Indian Christianity
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA : M. M. NINAN<br />
Here is how the early CMS mission understood the history of Syrian Christians till their arrival.<br />
THE<br />
MISSIONARY CONFERENCE:<br />
SOUTH INDIA AND CEYLON,<br />
1879.<br />
VOLUME II<br />
HISTORICAL SKETCHES, OBITUARY NOTICES, AND APPENDIX.<br />
MADRAS: ADDISON & CO., MOUNT ROAD.<br />
LONDON: JOHN SNOW & CO.,<br />
2, IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER Row.<br />
1880.<br />
XVI.—THE SYRIAN CHRISTIAN CHURCH.<br />
By the Rev.. R. H. MADDOX.<br />
THE Syrian Christian Chnrch of Malabar has an interest all its own in the annals of Church History. In the<br />
darkest ages and in the most distant and obscure regions God has always had His own people, His appointed<br />
witnesses for His truth.<br />
Side by side with this ancient Christian Church in Malabar, there exists a considerable colony of Jews who,<br />
it is supposed, made their way to India as early as the year A.D. 70, shortly after the destruction of the<br />
second Temple, and the final destruction of Jerusalem. The presence of these two large and influential<br />
communities in the country, linked by no common tie, yet witnesses together through strange vicissitudes for<br />
eighteen centuries to the truth of God's revelation in the midst of heathenism, is a startling as well as<br />
deeply interesting phenomenon in the history of the Church of God.<br />
It is difficult to account with certainty for the origin of the Syrian Church in Malabar. The Christians<br />
themselves claim the Apostle St. Thomas as the founder of their Church. This early and distinguished<br />
origin has been called in question by many: it seems, however, to be pretty generally conceded by recent<br />
writers on the subject, that to accept the truth is perhaps after all the most rational, as it is the simplest way, of<br />
accounting for the tradition. That the tradition which ascribes the origin of the Syrian Church in Malabar to<br />
the preaching of the Apostle St. Thomas is a very ancient one, and that it was very early diffused, is clear<br />
from the fact, that our own King Alfred in the ninth century sent an embassy, under Singhelm, Bishop of<br />
Shireburn, to visit the shrine of St. Thomas in India.<br />
We have authentic records to show that as early as the second century there were Christians in India.<br />
History records how that certain Egyptian sailors, who had been to India, brought back word to Demetrius,<br />
Bishop of Alexandria, that the people who lived on those coasts desired further instruction and Christian<br />
guidance. Accordingly we find the learned and eloquent Pantaenus was sent by the Bishop, to visit and<br />
instruct them. From the account which the historian gives of the place and customs of the people there<br />
seems to be no room to doubt that the country referred to is our own India, although it must be allowed that<br />
the word India is used by early writers in a lax and uncertain way. The next reminder we have of the existence<br />
of this Church is at the Council of Nicaa (A.D. 325) by the presence of John, styled Metropolitan of Persia and of<br />
great India, establishing the fact that there was then a Church in India, over which the Metropolitan of<br />
Persia claimed authority.<br />
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