Eusebius Pamphilus. Church History. M., Edition of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery, 1993:
Book 3. Ch. 24. Art. 103. (17) From the writings of John, besides the Gospel, the First Epistle is recognized as indisputable both now and in the old days. (18) The other two are disputed, opinions about the Apocalypse differ to this day. In due time they too will be judged on the basis of the testimony of the ancients.
Ch. 25. Art. 103. (4) The false ones are: the Acts of Paul, the book called The Shepherd, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Epistle recognized by Barnavin, the so-called Teaching of the Apostles, and, as I said, perhaps the Apocalypse of John, which some reject, while others refer to recognized books.
Note. Comments and notes. Book three. Art. 393-394.
56 (…) The question of the canonicity of the Apocalypse remained unresolved for a long time. Recognized in the 2nd century, the Revelation of St. John the Theologian already in the next century began to raise doubts both in relation to authorship (it was even attributed to the heretic Kerinfus) and in relation to content. Thus, they denied the canonicity of the Revelation of St. Cyril of Jerusalem and St. Gregory the Theologian. St. Gregory the Theologian does not mention him in his Epistle “On what books of the Old and New Testament should be read. St. Amphilochius, in the Epistle to Seleucus, remarks: "But the Revelation of John, others reckon among the sacred books, and many call forged." Nor is the Apocalypse mentioned in Canon 60 of the Local Council of Laodicea (364), which defines the Old Testament and New Testament canons.
Ch. 28. Art. 105-106. We know that the head of another heresy, Kerinth, also lived at that time. Gaius, whose words I quoted earlier, writes about him in his discourses: (2) “And Cerinthus, in revelations allegedly written by the great apostle, places false stories about miracles shown to him by angels; he says that after the resurrection, the earthly kingdom of Christ will come and people in the flesh, who again settled in Jerusalem, will be slaves to desire and pleasure. An enemy of Scripture, he, wanting to deceive people, says that the millennium will pass in the marriage feast.
(3) And Dionysius, who in our time was Bishop of Alexandria, in the 2nd book of "On the Promises", speaking of the Revelation of John, thus remembers this man, following the ancient tradition:
(4) “Cerinthes, the originator of the heresy called “Cerinthian” after his name, admonished his inventions with a trustworthy title. Here is the main thing in his teaching: the kingdom of Christ will be earthly; that which he himself aspired to will come true - and he loved the flesh and was very sensual - and it will be possible to live as he dreamed: the stomach and what is below it will be completely satisfied with food, drink and marital cohabitation. All this he thought to ennoble, calling festivities, offerings, sacrifices”
(6) So says Dionysius. Irenaeus, in the 1st book of his work “Against Heresies,” gives details of his vile false teaching, and in the 3rd he gives a story that does not deserve to be forgotten. Referring to Polycarp,66 he tells that the apostle John once came to take a bath, but, having learned that Cerinthus was right there, he jumped up and ran out: he could not remain under the same roof with him. And he persuaded his companions to do the same: “Let’s run, no matter how the bathhouse collapses, because there is the enemy of truth, Kerinth.”
Book 7. Ch. 24. Art. 265. In addition to all this, Dionysius compiled two books "On the Promises", directed against Nepos, the Egyptian bishop, who taught that the promises to the saints in the Holy Scriptures should be interpreted rather in a Jewish way, and argued that a certain millennium of bodily people would come on earth pleasures. (2) Thinking to base his own thoughts on the Revelation of John, he nourished the book Rebuke of the Allegory Lovers. (3) It is against this that Dionysius rises in his books On the Promises. In the 1st book he gives his opinion on this doctrine, and in the 2nd he discusses the Revelation of John.
Ch. 25. Art. 267. Further, immediately following this, Dionysius says the following about the Revelation of John:
“There were people before us who completely rejected this book; revising chapter after chapter, pointing out its incomprehensibility and incoherence, they declared it to be false. (2) They say that it does not belong to John, that under a thick layer of ignorance there is no revelation here, that the author of this book was not only not an apostle, but did not at all belong to the saints and members of the Church, and that in it to ennoble their inventions with the name trustworthy, wished Corinth, the founder of the heresy named after him. (3) This is the doctrine he preaches: the Kingdom of Christ will be on earth, and there will be everything that he aspired to and dreamed of himself, a very sensual, very carnal person: the stomach and animal urges will be completely satisfied with food, drink, marriage unions, and also by what he expected to ennoble it, - festivities and sacrifices. (…)”.
Bruce Metzger "Canon of the New Testament" http://krotov.info/libr_min/m/metzger/me t_08.html
"Local churches had the right to include in the canon or reject this or that book. This freedom is especially noticeable in the Eastern churches, which often excluded the Apocalypse from the canon."
After Alexander's death, his son, Joseph Addison Alexander (1809-1860), who also dealt with the problem of the canon, became professor of the New Testament at Princeton Seminary. In posthumously published notes,25 he discusses seven New Testament books whose canonicity was disputed in the early Church: Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and the Apocalypse.
http://krotov.info/libr_min/m/metzger/met_11.html#2
"Books that fall under the category of rejected, Eusebius calls "illegal" or "spurious" (νόθα)34. These include the Acts of Paul, the Shepherd Hermas, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas, the so-called Doctrine of the Apostles and the Gospel of the Jews. To them he is inconsistent includes the Apocalypse of John"
http://krotov.info/libr_min/m/metzger/met_12.html
"As we saw in the previous chapter, the Eastern Church, according to Eusebius, about 325 still doubted how authoritative most of the epistles and the Apocalypse are."
"The main surviving works of Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386) are his catechumensal teachings (see Appendix IV. 5) ... Cyril says that the New Testament includes four Gospels, and warns his listeners against using other gospels, false and harmful The Gospels are followed by the Acts of the Apostles, the seven Catholic epistles - James, Peter, John and Jude, which "are sealed by the fourteen epistles of Paul." don't read seperately either" (4, 36).
Note that the Apocalypse was not included in the number of books of the New Testament. This was how things stood with the canon in the Jerusalem church by the middle of the 4th century.
Here we should mention the Council at which the canon was discussed, although it is difficult to say with certainty how all this was in reality. The Council was held in Laodicea; This city is located in the Asia Minor province of Phrygia Pacatania. The canon was discussed at it, but we do not know the exact decision on this matter. In the conclusion of the council rules (or "canons"), which were accepted by thirty-odd clerics, it is said: "Let neither psalms of private composition nor non-canonical books (ακανόνιστα βιβλία) be read in the churches, but only canonical writings (τα κανονικά) of the New and the Old Testaments". This resolution, with minor changes, is present in all reports of the Council. However, in later manuscripts it is followed by a list of Old Testament and later New Testament books. The last part is the same as the current canon with the exception of the Apocalypse. Since there are no lists in most of the Latin and Syriac versions of this document, most scholars believe that they were added after 363. Probably, some editor decided that it was necessary to name the books that can be read.
"... a prominent theologian and contemporary of Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 389), towards the end of his life, compiled a catalog of biblical books in poetic form (perhaps for better memorization) (see Appendix IV. 10). Regarding Old Testament he agrees with Athanasius, but as far as the New is concerned, he places the Epistles after Pavlov's and, more importantly, omits the Apocalypse. Then he says: "[These books] have everything. If anything is found outside of them, it is not authentic [writing]."
"Another list of biblical books, also in verse, dates from about the same time. It is included in a poem usually attributed to Amphilochius (d. after 394), a Cappadocian by birth, a lawyer, and then Bishop of Iconium in Lycaonia. This poem , which is called Iamba for Seleucus, was sometimes placed among the works of Gregory of Nazianzus.(...)
Concerning the list of books of the New Testament, Amphilochius reports on the recent controversy over the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Catholic Epistles, and the Apocalypse. He not only speaks of other people's doubts, but he himself rejects 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John and Jude, and almost certainly the Apocalypse.
"One of the most notable exegetes of the Antiochian school was John Chrysostom (347-407), who, against his will, was appointed Patriarch of Constantinople in 398 and often called the Christian Demosthenes (for his preaching gift he earned the nickname "Chrysostom", Χρυσόστομος). generations often used his sermons and treatises to interpret the Bible. According to Suicer, it was he who gave the Bible its current name, τα βιβλία, i. from 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and the Apocalypse.10 In other words, his New Testament canon matches the version of the Peshitto-Syriac translation that circulated in Antioch in his time (see below, p. 216) Synopsis also agrees with this. sacred books, often attributed to Chrysostom, which lists 14 Epistles of Paul, four Gospels, Acts and three Catholic Epistles"
"The last of the representatives of the Antioch school, who must be mentioned, is Theodoret (c. 393 - c. 466).
(...) With regard to the canon of the New Testament, he, like Chrysostom, does not use the small Epistles and the Apocalypse.
"The Council of Carthage and Athanasius recognized the Lesser Epistles and the Apocalypse, while the Council of Laodicea and the 85th Apostolic Canon omit them."
"the oldest canon in the Eastern Syrian churches consisted of the 'Gospel, the Epistles of Paul and the Book of Acts'; that is, the Diatessaron was used instead of the four separate Gospels, and the Epistles and the Apocalypse were absent in the canon."
“By the beginning of the 5th century, if not earlier, the Syriac version of the Bible, the so-called Peshitto, was formed. In it, the Syriac canon of the New Testament is harmonized with the Greek. Philemon), three large Catholic Epistles are added: James, 1 Peter, and 1 John. Four shorter Catholic Epistles are 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John and Jude, and the Apocalypse in the Syriac Peshitto version missing, so the Syriac canon of the New Testament contained only 22 books."
"All seven Epistles of the Council and the Apocalypse are missing from two similar lists, one - in Syriac - is included in a manuscript from the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and the other is in an anonymous Arabic chronicle of the 9th-10th centuries, which is now kept in Berlin."
"In 1170 the Sahd scribe of the monastery of Mar Siliba in Edessa made a copy of the Harkley New Testament in Syriac (now in the library of the University of Cambridge, Add. MS 1700), which included the 1st and 2nd Epistles of Clement, and they are located not at the end, as in the Greek Codex Alexandrinus of the 5th century, but between Jude and Romans.The books in the manuscript are in this order: 1) the four Gospels, followed by the Passion narrative, compiled from the material of all four 2) Acts and the seven Catholic Epistles, immediately followed by the two Epistles of Clement to the Corinthians; 3) the Epistles of Paul, including the Epistle to the Hebrews, which stands last (there is no Apocalypse)."
“Not later than the beginning of the 5th century, the Armenians already had a translation of the Apocalypse, but it was not included in the New Testament, but in the apocryphal Acts of John. Only at the end of the 12th century did the famous Nerses of Lambronsky, Archbishop of Tarsus (d. new translation Apocalypse and made it so that the Council of the Armenian Church in Constantinople accepted it into the composition of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament.
"The Apocalypse waited for translation into Georgian until the 10th century"
"Philaster, Bishop of Brescia (d. 397), between 385 and 391 wrote a treatise of 156 chapters, designed to refute 28 Jewish and 128 Christian heresies. In this work, called the "Book of Heresies" (Liber de haeresibus ), the author reduced into one eclectic commentary borrowings from the writings of Greek and Latin authors, without caring for logic or even internal consistency.As an example of this confused and confusing compilation, we can cite his list of "Scriptures" of the New Testament, confirmed by the authority of the "blessed" apostles and their followers. Here he places the Gospels, the 13 Epistles of Paul, the seven Epistles of the Council, passing over in silence the Epistle to the Hebrews and even the Apocalypse"
"On the remaining controversial books, the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Apocalypse, Jerome discusses in a letter written in 414 to the patrician Claudienus Postumus Dardanus:
... the Greeks do not accept the Apocalypse of John."
But if in the north and in the central part of the country there were constant clashes with invaders, then southern India, protected from the north by the Vindhya mountains, and from the south by the sea, nomadic tribes almost did not bother. From here, trade routes led to Alexandria and Rome, as well as to other Mediterranean harbors. Arab, Syrian, Egyptian, Persian and Greek merchants arrived here, because the rich and fertile country and the indented shores of Malabar, convenient for marinas, attracted the trading world of the West from ancient times. The inhabitants of the country are Dravidians, who later mixed with the Syrian element. The languages are Tamil and Malayalam, with the latter being the dominant language, which is spoken by about a million people. Currently, Malabar is one of the states of the Republic of India, including Travancore and Cochin.
2. History of the Syrian Malabar Church
This designation of the Malabar Church rather shows its connection with the Syrian or Chaldean Church, the liturgical language and the rule of worship of which it adheres to this day. For centuries, the bishop, sent by the Patriarch of Chaldea, exercised spiritual and secular power through the administrative person of the Malabar Church - the archdeacon. In ancient times, Indian Christians were also called Marthomites, that is, followers of the holy Apostle Thomas.
The oldest tradition about the Apostle Thomas is the Acts of the Holy Apostle Thomas, written in Syriac in the 3rd century. According to Acts, the apostle Thomas was given the lot to preach in India, but he did not want to go there. Then the Lord sold it to an Indian merchant named Habban, who was close to King Guandafar and was looking for an architect to build the palace. Arriving at the king and receiving money to buy building materials, Thomas distributed them to the poor, and he himself began to preach the Gospel in the vicinity of the city. After some time, the king, convinced that there was no palace and that instead of it he was promised eternal blessed abode in heaven, became terribly angry and threw Foma into prison. Meanwhile, the king's brother Gad died and saw in heaven beautiful palace, which was built by Thomas. He was told that when he returned to earth, he told his brother Guandafar about all this. Both brothers converted to Christianity, so that the Apostle Thomas again got the opportunity to preach the Gospel. Then he visited a number of other countries and was killed in one of the cities near the present Madras (72).
Written, apparently, between 180 and 230. in Mesopotamian Edessa, "Acts" still have a historical grain. This is confirmed by the gold coins of King Guandafar, found in Kabul and kept in the Lahore Museum (Punjab). Obviously, the power of Guandafar extended to the regions of Kandahar (Afghanistan), western and southern Punjab.
