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95-555: The legend of Thomas's girdle probably originated in the East, and was well known in Italy by the 14th century. Thomas is most famous, apart from his mission to India , for the Doubting Thomas episode ( John 20 , John 20:24–29 ) where he missed the post-Resurrection appearance of Jesus to the ten other apostles, and said he would not believe Jesus had returned until he had felt his wounds. In

190-666: A reliquary in the Cappella del Sacro Cingolo in Prato Cathedral, and still exhibited five times annually, on the birthday of the Virgin Mary on September 8 and other feast days. In the Middle Ages the display coincided with the three days of the Prato (trading) fair, and was accompanied by elaborate civic ceremonies and festivities. After 1348, matters relating to the relic were controlled by

285-976: A Christian community in India using the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew language in the 2nd century. The tradition of origin of the Christians in Kerala is found in a version of the Songs of Thomas or Thomma Parvam , written in 1601 and believed to be a summary of a larger and older work. Thomas is described as arriving in or around Maliankara and founding Ēḻarappaḷḷikaḷ (Seven great churches): Kodungallur , Kottakavu , Palayoor , Kokkamangalam , Nilackal , Niranam and Kollam . Some other churches, namely Thiruvithamcode Arappally (a "half church"), Malayattoor and Aruvithura are often called Arappallikal . The Thomma Parvam also narrates

380-540: A bishop sent by the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius ʿAbdulmasīḥ I, arrived in India and the faction under the leadership of Thoma I welcomed him. The bishop was sent in correspondence to the letter sent by Thoma I to the Oriental Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch . Bishop Abdul Jaleel consecrated Thoma I canonically as a bishop and regularised his episcopal succession. This led to

475-531: A competing girdle relic in 1359 for the hospital Santa Maria della Scala , and the Basilica of Our Lady, Maastricht had another. 43°52′55″N 11°05′52″E  /  43.8820°N 11.0978°E  / 43.8820; 11.0978 Saint Thomas Christians Catholic Syro-Malankara Church ( West Syriac Rite ) Oriental Orthodox (West Syriac Rite) Jacobite Syrian Christian Church Malabar Independent Syrian Church Assyrian Church of

570-599: A friar to help her pregnancy, and there was an "original" at Westminster Abbey in London. The Prato girdle was much the most reputed in the Western church, and had a legendary provenance involving a Prato merchant called Michele Dagomari who married a woman from Jerusalem who was the descendant of the Eastern Rite priest to whom Thomas had entrusted the relic before his risky mission to India. Conventional documentary records suggest

665-635: A move designed to increase Quilon's trade and wealth. Thus began the Malayalam Era, known as Kollavarsham after the city, indicating the importance of Kollam in the 9th century. The great distances involved and the geopolitical turmoil of the period caused India to be cut off from the church's heartland in Mesopotamia at several points. In the 11th century the province was suppressed by the church entirely, as it had become impossible to reach, but effective relations were restored by 1301. However, following

760-573: A native Archdeacon , who had authority over the clergy and who wielded a great amount of secular power. Some contact and transmission of knowledge of the Saint Thomas Christians managed to reach the Christian West, even after the rise of the Islamic empires . Byzantine traveller Cosmas Indicopleustes wrote of Syrian Christians he met in India and Sri Lanka in the 6th century. In 883

855-509: A new ecclesiastical leader to free his people from the Padroado, travelled to Cochin and demanded to meet Ahatallah and examine his credentials. The Portuguese refused, stating the ship had already left for Goa. Ahatallah was never heard from in India again, inspiring false rumours that the Portuguese had murdered him and inflaming anti-Portuguese sentiments even more. This was the last straw for

950-569: Is Malayalam . Nasrani or Nazarene is a Syriac term for Christians , who were among the first converts to Christianity in the Near East . Historically, this community was organised as the Province of India of the Church of the East by Patriarch Timothy I (780–823 AD) in the eighth century, served by bishops and a local dynastic archdeacon . In the 14th century, the Church of the East declined in

1045-618: Is a lectionary of Pauline Epistles copied on AD 1301 (1612 AG ) in Kodungallūr (Cranganore, Classical Syriac : ܫܸܢܓܲܲܠܐ , romanized:  Shengala ) at the Church dedicated to Mar Quriaqos . This holy book has been copied in the royal, renowned and famous town Shengala, which is in Malabar in the land of India, in the holy Church dedicated to the Mar Quriaqos, the glorious martyr... whilst our blessed and holy father Mar Yahballaha

