{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 65,
  "chapterName": "c.1806. Claudius Buchanan on the Syrian Church of Kerala",
  "pageFrom": 77,
  "pageTo": 79,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 77,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n77\nfrom our house, we had a number of Bengali plain dishes, consisting\nof curry, fried fish and vegetables, etc., and I fancy most of us ate\nheartily. This is the first instance of our eating at the house of our\nnative brethren. At this table we all sat with the greatest cheerful-\nness, and some of the neighbours looked on with a kind of amaze-\nment. It was a new and very singular sight in this land where\nclean and unclean is so much regarded. We should have gone in\nthe daytime, but were prevented by the heat and want of leisure.\nWe began this wedding supper with singing, and concluded with\nprayer; between ten and eleven we returned home with joy. This\nwas a glorious triumph over the caste! A Brahman married to a\nSoodra, in the Christian way: Englishmen eating with the married\ncouple and their friends, at the same table, and at the native house.\nAllowing the Hindoo chronology to be true, there has not been\nsuch a sight in Bengal these millions of years!\n65. CLAUDIUS BUCHANAN ON THE SYRIAN CHURCH\nOF KERALA (c. 1806 A.D.)\nClaudius Buchanan, a chaplain of the East India Company in\nBengal, travelled through Kerala during the first decade of the nine-\nteenth century. Scholars are often dependent upon his narrative\nwith respect to the history of the Syrian Christians during the late\neithteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This passage deals with\npolitical suppression, religious persecution, an interview with the\nBishop, and conversations regarding union with the Anglican Church.\nC. Buchanan, Christian Researches in Asia. pp. 106-148.\nBut at the same time, I perceived, all around, symptoms of\npoverty and political depression. In the churches, and in the\npeople, there was the air of fallen greatness. I said to the senior\nPriest, You appear to me like a people who have known better\ndays.' 'It is even so,' said he.\nWe are in a degenerate state\ncompared with our forefathers.' He noticed, that there were two\ncauses of their present decay. About 300 years ago, an enemy\ncame from the West, bearing the name of Christ, but armed with\nthe inquisition and compelled us to seek the protection of the\nnative Princes. And the native Princes have kept us in a state of\ndepression ever since. They indeed recognise our ancient personal\nprivileges, for we rank in general next to the Nairs, the nobility of\nthe country; but they have encroached by degrees on our property,\ntill we have been reduced to the humble state in which you find us.\nThe glory of our Church has passed away; but we hope hope your\nnation will revive it again. I observed that the glory of a Church\ncould never die, if it preserved the Bible.' 'We have preserved the\nBible,' said he, 'the Hindoo Princes never touched our liberty of\nconscience. We were formerly on a footing with them in political\npower; and they respect our religion. We have also converts",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 78,
      "ocrText": "78\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nfrom time to time; but in this Christian duty we are not so active\nas we once were; besides, it is not so credible now to become\nChristian, in our low estate'.\n(p. 117)\nMeeting the Metropolitan Dionysius\nHe (Mar Dionysius) told me that all my conversations with\nthe priests since my arrival in the country had been communicated\nto him. You have come.' said he, to visit a declining Church,\nand I am now an old man but the hopes of its seeing better days\ncheer my old age, though I am not alive to see them.' I submitted\nto the Bishop my wishes in regard to the translation and printing\nof the Holy Scriptures. 'I have already fully considered the\nsubject,' said said he, and have determined to call the most learned of\nmy clergy to my aid. It is work which will illuminate these dark\nregions, and God will give it his blessing.' I was much pleased\nwhen I heard this pious resolution of the venerable man; for I had\nnow ascertained that there are upwards of 200,000 Christians in\nSouth India, besides the Syrians, who speak the Malabar language.