Information about the Apostle Thomas is scattered in the works of the Fathers and teachers of the Church. Clement of Alexandria in "Stromati" speaks of the martyrdom of the Apostle Thomas, without indicating the place of death. St. Gregory the Theologian, in his 33rd discourse to the Arians, calls Thomas the Apostle of India. St. John Chrysostom, commenting on the Epistle to the Hebrews, says that the remains of the Apostle Thomas, like other saints of God, were buried in a foreign land, although he does not indicate where exactly. Saints Ambrose of Milan, Blessed Jerome, Rufin, Simeon Metaphrastus, church historian Socrates, all confirm that the Apostle Thomas preached in India. Saint Ephraim the Syrian, in one of the hymns dedicated to the Apostle Thomas, says that he labored in India, and his relics were then transferred to Edessa. Pseudo-Sophronius, who is mistaken for the blessed Jerome, writes in his essay “On Famous Men” (De viris illustribus): “The Apostle Thomas, as tradition says, preached the Gospel of the Lord to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians and Margians. He died in the Indian city of Calamine. One Syrian manuscript of the 5th-6th centuries has a list of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles of the 3rd and 4th centuries, which says that India and all the surrounding countries up to the sea received ordination from Judas Thomas. He was the head of the church here, which he founded and established. Thus, the oral tradition of southern India, and the discovery of a large number of Roman coins in Kerala and Madras, proving the possibility of travel from northern India to southern India, and the burial place of St. Thomas, and the early traces of Christianity in this country, all convince that the Apostle Thomas worked hard here.
However, it must be remembered that the Syrian Church, especially Edessa, was in close canonical relations with the Church of India, which for many centuries took bishops and sometimes priests from the Syrian Church, and shared with it the same dogmatic teaching. From the middle of the 2nd century, the Gospel through Addai in Palestine decisively entered Edessa, and by the beginning of the 3rd century, Christianity was already the official religion of the country. Even after the capture of Syria by the Romans, the number of Christians did not decrease, and Edessa became the center of the national Syrian Church, which actively participated in disputes about the time of the celebration of Easter, in the meetings of the First Ecumenical Council, and most importantly, in active missionary activities that went far beyond the borders of the country. It was during this period that the hostile attitude towards the West is especially acutely felt, and on this basis there is a need to have its own Christianity, independent of the Greek Christianity of the Roman Empire. During the Nestorian and Monophysite disputes, the Syrian Church began to finally separate from the whole Church. However, a split also occurred within the Syrian Church itself: in the western regions, almost everyone became Monophysites, and the East became Nestorian. From this moment begins the rise of Seleucia-Ctesiphon on the Tigris, who proclaimed his independence (420) from Antioch and became the spiritual center of the Nestorians. The Nestorian Churches, developing missionary activity, reached the steppes of Central Asia, Tibet and China (VIII century). They also exerted their influence in the West, through the Spanish Arabs, introducing Greek culture into Western Europe influenced the Mongols. However, since the Turkish domination, the Nestorian Church has been in decline, and the Kurdish invasion has completely destroyed it. Nevertheless, being separated from the rest of the Christian world for centuries, it still retained its church tradition and liturgical type.
Little is known about early Christianity in India. The chronicle of Soorth (or Seerth) gives very interesting information about Indian Christianity. According to this chronicle, Bishop David of Basra (a city on the lower reaches of the Euphrates) in the time of Patriarch Pope about 295, having left his diocese, devoted himself to successful missionary work in India, as evidenced by the fact that, according to Gelasius of Cyzicus, among Bishop of Persia and Great India John was also a signatory to the acts of the First Ecumenical Council. And although Gelasius wrote his history of the Council of Nicaea at the end of the 5th century. (475), when a hundred and fifty years have passed since this event, but there is no reason to suspect a lack of historical accuracy here.
The tradition of the Malabar Church says that, thanks to the preaching of the Apostle Thomas, the local inhabitants of India, who were deprived of the hierarchy for a long time, converted to Christianity, again returned to idolatry. It was revealed to Bishop Joseph of Edessa in a dream that the Indian Church has no pastor. The Bishop of Jerusalem instructed a merchant named Thomas, who was originally from Mesopotamian Cana, to find out about the state of local Christians during his next trip to India. Returning to his homeland, he spoke about the plight of the Church there, and together with a group of Christians of 400 people, among whom were Bishop Joseph of Edessa, presbyters and deacons, he again arrived in Malabar, landing in 345 in Malankara. Obviously, these Christians of Jerusalem, Baghdad and Nineveh fled from Persia, fleeing the persecution of King Sapor II (309-379).
The colonists were favorably received by the locals, and from the king of Sarum they received land and privileges inscribed on two copper tablets, which, although destroyed after 1544, have survived to this day in a Portuguese translation stored in the British Museum.
Around the middle of the 4th century, according to the Armenian writer Philostorgius, Emperor Constantine sent Theophilus of India to the Omirites and the Sabeans. Visiting a number Indian islands, he corrected much of what the local Christians distorted. Approximately in 470, Mana, Bishop of Rivardashir, teacher of the Edessa school, wrote church teachings, articles, chants in the Persian Pahlavi dialect, and translated from Greek into Syriac the writings of Theodore of Mopsuet, then sending all this to India.
The first completely reliable information about the Christians of South India is given by Cosmas Indikopleust (Indikoplo) in his book "Christian Topography" (VI century), in which he describes the position of the Christians in this country. He found clergy and believers on the island of Taproban (Ceylon), in Malabar, on the island of Dioskoros. The local bishop accepts consecration in Persia. On this basis, it must be assumed that the local Christians, maintaining contact with Persia, were Nestorians, because at the end of the 5th century Nestorianism prevailed in Persia. This connection with Persia was also maintained in the 7th century. There is a letter from the Nestorian Patriarch Isoyap III (650-660) to Mar Simeon, Metropolitan of Rivardashir (Persia), where the author speaks of India, which at that time was under the jurisdiction of this metropolitan.
Assemani, who studied the history of India, mentions the arrival in India of Bishop Thomas Kanas (825), who had jurisdiction over the cities of Cranganore and Angamali. The same period (823) includes the foundation of Quilon by Syro-Persian Christians who arrived in India together with the merchant Marwan Saprisho and the Syrian fathers Mar Sapro and Mar Afras and asked the local king (the last of the Perumal dynasty) for a piece of land on which they built a church. , where the bishops and metropolitans sent by the Catholicos of the East later came. They also received (878) privileges from a Vanadian king named Agian on seven tablets, of which only five survive. The place of settlement of these Christians was the southern part of modern Travancore. In 1547, during excavations in southern India on the mountain of the Apostle Thomas, near Madras, the Portuguese found two Persian crosses. Both are carved from black stone, one depicts a dove on top, and along the edges is an inscription in Pahlavi, which was used by the Persian aristocracy during the Sassanid dynasty (226-651). Only at the international congress of orientalists in Oxford (1928) were archaeologists able to read this inscription, which reads: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on Afras, the son of Kaharbukht the Syrian, who preserved this cross.” Experts attribute these crosses to the 7th or 8th centuries. Obviously, the mentioned Aphras preserved these crosses and made an inscription when he arrived in India in the 9th century. together with Saprisho. The third cross found in the same place dates back to the 10th century. Found in 1921 and 1924 in the north of Travancore and north of Cochin, two crosses also confirm the fact of the early existence of Christianity in this country.
AT given period Trade relations between Syria and India have been further strengthened, and the permanent settlements of Syrian and Persian Christians on the banks of the Malabar guarantee a direct connection of the Indian Church with the Church of Syria. Wars between Persia and Byzantium (420-422) caused terrible persecution of Christians in Persia and eventually contributed to the separation of the Church of Persia from the Patriarchate of Antioch (424). The Catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphon headed the Eastern Syrian Church, which included 27 metropolises and 230 dioceses of Eastern Syria, Mesopotamia, Iran, Arabia, South India and China. Thanks to the increased missionary activity of the Nestorians, Christianity spread among the Turkic and Mongol tribes. Even Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was influenced by the Nestorian teachings. In China, a monument of the Middle Empire has been preserved in the form of a Xing-gang-fu column, erected in 779 and describing in detail the penetration of Nestorian missionaries into China in 681, and there were Nestorian Christians in the troops of Genghis Khan. At the Baghdad court, the Nestorian Catholicos was considered the head of all Christians and the representative of all Christianity. Therefore, for India, he was the spiritual head for a millennium.
The Malabar Church adopted Nestorianism under the Patriarchate of Babylon, the Catholicos of Babylon (497-502), and kept it for more than nine hundred years. Some are inclined to believe that Indian Christians for a long time depended on the Metropolitan of Revardashir, whose see was located in the south of Persia. This part of the Chaldean Church was in some way separated from Seleucia from 585 until the patriarchate of the Catholicos Timothy I (780-823), who fought for the reunification of this metropolis with the whole Church and who brought the Indian Christians out of subjection to the metropolitan of Rivardashir, giving them a Hindu metropolitan. According to Abdisho (714–728), the Metropolitan of India occupied the tenth place in the Chaldean Church and stood before the Chinese.
The growing influence of Seleucia caused concern among Indian Christians, who were trying to maintain some independence. To the attempts of Catholicos Yusuf II (628–646) to return the Church of India under their rule, the Malabar bishops replied: “We are disciples of the Apostle Thomas and have nothing to do with the See of Mar.” This statement, however, is justified more by nationalistic reasons than by dogmatic disagreements, because the aforementioned Catholicos Timothy I, although he gave the Indian Christians a metropolitan, at the same time, in his message to them, hinted at the primacy of Seleucia.
The Christians of Malabar did not participate in Christological disputes, and for them Nestorianism remained in fact a dead letter. Living at a distance from the rest of the Christian world, among the vast majority of Hindus and Muslims, they always considered themselves members of a single Church, striving to preserve their spiritual heritage. Without a doubt, through merchants and travelers, they knew about church life in the West, they guessed about the ways of development of theological thought, but the fear of completely getting lost among the darkness of Islam and paganism kept them from a final break with Seleucia. From this it becomes clear why the Malabar Christians amiably received the Portuguese, trustingly looking at them as confessors of the true faith of Christ and trying to find friends and patrons in them.
Many medieval travelers testify to the existence of the Church in southern India. In 594, the Catholic monk Theodore, visiting Mylapor, saw there a large and richly decorated temple, in which the monks served. The Anglo-Saxon chronicles mention that in 883 a delegation headed by the Bishop of Sherburne was sent to the Malabar Church to fulfill the vow of King Alfred on the grave of the holy Apostle Thomas, through whose intercession he defeated the Danes. These episodic contacts continued in the future. In 1122, the metropolitan of India, having arrived in Rome, received a pallium from Pope Callistus II. In 1252, Pope Innocent III founded a missionary society of Franciscan and Dominican monks to preach the Gospel in the East. Among the many representatives of this society was the famous missionary John of Montcornet, who was in Malabar for about a year (1291-1292) during his trip to China. He preached the gospel to the Hindus in Mylapore, baptizing many hundreds of them. In 1293, the Venetian Marco Polo, returning from China, saw in Mylapore the temple of the Apostle Thomas, which was revered not only by Christians, but also by Muslims. In 1321, the French Dominican monk Jordan of Catalonia from Severac, the Franciscan Thomas from Toledino, James from Padua, Peter from Sienna and the Georgian monk Demetrius, having set off from Avignon, arrived at the port of Thana (near Bombay). There was a small Nestorian community here, which told the missionaries about the Christians of Malabar. Jordan went first to Malabar, and those who remained were captured and killed for not paying due respect to the prophet of Islam. Jordan of Catalonia, after a successful sermon, returned to Avignon, was ordained bishop (1328), and in 1331 returned to India as Bishop of Quilon, building a church in Quilon in honor of St. George. Italian merchant Nicolo de Conti, who in the period from 1415-1436. he has been to India more than once, he says that besides Mylapore, Christians are scattered here, like Jews in Europe. Finally, Louis de Varthema, who visited in 1505 the region of India north of Quilon, says that the Christians of St. Thomas live there, that a priest from Babylon comes there every three years to baptize them. These Christians observe a very strict fast before Easter, celebrate the liturgy like the Greeks, but with four names: John, James, Matthew and Thomas.
Thus, on the basis of this fragmentary information, it can be judged that in the pre-Portuguese period, the Malabar Church was a significant organization, semi-dependent on the Babylonian Catholicos, striving for self-determination and at the same time for establishing contacts with the West.
3. Malabar Church during the period of Portuguese rule
In an effort to enrich their country by expanding foreign trade, and at the same time guided by a purely religious feeling in planting the evangelical faith, the Portuguese began to spread rapidly in India from the beginning of the 16th century.
Vasco de Gama sailed from Lisbon on June 7, 1497 and landed at Calcutta on May 14, 1498. For the second time, he arrived in India in 1502, visiting Cochin, where local Christians, having learned that he was a subject of the Christian king, sent a delegation to him, asking him to take them under their protection. The delegation, as a sign of submission to the Portuguese king, handed the navigator a rod, which was considered the scepter of local Christian kings, whose dynasty had ceased. This wand was red in color with a silver trim and three silver bells. A surviving document written by four bishops of the Malabar Church gives some information about this joyful meeting arranged by the Indian Christians for the Portuguese.
After the battle of Cochin (1503) and the capture of Diu (1509), Portuguese domination began in India, which gradually spread to the north, where Islam was strong. At the same time, the activities of Catholic missionaries were expanding, preparing the ground for the subordination of the Malabar Church to Rome. The most significant of these was the Jesuit Francis Xavier (1506–1552), a student of Ignatius Loyola, who under Pope Paul III was appointed papal nuncio of India and the Far East. He preached in 1542 in Goa, was in Travancore, twice went to Japan and in 1552 to China, where he died. During his stay in India, he founded at least 45 Christian communities, converting several thousand Indians to Christ.