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1140-771: Is an evangelical faction that split off from the Marthoma Church in 1961. Meanwhile, the CSI Syrian Christians represents those Malankara Syrian Christians , who joined the Anglican Church in 1836 and eventually became part of the Church of South India , a United Protestant denomination. The C.S.I. is in full communion with the Mar Thoma Syrian Church. By the 20th century, various Syrian Christians joined Pentecostal and other evangelical denominations like

1235-563: Is at the west end of the left aisle, near the main door. It begins with a screened-off area under the first arch of the nave, but extends back into a new section built out of the side wall of the cathedral. Completing the chapel took the rest of the century, and the girdle was finally installed on Easter Sunday in 1395. The chapel has frescoes of Stories of the Virgin and the Cintola by Agnolo Gaddi (1392–1395). The 18th-century altar, which encloses

1330-721: Is in full communion with the Holy See in Rome. This includes the aforementioned Syro-Malabar Church, which follows the East Syriac Rite, as well as the West Syriac Syro-Malankara Catholic Church . The Oriental Orthodox faction includes the autocephalous Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and Malabar Independent Syrian Church along with the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church , an integral part of

1425-601: Is much doubt on the cultural background of early Christians, there is evidence that some members of the St Thomas Christian community observed Brahmin customs in the Middle Ages, such as the wearing of the Upanayana (sacred thread) and having a kudumi . The medieval historian Pius Malekandathil believes these were customs adopted and privileges won during the beginning of the Brahmin dominance of medieval Kerala. He argues that

1520-559: Is noted to have enhanced the social position of all the ancient Christians of India and secured for them royal protection from the Chera dynasty. The Thomas of Cana copper plates were extant in Kerala until the 17th century after which point they were lost. As the community grew and immigration by East Syriac Christians increased, the connection with the Church of the East, centred in the Persian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon , strengthened. From

1615-456: Is the over life-size marble relief on the rear wall of the huge "tabernacle" shrine of the Orsanmichele by Andrea Orcagna of 1352–1359. In 1402 Gian Galeazzo Visconti , Duke of Milan again invaded Florentine territory and the relic was processed round the city to protect it, and indeed he did not attack. Whether such a procession also happened in 1351 is unclear. The Prato relic is kept in

1710-493: The Church of the East , or East Syriac Church. Internally the Saint Thomas Christian community is divided into two ethnic groups, the majority Vadakkumbhagar or Northist and the minority Tekkumbhagar or Southist. Saint Thomas Christian tradition traces the origin of these ethno-geographical epithets to the city of Kodungallur , the historic capital of the medieval Chera dynasty . The early converts of Saint Thomas

1805-611: The Indo-Parthian Kingdom is the Acts of Thomas , likely written in the early 3rd century, perhaps in Edessa . A number of 3rd and 4th century Roman writers also mention Thomas' trip to India, including Ambrose of Milan , Gregory of Nazianzus , Jerome , and Ephrem the Syrian , while Eusebius of Caesarea records that St. Clement of Alexandria's teacher Pantaenus from Alexandria visited

1900-632: The Kerala Brethren , Indian Pentecostal Church of God , Assemblies of God , among others. They are known as Pentecostal Saint Thomas Christians . The Saint Thomas Christians have also been nicknamed such due to their reverence for Saint Thomas the Apostle , who is said to have brought Christianity to India. The name dates back to the period of Portuguese colonisation . They are also known, especially locally, as Nasrani or Nasrani Mappila . The former means Christian ; it appears to have been derived from

1995-592: The Knanaya migration. The two bishops were instrumental in founding many Christian churches with Syrian liturgy along the Malabar coast and were venerated as Qandishangal (saints) since then by the Thomas Christians. It is believed that Sapir Iso also proposed that the Chera king create a new seaport near Kollam in lieu of his request that he rebuild the almost vanished inland seaport at Kollam (kore-ke-ni) near Backare (Thevalakara), also known as Nelcynda and Tyndis to

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2090-506: The Malabar Coast were facing new challenges, caused by the establishment of Portuguese presence in India. The Saint Thomas Christians first encountered the Portuguese in 1498, during the expedition of Vasco da Gama . At the time the community was in a tenuous position: though thriving in the spice trade and protected by their own militia, the local political sphere was volatile and

2185-621: The Mount of Olives , to be present at the actual Assumption, and the Virgin dropped her girdle down to him as she was taken up to heaven. Alternatively, only Thomas actually witnessed the Assumption, and the Virgin left the belt as a proof for his story to the other apostles (a neat inversion of the Doubting Thomas episode). The legend is described briefly in the Golden Legend , with Thomas missing

