1
THE ACTS OF THOMAS
On the mount of Olive Jesus gave
his disciples a commission, which was to go into the entire world
and to preach the gospel. The Acts of the Apostles starts from
there. However, the rest of the Bible speaks mostly about Paul
and Peter.
What happened to the other
disciples?
We know that they went throughout
the rest of the known world of that time, but we do not have any
definite record of their activities. Their evangelization
certainly must have been as fruitful as the ministry of Peter and
Paul. The Bible, as we have, contains only the first phase of the
expansion of The Way. (I use the word “Way” because that was how
it was known initially.) The New Testament then describe how the
Way expanded into Jerusalem, Samaria and then into the Greco-Roman
Culture since these were areas close to the origin and were easily
heard and known. Other Apostles had a difficult time, since their
journey took them into the uttermost parts of the world, and no
reporters went with them.
As such, we will have to look
elsewhere for the Acts of other Apostles and the logical place to
look for them is in the areas where they labored. In most cases,
we do not really have a complete account of their activities in
documentation. Writing was a skill unknown to common man in those
days, and so the history of these churches were never put in
writing during the period of their activities. It sometimes took
several centuries of delay before they were put in writing.
Because of the lack of documentation, in olden days, the history
was transmitted orally in the form of stories, legends, ballads,
and myths. Moses who was skilled in the art of writing trained in
Egypt knew that the best way of transmission of history was
through ballads and songs. (“Deu.
31:22 So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the
people of Israel.”) These
are less reliable than documentations, but then these were the
next best thing possible. Because of the distortions and
embellishments that are necessary part of these literary forms,
these forms of transmission are unreliable and must be treated
with care.
Available Extra Biblical
Sources.
Acts of Thomas
AD 200-222
By
Bardesan
the Syrian Philosopher – Poet
Fortunately,
in the case of Thomas, we have a written record in the “Acts of
Thomas.” This was written around 200 AD – over a century after
the fact. The Poet Philosopher Bardesan of Syria. (155-223 AD)
is considered to be the author of this work.
Bardesanes was
born in 154 CE, became a Christian c. 180 CE, and died in
222/223 CE.
Bar-Daisan
(Catholic Encyclopedia)
At the age of
twenty-five he happened to hear the homilies of Hystaspes, the
Bishop of Edessa; he received instruction, was baptized, and
even admitted to the dioconate or the priesthood. …..when Abgar
IX, the friend of his youth, ascended the throne (179) he took
his place at court.
His acceptance of
Christianity was perfectly sincere; nor do later stories, that
he left the Catholic Church and joined the Valentinian Gnostics
out of disappointed ambition, deserve much credit. His royal
friend became the first Christian king; and both king and
philosopher labored to create the first Christian State.
Bardesanes showed great literary activity against Marcion and
Valentinus, the Gnostics of the day. But unfortunately, with the
zeal of a convert anxious to use his previous acquirements in
the service of the newly found truth, Bardesanes mixed his
Babylonian pseudo-astronomy with Christian dogma and thus
originated a Christian sect, which was vigorously combated by
St. Ephrem.
Eusebius of
Caesarea writes of Bardesanes
In the same
reign, as heresies were abounding in the region between the
rivers, a certain Bardesanes, a most able man and a most
skillful disputant in the Syriac tongue, having composed
dialogues against Marcion's followers and against certain others
who were authors of various opinions, committed them to writing
in his own language, together with many other works. His pupils,
of whom he had very many (for he was a powerful defender of the
faith), translated these productions from the Syriac into Greek.
Among them
there is also his most able dialogue On Fate, addressed to
Antoninus, and other works which they say he wrote on occasion
of the persecution which arose at that time. He indeed was at
first a follower of Valentinus, but afterward, having rejected
his teaching and having refuted most of his fictions, he fancied
that he had come over to the more correct opinion. Nevertheless
he did not entirely wash off the filth of the old heresy. About
this time also Soter, bishop of the Church of Rome, departed
this life.