At this time, the Syrian Malabar Church was in the process of reorganization. Its hierarchy consisted of Metropolitan Mar Yaballah and three bishops - Mar Den, Mar Jacob and Mar John, who were subordinate to the Catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. Nothing is known about the first two hierarchs, Bishop John died in 1503, and Mar Jacob continued to govern his Church until 1549, maintaining friendly relations with the Portuguese. He helped the Franciscans establish a college in Cranganore in 1546 to train Roman Catholic clerics from the Christians of the Apostle Thomas. He to some extent adopted Latin customs and even withdrew in 1543 to a Franciscan monastery near Cochin. Francis Xavier spoke of him as a kind and holy old man who served God and the king for forty-five years. He died in 1549 away from his flock.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Syrian Church, which was the Mother Church for the Christians of the Apostle Thomas, was experiencing an internal crisis. After the death of Patriarch Simon VIII Var-Mama (1551), some of the bishops elected his nephew Simon Var-Denkh as their successor, while others considered the monk John Sulak, whom they elected, to be the most suitable candidate. However, he did not serve as patriarch for long. Returning from Rome, he was seized by the authorities and in January 1555 killed in prison. His supporters elected Abdisho to the patriarchal throne. In order to strengthen his spiritual authority (which, of course, was disputed by Simon Var-Denkh) in the entire Eastern Syrian Church, he instructed Metropolitan Mar Elijah to install Mar Joseph, brother of the last Catholicos, as Metropolitan of Malabar. However, the Portuguese met them unfriendly in Goa, sending them to a monastery, where they stayed for a year and a half (1556). In 1558 Mar Joseph was released and given permission to come to southern Cochin to oppose another Chaldean Nestorian bishop who had arrived in Malabar earlier and had no sympathy for Rome. Mar Joseph, having been able to attend churches again, came into contact with Indian Christians and began to spread the Nestorian teaching contrary to what he had taught before. He believed that confession was optional, icon veneration was idolatry, and the Virgin Mary should be called the Mother of God. Eventually the Portuguese captured him and took him to Cochin, where the Jesuits forced him to renounce his delusions. Then he was sent to Goa, and from there to Lisbon, where he stayed for more than a year. In Portugal, Mar Joseph met the queen and regent of the country, Cardinal Enrico, whom he captivated with the nobility of his address and profession of faith. In the end, on June 27, 1564, in a letter from Pope Pius IV, he received a blessing to return to Malabar again and remain faithful to the Catholic Church, in accordance with the promise made in the presence of the Patriarch-Catholicos Abdisho in 1562. However, returning to India, Mar Joseph began again profess the faith of the Eastern Syrian Church. Recaptured in 1567, he was accused of heresy and sent to Portugal, and from there to Rome, where the Roman judges retreated before his piety, recognizing him as absolutely orthodox. Soon he died suddenly (1569).
During the absence of Metropolitan Mar Joseph (after his first arrest in 1563-1565), at the request of Indian Christians, Patriarch Abdisho sent Mar Abraham to India, who was cordially received in the country. However, Mar Joseph also returned at that moment. There were two contenders for the throne. Mar Joseph, referring to a papal letter, received support from the Portuguese, who seized Mar Abraham and wanted to ship him to Lisbon. However, during the voyage of Mar, Abraham managed to escape from the ship in the port of Malindi due to a strong storm that broke out off the eastern coast of Africa, and arrived in Mesopotamia. On August 24, 1564, Patriarch Abdisho wrote to the Latin Archbishop of Goas that Mar Abraham expressed complete obedience to the Roman Church and that with the blessing of Pope Pius IV, who advised him to temporarily divide the Serra between Joseph and Abraham, he would thus restore ecclesiastical peace. However, before the letter arrived in Malabar, Mar Joseph was again captured (1567), and Mar Abraham, who arrived in Goa (1568) with a papal envoy, did not meet any obstacles from the Portuguese authorities, with whom he tried to maintain certain relations as much as possible. However, Mar Abraham, maintaining relations with the Catholics, did not forget about the Patriarch of Babylon, to whom he wrote that his position in India was under threat. Then Patriarch Ilia VII (1576-1591) sent his vicar named Mar Simon, who was soon captured by the Catholics and sent to Portugal, where he died (1599).
The Catholics, gradually increasing their influence in the country, in every possible way prevented the penetration of the clergy of the Chaldean Church. In 1575 the council at Goa, the cathedral city of the Latin archbishop of India, decided that Serra should be governed by a bishop appointed by the Portuguese king, and not by the Patriarch of Chaldea. Every bishop arriving in Serra must present his credentials in Goa. In addition, the Jesuit Seminary in Faipicotte was of great importance in the proselytizing activities of Catholics, where about fifty students who studied Latin and Chaldean, moral theology, dogma and liturgy, led by the teacher Francis Rose, later Bishop of Serres, were called to carry out the mission of the Roman Church. among the Christians of India. At the diocesan council in Goa (July 1585), where Mar Abraham was present, a number of decisions were made, in particular, on the translation of the Latin breviary and liturgy into Syriac and on the correction of the Chaldean liturgical books. Mar Abraham, who signed the minutes of this council, hardly understanding the consequences of this act, returned to his residence, accompanied by the Jesuit Francis Rosa, who was appointed his assistant and adviser in the implementation of these reforms. In the future, relations between them aggravated more than once, because the first refused to make corrections to the liturgical books of Malabar where the names of Theodore of Mopsuetsky, Diodorus of Tarsus and Nestorius were, did not ordain students of the Faypikott Seminary according to the Latin rite (1590), refused to come to the cathedral in Goa on January 27 1595 Then he fell ill and asked for reconciliation from the Jesuits, recognizing submission to Rome. Having recovered from his illness, he continued to manage his diocese until his death (1597), being the last metropolitan of the undivided Church of Christians of the Apostle Thomas. Before his death, he appointed Archdeacon George de Krutz as the representative of the Church and asked the Babylonian Patriarch to send a bishop to India. However, the Portuguese authorities had already received from Pope Clement VIII (1592–1605) an order to prevent any cleric from Persia from landing in India, and after the death of Mar Abraham, to appoint an apostolic vicar to manage his episcopacy. The Archbishop of Goas, Alexius Menezis, having learned about the death of Mar Abraham, appointed Francis Rosa, the head of the Archdiocese of Serres, whose cathedra was to be in Angamaly. Roz was considered the most suitable candidate, because for twelve years he had been an adviser to Mar Abraham and knew the affairs of the archdiocese well. However, Archdeacon George had already taken over the management of the archdiocese, and Menezes, having changed his mind, made George the administrator of the archdiocese, and Rosa his assistant and adviser, as well as the director of the Faypikott Seminary. However, under pressure from the Christians of Serra, George remained the sole administrator of the archdiocese, on the condition that he accept the Latin confession of faith. George postponed the very act of accepting the confession until Easter, hoping that by that time a bishop would arrive from Babylon. Four months later, without waiting for him, George convened the clergy and representatives of the people in Angamala and demanded from them unquestioning submission to himself, observance of the Syro-Malabar rite and obedience to the Babylonian patriarch. Soon Menesis himself arrived, who demanded a confession of faith from the archdeacon. He repeated the confession made before the Franciscans, and mentioned the pope as the head of only the Latin Church, and not the universal. This did not satisfy Menezes, and he undertook a trip to Cochin (February 1599), where he received the archdeacon with great cordiality, hoping to overcome the fear and suspicion of the Indians by peaceful negotiations with George on their own land. However, the archdeacon and the clergy, who behaved nobly towards the archbishop, decided to explain to him that he was just a guest bishop and had no authority over the Christians of the Apostle Thomas.
Archbishop Menezes used to meet with Archdeacon George the Seminary at Faipikotte, whose students, trained by Jesuit teachers, extolled the representative of the Roman Church. The archbishop, standing in full vestments, spoke of due obedience to the Roman Church, that until now the bishops of Malabar were not true shepherds of the Church of Christ, but thieves and robbers who did not enter the sheepfold through the door. During the liturgy, he delivered a sermon in which he spoke about purifying fire and chrismation according to the Latin rite, a teaching completely new for Christians of the Apostle Thomas. Archdeacon George, who was not present at these celebrations, arrived in Faipikotta two days later, celebrated the liturgy and prayed for the Patriarch of Babylon as the ecumenical pastor of the Christian Church. Menezes, who was present at this divine service, after the liturgy gathered all the clergy, seminarians and laity, and in the presence of the archdeacon pronounced an excommunication against anyone who dared to mention the name of the Babylonian Patriarch during the divine service. The pope should have been mentioned instead. The archdeacon and two presbyters signed the act of excommunication, and then told the faithful that the archbishop and the Portuguese had forced them to sign this document. The people demanded punishment for Menezis, but George stopped them, saying that this act still has no force, since it was signed under pressure. After that, George withdrew to Angamali, and the archbishop continued to travel around the parishes, preaching everywhere about the law of Christ, calling to obey His vicar on earth. George's indignation reached its limit when Menezes, having arrived in Diamper, invited him, as the administrator of the diocese, to attend the consecrations that he was going to perform. George excommunicated all those who were ordained by the bishop of Goas, putting them on the look that they would never be accepted into the clergy of the Angamal diocese. The archbishop, not attaching any importance to this, ordained thirty-eight priests. And when he performed a solemn divine service in Holy Week 1599, which made a deep impression on the believers of Catutturutti, the entire church community of this city submitted to the archbishop. The parishes of Molandurt and Diamper followed suit. Taking advantage of this, the Archbishop of Goas, through a proxy, proposed reconciliation to George on the following conditions: 1) condemnation of the errors of Nestorius, Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuest, 2) correction of liturgical books, 3) obedience to the pope, 4) anathematization of the Patriarch of Babylon, 5) recognition of the jurisdiction of the Latin archbishop Goassky, 6) acceptance of the bishop only after appointment by the pope and approval by the Portuguese authorities, 7) preparation for the council and 8) accompanying the archbishop on his trips. Only Archbishop Alexei Menezis, Francis Roz and Archdeacon George were present at the signing of the act. It was decided to convene the council on June 20, 1599.
4. Diamper Cathedral
Intensive preparations for the council began: invitations were sent out, the archbishop consecrated antimensions for new parishes, performed fifty consecrations with the help of Archdeacon George, and developed the decisions of the council.
On June 20, 1599, the cathedral was opened with a solemn service. It was attended by 113 priests, 20 deacons and 660 lay observers. On June 21, the form of confession of faith set forth at the Council of Trent was read, with an anathema to the Patriarch of Babylon and Nestorius. The clergy and the laity signed this confession, the content of which is in general terms as follows: “I believe that our Virgin Lady is truly the Mother of God, and as such all believers should honor her, because indeed and truly she was born in the flesh and without suffering and painlessly the true Son of God, who was truly incarnate. She always, before Christmas and after it, remained a pure Virgin, never defiled by sin. I condemn and anathematize the satanic and pernicious heresy of Nestorius and his erroneous teachings, Theodore (Mopsuestsky) and Diodorus (Tarsian) and all their successors or followers, who, having been seduced by the devil, became godless, having assumed two faces and two hypostases in Christ Jesus our Lord, saying that the eternal Word never took human nature into itself, but only dwelt in humanity, as in a house or in a temple, and the holy Virgin is called not the Mother of God, but the mother of Christ. I reject and condemn all these errors as diabolical heresies, and I believe and acknowledge that the Holy Council of Ephesus decreed this, at which, on the instructions of Pope Celestine I, Patriarch Saint and Blessed Cyril of Alexandria presided. I confess that this Hierarch is holy and pleasing to God, and whoever slanders him is deprived of eternal life.”
At the third meeting, the doctrine of faith was formulated in fourteen points. The last point contained a dogmatic teaching about the pope. “In the whole world there is only one Catholic Church, the head of which is the Pope of Rome, vested with unlimited power, the successor of the oldest of the apostles - St. Peter. Thus, the Roman Church is the Mother, Lady and head of all the Churches of the world, and the Pope of Rome is the head, father, master and teacher of all Christians, the patron of all believers in general and in particular the bishops, archbishops, primates and patriarchs of all the Churches of the world. He is the archpastor of all emperors, kings, princes and all believers. Therefore, those who do not obey him as the representative of Christ on earth are deprived of eternal life, and as heretics, schismatics and opponents of the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are subject to eternal condemnation. Francis Roz, professor of the Syriac language, arrived at this meeting to, on behalf of the council, begin to find errors in the text. Holy Scripture and liturgical books. On the basis of the Vulgate, passages were omitted in the First Epistle of John “the three are those who bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one” (5:7), and “every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ having come in the flesh is not from God” (4:3). Many books, replete with erroneous teaching, were decided to be collected and burned or forbidden to be read. These were: “The Childhood of Christ”, “The History of the Virgin Mary”, “The First Gospel of James”, “The Pearl of Great Price”, where the Virgin Mary is called the mother of Christ, and not the Mother of God, “The Life of Abbot Isaiah”, which says that the union of two natures in Christ is common to the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, and where St. Cyril of Alexandria is condemned, “The Book of Patriarch Timothy”, which says that in the sacrament of the Divine Eucharist, not the true Body of Christ is taught, but an imaginary one, “Explanation of the Gospel” and many others, which contained Nestorian doctrine of Christ and other delusions. Within two months, all the clergy and people had to give all the books for correction or destruction under pain of excommunication. By the twenty-first decision of the council, Malabar Christians were to recognize all the Ecumenical Councils adopted by the Roman Church, especially Ephesus and Trent. The canon of Holy Scripture was replenished: the book of Esther, Tobit, the Wisdom of Solomon, the 2nd Epistle of Peter, the 2nd and 3rd epistles of John, the Epistle of Jude and the Revelation of John the Theologian were previously absent.