2280-665: The Near East , due to persecution from Tamerlane . Portuguese colonial overtures to bring St Thomas Christians into the Latin Church of the Catholic Church , administered by their Padroado system in the 16th century, led to the first of several rifts ( schisms ) in the community. The attempts of the Portuguese culminated in the Synod of Diamper , formally subjugating them to the Portuguese Padroado and imposing upon them

2375-452: The Opera del Sacro Cingolo , a four-man lay body elected by the city council, who retained one third of the revenues collected from the pilgrims to the relic to fund their work. Following an attempted theft in 1312 and growing numbers of pilgrims, the city decided they needed to build a new chapel for the cathedral to hold the relic, which was previously kept in the cathedral choir. The new chapel

2470-726: The Reconquista . Facilitating their goals was the Padroado Real , a series of treaties and decrees in which the Pope conferred upon the Portuguese government certain authority in ecclesiastical matters in the foreign territories they conquered. They set up in Goa , forming a colonial government and a Latin church hierarchy under the Archbishop of Goa , and quickly set to bringing the Saint Thomas Christians under his authority. The Portuguese subjection of

2565-649: The Roman Rite of worship. The Portuguese oppression provoked a violent resistance among the Thomasine Christians, that took expression in the Coonan Cross Oath protest in 1653. This led to the permanent schism among the Thomas' Christians of India, leading to the formation of Puthenkur or Puthenkūttukār ("New allegiance" ) and Paḻayakūṟ or Pazhayakūr ("Old allegiance") factions. The Paḻayakūṟ comprise

2660-576: The Synod of Diamper , which implemented various liturgical and structural reforms in the Indian church. The Synod brought the parishes directly under the Archbishop's purview; anathematised certain "superstitious" social customs characteristic of their Hindu neighbors, including untouchability and a caste hierarchy; and purged the liturgy, the East Syriac Rite , of elements deemed unacceptable according to

2755-918: The West Syriac liturgy, customs and script to the Malabar Coast. The visits of prelates from the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch continued since then and this led to gradual replacement of the East Syriac Rite liturgy with the West Syriac Rite and the Malankara Church affiliated to the Miaphysite Christology of the Oriental Orthodox Communion . Furthermore, ʿAbdulmasīḥ I sent Maphrian Baselios Yaldo in 1685, along with Bishop Ivanios Hidayattullah who vehemently propagated

2850-488: The loggia -style grain market, were walled up. The second floor was devoted to offices, while the third housed one of the city's municipal grain storehouses, maintained to withstand famine or siege. As early as 1339 the main guilds had each been assigned a space between the arches to make a framed niche, with a statue of their patron saint in it. At this time, only the Arte de Lana (wool guild) seems to have done so; this figure

2945-503: The 4th or 8th century. The subgroup of the Saint Thomas Christians known as the Knanaya or Southists trace their lineage to Thomas of Cana, while the group known as the Northists claim descent from the early Christians evangelized by Thomas the Apostle. The traditional histories of the Thomas Christians note that the immigration of the Knanites reinvigorated the church of India, which was at

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3040-485: The Apostle and those who later joined the faith in India are believed to have initially resided on the northern side of the city of Kodungallur and for that reason became known as Vadakkumbhagar or Northist. In either the 4th or 8th century, the Syriac Christian merchant magnate Knai Thoma is noted to have arrived and settled in southern Kodungallur with a cohort of merchants and clergymen. Because they dwelled on

3135-503: The Apostle came to Muziris on the Kerala coast in AD 52 which is in present-day Pattanam , near Kodungallur , Kerala . The Cochin Jews are known to have existed in Kerala in the 1st century AD, and it was possible for an Aramaic -speaking Jew , such as St. Thomas from Galilee , to make a trip to Kerala then. The earliest known source connecting the Apostle to Northwest India, specifically

3230-620: The Assumption and receiving the girdle later, and is, uniquely among the surviving English medieval mystery plays , covered in the York Mystery Cycle . The belt or girdle was a common symbol of chastity , and for example Saint Thomas Aquinas had been given one by angels after sexual temptation. After Florence , only a few miles away, took control of Prato in 1350–51, the girdle begins to feature in Florentine art and to be shown worn by figures of Madonna del Parto , iconic figures showing

3325-823: The Byzantine Empress Zoe (978–1050). The Syriac Orthodox Church still venerates a relic, the Holy Girdle (Holy Soonoro in Syriac ), in Homs in Syria that is a section of a belt; it is kept in the Saint Mary Church of the Holy Belt , an ancient church that has been damaged during the Syrian civil war . Other sections are held in other churches. Florence's great rival, Siena , acquired

