470

THE

NESTORIANS OF MALABAR,

USUALLY CALLED

THE CHRISTIANS OF ST. THOMAS.

WITH regard to the Nestorians who inhabit the coast of Malabar and Travancore, and are commonly called the Christians of St. Thomas, and, by some, the St. Thomè Christians, there exists much difference of opinion as to their origin. The Portuguese, who first opened the navigation of India, in the fifteenth century, and found them seated there for ages, assert that St. Thomas, the apostle, preached the gospel in India;* and that

* Tradition says, that the Indian missionary, St. Thomas, an apostle, a Manichæan, or an Armenian merchant, suffered martyrdom in the city of Maabar, or Meliapour, near Madras, on the coast of Coromandel, which the Portuguese call the town of St. Thomas, where a grand and stately cathedral or church was erected to his memory. Besides this town, the Christians of St. Thomas formerly inhabited Cranganore, Negapatan, Angamala, &c. But most of the Christians within the archbishoprick of this last place, which was the ancient Metropolitan see, are now said to be in communion with the see of Rome.

these are the descendants of his proselytes, whose faith had been subsequently perverted by the unwary admission of the Nestorian bishops from Mousul. Others observe, that Mar, or St. Thomè, is considered by the Nestorians as the first who introduced Christianity into Malabar in the fifth or sixth century, and as their first bishop and founder, from whom they derive the name of St. Thomè Christians; and others, that they were originally a colony of Nestorians, who fled from the dominions of the Greek emperors, after Theodosius the II. had commenced the persecution of that sect. But Mr. Gibbon asserts, on the authority of St. Jerome, that the Indian missionary St. Thomas, whoever he was, was famous as early as his time. Now, Jerome died in 420; consequently, the sect established in Malabar by St. Thomas, could not have been that of Nestorius. Yet Mr. G. himself appears to have overlooked this inconsistency. But whatever may have been the particular time of their arrival, little doubt can remain that it was at an early period of Christianity, and that they were originally a colony from Syria, when, to historical dates we add "the name of Syrians retained by them, their distinct features and complexion somewhat fairer than the rest of the Malabars, the style of their building, especially their churches, but, above all, the general use of the Syrian, or rather Chaldean language, which is preserved to this day in all their religious functions, even in those churches which have since embraced the Roman rites, and that to this day they take their

Christian and family names from the Syrian and Chaldean idiom."*

They suffered innumerable vexations, and the most grievous persecutions from the Romish priests, while the Portuguese possessed the chief settlements on the coast of Malabar; but neither artifice nor violence could engage them to embrace the communion of Rome, till about the end of the sixteenth century, when Don Alexis De Menezes, archbishop of Goa, calling the Jesuits to his assistance, and using the most violent and unwarrantable means,† obliged the greater part of this unhappy and reluctant people to adopt the religion of Rome, and to acknowledge the Pope's supreme jurisdiction; against both of which acts they had always expressed the utmost abhorrence. But

* Account of the St. Thomè Christians on the coast of Malabar, by F. WREDE, Esq. in vol. vii. of the Asiatic Researches.

† For an account of the Christians of St. Thomas, and of the rough methods employed by Menezes to gain them over to the Church of Rome, see GEDDES's Ch. Hist. of Malabar, and LA CROZE'S Histoire du Christianisme des Indes, in 2 vols. 12mo. 1758.

† Their ancient faith seems to have differed very widely from the faith of the modern Church of Rome; for, in the 14th decree of the Synod of Diamper, held by Menezes in 1599, most of their church-offices and other books are condemned for containing doctrines contrary to the Roman faith; and particular notice is there taken of their contradicting the doctrine of the Church of Rome on the point of transubstantiation.

See Bishop PATRICK'S Full View of the Doctrines and

when Cochin was taken by the Dutch in 1663, and the Portuguese were driven out of these quarters, while those of the native Christians who still adhered to the Church of Rome were tolerated and treated with indulgence, the persecuted Nestorians resumed their primitive liberty, and were reinstated in the privilege of serving God without molestation, according to their consciences. These blessings they continue to enjoy, and Mr. Wredè reckons thirty-two churches, who, he observes, still adhere to the doctrines of Nestorius, but he contrasts the misery of the present race with the opulence of their ancestors.

On the other hand, the Rev. Dr. Buchanan, Vice-Provost of the College of Fort-William, who visited these Christians in 1806, and counts fiftyfive churches in Malayala* denies that they are Nestorians, and observes that their doctrines "are contained in a very few articles, and are not at variance in essentials with the doctrines of the Church of England. They are usually denominated Jacobita, but they differ in ceremonial from the church

Practices of the Ancient Church relating to the Eucharist, &c. 4to. p. 115.

* Malayala comprehends the mountains and the whole region within them, from Cape Comorin to Cape Illi. Whereas the province of Malabar, commonly so called, contains only the northern districts, not including the country of Travancore.

† Their Liturgy, Dr. B. tells us, is derived from that of the early church of Antioch, called "Liturgia Jacobi Apos

of that name in Syria, and indeed from any existing church in the world. Their proper designation, and that which is sanctioned by their own use, is Syrian Christians, or The Syrian Church of Malayala." Yet the Doctor remarks, that they acknowledge "the patriarch of Antioch," and that they are connected with certain churches in Mesopotamia and Syria, 215 in number, and labouring under circumstances of discouragement and distress: but he does not say whether it is to the Greek or the Jacobite patriarch of Antioch that they are subject.

Dr. Mosheim observes, that before, or about the middle of the last century, the Jacobites had gained over to their communion a part of the Nestorians in India; if then these Christians, as we are now told, have rejected the doctrine of Nestorius, and are known by the name of Jacobita, while, at the same time, they acknowledge a patriarch of Antioch, may we hence conclude that they are now, as a body, to be ranked in the number of Jacobites, and that it is the Jacobite patriarch whom they acknowledge? Such a conclusion may no doubt be drawn, notwithstanding what Dr. B. has said as to their differing from them "in ceremonial," for this they may do, and yet agree with them in doctrine. But, considering the long and steady adherence of the Christians

toli."-And, according to Mr. Gibbon, "The Jacobites themselves had rather deduce their name and pedigree from St. James the Apostle."--The Decline and Fall, &c. vol. viii. p. 351, note 129.