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THOMAS, ST

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 863 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THOMAS, ST , one of the twelve apostles. The synoptical Gospels give only his name, associating him in their lists with See also:Matthew (Matt. x. 3i See also:Mark iii. 18; See also:Luke vi. 15); in Acts i. 13 he is coupled with See also:Philip. In the See also:Gospel of See also:John (xi. 16; xiv. 5; xx. 24 seq.; xxi. 2) he appears in a characteristic See also:light, full of See also:personal devotion and ready to See also:die with his See also:Master, but slow to grasp the true significance of the See also:personality of Jesus, and incredulous of the resurrection till See also:direct See also:evidence convinces him of its truth and at the same See also:time of the Divinity of his risen See also:Lord. John translates the Aramaic name or surname Thomas by the See also:Greek See also:equivalent See also:Didymus (twin).

Tradition has it that he was the twin See also:

brother of a See also:sister See also:Lysias (his parents being Diophanes and Rhoa, and his birthplace See also:Antioch; " XII. Apost. Patriae," in Chron. Pasch. ii. 142), or of a brother Eliezer (Hotta Clem. ii. I), or, according to the See also:Syriac Acta Thomae (ed. See also:Wright, Eng. trans. pp. 155, 18o), of Jesus Himself. The last See also:form of the tradition seems to be derived from the name Judas Thomas, which he bears in Edessene See also:legend (cf. See also:Eusebius, H. E. i. 13, 10), and implies the See also:identification of Thomas with Judas, the brother of the Lord.

The most See also:

ancient tradition makes Thomas the evangelist of See also:Parthia (Eus. H.E. iii. 1, I); and at See also:Edessa which claimed to possess his bones, it was related that their missionary Addai (See also:Doctrine of Addai, ed. See also:Phillips, 1876, p. 5), whom Eusebius calls Thaddaeus (H.E. i. 13), was sent to them by him. Later tradition, originating with the Ada Thomae, and accepted by-See also:catholic teachers from the See also:middle of the 4th See also:century, makes him proceed to See also:India and there suffer martyrdom. The See also:Indian See also:king Gundaphar of the Acta is, however, certainly identical with the See also:historical See also:Gondophares, whose See also:dynasty was See also:Parthian, though his See also:realm included regions loosely reckoned to India. The Parthian and Indian See also:missions of Thomas may perhaps therefore be regarded as derived from a single tradition, but it is very doubtful whether it is based on any historical facts.. The See also:oldest extant tradition is that St Thomas did not suffer martyrdom at all (See also:Heracleon ap. Clem. Alex.

Strom. iv. 9). The best investigation of the traditions connecting St Thomas with India is that by W. R. Philipps (Indian See also:

Antiquary, 1903, xxxii. 1–15, 145–160). The ingenious conjectures of von See also:Gutschmid (N. Rhein. See also:Mus. xix. 161 seq.) and Sylvain See also:Levi (Journ. asiatique, 1897, p. 27 seq.) are greatly weakened by the fact that they do not start from a See also:consideration of the names in their See also:original Syriac form. See also:Bishop Medlycott's India and the Apostle Thomas (19o5) is wholly uncritical.

The Ada Thomae, very imperfectly published by Thito (1823) and See also:

Tischendorf (1851), have See also:beets edited in Greek by See also:Bonnet See also:Leipzig, 1883, and ed., with new See also:matter, 1903), and in the original Syriac, with an See also:English See also:translation, by W. Wright (Apocryphal Acts, 2 vols., See also:London, 1871). See also See also:Lipsius, Die apocryphen Appostelgesch., ii. (2nd. ed.) 423–425 (See also:Brunswick) ; F.C. Burkitt in Journ. Theol. St. i. 28o seq., ii. 94. The Acta are said by See also:Photius to be a See also:part of the U Epto.loc rwv hiroar6Xwv of the Gnostic Leucius Charinus,but this unknown personage is to be thought of as a See also:collector of Gnostic " Acts of Apostles," rather than as the first author. In spite of extensive Catholic revision, the" Acts of Thomas "form one of the most interesting monuments of Syriac See also:Gnosticism. See also:Internal evidence assigns them with See also:great See also:probability to the school of Bardesanes, and the very ancient allegorical hymn about the soul which is preserved in the Syriac See also:text (p.