3420-439: The Cintola, is crowned by a marble Madonna with Child (c. 1301), considered one of Giovanni Pisano 's masterpieces. Presumably because the Prato relic has always been kept folded in a reliquary, and there are many rival relics, it is noticeable that the Tuscan artists depicting it cannot agree as to its precise form, but several knots along its length and tasselled or divided ends are common features. Two successive pulpits for

3515-457: The Coonan Cross Oath as an explosion against decades long suppression and overbearing attitude of Padroado Latin prelates. After the events of Coonan Cross Oath three letters were circulated claiming that they had been sent by Ahathalla . One such letter was read at a meeting at Edappally on 5 February 1653. This letter granted to the archdeacon some powers of the archbishop. On hearing it, a vast crowd enthusiastically welcomed Archdeacon Thomas as

3610-429: The East (East Syriac Rite) Oriental Protestant Christianity ( Reformed -West Syriac Rite) St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India Protestant The Saint Thomas Christians , also called Syrian Christians of India , Marthoma Suriyani Nasrani , Malankara Nasrani , or Nasrani Mappila , are an ethno-religious community of Indian Christians in the state of Kerala ( Malabar region ), who, for

3705-417: The English king Alfred the Great reportedly sent a mission and gifts to Saint Thomas' tomb in India. During the Crusades , distorted accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians and the Nestorian Church gave rise to the European legend of Prester John . The port at Kollam , then known as Quilon, was founded in 825 by Maruvān Sapir Iso, a Persian Christian merchant, with sanction from Ayyanadikal Thiruvadikal,

3800-400: The Exterior. After this point the Province of India was headed by a metropolitan bishop , dispatched from Persia, the "Metropolitan-Bishop of the Seat of Saint Thomas and the Whole Christian Church of India". His metropolitan see was probably in Cranganore , or (perhaps nominally) in Mylapore , where the shrine of Thomas was located. Under him were a varying number of bishops, as well as

3895-573: The Hebrew word Netzer or the Aramaic Nasraya from Isaiah 11:1. Nasrani is evolved from the Syriac term for "Christian" that emerges from the Greek word Nazōraioi , Nazarene in English. Mappila is an honorific applied to members of non-Indian faiths and descendants of immigrants from the middle east who had intermarried with the local population, including Muslims ( Jonaka Mappila ) and Jews ( Yuda Mappila ). Some Syrian Christians of Travancore continue to attach this honorific title to their names. The Government of India designates members of

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3990-399: The Latin protocol. A number of Syriac texts were condemned and ordered burnt, including the Peshitta , the Syriac version of the Bible. Some of the reforms, especially the elimination of caste status, reduced the Saint Thomas Christians' standing with their socially stratified Hindu neighbors. The Synod formally brought the Saint Thomas Christians into the Catholic Church but the actions of

4085-425: The Medici. A later glass and metal reliquary now houses the relic. The main pulpit inside the cathedral, for normal preaching, is decorated with reliefs by Donatello's pupil Antonio Rossellino and Mino da Fiesole and was completed in 1473. The central relief panel is a Madonna della Cintola . The main altarpiece of the cathedral, installed in 1338, had been the same scene, probably by Bernardo Daddi , from which

4180-421: The Portuguese over the ensuing years fueled resentment in segments of the community, and ultimately led to open resistance to their power. Over the next several decades, tensions seethed between the Portuguese and the remaining native hierarchy, and after 1641 Archdeacon Thomas , the nephew and successor to Archdeacon George of Cross, was often at odds with the Latin prelates. In 1652, the escalating situation

4275-567: The Puthenkur faction (Malankara Syrians) claimed 32. The remaining 12 churches were shared between the two factions until the late nineteenth century. The Paḻayakūṟ faction is the body from which the modern Syro-Malabar Church and Chaldean Syrian Church descend. The Puthenkur faction is the body from which the Jacobite , Orthodox , CSI Syrian Christians , Marthoma , St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India , Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and Malabar Independent Syrian Church originate. This visit of Gregorios Abdal Jaleel gradually introduced

4370-431: The Romans and Greeks and as Thondi to the Tamils, which had been without trade for several centuries because the Cheras were overrun by the Pallavas in the 6th century, ending the spice trade from the Malabar coast. The Tharisapalli plates presented to Maruvan Sapor Iso by Ayyanadikal Thiruvadikal granted the Christians the privilege of overseeing foreign trade in the city as well as control over its weights and measures in

4465-416: The Saint Thomas Christians found themselves under pressure from the rajas of Calicut and Cochin and other small kingdoms in the area. The Saint Thomas Christians and the Portuguese newcomers quickly formed an alliance. The Portuguese had a keen interest in implanting themselves in the spice trade and in spreading their version of Christianity, which had been forged during several centuries of warfare in