J. Quasten writes (Patrology,
vol. 1, pp. 263-264):
While all other
writings perished, the dialogue Concerning Fate or
Book of the Laws of the Countries, which Eusebius mentions,
survived in its original Syriac. The author, however, is not
Bardesanes but his disciple Philip, although Bardesanes is the
chief speaker in the dialogue, who answers the questions and
problems of his followers regarding the characters of men and
the position of the stars. According to Ephrem the Syrian
Bardesanes is the creator of Syrian hymnody, because he composed
one hundred and fifty hymns in order to spread his doctrine. His
success was so tremendous that Ephrem in the second half of the
fourth century had to combat this sect of Bardesanes by
composing hymns himself. Some scholars were of the opinion that
the beautiful poem, The Hymn of the Soul, in the
apocryphal Acts of Thomas (cf. above, page 139) was
composed by Bardesanes. But this remains very doubtful,
especially since the contents of this famous hymn do not show
any sign of Bardesanian Gnosis. The Arab Ibn Abi Jakub in his
list of sciences entitled Fihrist from the end of the
tenth century attributes to Bardesanes three other writings, of
which one dealt with Light and Darkness, a second with
The Spiritual Nature of Truth, and a third with The
Movable and the Immovable.
Fragments
and copies of this work is available in Syriac (or Aramaic),
Coptic (or Ethiopic) and Latin. Translations are also available
freely over the internet. Bardesanes has traveled widely in many
different countries including India especially in the South Indian
regions where Christianity was the major religion of the period.
Since this is a story in the form of poetry, it is heavily
embellished with exaggerations, complete with talking Serpents and
Dragons. These were normal poetic forms of the period. However,
the historical settings are properly set and the events and
persons are true. At any rate, we do not have anything else to go
by except the legends and ballads that are handed down through
generations in Kerala. These concur with the Acts of Thomas
Stories in historical and geographic details. Considering the
situations connected with other Apostles, this is very
comfortable.
We do have several ballads in
Malayalam, which are claimed to have been handed down through
generations but were not written down until around of the
sixteenth century or even later. These traditions are contained
in the following sources:
Indian traditions in
dramatized Stories, Ballads and Songs:
1. The song of Deacon
2. The Dramas of the Way
3. Songs of the Sons of the Great
King
4. Ballads sung by tribals
5. Chavittu Nadakam –
Tap Drama
1 The Song of the Deacon – the
Chapter on Thomas known to us as “Rambaan Pattu – Thoma Parvam”
Rambaan (Deacon)
Thomas of Malayakal family was one of the first Deacons ordained
by St, Thomas around AD 62. This was during Thomas’s second visit
to Kerala. Rambaan Thomas is said to have compiled this song and
taught it while he was alive. This oral tradition was handed down
as a folk song through generations. This tradition of
transferring history through songs is an age-old method.
Finally, in the 402nd
generation of the first Rambaan Thomas, another Rambaan Thomas of
that family, committed it in writing. That was in AD 1601. This
therefore forms one of our sources. The historical contexts in
these songs agree with other evidences and sources including the
Acts of Thomas of AD 222.
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Summary of Rambaan Paattu
Thomas the Apostle coming from
Arabia, landed in Maliankara (Maliankara is another name for
present day Kerala region) in the year AD 50 in the month of
December /January. After a short stay there he proceeded to
Mailapuram (Mylapore) and from there went to China. Coming back to
Mailapuram port he sailed to Maliankara being invited by the King
of Thiruvanchikulam (modern Cranganore), and founded seven
churches there: in Cranganore (where he arrived in AD 51 and
baptized the King, 3000 pagans and 40 Jews), in Kollam, Chayal,
Niranam, (to which place the cross was transferred from the
infidel village of Trikpaleswaram), Kokkamangalam, Kottakayal (Parur)
and Palayur. (These are the seven churches well known in
tradition).
In AD 59 in the month of
September/October he was called back to Mailapuram by King Cheran,
who imprisoned him. …But the king’s brother died at that time and
was brought back to life and........... Thomas was set free and
the king along with 700 received baptism.
After a stay of two and a half
years in Mailapuram, the Apostle returned to Malabar via Malyattur
and visited the old places: Cranganore, Kottakayal, staying in
each place for a year and conferring on the faithful the sacrament
of confirmation.
In Chayal, the Apostle took leave
of the Christians, telling them that they would not see him again.
