திண்ணை

Joseph Nelson

sir,

In response to Jadayus atricle I send here the evidence collected from Wikipedia,com.
The Saint Thomas shown on the post stamp
Eusebius of Caesarea (Historia Ecclesiastica, III.1) 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, written ca 200. In Edessa, where his remains were venerated, the poet Ephrem the Syrian (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. �quoted in Medlycott 1905, ch. ii.
A long public tradition in the church at 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 at Edessa. A pontiff assigned his feast day and a king erected his shrine. The Thomas traditions became embodied in Syriac liturgy, thus they were universally credited by the Christian community there.
The various denominations of modern Saint Thomas Christians ascribe their unwritten tradition to the end of the 2nd century and believe that Thomas landed at Maliankara near Moothakunnam village in Paravoor Thaluk in AD 52. This village located 5 kilometers from Kodungallur in Kerala (state), India in AD 52 and founded (St.Thomas) the churches popularly known as ‘Ezharappallikal’, meaning Seven and Half churches. These churches are at Kodungallur, Kollam, Niranam, Nilackal (Chayal), Kokkamangalam, Kottakkayal (Paravoor), Palayoor (Chattukulangara) and Thiruvithamkode � the half church. (See also Saint Thomas of Mylapur).
Pope Benedict XVI, addressing a vast crowd at St. Peter’s Square, had said: �… Thomas first evangelised Syria and Persia and then penetrated as far as western India, from where Christianity reached also South India

Thanks
C Joseph

sijenelson@yahoo.co.in