{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 78,
  "chapterName": "1821. An Account of the Events Associated with the Mattancheri Oath of the Syrian Christians",
  "pageFrom": 100,
  "pageTo": 101,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 100,
      "ocrText": "100\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\n78. AN ACCOUNT OF THE EVENTS ASSOCIATED\nWITH THE MATTANCHERI OATH OF THE\nSYRIAN CHRISTIANS (1821 A.D.)\nThe following is an account of the events leading upto the Mattan-\ncheri oath, when a portion of the Syrian Christians withdrew from\nthe Roman communion. The author, a priest named Abraham,\nwas writing from the Jacobite point of view. to W. H. Mill. Cited\nin A. Mingana, The Early Spread of Christianity in India, pp. 50-53.\nThis is a translation of the original Syriac.\nIn the year 52 of our Lord, the Apostle Thomas came to India\nand baptized many people. He built five churches, over which he\nset two men, and he went to Mailapore, where he evangelised,\ndied, and was buried.\nIn the year 345, a Christian merchant named Thomas came to\nIndia by order of our Father the Patriarch Mar Ignatious. With\nhim came also bishops, priests, deacons, and Christian laymen,\nwho inhabited this land, and preached to us the way of truth.\nThey selected men from those who had previously received ordi-\nnation from the Apostle Thomas, placed them at the head of the\ndiocese of India, and ordained them archdeacons.\nIn the year 825 of our Lord, a merchant called Job came and\ndwelt in this land, with two Syrian bishops. We were orthodox\nJacobites in our habits from the beginning of the preaching of the\nApostle Thomas down to the year 1545. After that came a bishop\nnamed Abraham, by order of Mar Elijah, and brought many books\nwith him. We received ordination from him, because we were\ndeprived of bishops.\nIn that time the king of the Portuguese had under his command\nthe fortress of Cochin, where he conducted Mar Abraham by\nforce; after that he brought him to Rome and made him submit\nto the Pope, who gave him power over all the dioceses of India.\nHe came back here and he preached to us the habits of the Franks.\nAfter the death of Mar Abraham, Purgis, the Governor of Cochin,\ngave much money to the King of Cochin who then greatly molested\nthe archdeacon and the faithful of the Syrian community. In the\nyear of our Lord 1598, we forsook the habits of the Syrians, and\nfollowed those of the Franks, and in that time the priests refrained\nfrom lawful marriage.\nIn the year 1653 our Father Ignatius, Patriarch of Antioch,\ncame to Mylapore. Two deacons went from Malabar to the church\nof Mailapore, in order to worship before the grave of St. Thomas",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 101,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n101\nthe Apostle. When our Father Mar Ignatius saw the deacons,\nand recognised them, he wept, and they also wept with him. This\nscene having been noticed by the Franks, they set up matchmen\nover them, in order to impede the deacons from seeing and speaking\nto our Father Mar Ignatius; there was no bishop from our own\nrace, and they were the masters of the dioceses of India. Once,\nhowever, our Father Mar Ignatius made a secret sign to the deacons,\nand granted them a letter of recommendation to elect bishop the\nArchdeacon Thomas, and gave them leave to depart. When the\ndeacons reached Malabar, they delivered the Patriarchal letter to the\nArchdeacon Thomas, who despatched letters to this effect to the\nchurches. When all the priests, deacons, and Christian laymen\nof Malabar came to him, and heard our Father, Mar Ignatius, had\narrived at the fortress of Cochin, they repaired there without delay\nand implored the pagan king of Cochin to summon their Father\nMar Ignatius, and deliver him to them. The king answered them:\nTo-morrow I will summon him and deliver him to you.\nThis,\nhowever, became known to the Franks who gave much money\nto the king of Cochin, and he permitted them to do as they wished.\nIn that very night the Franks tied a large stone round the neck\nof the blessed Patriarch, and threw him into the depth of the sea.\nThe moment the blessed Patriarch died, the pagan king also died.\nAfter these events all the Syrian parties assembled in the church\nof Mattancheri, and each one of them swore in the name of the\nFather, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, that they will have no more\nlove for, nor union and communion with, the Franks, and they\nestablished Archdeacon Thomas the head of all the churches of the\nSyrians, in accordance with the order of our Father the Patriarch\nIgnatius. After this, in the year 1660, Bishop Joseph came to\nMalabar, but we did not follow him. A short time after this\nbishop Joseph called a priest named Alexander, from the family of\nbishop Thomas, and by fraud and deceit he persuaded him to\nreceive episcopal ordination; this divided the Syrians of Malabar\ninto two camps.\nIn the year one thousand our Father Mar Gregory came to\nus, and in the year 1685 we were visited also by our Fathers Mar\nBasil the Maphryan and Bishop Mar John, who turned us away\nfrom the habits of the Franks, and made us contract the habits\nof our fathers, which we have faithfully kept down to our own days\nwithout addition or diminution. In the year 1708 our Lord Bishop\nMar Gabriel came to us by order of Mar Elijah the Catholicose,\nand preached to us the doctrine of two natures and two persons\nin Christ, and because ecause of this a great great schism occurred in our midst.\nA few people from our camp and the camp of the Franks followed\nhim. He offered the sacrifice of the Mass with leavened and un-\nleavened bread, and instituted fasting according to the habit of the",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}