{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 47,
  "chapterName": "1652. The Letter of Mar Aithalaha (Ahathalla)",
  "pageFrom": 53,
  "pageTo": 53,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 53,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n53\nThe use of the sandal and the baths is permitted only for\nadornment, cleanliness and health's sake, rejecting all superstition,\nand avoiding the recitation of mantrams during the bath, and while\nsmearing the sandal.\nAll other things, which may have escaped the Cardinals,\nand which savour of superstition, to be avoided.\nFinally the new converts should guard themselves against\nsuperstitions of any kind, should not mix in superstitious practice,\nceremonies, or sacrifices, lest their subsequent fault and sin be\nworse than the first.\n46. LETTER OF THE CATHANARS (Priests) AND PEOPLE\nTO THE CAPTAIN OF COCHIN (c. 1652 A.D.)\nIn the 1650s there was much dissatisfaction among the Syrian\nChristians. A crisis was created when it was rumoured that a bishop\nfrom Syria, Ahathalla, had been killed by the Jesuits. This letter\nindicates the extent of the dissatisfaction, particularly with the Jesuits.\nCited in Ferroli, The Jesuits in Malabar, Vol. II, p. 50.\nWe beg your honour for the love of God, and of the Christian\ncommunity that you now endeavour to bring back the Patriarch\n(Ahathalla) whom the Paulists (Jesuits) have taken from us, so that\nthe truth may be known and we may obey and in case the Patri-\narch cannot be produced, he having been killed by the Paulists, let\nany other person of any of the four religious orders come here, by\norder of the Supreme Pontiff, a man who knows Syriac and can\nteach us in our offices, except the Paulists, whom we do not at all\ndesire, because they are enemies of us and of the Church of Rome;\nwith that exception let anybody come and we are ready to obey\nwithout hesitation.\n47. THE LETTER OF MAR AITHALAHA (AHATHALLA)\n(1652 A.D.)\nMar Aithalaha (Ahathalla), an Eastern prelate who claimed to be\nthe Patriarch of India, arrived in Mylapore on 2nd August, 1652.\nWhile there he established contact with Syrian Christians from Kerala\nwho were, at that time, under Roman Catholic (Portuguese) jurisdiction.\nThe letter reproduced here was written to Archdeacon Thomas\nPalliveettil, leader of a dissident group of Syrian Christians who were\nattempting to reestablish their traditional relationship with West Asia.\nThe Latin text of this letter is preserved in the Propaganda Archives\nin Rome, Scritture Referite. Originali, vol. 232, fo. 2, 1. The\nEnglish translation is given by E. R. Hambye in a footnote to his\narticle, An Eastern Prelate in India, Mar Aithalaha, 1652-53', Indian\nChurch History Review, vol. II, No. 1, (June 1968), p. 2.",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}