4560-434: The Saint Thomas Christians from their hierarchy in 1575, when the Padroado legislated that neither patriarch could send representatives to India without Portuguese approval. By 1599 the last Metropolitan, Abraham , had died, and the Archbishop of Goa, Aleixo de Menezes , had secured the submission of the young Archdeacon Givargis , the highest remaining representative of the native church hierarchy. The Archbishop convened

4655-429: The Saint Thomas Christians was relatively measured at first, but they became more aggressive after 1552, the year of the death of Metropolitan Mar Jacob and of a schism in the Church of the East , which resulted in there being two rival Patriarchs—one of whom entered communion with the Catholic Church. Both patriarchs sent bishops to India, but the Portuguese consistently managed to outmaneuver them, and effectively cut off

4750-413: The Saint Thomas Christians; in 1653, Thomas and community representatives met at the Church of Our Lady in Mattancherry to take bold action. In a great ceremony before a crucifix and lighted candles, they swore a solemn oath that they would never obey Padroado Archbishop Francisco Garcia or the Portuguese again, and that they accepted only the Archdeacon as their shepherd. There are various versions about

4845-405: The Syriac Orthodox Church headed by the Patriarch of Antioch. Oriental Protestant denominations include the Mar Thoma Syrian Church and the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India . Being a reformed church influenced by British Anglican missionaries in the 1800s, the Mar Thoma Church employs a reformed variant of the liturgical West Syriac Rite. The St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India

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4940-407: The Syrian Christians in Kerala, integrated with Persian Christian migrant merchants, in the 9th century to become a powerful trading community and were granted the privileges by the local rulers to promote revenue generation and to undermine Buddhist and Jain traders who rivaled the Brahmins for religious and political hegemony in Kerala at the time. An organized Christian presence in India dates to

5035-489: The Virgin Mary when pregnant. The simplest version of the story, known as the Madonna of the Girdle ( Madonna della Cintola ) in art, shows in its basic form the Virgin in the sky and Thomas on the ground, with the girdle being dropped or handed down. Usually Thomas is in front of the empty sarcophagus that had been occupied by the Virgin, sometimes now with flowers growing in it. In more elaborate versions angels, saints, and donor portraits can be present. The version of

5130-406: The West Syriac Rite and solidified the association of the Malankara Church with the Syriac Orthodox Church. Orsanmichele Orsanmichele ( pronounced [orsammiˈkɛːle] ; "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael ", from the Tuscan contraction of the Italian word orto ) is a church in the Italian city of Florence . The building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden of

5225-434: The absence of a bishop, twelve of the cattanars (priests) might lay their hands on Thomas, and that this would be adequate as episcopal consecration. The authenticity of these letters is not clear. Some are of the opinion that these letters might be forged by Anjilimoottil Itty Thommen Kathanar who was a skilled Syriac writer. The letters were read with enthusiasm in the churches of the Thomas Christians and Archdeacon Thomas

5320-412: The arrival of East Syriac settlers and missionaries from Persia , members of what would become the Church of the East, in around the 3rd century. Saint Thomas Christians trace the further growth of their community to the arrival of Jewish-Christians (early East Syriac Christians) from the region of Mesopotamia led by Knāi Thoma ( anglicized as Thomas of Cana), which is said to have occurred either in

5415-423: The collapse of the Church of the East's hierarchy in most of Asia later in the 14th century, India was effectively cut off from the church, and formal contact was severed. By the late 15th century India had had no metropolitan for several generations, and the authority traditionally associated with him had been vested in the archdeacon. MS Vatican Syriac 22 is the oldest known Syriac manuscript copied in India. It

5510-427: The community as Syrian Christians , a term originating with the Dutch colonial authority that distinguishes the Saint Thomas Christians, who used Syriac (within East Syriac Rite or West Syriac Rite ) as their liturgical language, from newly evangelised Christians who followed the Roman Rite . The terms Syrian or Syriac relate not to their ethnicity but to their historical, religious and liturgical connection to

5605-410: The continuation of the traditional pre-sixteenth century church of Saint Thomas Christians in India. It forms the Indian archdiocese of the Iraq -based Assyrian Church of the East , which is one of the descendant churches of the Church of the East. They were a minority faction within the Paḻayakūṟ faction, which joined with the Church of the East Bishop during the 1870s. The Eastern Catholic faction