Then in the year AD 69, he
departed from there to the land of the Tamils. At this point, the
poem enumerates the miracles performed by the Apostle: he brought
back to life 19 dead, drove the devil out of 260, etc...
In all he converted 17750
persons, of whom 6850 were Brahmins, 2800 Kshatriyas, 3750 Vaisyas
and 4250 Sudras...(These are the various castes in India) Kepa
and Paul are said to have been consecrated bishops. Kepa belonged
to the Cranganore royal family and he was set over Kerala. He took
part in the burial of the Apostle.
Back in Milapuram in the year AD
72 on the 3rd day of Karkadakam (July), on the way to the Little
Mount, he was pierced with a lance....
(The summary is adapted from
Mundadan : History of Christianity, I, p.30-32 as given by Prof.
George Menacheri).
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2. The Morality Plays of the
Christians. - The Drama of the Way
known in Malayalam as “Margam Kali”
Originally, the Dance of the Way
was performed by men. In modern times, it is performed by women.
The second source is the many
folk dramas performed year after year in churches through out
Kerala. These are essentially morality plays that are intended to
instruct and to create a sense of history. They were simple and
direct presentations with intent to convey the basic roots of the
Malabar Churches.
3. The Songs of the Sons of
the Great Kings : known in Malayalam as Maapilla Paattu.
There is still another set of
ballads sung by Christians who were in early years were called
Maha Pillai (Great Sons – short as Mapilla) or Princes. The
origin of this name is of great interest and will be taken up
later in the History of Kerala Christians. These songs were sung
in groups in celebrations of the churches.
4. Songs on Stringed Instrument
- Veeradian Pattu – Villadichan Pattu
Strangely enough there is another
series of ballads that comes through a non-Christian tribal group
which are sung in accompaniment of stringed instrument consisting
simply of a bow strung with tight string called Villu.
Kerala Center in
the US Celebrates India Independence Day & Onam 2003, when this
Villadichan Pattu was presented.
All these were at
least partially or fully documented with the encouragement of
Portuguese Missions who arrived in Kerala by the 1600s.
5. Chavittu Nadakam : Tap
Drama
Chavittu
Nadakam is a dance drama art practiced by in some parts of kerala
State of South India. These were introduced by the Portugese in
the 16th century following the Kathakali tradition in
the temple art. These are modifications of the morality plays of
Europe.
The main
characters wear broached dress, headdress and crowns. The
soldiers have hats with quills. The background music is supported
by bells and drums. The stories are mostly related to Christian
history and Biblical stories. To emphasize the point, on
occassions the actors tap on the floor in rhythm. Hence it came
to be known as Tap Drama. It is very similar to what the Tap
Dancers do these days.
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The Malabar (Kerala)
and Indian traditions are referred to by the early Church
Fathers all through the history of the church. Among them are
the following references:
Clement of
Alexandria 3rd C AD ( 235)
Doctrine of the Apostles 3rd C AD Syria
Oriegen 3rd (185-254 AD) quoted in Eusebius Alexandria
Eusebius (early 4th cent.) Caesarea
St. Jerome (342-420 A.D.) about the mission of Pantaenus, to
India .
St. Ephrem (306-373 A.D.),
St. Gregory of Nazianze (324-390 A.D.),
St. Ambrose (333-397 A.D.),
St. Jerome, St. Gregory of Tours (6th cent.)
Isidore of Seville (7th cent.)
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From these
traditions, we can roughly recreate the basic story, the route
taken by Thomas and the areas of his labor. We should not insist
on accuracy in dates, maps, and routes, because the calendars were
only local and are difficult to transfer into our present AD
scale; and maps were not really in existence at that time.