\nThe next subject of importance to my mind, was the collection of\nuseful manuscripts in the Chaldiac and Syriac Languages; and the\nBishop was pleased to say that he would assist my inquiries and\nadd to my collection. He descanted with great satisfaction on\nthe hope of seeing printed Syriac Bibles from England; and said\nthey would be a treasure to his Church. (p.130)\nSyrian-Anglican Union\nSince my coming amongst this people, I had cherished the hope\nthat they might be one day united with the Church of England.\nWhen I reflected on the immense power of the Romish Church in\nIndia, and on our inability to withstand its influence, alone, it\nappeared to be an object of great consequence to secure the aid and\nco-operation of the Syrian Church, and sanction of its antiquity\nin the East. I thought it might be serviceable, at least, to lay such\na foundation by the discussion of the subject, as our Church might\nact upon hereafter, if he should think it expedient. I was afraid\nto mention the subject to the Bishop at our first interview; but he\nhimself intimated that he would be glad if I would communicate\nfreely upon it with two of his clergy. I had hitherto observed some-\nwhat of a reserve in those with whom I had conversed on this\nmatter; and now the cause was explained. The bishop's chaplains\nconfessed to me that they had doubts as to English Ordination.\nThe English,' said they, may be a warlike and great people; but\ntheir Church, by your own account, is but of recent origin. Whence\ndo you derive your Ordination?' 'From Rome. You derive\nit from a Church which is our ancient enemy, and with which we\nwould never unite.' They acknowledged that there might be",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 79,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n79\nsalvation in every Church where the name of Christ was named';\nbut in the question of UNION, it was to be considered that they\nhad existed as a pure Church of Christ from the earliest ages; that\nif there was such a thing in the world as Ordination by the laying\non of hands, in succession from the Apostles, it was probable that\nthey possessed it; that there was no record of history or tradition\nto impeach their claim. I observed that there was reason to believe\nthat the same Ordination had descended from the Apostles to the\nChurch of Rome. It might be so: but that Church had departed\nfrom the faith'...\nOur conversation was reported to the Bishop. He wished me\nto state the advantages of an union. One advantage would be,\nI observed, that the English Clergymen, or rather Missionaries\nordained by the Church of England, might be permitted hereafter\nto preach in the numerous Churches of Syrians in India, and aid\nthem in promulgation of pure religion, against the prepondering\nand increasing influence of the Romish Church; and again, that\nOrdination by the Syrian Bishop might qualify for preaching in the\nEnglish Churches in India for we had an immense Empire in\nHindostan, but few preachers; and of these few scarcely any could\npreach in the native languages. The Bishop said, 'I would sacrifice\nmuch for such an Union; only let me not be called to compromise\nanything of the dignity and purity of our Church. I told him,\nwe did not wish to degrade, we would rather protect and defend it.\nAll must confess that it was Christ's Church in the midst of a\nheathen land. The Church of England would be happy to promote\nits welfare, to revive its spirit, and use it as an instrument of future\ngood in the midst of her own Empire. I took this occasion to\nobserve that there were some rites and practices in the Syrian\nChurch, which our Church might consider objectionable or nuga-\ntory. The Bishop confessed that some customs had been intro-\nduced during their decline in the latter centuries, which had no\nnecessary connection with the constitution of the Church, and\nmight be removed without inconvenience. He asked whether I had\nauthority from my own Church to make any proposition to him.\nI answered that I had not that my own Church scarcely knew\nthat the Syrian Church existed: but I could anticipate the wishes\nand purposes of good men. He thought it strange that there was\nno Bishop in India to superintend so large an an Empire and said\nhe did not perfectly comprehend our ecclesiastical principles. I\ntold him that we had sent bishops to other countries; but that our\nIndian Empire was yet in its infancy. Next day, the Bishop, after\nconferring with his clergy on the subject, returned an answer in\nwriting to the following effect; 'That an union with the English\nChurch or, at least, such a connection as should appear to both\nChurches practicable and expedient, would be a happy event, and\nfavourable to the advancement of religion in India.'... (pp. 130-133)",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}