5700-683: The conversion of Jews, natives, and the local King at Kodungallur by St Thomas. It is possible that the Jews who became Christians at that time were absorbed by what became the Nasrani Community in Kerala. The Thomma Parvam further narrates St Thomas's mission in the rest of South India and his martyrdom at Mylapore in present-day Chennai , Tamil Nadu. According to legend, the community began with Thomas's conversion of 32 Brahmin families, namely Pakalomattom , Sankarapuri, Kalli, Kaliyankal, Koikara, Madapoor, Muttodal, Kottakara, Nedumpilly, Palackal, Panakkamattom, Kunnappilly, Vazhappilly, Payyappilly, Maliakkal, Pattamukku, Thaiyil, etc. While there

5795-438: The distance hurrying towards the other apostles, and the Virgin taking off her girdle. Prato, slightly to the north of Florence, was intended to provide a defence of the larger city against attacks from the north. Prato was taken over by Florence during a war with Milan , just before an invasion of Tuscany by Giovanni Visconti da Oleggio in 1351, when the newly garrisoned Prato was by-passed and Florence itself besieged, before

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5890-413: The early 4th century the Patriarch of the Church of the East provided India with clergy, holy texts, and ecclesiastical infrastructure, and around 650 Patriarch Ishoyahb III solidified the Church of the East's jurisdiction over the Saint Thomas Christian community. In the 8th century Patriarch Timothy I organised the community as the Ecclesiastical Province of India , one of the church's Provinces of

5985-463: The end of time, through the intercession of the holy Apostle St. Thomas and all his colleagues ! Amen!.. MS Vatican Syriac 22 This manuscript is written in Estrangela script by a very young deacon named Zakharya bar Joseph bar Zakharya who was just 14 at the time of writing. The scribe refers Catholicos-Patriarch of the East Yahballaha III as Yahaballaha the fifth . Johannes P. M. van der Ploeg comments that this may indicate that

6080-429: The exaltation of her sons. Amen... And when Mar Jacob, Metropolitan Bishop was the overseer and governor of the holy see of Saint Thomas the Apostle, that is to say governor of us and of all the holy Church of the Christian India. May God grant him strength and help that he may govern us with zeal and direct us according to the will of his Lord, and that he may teach us His commandments and make us walk in His ways, till

6175-430: The fifth, the Turk, qatoliqa Patriakis of the East, the head of all the countries, was great governor, holding the offices of the Catholic Church of East, the shining lamp which illuminates its regions, the head of the pastors and Pontiff of the pontiffs, Head of great high priests, Father of the fathers... The Lord may make long his life and protect his days in order that he may govern her, a long time, for her glory and for

6270-422: The first lasting formal schism in the Saint Thomas Christian community. Thereafter, the faction affiliated with the Catholic Church under Bishop Palliveettil Chandy came to be known as Paḻayakūṟ (or "Old Allegiance"), and the branch affiliated with Thoma I came to be known as Puthenkur (or "New Allegiance"). These appellations have been somewhat controversial, though, as both parties considered themselves

6365-434: The girdle and holds it, as in the Oddi Altarpiece by Raphael and Titian 's Assumption in Verona Cathedral . He also holds the girdle in the Madonna della Cintola (often called an "Assumption") by Pinturicchio in the Borgia Apartments in the Vatican Palace (1492–1494), where he is the only apostle. An altarpiece by Palma Vecchio , now in the Brera Gallery in Milan, shows an intermediate version, with Thomas in

6460-409: The governor of their Church and four senior priests were appointed as his counsilors, namely, Anjilimoottil Itty Thommen of Kallisseri, Kuravilangad Parambil Palliveettil Chandy , Kaduthuruthi Kadavil Chandy , Angamali Vengur Giwargis Kathanar. At a further meeting held at Alangat, on 23 May 1653, another letter was read stating that it was from Ahathalla. It instructed the Saint Thomas Christians in

6555-490: The head of a Carmelite mission of the Propaganda Fide to regain the trust of the dissident St. Thomas Christians. Sebastiani and other Carmelites pressed that the ordination of the archdeacon as metropolitan by the priests in the absence of another bishop was not in accordance with Church laws. They succeeded in convincing a large group of Saint Thomas Christians, including Kadavil Chandy , Palliveettil Chandy and Vengur Giwargis, and Thoma I began to lose his followers. In

6650-418: The king of the independent Venad or the State of Quilon, a feudatory under Sthanu Ravi Varma Perumal of the Chera kingdom. Sapir Iso is usually identified either as the East Syriac Christian merchant who led the East Syriac bishops Mar Sabor and Mar Proth to the Christians of Malabar or as the first of those two bishops. This accompanied the second Assyrian migration into the Malabar coast other than

6745-414: The legend where Thomas is the only apostle to see the actual Assumption means that such images may legitimately be titled as Assumptions, which they often are. Lost versions by both Botticelli and Perugino (in the Sistine Chapel ), are known from drawings. The incident also appears in many works showing the Assumption with the other apostles, where Thomas is catching the falling girdle, or has received