There were also changes in worship in about twenty places. The name of the pope should be remembered, the breaking of bread and drinking it with wine was condemned, kneeling was introduced after the transubstantiation of each type of Holy Gifts, the reading of the Nicene Creed immediately after the Gospel was established. The council wanted to liken the Malabar liturgy to the Latin Mass, adapting all the rites to the rules of the Roman Church. The veneration of saints and some other holidays, including Candlemas, were introduced, obligatory celibacy of the clergy was introduced, some Indian customs, superstitions, the doctrine of metempsychosis and horoscopy were condemned.
At the council, the Archdiocese of Serra was divided into seventy parishes, the rectors of which received a special act with the decisions of the council for the reading and study of its content by the faithful. Finally, 153 clergymen and 660 laity put their signatures under the protocols and, having received antimensions, a vessel with consecrated oil, liturgical books translated from Latin into Syriac, a catechism in Malayalam and vestments, they dispersed to their parishes. On the eighth day, the cathedral closed.
After the closing of the meetings of the cathedral, Menezes continued his journey through the parishes, explaining the meaning of the cathedral, performing baptism and publicly confessing to his confessor in order to encourage Christians to perform this sacrament. Considering his mission in India completed, he returned to Portugal, where he was received with honor, but soon fell into disfavor and died.
5. Discontent of local Christians with the Portuguese.
Uprising “at the inclined cross”
Archdeacon George was appointed steward of the Archdiocese of Serres in Paravour, and Francis Rose and the steward of the Faipikott Seminary were his assistants. In 1601, Francis Roz became the metropolitan of the affiliated Church with a see in Cranganore, which he transferred from Angamaly in 1605. Roz himself was not an active supporter of the introduction of the Latin Rite into India. Being the first Latin bishop of the Syrian Christians of India, he managed to prevent the unconditional approval of the decisions of this council from Rome, because Alexei Menezis introduced various elements into the already signed text of the council, and his harsh and compromise decisions subsequently caused a schism in the Malabar Church.
However, the Angamal bishopric was subordinate to the Bishop of Goa, and hence to the Portuguese. Therefore, the Malabar Christians, who for centuries were ruled not by a bishop, but by an archdeacon, expressed dissatisfaction, because they saw that power had passed from the hands of the archdeacon into the hands of a foreign bishop.
On December 22, 1608, Pope Paul V upgraded the Diocese of Algamal to an archdiocese, dividing the Diocese of Cochin and giving Cranganore, which used to be part of the Latin diocese, to Archbishop Francis Rose. The Latin Bishop of Kochi was dissatisfied with this act, fearing the strengthening of the influence of the Christians of the Apostle Thomas. Relations between the Bishop of Cochin and the Archbishop of Serra escalated. George took advantage of this and convinced the local princes, especially those of Kochi, that the influence of the Jesuits was harmful to them. Then Roz excommunicated him and informed the Inquisition, and George, having no support, was forced to surrender, signing an act of repentance and reconciliation on Easter 1615. However, the reconciliation was purely external. The archbishop, who was forced to leave the diocese twice on business, appointed not George, but the director of the Faypikott Seminary, as administrator of the archdiocese. The archdeacon refused to recognize the appointment of a European, which he considered a violation of the canonical principle. He was supported by the suffragan Bishop Stephen de Brito. The archbishop excommunicated George, instructing the local princes to extradite him to the Portuguese. However, two years later (1662), as a result of an uprising, a third of the Christians of the Apostle Thomas took the side of Archdeacon George.
After the death of Francis Rosa (1624), Archdeacon George peacefully ruled the archdiocese until the appointment of Stephen de Brito as Archbishop of the Christians Apostle Thomas. In 1625 the new archbishop arrived at Angamale. De Brito was of a peaceful nature and believed that with his kindness he could win the sympathy of George, who, for his part, also maintained friendly relations with the new archbishop, although more than once he tried to use an opportunity to speak out against de Brito. However, the latter did not change his attitude towards the archdeacon; he even consulted with him on all administrative matters and gave him a document on the basis of which the archdeacon returned to his former power. In 1636 Archdeacon George died.
The archbishop, wishing to further win over the all-powerful family of George, appointed George's nephew, that is, Thomas de Campo, to the vacant administrative position of the archdeacon. However, the events after the death of Stephen de Brito (December 1641) showed that the tactics of nobility and conciliation failed.
De Brito's successor was Francis Gargia, the Jesuit suffragan, who ruled under very difficult conditions, trying to introduce a purely Latin liturgy into the Malabar Church. The new archdeacon and his supporters, without waiting for the pope's response to their complaint, appealed to the Nestorian patriarch of Babylon, the Jacobite patriarch of Diarbekir and the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria with a request to send a bishop to Malabar. In response, Bishop Akhatallah arrived from a Nestorian patriarch in communion with Rome, who lived in Mosul. He arrived in the spring of 1652 in Surat and sent a letter through Indian Christians to Archdeacon Thomas. However, the Inquisition soon found out about him and captured him. Meanwhile, the Christians of the Apostle Thomas, having received a letter, turned to Garji with a request to intercede with the Portuguese authorities for the return of Akhatallah, who called himself Patriarch of All India Ignatius. However, the Portuguese did not give up Ahatallah, despite the fact that about 100,000 Syrians gathered in Cochin to meet the patriarch, whom the Portuguese were taking to Goa. In these tense days, a rumor spread that the patriarch had been killed and thrown into the sea. When the Christians realized that there was no possibility of freeing the patriarch, they fell into a terrible indignation and, having gathered at the porch of the temple in Mattancher, near Cochin, they swore at a huge cross that they would never obey the Archbishop of Goas, that their head was Archdeacon Thomas until then until they receive a bishop from the Eastern Church. This event went down in history under the name "Revolts at the inclined cross". There were other performances in Faipicotte and Manat. Of the 200 thousand, 40 thousand remained faithful to Garji.
Following this, Archdeacon Thomas set about organizing the Church. He submitted a letter from Ahatallah, who authorized the Syrian Churches of Malabar to elect a bishop, and on May 22, 1653, on the day of Pentecost, he was ordained metropolitan by twelve priests with the title of Mar Thomas I. However, the anti-canonical consecration of Mar Thomas made it possible for the Latin clergy to subjugate many rebels again.
Pope Alexander VII using good relationship Christians of the Apostle Thomas to the Carmelites, decided to send the Carmelite monks Joseph and Matthew to Malabar under the leadership of the Italian Jesuit Iakinf. Joseph, avoiding the Jesuits, arrived in Edapally in 1657.
Meanwhile, in India itself, serious political changes were taking place. The dominance of the Portuguese at sea was ending. As early as 1595, when the first Dutch fleet of four ships under the command of Gutmann went to the East, the way was opened for the regular movement of the Dutch to India. And a few years later (1604) an agreement was already signed between the Malabar emperor Samorin and the Hague admiral S. van der Hagen in order to expel the Portuguese from India. In 1640, there was still a joint domination of the Portuguese and Dutch in Ceylon, and on May 7, 1654, the Dutch, with the support of the King of Ceylon, captured Colombo, and then the entire island. In 1658, they captured a number of cities in continental India (Manar, Tuticorin and Negapatan), moving north. In 1661 they captured Quilon, in 1662 Cranganore fell, and after a fierce battle on January 6, 1663, the Dutch also took Cochin. Only Goa remained in the hands of the Portuguese until 1961.
6. The gradual formation of the Syro-Catholic and Monophysite groups
Meanwhile, the missionaries who arrived in Malabar urged Christians to obey the pope, since the consecration of an archdeacon to the bishopric was non-canonical and, in order to correct the situation, he needed to go to Rome and there ask the pope's blessing for consecration. Gargia also acted by ordering that all Christians obey the archbishop under pain of excommunication. Some heeded his threats and went over to the side of the archbishop. Among them was the archdeacon's cousin, Alexander de Campo, who later became the first Indian bishop to be ordained by the Roman Catholics. The Portuguese authorities, concerned about the Dutch threat, gave the Carmelite monks free rein in their mission of peace. However, the Carmelites did not reveal to anyone that they were bound by the order of the pope to return the Church to the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Gargia, and, winning parish after parish from Mar Thomas, they everywhere said that they had received from the pope the right to ordain a bishop for the Serra archdiocese, who would be completely independent of the archbishop of Gargia. Mar Foma, for his part, realizing the idea of independence from Roman government, convinced his supporters that the supreme head of the Malabar Church was not the pope, but the Patriarch of Babylon, and that these monks had no right to ordain. As a result of the sharp division of Christians into supporters of submission to the Holy See and supporters of the return to the former ecclesiastical position, great strife arose between both groups. Then it was decided, at the suggestion of the Portuguese, to organize a meeting of all church communities in Cochin and read the message of the pope handed to the Carmelite monks, which said that the Malabar Christians should be subordinated to the archbishop of Gargia. If this message had been read in its entirety, then everything would have been lost, so at the meeting on September 23, 1657, only that part of the message was read, which spoke about their appointment. The deposition of Mar Thomas was not discussed. The Christians agreed to have Joseph as their church leader. By the end of that year, the majority of Christians had joined Joseph, who on December 25 presided over a farewell meeting in Cochin among forty-four priests representing twenty-eight communities of the south, and handed over temporary authority to Matthew until the arrival of the monk Jacinthos with credentials in Serra. At this meeting, the Christians of the Apostle Thomas proclaimed their submission to Rome and handed Joseph a document outlining the reasons why they could not submit to the Jesuit archbishop, as well as a request to send them an archpastor. Joseph left Malabar in January 1658 and arrived in Rome a year later. Meanwhile, Archbishop Gardzhia, who looked with hostility at the case of Iakinf to attract Christians to his side by violent measures, died in September 1659, and a few months later the Carmelite Iakinf also died. In Rome, the question was discussed whether to appoint a Portuguese bishop to India, thereby arousing the displeasure of the Portuguese authorities, or an Indian, satisfying the ambitions of the Malabars and ending the strife. After lengthy discussions, Pope Alexander VII decided to return Joseph to Malabar as vicar apostolic in charge of the archdiocese at Cranganore, consecrating him on December 25, 1659, titular bishop of Hierapolis, under the strictest secrecy.
Having landed in Cochin on May 14, 1661, he decided to immediately expel Mar Foma. To this end, acting with the help of gifts and promises, he persuaded the Cochin prince to become an arbitrator on both sides, presenting the violence of his opponents as a reason for the trial. The court required both parties to present their credentials. Joseph presented them without difficulty, while the representative of Mar Foma could show nothing to the Kochi court, except for a copy of Akhatallah's letter. Joseph Sebastiani was recognized as the legitimate bishop, and Mar Foma barely had time to hide in the mountainous regions of the country, from where he continued to lead the Church. And Joseph, as a result of his episcopal journey in August 1661, finally subjugated 84 parishes, and only 32 remained with Mar Thomas. But the days of Portuguese rule in India were already numbered. After capturing Cochin, the Dutch ordered all foreign clerics to leave the country. On February 1, 1663, Joseph ordained Alexander de Campo Bishop of Megara, taking from him an oath promise to accept any representative of the Church who comes from the pope and not to ordain his cousin Thomas as bishop without permission from Rome. Then, leaving the monk Matthew as special adviser to Bishop Alexander, he finally left Malabar, narrowly escaping arrest in Goa, where a royal order came from Lisbon to seize him and Iakinf, whose death was not yet known. With great difficulty, on May 6, 1665, he arrived in Rome.
Bishop Alexander, already at an advanced age, turned to Rome with a request to send himself a successor. He wanted to elect his nephew Matthew, but four Carmelite monks who arrived from Rome elected on March 3, 1676, the Indo-Portuguese mestizo Rafail Figuedo Salgado, a Latin Catholic from the Cochin bishopric, who was ordained bishop in 1677. However, this election of a semi-foreigner offended the national feelings of the Syrians, and as a result of exacerbations, the Carmelites, with the consent of Rome, appointed Custodio de Pino Bishop of Brahmin (1684), subordinating Bishop Raphael to him as Apostolic Exarch of Malabar. Two years later, Bishop Alexander died, on October 12, 1695, Rafail Figuedo died, and soon after Pino (1697).
By the end of the 17th century, there were already two main groups of Christians in Malabar: Syro-Catholic, which attracted many Christians to its side, using the argument about the invalidity of the consecration of Mar Thomas and acquired the first native bishop in the person of Alexander de Campo, and Monophysite, which arose from the Nestorian due to the lack of theological education of Christians of the Apostle Thomas after the arrival in 1665 of the Jacobite Bishop of Jerusalem Gregory in Malabar.
7. Jacobites in Malabar
Mar Gregory arrived in Malabar in response to letters from Mar Thomas to the Syrian patriarchs of the East. He abandoned unleavened bread and Catholic vestments and introduced leavened bread and oriental sacred vestments, refused the doctrine of purifying fire, insisted on anathematizing Nestorius and the pope, on the withdrawal from the Creed filioque and on the introduction of the old ecclesiastical customs condemned by the Council of Diamper. It is believed that he performed the canonical consecration of Mar Thomas as a bishop. During his brief episcopal activity in Malabar, he managed to introduce the Monophysite teaching instead of the Nestorian teaching in that part of the Church that was under the subordination of Mar Thomas, and to achieve that the Jacobite Church of Antioch was recognized as the “Head and Mother of the Universe”. He died in 1672, and a year later Thomas de Campo also died, whose successor Thomas II ruled the Church until 1686.
In 1685, two Jacobite bishops arrived in Malabar - Mar Vasily and Mar Ivany from the Mosul monastery Mar Mattai. Mar Basil soon died, and Mar Ivanius, continuing to rule the Church, tried to replace Roman customs with Jacobite ones, rejected the IV Ecumenical Council and tried to reintroduce the married priesthood. Some time later, he ordained Mar Thomas III (1686-1688), and then Mar Thomas IV (1688-1725 or 1728), having died in 1694.
