fr Cyril OIC of the Syro Malankara Church says: It is admitted by historians both Catholic and non-Catholic that the ancient Malankara Church was of one faith and one rite. They do not, however, agree on determining what the faith and rite they were. There are among the Jacobites some who are of the view that the Malankara Church had a time-old jurisdictional relationship with the Jacobite church of Antioch and that it had a faith and a rite akin to those of the ← 45 | 46 → Antiochene church. We do not, however, find any solid basis for such an assumption. On the other hand we have clear evidence to support the view that the Malankara Church entered on a relationship with the Antiochene Jacobite church only late in the 17^th Century and that the introduction of the Antiochene rite into this church came still later⁶⁸. The Jacobite historians even consider Mar Gregorius of Jerusalem who arrived in Malabar in 1665 as a restorer – not an introducer – of Jacobitism and Antiochene rite which, according to them, died out under the latinization imposed by the Synod of Diamper⁶⁹.