Travels of Thomas
According to all
these traditions, Thomas traveled from Palestine along the Spice
route with a merchant called Habban (Habban in Acts of Thomas,
Apanna in some other traditions). This was to be expected because
the Port of Muziris (Muchiri – the three-lipped Port) in the
Malabar Coast had been a major commercial center of that period,
trading in the exotic spices like Pepper and Ginger. These spices
were in great demand in the Roman territories; and Rome did not
spare any effort to make these routes safe and fast. After the
discovery of Monsoon by the Roman seafarers, this travel took less
than forty days. Ptolemy's mid-second century map of the world
and the third century Tabula Peutingeriana or Peutinger
Table gives us a lot of insight. There were three possible entry
points into India. The first one was into Indus River mouth (Barbarikor)
in Punjab with direct entry to Taxila by River route. The second
one is (Barygaza) near Bombay (Mumbai) in the Kalyan area, and the
third into Kerala with the famous Muziris as the main port, near
present day Cochin Harbor. The Kerala traditions claim that
Thomas landed in Kerala and then moved on to Taxila. There are
some scholars who differ and think that the Apostle landed in
Taxila first and then came down to Kerala when the Indo-Parthian
Kingdom of Taxila was destroyed.
This route took
Apostle Thomas and Habban through Yemen where, Thomas established
a church in Yemen that flourished for 6 centuries. It was
destroyed around 600 AD at the onslaught of Islam. I make mention
of this here simply because I have been privileged to be part of
the Christian Church which came into existence in Yemen after
1200 years as its first Moderator.
During his first
week of stay in the Malabar Coast in the present day Kerala, he
established one church among the Jewish community in that area.
Then he traveled probably along the west coast by land or by sea
route to the country of King Gondaphores whose capital was in
Taxila. TAxils is in the region of Punjab, in modern Pakistan.
Taxila (Taksha sila) was an Indo-Parthian Kingdom at that time and
Habban was taking Thomas to build a palace for Gondaphores, the
King of Taxila.
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TAXILA
The city was called
Takshaçila, which may be interpreted as 'prince of the
serpent tribe'; in Pâli it was known as Takkasilâ; the
Greeks knew the town as Taxila, which the Romans rendered
as Taxilla; the Chinese called it Chu-ch'a-shi-lo.
The ruins are some 30 kilometers northwest of modern Islamabad.
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From the various
versions of the stories, we cannot really establish whether Habban
took Thomas directly to Taxila or whether he landed in Kerala
first and then took the coastal route to Taxila. If the events of
Taxila took place before his South Indian Ministry Thomas must
have landed around AD 48 there. Later when the Kingdom of
Gondaphorus was destroyed, he took the sea route and came down to
Kerala. Regardless of the actual sequence of events, Thomas
landed in Kerala by AD 52.
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Andrapolis and
Habban
Acts of Thomas
mentions a city called
Andrapolis where
they landed before proceeding to Taxila the capital of Gondaphores.
(The name Taxila is not mentioned there) Historians differ as to
the exact location of Andrapolis, whether it was within India
proper or a nearby place. In the story it is said that from
Andrapolis, Abban and Thomas left for India. According to
Warmington, Andrapolis was the capital of the Andhra Kingdom in
Deccan and was in India. Habban probably is a corruption of
popular Andhra name “Appanna”
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The Commercial
Routes of First Century
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Other Views on the
route of Thomas
“Only in North
West”
“On
the basis of the Acts of Thomas, there are historians who
argue that Thomas went only to the north west and they deny the
south Indian tradition.
“Only in the South”
Then there are others, who deny
the Acts of Thomas as a reliable historical source and
accept only the south Indian tradition. They point out that we do
not possess any concrete evidence for the early preaching of the
Gospel in northwest India as we have for south India. They say
that the south Indian claim to apostolate is supported by the fact
that there is the community of St. Thomas Christians with their
living tradition and the tomb of St. Thomas which is claimed to be
that of the Apostle Thomas.
Both South and North
“There is a third
group who argue for both places. Bishop Medlycott, H. Heras, J.N.
Farquhar and S.H. Moffett are some of them. Medlycott thinks of
two separate journeys, one from Palestine through Mesopotamia and
Persia by land to north west India, the other, after a return to
Palestine, via Egypt and Ethiopia and Socotra and thence across
the Arabian Sea to Malabar. J.N. Farquhar thinks of one journey
in the East. He says that St. Thomas first went to north western
India travelling by sea and up the river Indus, but had to leave
because of the Kushan invasions, which eventually wiped out the
Christians of that region so that no trace remained. Then he left
India by sea, landed in Socotra and spent some time there during
which he made converts; and afterwards he sailed for India again
and came to Malabar, from where in due course he crossed over to
the east coast. He mentions that Thomas even went to Burma, and
after returning to India he was martyred at Mylapore.”