As already mentioned, the Dutch banned all missionary activities of foreigners in India. However, Pope Innocent XII, through the German emperor Leopold I, having provided the Calvinists of Hungary with religious freedom, achieved freedom of action for the Roman missionaries in India. In this regard, a concordat was concluded between the Dutch and the Portuguese in 1698. In February 1700, Angelo Francis, director of the Carmelite Seminary of Verapol, was temporarily appointed Vicar Apostolic of Malabar until the Bishop of Cochin and the Archbishop of Cranganore took their chairs. Not waiting for the episcopal consecration either from the Bishop of Cochin or from the Archbishop of Goas, he turned to the Chaldean Bishop Mar Simon, who was at that time in Malabar, who ordained him a bishop on May 22, 1701. However, some time later, on December 5, 1701, the Holy See appointed the Jesuit John Ribeiro (1701–1716) Archbishop of Cranganore This appointment provoked strong opposition from Indian Christians of both Churches. The Dutch, noticing the unrest among the Christians, forbade John Ribeiro to stay on their territory, and the Christians to recognize him. Thus, Angelo remained the head of the Malabar Syro-Catholics, ruling his flock from Verapol.
However, the situation became more complicated after the arrival in Malabar of the Metropolitan of Azerbaijan Gabriel, whom the Nestorian Catholicos Ilia XI (1700-1722) sent to find the lost Nestorian flock. Mar Thomas sent a letter to the Jacobite Patriarch, outlining Gabriel's Nestorian delusions and demanding that bishops be sent to condemn him. However, a letter sent by a Dutch official reached Rome, which was interested in preventing the arrival of the Jacobite bishops in Malabar. Gabriel delivered a confession of faith to Bishop Angelo, who soon, convinced of his insincerity, tried to expel him from his jurisdiction. But Gabriel managed to win over to his side 42 parishes that were in communion with Rome and, after his death (1730), most of them transferred to the Jacobite Church.
Mar Thomas IV († 1728) was succeeded by his nephew Mar Thomas V, who continued to fight against Mar Gabriel and the Roman Catholic missionaries, and at the same time repeatedly appealed to the Dutch to help him in obtaining a bishop from Syria. In 1747, with the help of the Dutch, the Jacobite Bishop Ivany arrived, who, however, soon deceived the hopes of Christians and caused general indignation with his “reforms”. He was finally expelled from Malabar (1751) by a group of bishops sent by the Jacobite Patriarch Ignatius XXVIII of Antioch.
The names of these bishops are Basil (1751-1753), who received the title of Metropolitan of Malabar, Gregory (1751-1773) and John (1751-1794). With them also arrived the chorbishop Gregory and two priests. They would have ordained Mar Thomas, but first they offered him to resolve a number of issues and, in particular, to pay them the expenses associated with their move from Syria to Malabar. Disagreements arose, and the Dutch government was forced to intervene, reaching an agreement that Mar Basil would ordain and appoint priests, but with the permission of Mar Thomas. Syrian rites and church customs were to remain unchanged. However, misunderstandings continued until the death of Mar Thomas V (1765), who ordained his nephew (1760), also Thomas, who became his successor with the name of Thomas VI, without receiving consecration as a bishop from the bishops sent by the Patriarch of Antioch.
The second half of the 18th century was full of political events that took place in the country. Tippu Sultan from Mysore invaded the southern regions of India, sowing destruction and death around. Many temples, especially in the north of Malabar, were destroyed, about ten thousand Christians were killed, many were taken into captivity and forcibly converted to Islam. However, he was defeated by the English troops, who from 1750 to 1780. were between Madras and Bengaluru and were waiting for an opportune moment to drive the Dutch out of India. Such a moment later turned out to be the accession of Holland to France by Napoleon. Thus the Dutch rule in India, which lasted from 1663 to 1795, was replaced by the English.
8. Dutch split. Influence of Protestantism
During this period, despite the fact that Mar Thomas VI was ordained by Jacobite bishops with the name Mar Dionysius, relations within the Church remained strained. Mar Gregory, dissatisfied with Dionysius, ordained, without his consent, one monk as a bishop with the name of Cyril I (November 28, 1772), which was then recognized by the Cochin (Dutch) authorities. Soon Gregory died (1773). Mar Dionysius and Mar Ivanius protested against this non-canonical ordination without the approval of the Church, ordering Cyril to submit to Mar Dionysius. However, he fled to British Malabar, where he ordained his brother as bishop with the name Cyril II (1794). Since then, there has been an independent Church in Annur (Toliur), which today has up to 3,000 members; each of its bishops, after his election and consecration, elects and ordains a successor to himself. Thus arose the second division of the Church.
Mar Dionysius sought to reunite all Christians of the Apostle Thomas, but the first step towards this must be submission to the pope. The Syro-Catholics, with whom Dionysius maintained good relations, gathered in 1787 for a meeting at Angamaly to discuss the question of uniting with the Jacobites. They demanded no longer to receive foreign bishops, but to have their own. However, the general hierarchical representative of the Carmelites, having arrived in Trivandrum with a Dutch official for a trial on this issue, ensured that a fine was imposed on the Syro-Catholics and henceforth such performances were prohibited. Mar Dionysius, for his part, also made every possible effort in order to achieve recognition from Rome, but each time he was punished with a fine for not fulfilling those conditions that served as a guarantee of the sincerity of his intentions. Never having achieved recognition from Rome, he ordained his nephew Matan as a bishop (1796) with the name of Mar Thomas VII. In an effort to eliminate the schism in the Church (the so-called Annorianism), Dionysius legally ordained Cyril II, who turned to him, appointing him to the Mulanturutti church; after him were Mar Philoxen I (1802) and Mar Philoxen II (1811).
New political events had a strong impact on the life of the Malabar Church. In 1795, Cochin was captured by the British, who appointed a governor here, who was in essence the ruler of the country. Through the offices of the East India Company in Madras, the penetration of English missionaries into South India begins. The first Anglican priest to visit the Syrian Church in 1806 was Dr. Kerr. In the same year the priest Dr. Claudius Buchanan arrived in Travancore, then visiting a number of Syrian churches. In Candanath he talked with Mar Dionysius about the necessity of translating the Holy Scriptures into Malayalam (this translation was made and printed in Bombay (1811) and later handed over to Mar Thomas VIII), about the possibility of uniting with the Church of England for the sake of the progress of Christianity in India, and about other reforms in Churches.
After his death (May 13, 1808), Mar Dionysius ruled for some time as Mar Thomas VII, who died due to illness in 1809. Opinions regarding his successor were divided. Some wanted a cousin of Thomas VII as the head of the church, while others wanted his nephew, who was ordained bishop by the hand of the dying Thomas VII with the name of Mar Thomas VIII. This raised doubts about the authority of his consecration. Nevertheless, Mar Thomas VIII was recognized as a metropolitan. His assistants and advisers were Rabbi Joseph and Rabbi Philip, who at first worked closely with the new metropolitan. But in 1810, when Colonel Munro became the new governor, Raban Joseph submitted to him a report in which he denied the authority of the episcopal consecration of Mar Thomas VIII. However, Munro was unable to settle the matter, and the dispute continued until the death of Thomas VIII (January 10, 1816). And Raban Joseph, not having a bishopric, turned to the Annorian Philoxen II, who ordained him a bishop with the name Dionysius II on March 9, 1815. The reign of Dionysius II was short: on November 24, 1816, he died. Then the Annorian Philoxen II arrived in Travancore and, with the help of the local government, was proclaimed Metropolitan of Malabar. In October 1817, his archdeacon George Punnatra, who was ordained with the name Mar Dionisy III, was elected to the post of metropolitan. Philoxen II, having resigned, returned to Toliur. Mar Dionysius III, realizing the illegality of his ordination, turned to the Patriarch of Antioch with a request to send a metropolitan to perform a canonical consecration over him, but he died soon after (May 5, 1825). Professor Philip was chosen as his successor, who was ordained by Philoxen II with the name of Dionysius IV and who worked as a vicar bishop until the death of Philoxen II (1829).
Returning to the issue of the influence of the Anglican Missionary Society in India, we should mention the activities of the Anglican Bishop L. Brown, who for a number of years was the director of the theological seminary in Trivandrum and Travancore. Having closely become acquainted with the life of the Malabar Church, in his book The Indian Christians of St. Thomas, he speaks of the enormous contribution made by the British governors, especially Colonel Munro, to the Christianization of the country. At the request of Colonel Munro, the English missionary Thomas Munro soon arrived, who believed that for the successful development of Protestantism in the country it was necessary to introduce an English education. Through the governor, he achieved the release of Syrian Christians from political oppression, from the obligation to pay duties and taxes in Buddhist temples, secured the appointment of Christian judges to government courts. The Holy Scriptures in Malayalam were published in 1811, 1817 and 1830. In 1815, a seminary for Jacobite clerics was opened in Kottayam, and Raban Joseph, later Bishop Mar Dionysius II, was appointed director. The missionaries taught at various parochial elementary and secondary schools, helping Christians understand the text of the Holy Scriptures. On May 8, 1816, the missionary Thomas Norton arrived in Aleppo, followed by Benjamin Bailey, who labored until 1850, then Joseph Fenn (1818) and Henry Becker (1819). Trying to purge the Malabar Church of Nestorian and Catholic influences and customs, they spoke in their sermons at the Syrian worship about the need for reforms in faith and in church practice. Mar Dionysius III was pleased with the assistance rendered to him both by the English government and by the Anglican missionaries in the matter of preparing candidates for the priesthood and providing the clergy with an appropriate salary. Mar Dionysius III abolished the celibacy of the clergy, allowing clerics to marry at the end of the seminary course. Nevertheless, fearing the sharp influence of Protestantism, which was striving for reform in the Church, Mar Dionysius III, and then his successor Mar Dionysius IV, began to be more reserved about the Anglican missionaries.
In November 1825, Bishop Athanasius Abed al Massih arrived from the Jacobite Patriarch George V of Antioch, declaring himself the legitimate metropolitan of the Syrian Church of India. He excommunicated Dionysius IV and Philoxen II, then re-consecrated nineteen priests, tried to seize the seminary, but was rebuffed in time. The British, seeing that a split was brewing again, expelled Athanasius and after the death of Philoxen II (1829) proclaimed Dionysius IV metropolitan.
However, Mar Dionysius IV never sympathized with the missionaries, and when they began to accuse him of greed and ordination of underage deacons (this custom had existed since ancient times), the metropolitan forbade Christians to pray with the missionaries and Anglicans, who shortly before this appointed their first bishop of Calcutta, Daniel Wilson. Deciding that the time had come to finally determine whether the Syrian Church would remain under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Antioch or go over to the side of the Reformation, in January 1836 he convened a meeting in Mavelikkar, which was attended by Mar Cyril, the new Bishop of Toliur, where, gratefully acknowledging the help, received from the British, rejected all the reforms proposed by Wilson and proclaimed the allegiance of Christians to the Apostle Thomas to the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch. This meeting marked the end of official relations between the Missionary Society and the Syrian Malabar Church. Informal relations continue through the seminary and gymnasium of the Church Missionary Society in Kottayam, where many Syrian Christians are educated.
9. Marthomite Schism
However, the seeds of Protestantism, sown by Anglican missionaries during the period of official relations with the Syrian Church, contributed to the emergence of a group of reformers, which initially consisted of four priests, headed by Abraham Malpan, professor of the Syriac language at the Kottayam Seminary. He revised the Syriac liturgy, translated it into modern Malayalam, omitting prayers for the dead, invocation of saints and Mother of God, and retained only the external form of worship. Mar Dionysius IV excommunicated him along with his associates. Then Abraham, striving to ensure that the successor of Dionysius was a supporter of the reformation, sent his nephew deacon Matthew, who studied at the Madras gymnasium, to the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius XXXI-Elijah II, who was in a monastery near Mardin. Despite the protests of Dionysius, on February 2, 1842, the patriarch ordained this deacon, first to the presbyter, and then to the Metropolitan of Malankara, giving him the title of Mar Athanasius Matthew. Arriving in Malabar (March 1843), Mar Athanasius went to Trivandrum, where he won recognition from the authorities, who favored the reformation. In September of the same year, supporters of Mar Athanasius gathered for a meeting near Kottayam, declaring him the legitimate metropolitan, and the consecrations of Dionysius and his predecessors invalid. Dionysius, in turn, sent a letter to Patriarch Ignatius XXXII, where he accused Athanasius of Protestantism. The patriarch excommunicated Athanasius as a heretic and sent Mar Cyril to India to investigate the case, providing him with blank sheets with his signature. He, taking advantage of the opportunity, declared himself Metropolitan of Malabar, and Dionysius IV, exhausted by constant disputes and worries, not wanting to recognize Athanasius, resigned. But the British governor in 1852 recognized Mar Athanasius as the legitimate metropolitan and made sure that he was issued a royal decree confirming him as metropolitan of Malabar. Cyril was forced to leave Travancore and Cochin. Soon Mar Dionysius died in one of the rural churches. Some time later, the Patriarch of Antioch, James II, sent Mar Stefan to India to settle the situation, despite all the efforts of which in Calcutta and London to resolve the church issue, the situation did not change. In the end, he was banned from entering Cochin and Travancore, and he was forced to return to Mardin (1857) in failing health.
Mar Athanasius, remaining the only head of the metropolitan throne in Malabar, nevertheless felt guilty before the patriarch and asked his forgiveness. The patriarch lifted his excommunication on February 2, 1856. However, repentance was insincere and therefore short-lived. Under the influence of Protestantism, he introduced some innovations in the Church, in particular, he allowed widowed priests to marry, although he was afraid to fully introduce the reform program drawn up by his uncle Abraham Malpan. After the death of the Annorian Cyril III of Toliur (1856), Athanasius ordained him Joseph as his successor.
