FAITH SHARING SERIES                        #4 

And you will know the truth,

and the very truth will make you free. (Jn 8:32)

  

Chapter 1 

Liturgy of Mar Thoma Nazranis of India

The great Suppression and painful Rebirth 

Historical Background 

It is an accepted fact that the Nazrani Churches, both in Persia and in India were given birth by Mar Thoma, one of the twelve apostles of Eeso M’siha. Thoma did not spend a long time in Persia. It was on his way to India that Thoma passed thru Persia, the present day Iraq. After sowing seeds of the Gospel amongst the large population of Jewish people in Persia, Thoma continued on to India. It was Thoma’s companion and disciple, Addai, who was instrumental in the phenomenal growth of Christianity in Persia. The Persian Church holds Addai and his disciple Mari to be the two most prominent fathers, who nurtured and put the Persian Church on a great path of Nazrani ecclesial fellowship. Thoma is believed to have made two journeys to India. The first travel was around AD 42, when he traveled via land route, to the Kingdom of Gondaphor in Northwestern India (at present in Pakistan territory). Though Thoma’s journey to Gondaphor and many related stories are mentioned in the apocryphical “Acts of Thomas” as well as in stories handed down in the Indian Nazrani Church, there was no corraborative evidence of the existance of the kingdom of Gondaphor or of any King Gondaphares. As such these accounts were thought to be just stories of fantacy. But archeological excavations carried out by the British in early 20^th century in Northwest India, shed much light into existence of the Kingdom of Gondaphor and the kings known as Gondaphares who ruled during 1^st century AD. From Gondaphor, Thoma is believed to have journeyed back to Palestine before returning to India, this time to Malabar, taking the sea route.  

There is strong tradition and belief, both in the West as well as in the East that when Mariam, the Blessed Mother, passed away in Ephesus, Thoma was away in India. The other apostles buried her body in a grave in Ephesus. Thoma journeyed back from India and was stricken with uncontrolled grief on learning that her body was buried and that he could not see her earlier. On his obstinate insistence, those present there opened her grave. To everyone’s great dismay, the body of the Blessed Mother was not found in the grave. Only her girdle and burial sheets were in the grave. The great tradition of “Assumption of Mariam” started from this incident. Thoma was the first witness to her Assumption and was instrumental for the tradition of Mariam being taken to heaven body and soul.

 

Icon of the Assumption of Marth Mariam

 

   

Thoma (stands on right) with Mariam's girdle    

        

All the Eastern Churches immediately embraced this tradition, and soon the Western Church too followed in line. Now, all Christians believe in the Assumption of Mariam. It should give great joy to us, the children of Thoma, that it was our beloved Father in Faith who was also instrumental in the first public pronouncement of the Ressurection of our Lord, Eeso M’siha with the everlasting declaration of faith, “Mar Walah!” (My Lord and My God!) (Jn 20:28)   

Another fact about Mar Thoma may be of interest to the Mar Thoma Nazranis. During the public life of Eeso M’siha, an emissary of the king Abgar of Edessa, who was ill with serious skin diseace, approached Eeso requesting him to visit the king and cure him. Eeso replied that it was not the time for him to visit the king, but that in due time the visit would take place. Eeso wiped his face with a piece of cloth (Mandylion) and handed it over to Thoma with instructions to have it taken to king Abgar, in due course. After Pentecoast, Thoma went to Persia on his way to India. Before he left Persia, he entrusted his companion and disciple, Addai, to take the Mandylion to king Abgar, which he did. When king Abgar opened the Mandylion, what he saw was an image of Iso M’siha, clearly visible, on the cloth. He looked at it with graet reverence and was immediately cured of his illness. This image has come to be called “Acheiropoietos” meaning “not drawn by hand”. The Mandylion was safely kept at various places during the times of persecution of Nazranis and finally was taken by the crusaders to France and kept prominently in a church there. This church along with the Mandylion was burned down during the French Revolution. The story of the Mandylion and its being taken to king Abgar is recorded by Eusebeus in his famous book, “History of the Church”. Joseph Ratzinger (Mar Benedict XVI Papa) mentions about Acheiropoietos in his book “Spirit of the Liturgy”. Acheiropoietos is believed to be the foundation on which “iconography” was built upon later on. (We will discuss about iconography in a later chapter).    