East of the
Euphrates: Early Christianity in Asia by T.V. Philip
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Route of St.Thomas from Palestine to Malabar Coast through Yemen
along the Spice route. The most probable route according to Kerala
Traditions.
Traditional
site where St. Thomas landed - Cranganore (Kodungallur) in Malabar
Coast -in 52 AD. Here he preached to a Jewish community who
accepted mesia and their synagogue became a Christian church.
The Church in Cranganuur – near Muziris
Probable land route
of Thomas during his 20-year ministry within India
(52 – 72 AD)
The route of
Thomas must have been along the west coast since we have a
Christian community near Bombay, which claims its descent from
Thomas. Thus having reached Taxila and converting the King he
traveled as far as China. From there he entered India crossing the
Himalayas and reached the Ganges plains and then onto Central
India.
We have strong
documentations, showing the existence of a Christian community in
the area around the river Kaveri in central India. From there he
traveled south into Madras and Kerala reaching Kerala a second
time around 62 AD. According to Kerala traditions, he established
eight churches. The names and places of these churches are known
even today as the Thomas Christian cherishes their heritage.
One of the main
problems in accepting the stories connected with Thomas were the
lack of any information regarding a King called Gondaphores (Gondophernes).
However in 1854 a large collection of coins were unearthed showing
clearly the existence of the Kingdom and he even had a brother
called Gad as given in the stories. An epigraphic stone in a
nearby Buddhist community center also corroborates this
conclusion. We now know that
about the year 46 A.D., a king named Gondophernes or Guduphara was
reigning over that part of Asia south of Himalayas. This region
is now in the area known as Afghanistan, Baluchistan, the Punjab,
and Sind, a part of Pakistan. From the Takht-i-Bahi inscription,
we can deduce that King Gundaphara probably began to reign around
20 A.D. and reigned probably until 54 AD. The exact dates are
difficult to establish. I am keeping the traditional date of AD
52 for the landing of Thomas. There are reasons for believing that
the kingdom of “Mazdai” as mentioned in the “Acts of Thomas” may
well be an Iranian attempt in pronouncing an Indian name. It will
probably represent a certain King Vasudeva of Mathura, a successor
of Kanishka
Ruins of Taxila
In general, we have no reason not
to believe the story as given by the traditions. We cannot exactly
trace the cris-crossing intertwined routes of Thomas over the 20
years. We are however certain that Thomas visited Kerala twice
and he might have visited China at least once. It evidently
covered the entire Indian continent - North and South, East and
West. Below is a map showing the possible areas of the ministry of
Thomas based on the trade routes of the period and taking into
consideration the placement of early Christian churches for which
we have definite evidence...
The extent of the
ministry of Thomas
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Vestiges of North
Indian Christian Churches
“Bardaisan in his
Book of Fate (AD 196) speaks of Parthian Christians living among
pagans, which might be a result of the destruction of the Indian
Parthian empire by Kushan invaders about AD 50.
There are also said
to be Christian tribes still living in north India, but holding
their faith a secret from all others. For example, at Tatta in
Sind (the ancient port of Pattiala at the mouth of Indus), there
is a fakir community which calls itself by an Aramaic name,
something like ‘Bartolmai’, and claims to have been descended from
St. Thomas’s converts and to have books and relics to prove it.”
T.V.Phillip
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ACTA
THOMA
The
fanciful legendary material of much of the Acts, which
approaches the
genre of Romance,
as well as some of its unmistakably unorthodox theology, made its
historicity dismissible for many centuries. "Gondophares" was
dismissed as an invention.
Then in
1854
General
Alexander Cunningham
reported (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal
vol.xxiii. pp.679-712) that since the
British
had been in
Afghanistan
an estimated 30,000 coins bearing
Greek
and Indian legends had been found in Afghanistan and the
Punjab.
The mintings covered three centuries after the conquests of
Alexander:
coins in the hoards were minted for
Scythian
conquerors and for
Parthian
kings such as Gondophares, who thereby emerged from pious legend
into history (Medlycott
1905).