In 1857, Mar Joachim-Cyril, who was in disgrace, sent an appeal to the Calcutta court, where he claimed that he was the only legitimate metropolitan of the Syrian Malabar Church, since he was appointed Patriarch. The court decided that this was an internal church matter, which depended on the members of the Church themselves. The government of Travancore allowed him to have his followers. In 1861, he turned to Patriarch Jacob with a request to send two bishops and four monks to Malabar. The synod allowed clerics to be sent from Malabar. Desiring to restore the ancient family of Pacalomattam, which until 1813 had the privilege of electing an archdeacon from among its ranks, Priest Philip summoned one of the members of this family, Priest Joseph Pullicot, and, having provided him with a forged letter allegedly from Bishop Mar Joachim-Cyril, sent him for episcopal consecration to the patriarch. April 18, 1865 he was ordained bishop as Mar Dionysius V. However, the Aleppo court made the question of the legality of the election of the metropolitan dependent on recognition by the state, and the decision was in favor of Athanasius, who, in order to strengthen his position in 1868, ordained his cousin Thomas as bishop, proclaiming him his successor with the title of Mar Thomas Athanasius. Conservative circles became worried, fearful of the influence of Protestantism. Dionysius also had many communities and churches that stood in opposition to Athanasius, whose actions greatly irritated Patriarch Peter IV, elected on June 4, 1872, of Antioch. The latter recognized Cyril-Joachim and Dionysius-Joseph, excommunicating Athanasius-Matthew and the two bishops he had ordained. Fearing foreign influence in the Malabar Church, the patriarch personally went to London to ask for the assistance of church and state authorities in the matter of settling the situation in Malabar. Meanwhile, on August 20, 1874, after 28 years of government, Cyril-Joachim died. The patriarch, having received an invitation from Mar Dionysius, left London for India, and on May 15, 1875, he was already in Madras, and then in Travancore. Despite, however, respect for the patriarch, part of the clergy and believers, including members of the Missionary Society, took the side of Mar Athanasius Matthew, while the northern communities joined the patriarch, who immediately began to take decisive action. First of all, he achieved the cancellation of the government decree of September 1, 1875 on the recognition of Mar Athanasius as Bishop of Malabar, then on May 19, 1876, he convened a council in Mulanturutti, at which relations were established between the Jacobite Church of India and the Patriarchate of Antioch. In accordance with the definition of the council, the Malankara Archdiocese occupied the same position in relation to the Patriarchate as the other bishoprics of Syria occupied. The content of the document, signed by the superiors of all communities, pursued unconditional submission to the Patriarchate of Antioch, the exclusion of any discussion regarding the legality of bishops sent by the patriarch, and the stabilization of the financial system of the patriarchate in India on reliable foundations. Under the so-called "Christian Syrian Society" a special administrative commission was established of 8 priests, 16 laity, one secretary and treasurer to control all ecclesiastical and administrative matters. The metropolitan was to be its head. The patriarch divided the Church into seven dioceses, ordaining several priests for this. Mar Dionysius V was appointed to the Diocese of Kilon, Julius-George - to Tompon, Gregory-George - to Niranam, Cyril-George - to Angamal, John-Paul - to Kandinad, Dionysius-Simon - to Kochi, Athanasius-Paul - to Kottayam . In addition, he ordained another 120 priests and 17 deacons, returning to Mardin on May 16, 1877. In addition to Cochin, the number of believers in these dioceses reached 300,000. Athanasius († July 15, 1877), whose consecration was declared invalid. As a result, Thomas Athanasius, who became the successor of Matthew Athanasius, was left with a few churches. However, the latter did not lose hope. They built new churches instead of those that they were forced to leave to the Jacobites, created the “Missionary Evangelical Society of Mar Thomas” (1889), strengthened their ties with the Bishopric of Toliur, whose bishops ordained (1894) Bishop Mar Titus for them, younger brother Mar Thomas Athanasius, who died in 1893, and founded two colleges. After Mar Titus I (1894-1911) there was Mar Titus II (1911-1944), Mar Abraham (†1947) and Mar John.
The number of believers reaches 200,000. There are three bishops in Tiruwell, Chekanur and Katara Kar. The church is well organized. Four dioceses are subordinate to the metropolitan, consisting of 226 parishes with 140 clergy. There is a seminary in Kottayam, which cooperates with the union of theological seminaries of Kerala and Trivandrum. The Church has communion in the sacraments with the Anglicans and is a member of the World Council of Churches. Together with the Annorian Church, she conducts a great missionary, catechetical and charitable work. She preserved the Jacobite liturgy, however, without prayers for the dead and without invoking the saints and the Mother of God, communion is performed under two kinds. The elimination of Syriac and the introduction of colloquial Malayalam into liturgical life, the abolition of icons and the introduction of marriage of clerics marked a break with the past, testifying to the abandonment of ancient Syrian tradition. The Mar-Thomitic Schism is the third division in the Malabar Church as a result of the strong influence of the Protestant missionaries.
It should not be forgotten that during the period of official relations between the Church Missionary Society and the Syrians, the Syrians, under the strong influence of the Protestants, completely left their Church and adopted Anglicanism. They introduced the Anglican liturgy, translated into Malayalam, and some became clerics of the Anglican Diocese, established in 1879, centered in Kottayam. Now it is part of the Church of South India founded on September 27, 1947, which includes the Anglican Bishopric of South India, the Methodist Church and the United (Protestant) Church of this country.
10. Split of Rokkos and Mellos
However, the Syrian Church of India, which was in communion with Rome, also underwent a test in the last century, because the desire of the Syro-Catholics was to receive their church head independently of the Syro-Chaldean Patriarch, whose see was in Mosul. On June 1, 1853, Propaganda Faith in Rome received a letter signed by thirty Syro-Catholic priests of India asking them to appoint a bishop of the Syrian rite for their church, because their 200,000-strong flock was without an archpastor, while the Latin rite Christians were much more few in number, had three apostolic vicars in Verapol, Quilon and Mangalore. The Chaldean Patriarch Joseph VI Avdo, who was in communion with the Roman Church, supported the initiator of this movement, Anthony Fandanatta. Contrary to the advice of Rome not to interfere in the affairs of the Malabar Church, in September 1860 he ordained Bishop Mar Rokkos with the title of Basra. 116 church communities joined the new bishop. However, the vicar apostolic was instructed to excommunicate Rokkos, who was staying in Cochin, if he did not leave Malabar. Summoned to Rome, Patriarch Joseph was forced to excommunicate Rokkos, who left Malabar in March 1892 together with Anthony Fondanatt. The believers asked Anthony to be their bishop, but he, ordained bishop by the Nestorian Patriarch Simeon XVII Abraham, met with opposition from the Goan Portuguese and Catholics and was forced to retire to the Carmelite Syrian monastery in Mannanam.
The patriarch made repeated attempts to return the privileges of his Patriarchy both at the Vatican Council (1870), the decisions of which he signed without much desire, and in 1873, turning to the “Propaganda of the Faith” with a request to ordain one or two bishops for Malabar. However, everything was in vain. Then, being outside the sphere of influence of the Dominican missionaries in the Alkosh Monastery (40 km from Mosul), he appointed Mar Elijah Mellos Bishop of Malabar, informing the Syro-Catholics of Malabar on July 2, 1874 and asking for the assistance of the British authorities in India. On October 30, Bishop Mellos, in his district message, already called on the Syro-Catholic communities to submit to the Patriarch and withdraw from the jurisdiction of the Latin hierarchy. A year later, he asked the patriarch to ordain a second bishop for him, and on July 25, 1875, a monk named Abraham was ordained bishop of Uragas with the title of Mar Philip-Jacob. At first about forty churches joined Mellos, then he ordained about fifty more priests in northern and southern Malabar. The number of Mellos' supporters during this period reached 24,000. However, in February 1882, Rome presented an ultimatum to Patriarch Joseph to recall Philip-Jacob Mellos and Mar from Malabar under pain of prohibition by the Holy See. Mellos left India in the same year, but before leaving, he ordained many young people from among his supporters and again consecrated Bishop Anthony Fondanates, who led this group until 1900. Returning to Mosul, Mellos did not want to become the successor of Patriarch Joseph. In 1889 he finally submitted to Rome and died as Archbishop of Mardin in February 1908. The followers of Mellos in India have Cathedral“Our Lady of Sorrows” in Trikhura and since 1907 have been under the jurisdiction of the Nestorian Patriarch of Babylon: Patriarch Simon XIX Benjamin in 1908 ordained Bishop Mar Timothy Abimelech (†1945) to them. This small Church today has approximately 5,000 believers, one bishop, eight priests, six deacons, and about ten churches. The Chair of the Nestorian Catholicos has been located in Chicago (USA) since 1933. Mellosians do not include the non-canonical books of the Old Testament, 2nd Epistle of Peter, 2nd and 3rd John, the Epistle of Jude and the Revelation of John the Evangelist into the canon of Holy Scripture, they recognize the procession of the Holy Spirit only from the Father, they accept only the first two Ecumenical Councils. Their Christology and Mariology are Nestorian. Baptism, the Divine Eucharist and the priesthood are considered sacraments; chrismation is performed symbolically, that is, without holy chrism. Associated with the Divine Eucharist ancient custom agap. The Liturgy is celebrated in Syriac. Icons of Christ and saints have been abolished, and a simple cross is placed before the faithful for worship. The marriage of clerics was reintroduced, as well as some Nestorian customs, which caused the return of many members of this Church to the Roman Catholic Church.
Pope Leo XIII, for the final settlement of the church issue and the creation of a local hierarchy, by a bull of May 29, 1887, withdrew the Syro-Catholics from the jurisdiction of the Carmelites of the Verapol Archdiocese, uniting them into two bishoprics - Trikhur and Kottayam, but headed by foreign bishops. However, the Syro-Catholics continued to seek their bishop. Ten years later, the same pope appointed them three vicars apostolic of the Syrian liturgical rite. They were Mar John Menaherry, Vicar Apostolic of Trichura, Mar Alois Parem Parambil, Vicar Apostolic of Ernakulam, and Thomas Matthew Malik, Vicar Apostolic of Hanganaheri. On August 29, 1911, Kottayam was singled out as a special apostolic vicariate by a bull of Pope Pius X. Finally, on December 20, 1923, on the eve of the feast of the Apostle Thomas, Pope Pius XI created an independent Syro-Malabar Church with the bull “Romani Pontifice”, establishing the Archdiocese of Ernakulam with three dioceses : Trikhur, Kottayam and Khanganoher. In 1950, the Khanganoher diocese was divided into two eparchies, as a result of which the Patai diocese arose. In 1953, a sixth episcopacy, located in the state of Madras, with a see in Telliherry, was established in northern Malabar, and three years later (1956) a seventh episcopacy, Kotamangalam, was established, with the diocese of Hanganahere being elevated to an archdiocese. According to 1972 figures, there are more than 7.9 million Catholics in India. More than 60% is concentrated in two southern states - Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The number of Syro-Catholics in Malabar reaches 1.2 million. The church has 678 temples and 577 chapels, in which 1172 priests serve. There are 439 seminarians studying at the seminaries in Putenpally, Mangalore and Ceylon, there are many schools, boarding houses, 4 male and 16 female monasteries, various periodicals. Communication with Rome is carried out in these eight dioceses through the Carmelite monks.
11. Later controversy
Returning to the events within the Jacobite Malabar Church after the Mar-Thomist schism, it should be noted that internal problems and disagreements once again led to a sad division within this Church. They arose immediately after the ambassador of the cathedral in Mulanturutti (May 19, 1876). Bishop Dionysius-Simon of Cochin, referring to local tradition, opposed the division of the Church into dioceses, while Dionysius disputed the validity of Simon's consecration, which was performed without the consent of the people. The court upheld Simon. He was also supported by the patriarch, who wrote that he had the power to ordain whomever he wanted at his own discretion. Events developed. In 1905, the Turkish government deposed the Jacobite Patriarch Abdullah Mesyah, instead of whom was elected on August 15, 1906, Gregory Abdullah II, who once accompanied Peter IV on his trip to India. Just before his death, Dionysius V sent two monks, George and Paul, to him in 1908 as candidates for bishops. Together with the Christian Syrian Society, he asked that George be ordained with the right of succession to the metropolitan throne. The patriarch ordained the first with the name Dionysius, and the second - Cyril. In addition, he ordained a Syrian monk named Mar Eustathius as a bishop and sent him to India as his personal representative. In the charter of Dionysius, he did not mention the right of succession. After the death of Dionysius V (1909), at the request of the Syrian Christians and with the consent of Mar Eustathius, George-Dionysius VI was appointed metropolitan, whose election was approved by the patriarch.
Patriarch Gregory Abdullah II, in order to strengthen his influence in India, comes there in 1910 as well. However, the meeting at which decisions are made on the spiritual rights of the See of Antioch in the Malabar Church on the basis of the canons, the decisions of the council in Mulanturutti, the royal court of appeal of 1889, as well as local church customs, opposed the subordination of the Malabar Church to a foreign patriarch. The patriarch condemned this meeting and excommunicated Dionysius VI, accusing him of disobedience. Then he appointed Mar Cyril chairman of the Christian Syrian Society and Metropolitan of Malankara, ordained two more bishops, Mar Paul Athanasius and Mar Sever, in the bishoprics of Angamal and Knanai. All three signed the patriarchal document of obedience. By the way, the Christian Syrian Society declared invalid the patriarchal excommunication of Dionysius VI and, having re-elected its members, rejected the power of the patriarch and his jurisdiction over the Church.
Thus, the Church was again divided into two parts: the patriarchal Jacobite, which is mainly located in the north of Travancore, and the metropolitan, or Indo-Orthodox, headed by the Catholicos of the East, located in the south of Travancore.
Nevertheless, Mar Dionysius VI sought to streamline his position. He invited the former Patriarch Moran Abdullah Mesyakh, deposed by the Turkish government, who did not recognize the Sultan's decision on his deposition. However, the authorities of Travancore forbade him to enter the country, fearing new unrest. Then Messiah came to the ancient temple of Niranama and there, on July 14, 1912, he proclaimed Bishop Paul-John of Kandinad as Catholicos with the title of Mar Basil I. The new Patriarch of Malankara had to recognize only the spiritual superiority of the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch, but not his jurisdiction over the Malabar Church. Messiah gave the Bishops of Malankara the power to ordain a new Catholicos each time. But Dionysius and after that continued to be the actual head of the Church. Thus, the Church was granted autonomy.
