In last number BULLETIN (1 926, pages 80- 1 1 I), Drs.
Farquhar revived the grave forgetting the question of
The preaching of St. Thomas in India. Almost all critics of -
the latter part of the nineteenth century had proclaimed evil
decision on the question of authenticity of Thomas' work,
and returned it to the infamous catalog of apocryphal myths, divided
at the heart of what we call mythology. In 1905, A.
Medlycott, Roman Catholic bishop of California, wrote the complete text '
about the general history of these Thomas missions to India, and he
by proving it wholeheartedly without qualifications of any kind. This
history was also strongly promoted seven years later by
Jesuit J. Dahlmanaa However, these two works were invisible
have confirmed many scholars, certainly not those of Tiibingen
India a ~ zd Apostle Thomas, Inpui ~ v. This work stands for
a detailed investigation of Thomas' mission that I have so far
you have seen. It is sad, however, that the author did not show his work
before sending it to the media to a good Syrian scholar, who would have had it
remove the bad errors it contains. To give one example without
many: persists, in p. 13 1, absurdly the Syriac word dzckhrzna
(which writes doharana), means "translation" of the relics of saints,
instead of "being a memorial." Thomas' mission is also discussed by J. The late F. Fleet, to J.R.
R. Philips in Indian Antiquary, 1903, 1-1 5, 145-1 60. It is also the case
well-regarded by Roman Catholic Bishop Zaleski, Les on5nes
du Christianis? Mr am Indes, Mangalore, 191 5, and The Apostfe St.
Thomas in India; and by Jesuit A. With, Deu hl. Tiiomas der
AjosteL Indiens, Aachen, 1925. See also other authors mentioned
below, pages 505 and 508, and cf. Allgeier at Kathofik, 1918, pp. 13 sqq.
Die Thomas-Legende, 1 9 1 2.
School, and on 19 1 4 Richard Carbe, 'Indologist, discarded everything
174 pages of Dahlmann's research, and 300 pages
Medlycott's work, in a few short sections. Garbe kept that
there was no reason to reverse the expert decision
of the nineteenth century, and tried to prove that they did not exist
traces of Christianity in India before the fourth century, or before
the persecution of Sapor II., Persian King of Sasania. The advent of Christianity in India thus will be closely linked
Sapor's persecution, which continued with varying intensity from
A.D. 339 to 379. 'In this view the same thing would do
occurred in the fourth century as happened in e
the seventh. The fourth century saw the dawn of Christianity
The Persians went to India to escape the persecution of the Zoroastrians
Sasanian Sapor, and in the seventh century marked the emigration of Sasanian
Zoroastrians go to India to escape the so-called Islamic sword.
AS the result of the second persecution points to the origin of
Parsee is an Indian community, hence the result of initial persecution
will be seen early in Christianity in India. In both
cases, Persia will be the country of origin of the religious organization
of India.
It is not our intention to refer to this brief lesson to the Apostle
of Thomas, or according to the history of his mission to India. It could be, however
it may not be true, that Thomas preached to the Indians, even though we
you should find it difficult to reverse with one-sided stroke
the tradition of the Church to this day, from the second century onwards
our days. The pros and cons of the argument were good
reviewed, in favor of Thomas' mission, by Drs.
Farcjuhar, in his study mentioned above. What worries us the most
here, is the history of early Christianity in India. Unfortunately it is
history can only be written in our day in a completely imperfect way;
far from the followers of Jesus of Nazareth alive or
beyond the Ganges and Indus from Christian institutions e
Syria and Mesopotamia are among the main causes of shortages
historical data relating to them. Christian History in Asia '
Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, and even Persia, are known to use
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