{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 10,
  "chapterName": "c.345-410. Rufinus of Aquileia on the Introduction of Christianity to India",
  "pageFrom": 6,
  "pageTo": 7,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 6,
      "ocrText": "6\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\n9. AMBROSE ON CHRISTIAN CONTACTS WITH INDIA\n(333-397 A.D.)\nThe reference to Brahmins in Ambrose of Milan's treatise De\nMoribus Brachmanorum makes it clear that the reference is to the\nIndian subcontinent. His knowledge of India was based upon the\naccounts of travellers as well as the Greek and Latin classics. Patro-\nlogia Latina, Migne Edition, 17.1131. Translation in A. C. Perumalil,\nThe Apostles in India, pp. 56-57.\nSince I, in fact, have not seen either them (Brahmins) or their\ncountry, for they are separated from our Europe by a vast\nstretch of land, I will try to narrate to you only those things\nI ave heard from others and gathered from authors... First, there-\nfore, our brother, Museus, the bishop of the Doleni, related to me\nthat when going to the India, some years ago, with the intention\nof visiting the Brahmins he travelled through nearly the entire\nregion of Serica.\nAmbrose also identifies St. Thomas with India. Patrologia Latina,\n14.1143. Loc. cit.\nEven those kingdoms which were shut out by rugged mountains\nbecame accessible to them, as India to Thomas, Persia to Matthew\nAgain he refers to the journey of a certain Theban to India. Patrologia\nLatina, 17.1133. Loc. cit.\nWherefore, he going on board a ship with some merchants in\nthe Erythraean Sea or Mare Rubrum sailed first to the gulf of\nAdulis, saw the town of Adulitans, then the promontory of Aro-\nmata, and came to the emporium of the Troglodytes; thence he\ntouched the lands of the Auxumitans, whence he sailed with favour-\nable winds. After many days' voyage he came to Muziris, the\nemporium of all India on this side of the Ganges.\n10. RUFINUS OF AQUILEIA ON THE INTRODUCTION OF\nCHRISTIANITY TO INDIA (345-410 A.D.)\nIn his Ecclesiastical History, 1.9, Rufinus describes the work of\nFrumentius in what is clearly the Indian subcontinent. It should be\nnoted that the author believes that evangelistic work was not done there\nprior to the time of Constantine. An account may be found in Socra-\ntes, Ecclesiastical History, 1. XIX. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,\nVol. II, p. 23.\nWe must now mention in what manner Christianity was spread\nin this emperor's (Constantine) reign for it was in his time that\nthe nations both of the Indians in the interior, and of the Iberians\nfirst embraced the Christian faith. But I shall briefly explain why",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 7,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n7\nI have used the appended expression in the interior'. When the\napostles went forth by lot among the nations, Thomas received\nthe apostleship of the Parthians; Mathew was allotted Ethiopia;\nand Bartholomew the part of India contiguous to that country:\nbut the interior India, in which many barbarious nations using\ndifferent languages lived, was not enlightened by Christian doctrine\nbefore the times of Constantine. I now come to speak of the cause\nwhich led them to become converts, to Christianity. A certain\nphilosopher, Meropius, a Tyrian by race, determined to acquaint\nhimself with the country of the Indians, being stimulated to this\nby the example of the philosopher Metrodorus, who had previously\ntravelled through the region of India. Having taken with him\ntherefore two youths to whom he was related, who were by no\nmeans ignorant of the Greek language, Meropius reached the\ncountry by ship; and when he had inspected whatever he wished,\nhe touched at a certain place which had a safe harbor, for the\npurpose of procuring some necessaries. It so happened that a\nlittle before that time the treaty between the Romans and Indians\nhad been violated. The Indians, therefore, having seized the\nphilosophor and those who sailed with him, killed them all except\nhis two youthful kinsmen; but sparing them from compassion\nfor their tender age, they sent them as a gift to the king of the Indians.\nHe being pleased with the personal appearance of the youths,\nconstituted one of them, whose name was Edesius, cup-bearer at his\ntable; the other, named Frumentius, he entrusted with the care of\nthe royal records. The king dying soon after, left them free, the\ngovernment devolving on his wife and infant son. Now the queen\nseeing her son thus left in his minority, begged the young men to\nundertake the charge of him, until he should become of adult age.\nAccordingly, the youths accepted the task, and entered on the admin-\nistration of the kingdom. Thus Frumentius controlled all things and\nmade it a task to enquire whether among the Roman merchants\ntrafficking with that country there were any Christians to be found:\nand having discovered some, he informed them who he was, and\nexhorted them to select and occupy some appropriate places for the\ncelebration of Christian worship. In the course of a little while he\nbuilt a house of prayer; and having instructed some of the Indians\nin the principles of Christianity, they fitted them for participation\nin the worship. On the young king's reaching maturity, Frumentius\nand his associates resigned to him the administration of public\naffairs, in the management of which they had honorably acquitted\nthemselves, and besought permission to return to their\nown country. Both the king and his mother entreated them to\nremain; but being desirous of revisiting their native place, they could\nEdesius for his\nnot be prevailed on, and consequently departed.\npart hastened to Tyre to see his parents and kindred; but Frumentius\narriving at Alexandria, reported the affairs to Athanasius the bishop,\nwho had but recently been invested with dignity; and acquainted",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}