Nevertheless, the controversy continued, because many were concerned about the question of whether Abdullah Messiah was the bearer of the canonical patriarchal authority due to the special position in which he found himself, or not. The issue of church property, considered at the court of 1913, was decided in favor of Dionysius VI, whose excommunication was considered invalid and was explained by the patriarch's claim to civil power, and not by the canonical violation of the excommunicated. Negotiations between Mar Dionysius VI and Patriarch Elijah, the successor of Gregory Abdullah II, did not produce any results. The death of these two men (Elijah died in 1932, and Dionysius in 1934) also did not lead to any changes in the issue of reconciliation of both sides.
After the death of Dionysius, Catholicos Mar Basil II paid a visit to Patriarch Ephraim in Homs (Syria), however, apart from the patriarchal anathematization, he received nothing. In 1935, representatives of the Jacobite Malabar Church of Antioch elected Mar Athanasius as their metropolitan. Again, a lawsuit began on the issue of the legality of the heads of both Churches, which took place with varying success. Public opinion, tired of these endless lawsuits, forced representatives of both sides to meet and come to an agreement on many points (1950). The decrees and charter of the Malabar Church were directed to the approval of the patriarch. The most important of all points was the introduction of the so-called. mafriyanate, which meant the recognition of the Malabar Church as semi-autocephalous, and the patriarch as the spiritual head of the World Syrian Church.
The problem of unification was finally resolved in 1962 by Patriarch Ignatius Jacob III of Antioch, who recognized the Malabar Syrian Church as autonomous and himself as its spiritual head.
12. Current situation
Thus, starting from the Diamper Council, the Christian Church of Malabar is divided into the following parts: 1) the Syrian Catholic Church, which is in communion with Rome, and the Latin Rite Roman Catholic Church of India, which arose due to the missionary activity in this country of the monastic orders of the Western Church, with chair of the apostolic vicar and archbishop in Verapol; 2) “Independent Orthodox Syrian Malabar Church” headed by the Catholicos of the Apostolic Throne of the East; 3) the Jacobite Church, headed by the Patriarch of Antioch; 4) the Church of Toliur, which broke away from the Patriarchate of Antioch in the last decade of the 18th century and essentially consists of a single bishopric of the same name; 5) The Reformed Jacobite Church of Thomas, which arose in the second half of the 19th century. as a result of the influence of Protestantism; 6) the Anglo-Syrian Church, which arose as a result of the transition of the Christians of the Apostle Thomas to the Anglican Church; and the Mellosian (or Nestorian) Church, which arose as a result of a schism among the Syro-Catholics, with a see in Trihur. It should be noted that Bishop Mar Ivany, ordained in 1912, in September 1930, together with Mar Theophilus, with part of his flock of 30,000 believers, transferred to the Roman Church. In the same year, another 180 clerics and laity joined him, and a year later, another 4,700 believers. The Pope appointed him archbishop of Trivandrum, and the entire church community was called the "Syro-Malankara Church" (350,000 souls).
Let's move on to the current situation of the Syro-Jacobite Malabar Church, numbering 1,250,000 believers.
At the head of the Church is His Holiness Catholicos of the East Mar Basil Augen I, whose residence is Kottayam (South India). Recognizing only the spiritual head of the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch, he, together with the Synod, consisting of diocesan bishops, governs the Church. In addition to the Synod, there is a committee for the management of the Church, elected from among the clergy and laity for a term of one year. It has ninety members, a third of which are clergy. The Plenum meets once a year, while 8-9 people work continuously between sessions. Catholicos and bishops are elected by the executive committee of the "association" (electoral body), which includes bishops, as well as one clergyman and two laymen from each parish. The Synod deals with matters of faith.
The church is organized into ten dioceses administered by bishops.
1) Angamal (90 parishes, 124 clergy, department in Alwaya, Kerala).
2) Kochi (76 parishes, 63 clergy, Koreti).
3) Kandanadian (70 parishes, 66 clergy, pulpit in Muwatupuzha, Kerala).
4) Kottayamskaya (110 parishes, 85 clergymen, department in Kottayam, Kerala).
5) Malabar (66 parishes, 35 clergy, pulpit in Kaylikart, Kerala).
6) Niranamskaya (86 parishes, 90 clergy, pulpit in Pattanapuram, Kerala).
7) Kilon (181 parishes, 65 clergy, pulpit in Berteni Ashram, Kerala).
8) Tumpanonskaya (120 parishes, 84 clergymen, pulpit in Pattenamtit, Kerala).
9) Knanai (38 parishes, 40 clergy, department in Chingavanam, Kottayam, Kerala).
10) Management of parishes outside of Kerala (in the cities of Madras, Bombay, Calcutta, New Delhi, Hyderabad, etc.; 40 parishes, 48 clergy, a pulpit in Kottayam, Kerala).
Recently, the Church has been in a stage of spiritual revival. Clerics now become not only representatives of certain families, but also those who want to devote themselves to this service. In addition to the seminary in Kottayam, which was founded in 1815 and reorganized in 1942, the Church has seven colleges, 61 secondary schools, and many elementary and catechesis schools. There is an association of Sunday schools that provides education for children in parishes, various youth movements, missionary societies and missionary organizations. Four printing houses publish books and magazines in English, Syriac and Malayalam. There are fourteen monasteries for men and four women's monasteries in the Church, with about 70 monastics in them.
13. Dogmatic teaching
As is known, by the decision of the Diampere Council, many church and liturgical books of Malabar of the pre-Portuguese period were destroyed or corrected so that it became impossible to read them. The extreme hatred of Malabar Christians for icons and worship only of the cross confirms the assumption that this Church was indeed Nestorian. However, Nestorianism flourished because the majority of the people were completely ignorant of Christian doctrine. Many clerics did not even know the Ten Commandments and were completely ignorant theologically. Therefore, the Jesuits, observing the external form of worship, gradually and carefully replaced its dogmatic content (for example, instead of “Ave Maria” they introduced “Most Holy Mother of God, save us”), mainly through the Jacobite bishops of Syria, who arrived in the 17th century. to Malabar and introduced the rite, revised and corrected by the Roman Catholics. That is why the transition from the Nestorian to the Roman Catholic, and then to the Jacobite Church did not cause much theological controversy among the Malabar Christians, who do not have their own clearly formulated dogmatic teaching.
At present, the dogmatic teaching of the Syrian Malabar Church does not differ from the teaching of the Syrian Jacobite Church. She recognizes the Nicene-Tsaregrad Creed, three Ecumenical Councils, rejecting the IVth and at the same time anathematizing Eutychius as a heretic; has seven sacraments. Filioque she does not admit. Nevertheless, there are differences in the Creed, although insignificant:
"... and Mary the Virgin (Mother of God) and becoming human."
"... and suffered (and died) and buried."
"... and resurrected on the third day (of his own free will)" .
"... the Lord (life-giving of all)".
"... who spoke the prophets (and apostles)" .
In the question of Christology, she adheres to a moderate Monophysite formulation, holding that Christ is a perfect God and a perfect man without sin, who was born according to the flesh, being in inseparable and unmerged union in one Person and one Nature of the true God. The two natures in Christ exist without confusion, alteration or diminution, entering one into the other like wine with water. In his book “The Truths of the Holy Faith” (1950), Bishop Augen Mar Timothy, expounding the teaching of his Church on the basis of St. Cyril of Alexandria, rejects the Nestorian position according to which man became God (gegљnhtai), but accepts the Christ who was born God and Man (gegennhmљno from gegљnnhmai ). The Malabar Jacobites believe that the Deity never left the God-man Christ from the moment of conception until the Ascension to heaven. God first descended into the womb of the Virgin, taking on flesh, so the Virgin Mary is indeed the Mother of God. Two natures, united like wine with water, became one, which confirms the mutual unity of both natures in one. Two natures after the union are no longer two natures, but one nature, one person, one parsuppa (= an image corresponding rather to the Latin word persona), one will and one Christ. Bishop Timothy, in the book mentioned above, denouncing Eutyches, says that he fell into heresy by accepting Christ, who was neither perfect God nor perfect man, because if the two unite and mix, then their properties will be violated and something third will be obtained. At the same time, he opposes the division of the nature of Christ, comparing the inseparability of the union of two natures in Christ with the union of the soul and body in man and warning against a possible error that could lead to the veneration of the quaternary, since nature cannot be thought of separately from the person in which it finds its being. and expression. Hence his distrust of the IV Ecumenical Council.
The main difficulty in formulating Christology lies in correct interpretation terms kyono‘nature’ and knuma'face', but rather 'personification'.
In their teaching about the Church, about the sacraments through which the grace of the Holy Spirit is given, and other dogmas, the Malabar Jacobites follow the teaching of the Orthodox Church. In the sacrament of baptism, grace is given for spiritual rebirth, and in the sacrament of chrismation, the baptized person becomes a child of God. In the Eucharist they acknowledge the actual presence of Christ, but they reject transubstantiation in the Roman sense. There is a private confession, the effectiveness of the prayers of the Virgin and the saints is recognized. The Peshito translation, the text of which until recently remained incomprehensible to the general public, became available thanks to English missionaries in the last century.
14. Worship
Evidently, prior to the Diamper Council, the Syrian Church of Malabar used the liturgy of the Eastern Syrian Church, which was subsequently corrected by the decision of the Diamper Council and published by Gouvey. Despite the fact that the aforementioned council made about twenty corrections to the liturgy (the removal of the names of Nestorius, Diodorus and Theodore, the introduction of “Mother of God” instead of “Mother of Christ”, the commemoration of the pope, etc.), local priests managed to keep most of the liturgy in its original form . The envoy of the Jacobite Patriarch Mar Gregory, who arrived in Malabar in 1665, wanted to first introduce the Jacobite liturgy, but Mar Thomas I, fearing unrest, for a number of years was forced to apply the East Syriac corrected rite. Even today, the Catholicos Church of Malabar uses the East Syriac liturgical language, although in some places Malayalam is also used.
The Church recognizes 16 liturgies, the most ancient of which is the liturgy of Saint James. In addition, there are liturgies of the Apostles Matthew and Mark, the Twelve Apostles, Saints Ignatius the God-bearer, Clement of Rome, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, and others. The Liturgy of the Apostle James is in general use. The bread prepared on the day of the celebration of the Eucharist is leavened and salty. Wine is made from grapes on the eve of the liturgy, which is usually performed daily, and on Great Fortecost - only on Saturday and Sunday. The highlights of the liturgy are Prumion(beginning), usually with the exclamation of the deacon “Let us become good” and the response of the people “Lord, have mercy”, then a long and short prayer and “Bless, Lord” follow. After kaums(common prayer) - “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts…”. The kissing of the world is taught by the priest through the deacon to all the people in this way: the deacon puts his hand first on the right hand of the priest, and then on the right hand of the parishioner, who, pronouncing the word “peace”, in the same way passes the kiss of the world to the person standing next to him. During the consecration of the Holy Gifts and until the end of the Liturgy, organ music is played.
The sacrament of baptism is performed no later than two or three months after the birth of a child in the presence of godparents. The priest performs the denial of the baptized, anointing him with oil, blessing the water in the name of the Holy Trinity, after which, turning the baptized person to the east, he plunges into the font. Confirmation takes place immediately after baptism. Churching for boys takes place on the fortieth day, and for girls on the eightieth.
The fasts are the same as in the Jacobite Church of Antioch: weekly on Wednesday and Friday, four periods of fasting per year, and so-called. small fasts on specially appointed days. Lord's and Mother of God holidays are similar to Orthodox ones.
15. Sacred vestments
The daily attire of clerics consists of a cassock with wide sleeves and a spacious fastened collar at the back. Priests wear this vestment with a hemispherical cover on their heads, and monks with a “kukul”. liturgical vestments the deacon consists of a surplice and an orarion of red silk, decorated with crosses. The priest over the surplice (or vestment) wears an epitrachelion, a phelonion and a belt that supports the phelonion in the desired position. On his hands are instructions. Bishops over the episcopal phelonion, which has an appearance intermediate between the priestly phelonion and the Orthodox episcopal mantle, wear an omophorion that falls on the stole. The bishop has a panagia and a cross on his chest. The ring is on his right hand, with which he holds a cross of blessing or a staff. Bishops and monks wear a black veil (schema) on their heads, on which the bishops and archimandrites have crosses embroidered. The usual vestment of a bishop consists of a black cassock trimmed with red material, which he wears over a red cassock. Clerics wear beards and shave their heads.
16. Canon law
The church order in the Malabar Church before the arrival of the Portuguese was determined by the bishops who were sent by the Patriarch of Chaldea. During the period of Latin influence, Roman Catholics took their canonical definitions for Malabar from the decrees of the Council of Trent. And in the Syrian Jacobite Church, the canon law of the Jacobite Church of Antioch was subsequently introduced, which is based on the Nomocanon of Bar-Hebreus. However, in this Church, many decrees of ancient Chaldean canon law, as well as local laws, were preserved, which were reflected in the Portuguese legislation of 1653.
17. Temples
The Christian faith in the ancient Indian Church was passed down from generation to generation through worship, which was the only means of maintaining in this country a God-given religion, miraculously preserving the legacy of the holy Apostle Thomas.