 

An Icon made based on the

Acheiropoietos 

Thoma returned to India to continue his mission. This time he took the sea route to Malabar and landed in the ancient port of Muziris (now Kodungallore) in 52 AD. 

(During this voyage he is believed to have visited the Island of Socotra, in the north Arabian sea, and baptized the whole population there and brought them to the path of our Lord. The local tradition in Socotra confirm this belief. Socotra remained in the Nazrani fold till the beginning of second milleneum, according to many historical records. Socotra used to receive their bishops from Malabar. Right now, the inhabitants of Socotra are all Muslim, as they were all forcefully converted to Islam at the turn of the milleneum. The local Socotran tradition confirm their Thoma connection and subsequent conversion to Islam. Marco Polo, the Venetian explorer recorded that all Socotrans were Nazranis, belonging to the “Church of the East”.) 

We discussed earlier in the Introduction, about the apostles fanning out from Jerusalem to spread the good news of the arrival of M’siha to the Jewish settlements all over the Eastern world. The Jerusalem council took place sometime around 50 AD. It is possible that Thoma would have known the decision at the Council and the revelation received by Simeon Keppa, which led the three apostles in the council: Keppa (Peter) himself, Bishop Quiriakkos (or James)  of Jerusalem and Yohannan (or John), to declare that the message of Eeso M’siha was equally meant for the gentiles and pagans, as it was for the Jews. While the message of arrival of M’siha would have made much sense only to the Jews, the message of salvation promised by the Lord would have been appealing to non-Jews as well. We can be certain that the earliest Nazrani converts in Malabar, to be a mixture consisting mainly of Jews and also a cross section of the local population of Malabar. The local people were Tamil speaking Dravidians; Budhists, Jains and others following indegenous Dravidian beliefs and sects. There is a folklore-based tradition amongst the Malabar Nazranis that their original ancestors were all Hindus of higher castes. i.e. Brahmins and Nairs and who were converted by Mar Thoma. (This story is as fantastic as the mythological story about the formation of Kerala; that it popped out of the Arabian Sea by a battle-axe thrown by the Hindu Avathar and Brahmin warrior, Parasuraman.). Hinduism started making a foothold in Kerala only from the 6^th century onwards. The caste system came into existence with the immigration of the Aryan Brahmins (Nampoothiris) from 7^th century onwards, with the active support and help of the rulers. 

Wherever the apostles and diciples went and preached, communities of believers or Churches were organized, with a bishop at the head and also with presbyters and deacons, making up the local spiritual leadership. The believers gathered in the evenings in the synagogue, to pray and to “break bread” (Acts 2:46). On the Pesaha night, our Lord, Eeso had asked his diciples “Whenever you gather in my name, DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.” (Lk 22:19 and 1 Cor 11:24) Ever since the beginning of the Church, the believers have been gathering together to celebrate this  “Anamnesis”  or “memorial” of his passion, death, ressurrection and ascention, in the great expectation of his second coming. We find that Eeso M’siha himself has shown us a basic strucure of this remembrance, right on the “Ressurection Sunday”, on the way to Emmaus. (Lk 24:13-35) As we have already seen, the early Nazranis were all Jewish, and continued to be members of Jewish community following all Jewish customs. The night prayers that the Nazranis conducted also had strictly follwed Jewish Supper prayer. The main feature of their Supper prayer was a set of four “Birkat Priestly prayers”at its heart. No wonder that the earliest liturgy of the Nazranis was formed in this pattern.  

 (Ch 1  Liturgy-Historical Background: to continue Faith Sharing #5)   

 

 

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