A votive
inscription of the 26th year of Gudavhara or Gondophares, is
reported to have been found on a stone at
Takht-i-Bahi,
northeast of
Peshawar
with a date in the year 103 of an unspecified era reckoning. This
era is likely to have been the Malva or Vikrama era, founded in
57 BCE,
this would give a date of
20
CE for his ascension. The stone was formerly in the museum at
Lahore.
The
Indo-Parthian kingdom with its capital at
Kabul
barely lasted one century. It started to fragment under
Gondophares' successor
Abdagases I.
The eastern part was conquered by the
Kushans
around 75
CE.
Kingdom of
Gondaphores
Parthia
(Old Persian Parthava): satrapy of the ancient Achaemenid Empire,
the north-east of modern Iran.
Parthian
was an
Iranian language written in the
Aramaic alphabet. It had an enormous number
of words and even phrases that were borrowed from
Aramaic,
and scribal training was necessary to learn these;
Syriac,
being a
Semitic
language. Hence, Thomas must have been at ease with the language.
The
Parthian empire occupied all of Iran proper, as well as the modern
countries of Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, eastern Turkey,
eastern Syria, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan,Tajikistan, Pakistan,
Kuwait, the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the
United Arab Emirates. The end of this loosely organized empire
came in 224 CE, when the last king was defeated by one of the
empire's vassals, the Persians of the Sassanid dynasty.
During
the 1st century BCE, the Parthians started to make inroads into
eastern territories that had been occupied by the Indo-Scythians
and the Yuezhi. The Parthians gained control of parts of Bactria
and extensive territories in northern India, after defeating local
rulers such as the Kushan Empire ruler Kujula Kadphises, in the
Gandhara region.
Around
20 CE, Gondophares, one of the Parthian conquerors, declared his
independence from the Parthian empire and established the
Indo-Parthian Kingdom in the conquered territories. His Capital
was at Taxila.
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia 11 March 2006 01:15 UTC
Coin of
Gondophares (20-50 CE),
king of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom.
Obverse: Bust of Gondophares and Greek legend: BACIΛEΩC CΩTHPOC
VNΔOΦEPPOV "King Gondophares, the Saviour".
Reverse: Winged Nike
holding a diadem, with a
Kharoshti
legend: MAHARAJASA GUDAPHANISA TRATARASA "King Gondophares, the
Saviour".
King Gondophores
(British Museum,
London)
Takthi-Bahi Stone, which says:
Maharaja-raja-raja-samahatha –dramia- devawratha Gundaphorasa
This stone writing was found in
the nearby
Buddhist Vihar in a place called
Takthi Bahi.
Gold coin of Vasudeva I.
Obv: Vasudeva in tall helmet, holding a scepter, and making
an offering over an altar. Legend in Kushan language and Greek
script "Shaonanoshao Bazodeo Koshano" which means: "King of kings,
Vasudeva the Kushan".
Rev: Indian god “Oesho” (Easow) holding a
trisula
(Trinity) scepter, with the bull. Is this Jesus? Monogram ("tamgha")
to the left.
Vaseduva
may have been the Indian king who returned the relics of the
Apostle St. Thomas
from India in 232 CE. It was probably during this time the poetic
work of “Acts of Thomas”
was written. The relics were transfered triumphally to the town of
Edessa, Mesopotamia.
The Indian king is named as "Mazdai" in Syriac sources, "Misdeos"
and "Misdeus" in Greek and Latin sources, has been connected to
the "Bazdeo" on the Kushan coinage of Vasudeva, 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 familly, and
St Thomas:
"Coronatio
Thomae apostoli et Misdeus rex Indiae, Johannes eus filius huisque
mater Tertia"
("Coronation of Thomas the Apostole, and Misdeus king of India,
together with his son Johannes (thought to be a Latinization of
Vizan) and his mother Tertia") Rabban Sliba. (Mario
Bussagli, "L'Art du Gandhara", p255)
Vasudeva
I (Kushan:
BAZOΔHO "Bazodeo", Chinese:
波調
"Bodiao") was a Kushan
emperor around 164-200 CE. He was the last great Kushan emperor,
and the end of his rule coincides with the invasion of the
Sassanians
as far as northwestern India, and the establishment of the
Indo-Sassanians
or Kushanshahs
from around 240 CE.
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