274 seq., Eng. trans., p.238 seq.) is perhaps by Bardesanes himself (cf. See also:

Noldeke in Z.D.M.G., 1871, p. 676). This hymn was translated into the Greek Acta, along with the See also:rest of the See also:work (Bonnet, pp. 219–224, Anal. bolland. xx. 158-164). It is one of the most remarkable pieces in Syriac literature, and has been edited separately by A. A. Bevan, Texts and Studies, v. 3 (See also:Cambridge, 1897). A metrical English version is given in F. C.

Burkitt's See also:

Early Eastern See also:Christianity, p. 2.18 seq. (London, 1904). (F. C. B.) " Christians of St Thomas " is a name often applied to the members of the ancient See also:Christian churches of See also:southern India, which claim him as their first founder, and See also:honour as their second founder a certain bishop named Thomas, who is said to have come with some presbyters from See also:Jerusalem to See also:Malabar in A.D. 345.1 According to their tradition, St Thomas went from Malabar to Mylapur, now a suburb of See also:Madras, where the See also:shrine of his martyrdom, rebuilt by the Portuguese in 1547, still stands on Mt St Thomas, and where a miraculous See also:cross is shown with a See also:Pahlavi inscription which may be as old as the end of the 7th century. We know from Comas Indicopleustes that there were Christian churches of See also:Persian (See also:East-Syrian) origin, and doubtless of Nestorian creed, in See also:Ceylon, in Malabar, and at Caliana (See also:north of Bombay) before the middle of the 6th century, and even then St Thomas, the reputed apostle of See also:Persia, may have been their See also:special See also:saint. The ancient churches of southern India never died out or wholly lost their sense of connexion with their See also:mother See also:church, for we find them sending deputies in 1490 to the Nestorian See also:patriarch See also:Simeon, who furnished them with bishops (See also:Assemani, Bib. or. iii. 1, 590 seq.). Hard pressed by the Moslems, they welcomed the approach of the Portuguese, but proved by no means tractable to efforts to bring them within the See also:Roman obedience. At length a formal See also:union with See also:Rome was carried through in the See also:synod of Diamper (1599).

Syriac was to remain the ecclesiastical See also:

language, but the service books were corrected and purified from See also:error. A century and a See also:half of See also:foreign Jesuit See also:rule followed, but the love of See also:independence was not Iost. A great See also:schism took See also:place in 2653, and of 200,000 Christians of St Thomas only 400 remained loyal to Rome, though many of their churches were soon won back by the See also:Carmelites. Those who remained See also:independent See also:fell under the See also:influence of the Jacobite See also:Mar Gregorius, styled patriarch of Jerusalem, who reached Malabar in 1665 as an emissary from See also:Ignatius, patriarch of Antioch. From his time the independent Christians have been See also:Jacobites, the See also:counter-efforts of the See also:Nestorians under Mar See also:Gabriel, bishop of See also:Azerbaijan, having apparently come to nothing after his See also:death in 1730. Since the visit of See also:Claudius See also:Buchanan, whose Christian. Researches in See also:Asia (1811) excited great See also:interest, much has been done for the Christians of See also:South India by English missionary effort, and Anglicans have cultivated friendly relations with the See also:clergy of the independent native church, while discouraging dependence on the Jacobite patriarch of Antioch. A valuable though tedious and See also:ill-arranged See also:history of the Christians of St Thomas is that by W. Germann, Die Kirche der Thomaschristen, (See also:Gutersloh, 1877). See also La Croze, Histoire du christianisme See also:des Indes (The See also:Hague, 1724) ; Alexius de Menezes, Historic ecclesiae malabarieae (Latin by F. Raulin, Rome, 1745) (especially for the synod of Diamper) ; See also:Paulinus a S. Bartholomaeo, India orientalis christiana (4to, Rome, 1794) ; See also:George Milne See also:Rae, The Syrian Church in India (See also:Edinburgh and London, 1892).

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