6840-412: The main panel is now lost, and the cathedral still contains other painted and terracotta relief representations by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio and others. There were a number of supposed original girdle relics across the ancient Christian world, partly conflated with tertiary relics (belts that had touched the supposed genuine belt) – Elizabeth of York , queen of Henry VII of England , bought one of these from

6935-516: The meantime, Sebastiani returned to Rome and was consecrated as bishop on 15 December 1659. He reached Kerala again in 1661, being appointed as the Vicar Apostolic of Malabar by the pope. Within a short time period he restored majority of the churches that had been with Thoma I to Catholic Church. However, in 1663, with the conquest of Cochin by the Dutch, the control of the Portuguese on the Malabar coast

7030-419: The moment of their arrival deprived of ecclesial leadership. The arrival of the migrants is also associated with connecting the native Church of St. Thomas with the Syriac Christian tradition of the Church of the East . During this time period Thomas of Cana received copper plates of socio-economic and religious rights for his relations, his party, and all people of his religion. The granting of these plates

7125-558: The monastery of San Michele which no longer exists. Located on the Via Calzaiuoli in Florence, the church was originally built as a grain market in 1337 by Francesco Talenti , Neri di Fioravante, and Benci di Cione. Between 1380 and 1404, it was converted into a church used as the chapel of Florence's powerful craft and trade guilds . On the ground floor of the square building the 13th-century arches that had originally been open, forming

7220-560: The most part, employ the Eastern and Western liturgical rites of Syriac Christianity . They trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. The Saint Thomas Christians had been historically a part of the hierarchy of the Church of the East but are now divided into several different Eastern Catholic , Oriental Orthodox , Protestant , and independent bodies, each with their own liturgies and traditions. They are Malayalis and their mother tongue

7315-545: The museum of Orsanmichele, which occupies the upper floor of the church, and can be seen on every Monday, the only day when the museum is open. Two works by Donatello are in other Florentine museums: St. George and its niche are in the Bargello , and St. Louis of Toulouse is in the museum of the Basilica di Santa Croce . The facades held 14 architecturally designed external niches, which were filled from 1399 to around 1430. The three richest guilds opted to make their figures in

7410-418: The one on the upper floor of the building (see below). Inside the church is Andrea Orcagna 's bejeweled Gothic Tabernacle (1355–59) encasing a repainting by Bernardo Daddi 's of an older icon of the "Madonna and Child". Orsanmichele's statuary is a relic of the fierce devotion and pride of Florentine trades, and a reminder that great art often arises out of a competitive climate. Each trade hoped to outdo

7505-559: The other hand, claimed direct descent from the very oldest Christians of the country, those who had been won to Christ by the Apostle Thomas himself. They had already long inhabited northern parts of Kodungallur. They had been there even before various waves of newcomers had arrived from the Babylonian or Mesopotamian provinces of Sassanian Persia." – Historian of South Asian Studies, Robert E. Frykenberg (2010) According to tradition, Thomas

7600-408: The other in commissioning original, groundbreaking sculptures for public display on Florence's most important street, and the artists hired and materials used (especially bronze) indicate the importance that was placed on this site. Today, all of the original sculptures have been removed and replaced with modern duplicates to protect them from the elements and vandalism. The originals mainly reside in

7695-589: The patriarch was not well known among the Indian Christians. In 1490, a delegation from the Saint Thomas Christians visited the Patriarch of the East , Shemon IV , to bring a bishop for India. One among them was Joseph the Indian, who later became famous for his visit to Rome and the account of Malabar in Book VI of Paesi novamente retrovati (1507) by Fracanzano da Montalboddo. The patriarch responded positively to

7790-654: The present day Syro-Malabar Church and Chaldean Syrian Church which continue to employ the original East Syriac Rite liturgy. The Puthenkur group, who continued to resist the Catholic missionaries, organized themselves as the independent Malankara Church and entered into a new communion with the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch , inheriting from them the West Syriac Rite, replacing the old East Syriac Rite liturgy. The Chaldean Syrian Church based in Thrissur represents

7885-413: The public display of the relic in Prato were built, the first was apparently inside the cathedral and is now gone, but was probably decorated with the 14th century reliefs now in the cathedral's museum . The second was built outside, projecting from a corner of the cathedral, in the 1430s by Donatello and Michelozzo , with a relief frieze of putti . This is very high, and does not allow a close view of