Not a single temple of the pre-Portuguese era has survived to this day, because they were wooden. As a rule, the Portuguese style of ancient church architecture served as a model for the Syrian temples of India. The temple, usually surrounded on four sides by a wall, begins with a vestibule from the west. There are no seats in the temple. Solea is separated from the main temple by a small partition about a meter high. In its southern part there is a font. Lamps are hung on the sole in the center, under which there is a small table with a wooden cross, candles and a bell. Here are the liturgical books. Singers usually stand around this table. The altar is several steps higher than the middle part of the temple and is separated from it by a curtain. The throne is made of stone in the form of a cross. Steps lead up to it in front and behind. In the center on the throne are usually a cross, candles, artificial flowers. The throne most often does not adjoin the eastern wall, so that the clergy can walk around it. From above it is covered with a silk veil, on top of which is placed tablito, that is, a small stone or wooden tablet consecrated by a bishop and serving as an antimension. Without tablito the priest does not have the right to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. Behind the throne there is something similar to a cuvuklia, in which a cross is placed on Good Friday and holy water is stored. There is a lectern in the altar, on which the priest or deacon puts the Gospel to read the laid conception in front of the altar, "Golgotha" - an elevation on which there is a cross, two candlesticks, a censer and ripides with bells. Ripids are used in the consecration of Honest gifts. They are held above the head of the priest, waving slightly. Malabar Christians do not have an iconostasis and icons, but recently icons have gradually begun to be introduced in churches. In the middle of each temple hangs a chandelier, in the lamps of which walnut oil burns.
18. Contacts with the Orthodox Church
Until recently, contacts with the Malabar Church were very limited and sporadic. In 1851, representatives of the Malabar Church turned to the Russian consul in Constantinople with a request to assist in establishing fraternal relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, but the Russian-Turkish war prevented the realization of this dream. At the end of the last century, the Urmian Christians were reunited with Orthodoxy through the Russian Orthodox Church. At the same time, 15,000 Malabar Christians turned to the Holy Synod with a request for reunification, but the events of the early twentieth century prevented this. In 1933, Metropolitan Evlogy sent Hieromonk Andronik (Elpidinsky) to India to get acquainted with the Malabar Church, and then he himself met with Catholicos Vasily more than once when discussing pressing problems. Being unable to resolve the issue of reunification himself, Metropolitan Evlogy turned to the Patriarch of Moscow. Relations gradually began to improve. In December 1952, the representative of the Church of Greece, Archimandrite Panteleimon Karanikolas, later Bishop of Achaia, visited the Syro-Orthodox Church to attend a meeting of the youth department of the World Council of Churches in India. He got an excellent opportunity to get in touch with official representatives and ordinary believers of the Malabar Church.
In the period from October 24, 1953 to March 1954, informal discussions took place between representatives of the Malabar Church and prof. Oxford university dr om Nikolai Zernov.
The main obstacles that arose on the path to rapprochement were recognized as: 1) the different theological language of the Byzantine (Orthodox) and Eastern (Oriental) Christians in the formulation of the Christological question, 2) the difference in the number of Ecumenical Councils, 3) disagreement regarding the veneration of each Church of her fathers, as well as other canonical and liturgical distinctions. This meeting can be called an attempt to sound out from both sides of the positions, and at the same time can be considered as a useful contribution to the rapprochement of both Churches.
In February 1956, Bishop Jacob of Miletus, the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the World Council of Churches, having visited the Pre-Chalcedonian Churches, stopped in India, where he was received by the Catholicos of the “Syrian Orthodox Church”, with whom he had a conversation on a number of issues. In parting, the Catholicos said to the guest: “Before my eyes close, I want to see the land of promise, peace and the union of the Eastern Churches.”
Since 1961, the period of Pan-Orthodox Conferences began, at which issues of rapprochement with the Ancient Churches of the East were considered. The commissions are preparing materials for the forthcoming dialogue with the Oriental Churches, in particular with the Malabar Church, whose representatives often visited the heads of the Orthodox Churches and were guests of our Church more than once. In response, a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church headed by Archbishop Alexy of Tallinn and Estonia (now His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia) participated in December 1965 in the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Seminary in Kottayam. In January 1969, our delegation, headed by Archbishop Anthony of Minsk, visited the Malabar Church at the invitation of the Catholicos, after the participation in May 1968 of the delegation of the Malabar Church, headed by Metropolitan Avraham Mar Kliment of Knanai, at the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Patriarchate in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Metropolitans of the Malabar Church
Until the beginning of the XVI century. The Malabar Church was under the jurisdiction of the Nestorian Church, which, in turn, raises its hierarchy to the apostles Peter and Thomas. Since the 17th century The Malabar Church entered the jurisdiction of the Syrian-Jacobite Church, in which it remains to this day, being in principle independent.
Jurisdiction of the Nestorian Patriarchate
| John †1503 | Francis Rose 1599–1624 |
| Jacob 1503–1549 | Stephen de Britto 1625–1641 |
| Joseph 1556–1569 | Francis Gargia 1641–1659 |
| Abraham 1567–1597 | Thomas I 1653–1673 |
Jurisdiction of the Jacobite Patriarch
At the beginning of the XX century. there was another split in the Malabar Church into a patriarchal group and a group of catholicos headed by Dionysius VI.
Since 1962, both groups have united under the head of the Catholicos, recognizing the Jacobite Patriarch as their nominal head:
↩ Clementina Vaticana. T. 4. Roma, 1719-1728. - p. 306 (see ‘Arban…th ‘A. K. op. cit. - S. 56). ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
PRE-CHALCYDON CHURCHES- Eastern churches that did not accept the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon (451). These include the Monophysites, or those who did not accept the decrees of the Council of Ephesus (431), as well as the Nestorians, who created their own churches. Pre-Chalcedonian churches (which differ in terms of doctrine from the Roman catholic church, Orthodox and Uniate churches) currently number about 30 million believers. They profess either the Creed in the wording adopted before the Council of Ephesus 431 (such churches are called Nestorian) or before the Council of Chalcedon 451 (such churches are called Monophysite): the Syrian Eastern Church (called Nestorian), the Armenian Church, the Western Syrian (or Jacobite, founded by the monk Jacob Baradei, died in 578), the Syrian Orthodox Church in India, the Coptic Church, or the Egyptian Church (13 million believers), the Ethiopian Church, founded in the 4th century. The Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451 became a fixed date for the Monophysite schism, one of the turning points in the history of the division of the Christian Church. By this time, several christologies had been developed by theological thought, but after the victory of orthodoxy in the Christian East, an era of opposition between two main doctrines began: dyophysite and monophysite, which continues to this day. Ancient Eastern (oriental, pre-Chalcedonian or non-Chalcedonian) Christian churches include churches that are not only traditionally called “Monophysite” (Armenian Apostolic, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian), but also the Malankara Syrian, Eritrean and Assyrian Churches of the East that are in Eucharistic communion with them. They still do not communicate liturgically with any Christian church, except for the unique in its history and original religious culture of Malabar (Christians of the Apostle Thomas). The term "ancient" in relation to the listed religious entities researchers consider it stable, but very conditional, since this only allows them to be marked in order to distinguish them from other churches of the Eastern rite: Orthodox (local autocephalous and autonomous), Eastern Catholic, etc. If we consider the term “ancient” as a pointer to the early Christian period of the emergence of the community, then the described group, on the one hand, should have included (at least) the first eastern patriarchates: Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, as well as the Greek Orthodox Church. And on the other hand, the Malankara (appeared in the middle of the 17th century) and Eritrean (appeared in 1993) churches would not have entered. If, however, we consider this term as a pointer to the absolutization and conservation of Monophysite dogma and the corresponding liturgical practice in the selected group of churches, and the upholding of this position by all the ancient Eastern churches (both really chronologically earlier and later) for more than one and a half thousand years, then we will have to exclude from this group, the Assyrian Church of the East, gravitating towards Nestorianism. The Oriental churches are not the keepers of the classical Monophysitism of the Presbyter of Constantinople and Archimandrite Eutyches (about 370 - after 454), according to whom Jesus Christ is “of two natures”. Of course, this does not mean that the discrepancies between the pre-Chalcedonites and the Orthodox are purely terminological, therefore, although the name “Orthodox” appears in the self-name of some ancient Eastern churches, from the point of view of the dogma of the seven Ecumenical Councils, which Orthodox local Councils still adhere to, Monophysite communities are not Orthodox.
There are buildings in Russia that saw the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars, terrible fires and great wars, but still survived to this day.
Dormition Knyaginin Monastery
The monastery was founded in Vladimir by Prince Vsevolod big nest at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The people began to call the monastery "knyaginin", because the prince's wife Maria Shvarnovna insisted on its construction. Over the years, the daughter of Boris Godunov lived here, there was a hospital for the poor and a needlework school for girls. The monastery survived the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars, fires, devastation, was rebuilt several times, but still survived to this day.
Church of St. George in Staraya Ladoga
The Church of St. George appeared in Staraya Ladoga in the second half of the 12th century. For its bright, slender appearance, the locals called the shrine "the Ladoga bride."
Spaso-Preobrazhensky Mirozh Monastery
The Transfiguration of the Savior Monastery would have been erected in Pskov at the confluence of the Velikaya and Mirozhka rivers in the middle of the 12th century. Today, the shrine attracts the attention of pilgrims with a cathedral with unique frescoes of the pre-Mongol era.
Svensky Dormition Monastery
The Assumption Monastery was built by the Bryansk prince Roman Mikhailovich on the right bank of the Desna, opposite the mouth of the Sven River in 1288. You can find this ancient monument four kilometers from Bryansk, in the ancient village of Suponevo.
Church of Boris and Gleb in Kideksha
In the village of Kideksha, 4 km east of Suzdal, stands the Church of Boris and Gleb, built by Yuri Dolgoruky back in 1152. This monument of white stone architecture belongs to the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve and is protected by UNESCO.
Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Pereslavl-Zalessky
The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral began to be built by Yuri Dolgoruky in 1152. The shrine was completed by Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1157. For more than eight centuries, the white-stone temple has adorned Pereslavl's Red Square.
Sophia Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod
Sophia Cathedral is one of the main Orthodox decorations of the historical part of Veliky Novgorod. The temple was built by Prince Vladimir, son of Yaroslav the Wise, in 1045-1050.
Church of John the Baptist in Kerch
The center of Kerch is decorated with a monument of Byzantine architecture - the Church of John the Baptist. The temple was built between the 8th and 9th centuries. Today, the ancient church is complemented by an extension built in the 19th century.
Anatoly Ivanovich GERASIMOV
Ancient Christian church III-IV century. found in the Holy Land
According to Christian tradition, no day, no hour of the end of the world, just as no one knows the day or hour of his death. But it is known where the end of the world should come, where the last battle between the forces of Good and Evil will take place. This place, according to the Revelation of John the Theologian, is called Armageddon.
In Armageddon, they worshiped the god Baal, better known as Beelzebub - the Prince of Darkness. locals believed in the power of Baal, that he could not only give rain, but also protect from enemies. Baal was sacrificed with livestock and human blood.
The only image of Baal in Israel was found by archaeologists among the ruins. It is now in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
The latest archaeological finds made on the territory of the Israeli prison "Megido", which is located next to Mount Armageddon, have become a real sensation. The name of the mountain, by the way, comes from the Hebrew words "har Megido" (Mount Megido).
According to archaeologists and experts from the Israel Antiquities Authority, the remains of a building and a mosaic recently discovered on the territory of the Megido prison are part of the world's oldest church. Archaeologists believe that this building could have been built in the third century AD or at the beginning of the fourth century, even before the legalization of Christianity in the territory of the Roman Empire.
Instead of the traditional altar, there was an ordinary table in the central part of the ancient church. Apparently, it was intended for holding after-prayer meals, like the one that is known throughout the world as the last "Last Supper" with the participation of Jesus and his disciples. Unprecedented archaeological discoveries were made during the excavations that accompanied the construction work that was carried out with the aim of erecting new buildings for the Megido prison complex. The excavations involve prisoners serving their sentences in "Megido".
During the excavations, a mosaic floor with inscriptions on Greek, as well as geometric figures and a medallion depicting fish. Then the Cross had not yet become a symbol of Christianity. In the northern part of the church floor, archaeologists have found an inscription made in honor of the officer of the Roman centuria, a Christian, on whose donations the mosaic was laid out. Quotes from the Bible in ancient Greek are carved on the foundation of the ancient church. One of the inscriptions says that the temple is "dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ." In the eastern part of the mosaic panel, inscriptions made in memory of four women are clearly visible, whose names sound like this: Frimilia, Kyriaka, Dorothea and Christa.
In the opposite, western part of the mosaic floor, the name of another woman is mentioned - "God-fearing Akpatos", followed by an explanation: "In memory of the donation she made to purchase a table for the church of our Lord Jesus Christ." Dr. Leah Disgani, an ancient historian at the University of Jerusalem, points out that the inscription "table" found during the excavation of the mosaic floor and used in the same context in which the term "altar" is usually used, can revolutionize our knowledge of era of early Christianity. Until now, it was believed that at that time the Christian worship ended with a collective meal at a symbolic altar - the altar. However, it now appears that the early Christians gathered after prayer at the regular dinner table, just as they did, according to New Testament, participants of the Last Supper.
Before 313 AD Christianity was a forbidden religion in the Roman Empire, and therefore the followers of this faith had to gather secretly - in the catacombs or in private homes. In the ancient city of Dora Europos, excavated on the territory of modern Syria, one of these secret prayer houses was discovered, which was destroyed in 257 AD. It is known in literature as the Christian "meeting house" - "domos eclusia" in Latin. In the first half of the 4th century, Emperor Constantine, with two of his decrees - from 313 and 330 - turned Christianity into the official religion of the Roman Empire. Shortly thereafter, the three oldest churches known before were erected in the Holy Land. today: Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and a church in the Aloney area of Mamre near Hebron.
However, the buildings of these churches were repeatedly rebuilt, and practically nothing remains of the original buildings of the ancient era in our time. Meanwhile, the remains of an ancient church found in the area of the Megido crossroads have retained their original appearance. The building was built of simple white bricks, it was not, as is customary in today's Christian tradition, oriented to the east and does not contain many traditional elements of interior decoration.
Holy Land. Jerusalem