7980-623: The relic was in Prato by the 1270s and may have arrived there in 1194. The Cincture of the Theotokos , long in the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae in Constantinople (Istanbul), and now in the Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos , is the main equivalent relic of the Eastern Orthodox Church , drawing on the same legend. It is apparently made of camel hair and was embroidered in gold by

8075-431: The relic when it is displayed. This pulpit is still used today, though the rather worn original reliefs have been moved to the museum and replaced by copies. The museum also has the reliquary by Maso di Bartolomeo of 1446–47, decorated with putti' matching the outside pulpit; he also made the very fine Renaissance metalwork screens closing off two sides of the Cintola chapel from the aisle, which were partly paid for by

8170-473: The request of Saint Thomas Christians, and appointed two bishops, Mar Thoma and Mar Yohannan , dispatching them to India. These bishops, and three more (Mar Yahballaha, Mar Dinkha and Mar Yaqov ) who followed them in 1503–1504, reaffirmed and strengthened traditional ties between India and the Patriarchate. They were later followed by another bishop, Mar Abraham , who died in 1597. By that time, Christians of

8265-460: The siege was abandoned on the Feast of the Assumption . This was a huge relief, as most Florentine troops were garrisoning Pistoia and Prato. It has been suggested that this nervous time, and the date of the lifting of the siege, stimulated the significant number of Florentine commissions of art involving the story of the girdle in the years immediately following. The most notable and influential of these

8360-677: The southern side, the descendants of Thoma's migration became known as Tekkumbhagar or Southist. The Southist community is primarily known by the appellation K'nā'nāya (Syriac for Canaanite), an adjectival epithet of Knai Thoma. The Oxford History of the Christian Church summarizes the division of the community in the following quote: "In time, Jewish Christians of the most exclusive communities descended from settlers who accompanied Knayil Thomma (Kanayi) became known as 'Southists' (Tekkumbha ̄gar)...They distinguished between themselves and 'Northists' (Vatakkumbha ̄gar). The 'Northists', on

8455-526: The story of the girdle, at the Assumption of Mary , where the other apostles were present, Thomas once again missed the occasion (being on his way back from India), so the Virgin Mary , aware of Thomas' sceptical nature, appeared to him individually and dropped the girdle she was wearing down onto him, to give him a physical proof of what he had seen. In other versions he was miraculously transported from India to

8550-718: The true heirs to the Saint Thomas tradition, and saw the other party as schismatic. The Paḻayakūṟ faction was also known as Romo-Syrians and organized as the Syrian Catholic Church whereas the Puthenkur faction was also known as Jacobite Syrians and organized as the Malankara Syrian Church. Between 1661 and 1665, the Paḻayakūṟ faction (Syrian Catholics) claimed 72 of the 116 churches, while Archdeacon Thoma I and

8645-534: The wording of oath, one version being that the oath was directed against the Portuguese, another that it was directed against Jesuits, yet another version that it was directed against the authority of Roman Catholic Church . The independent Malankara Church regard the Coonan Cross Oath as the moment their Church regained its independence from the Catholic Church, which they lost during the Synod of Diamper . The Syro Malabar Church deny this argument and regard

8740-578: Was further complicated by the appearance in Mylapore of a mysterious figure named Ahatallah , who claimed to have been sent by the Pope , from the Church of Antioch to serve as "Patriarch of the Whole of India and of China". Ahatallah made a strong impression on the native clergy, but the Portuguese quickly decided he was an impostor, and put him on a ship bound for Europe by way of Goa. Archdeacon Thomas, desperate for

8835-478: Was later proclaimed bishop in a ceremony in which twelve priests laid hands on him, elevating him as Metropolitan with the title Thoma I and he added such ancient titles as 'Metran of All India', 'Gate of India'. At this point, the Portuguese missionaries attempted reconciliation with Saint Thomas Christians but were not successful. Later, in 1657, Pope Alexander VII sent the Italian priest Joseph Sebastiani as

8930-433: Was later replaced. Towards the end of the 14th century, the guilds were again charged by the city to commission statues of their patron saints to embellish the facades of the church. The majority of the statues date from 1400 to 1428, with two of the earliest from that period later replaced, in the 16th century. The sculptures seen in the exterior niches today are copies, the originals having been removed to museums, mostly

9025-531: Was lost. The Dutch declared that all the European missionaries had to leave Kerala. Before leaving Kerala, on 1 February 1663, Sebastiani consecrated Palliveettil Chandy was consecrated as the bishop of the Thomas Christians who adhered to Catholic Church. He soon also designated himself as 'Metran of All India' and 'Gate of India'. Thoma I, meanwhile sent requests to various Oriental Churches to receive canonical consecration as bishop. In 1665, Gregorios Abdal Jaleel ,

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