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38-456: St. Thomas' Church , St. Thomas Chapel , Church of St Thomas, the Apostle or Mar Thoma , Christian church buildings or ecclesiastical parishes under the patronage of Saint Thomas the Apostle , Saint Thomas of Canterbury , Saint Thomas Aquinas , or Saint Thomas More . Church buildings under the patronage of Saint Thomas of Canterbury , also known as Thomas Becket, Thomas à Becket and St Thomas

76-585: A current one in Classical sources for Indian names. The martyrologist Rabban Sliba dedicated a special day to both the Indian king, his family, and Saint Thomas: Coronatio Thomae apostoli et Misdeus rex Indiae, Johannes eus filius huisque mater Tertia (Coronation of Thomas the Apostle, and Misdeus king of India, together with his son Johannes (thought to be a latinization of Vizan ) and his mother Tertia) Rabban Sliba North Bank Baptist Christian Association It

114-463: Is commemorated on August 31. The Malankara Orthodox Church celebrates his feast on three days, 3 July (in memory of the relic translation to Edessa , modern Şanlıurfa ), 18 December (the Day he was lanced), and 21 December (when he died). The Passing of Mary , adjudged heretical by Pope Gelasius I in 494, was attributed to Joseph of Arimathea . The document states that Thomas was the only witness of

152-670: Is mentioned in the books and church traditions of Saint Thomas Christians in India, some of whom claim descent from the early Christians evangelized by Thomas the Apostle in AD 52. For example, it is found in the Malayalam ballad Thoma Ramban Pattu (The Song of the Lord Thomas) with the earliest manuscript being from the 17th century. The sources clearly have Thomas coming to India, then to China, and back to India, where he died. In other attested sources,

190-463: The Assumption of Mary into heaven. The other apostles were miraculously transported to Jerusalem to witness her death. Thomas was left in India, but after her first burial, he was transported to her tomb, where he witnessed her bodily assumption into heaven, from which she dropped her girdle . In an inversion of the story of Thomas' doubts, the other apostles are skeptical of Thomas' story until they see

228-709: The Book of Thomas the Contender , part of the Nag Hammadi library , he is alleged to be a twin to Jesus: "Now, since it has been said that you are my twin and true companion, examine yourself…" A " Doubting Thomas " is a skeptic who refuses to believe without direct personal experience—a reference to the Gospel of John 's depiction of the Apostle Thomas, who, in John's account, refused to believe

266-718: The Common Worship calendar of the Church of England) prefer 3 July, Thomas is remembered in the Church of England with a Festival . The Eastern Orthodox venerates Thomas on the following days: Thomas is also associated with the "Arabian" (or "Arapet") icon of the Theotokos (Mother of God), which is commemorated on 6 September. He is also associated with the Cincture of the Theotokos , which

304-449: The Gospel of John . In John 11:16, when Lazarus has recently died, and the apostles do not wish to go back to Judea , Thomas says: "Let us also go, that we may die with him." Thomas speaks again in John 14:5. There, Jesus had just explained that he was going away to prepare a heavenly home for his followers, and that one day they would join him there. Thomas reacted by saying, "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know

342-566: The Guaraní tribes of Paraguay claims that the Apostle Thomas was in Paraguay and preached to them under the name of Pa'í Sumé or Avaré Sumé (while in Peru he was known as Tumé). in the estate of our college, called Paraguay, and twenty leagues distant from Asumpcion. This place stretches out on one side into a pleasant plain, affording pasture to a vast quantity of cattle; on the other, where it looks towards

380-662: The Independence of Paraguay . This is mentioned by Franz Wisner von Morgenstern, an Austro-Hungarian engineer who served in the Paraguayan armies prior and during the Paraguayan War . According to Wisner, some Paraguayan miners while working nearby some hills at the Caaguazú Department found some stones with ancient letters carved in them. Dictator Francia sent his finest experts to inspect those stones, and they concluded that

418-794: The Saint Thomas Christians of modern-day state of Kerala in India , Saint Thomas travelled outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel, travelling as far as Kerala in South India, and reached Muziris (modern-day North Paravur and Kodungalloor in Kerala State) in AD 52. In 1258, some of the relics were brought to Ortona , in Abruzzo , Italy, where they have been held in the Church of Saint Thomas

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456-574: The resurrection of Jesus Christ when he was told of it (as is related in the Gospel of John ); he later confessed his faith (" My lord and my God ") on seeing the places where the wounds appeared still fresh on the holy body of Jesus after the Crucifixion of Jesus . While it is often assumed he touched the wounds in art and poetry, the scriptures do not say that he touched the wounds, merely that Jesus invited him to do so, with it being unclear if he actually felt them. According to traditional accounts of

494-703: The Apostle I slew in India has overtaken me in Edessa; here and there he is all himself. There went I, and there was he: here and there to my grief I find him. Ephrem the Syrian , a doctor of Syriac Christianity , writes in the forty-second of his "Carmina Nisibina" that the Apostle was put to death in India, and that his remains were subsequently buried in Edessa , brought there by an unnamed merchant. According to Eusebius' record, Thomas and Bartholomew were assigned to Parthia and northwest India. The Didascalia (dating from

532-564: The Apostle Thomas are said to have been sent by an Indian king and brought from India to the city of Edessa, Mesopotamia , on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written. The Indian king is named as "Mazdai" in Syriac sources, "Misdeos" and "Misdeus" in Greek and Latin sources respectively, which has been connected to the "Bazdeo" on the Kushan coinage of Vasudeva I , the transition between "M" and "B" being

570-634: The Apostle. He is regarded as the patron saint of India among its Christian adherents, and the Feast of Saint Thomas on July 3 is celebrated as Indian Christians' Day. The name Thomas remains quite popular among the Saint Thomas Christians of the Indian subcontinent . Many churches in the Middle East and southern Asia, besides India, also mention Apostle Thomas in their historical traditions as being

608-633: The Martyr. Thomas the Apostle Thomas the Apostle ( Greek : Θωμᾶς , romanized: Thōmâs ; Aramaic ܬܐܘܡܐ, romanized: Tʾōmā , meaning "the twin"), also known as Didymus (Greek: Δίδυμος, romanized: Dídymos, meaning "twin"), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament . Thomas is commonly known as " Doubting Thomas " because he initially doubted

646-594: The One-Begotten. The merchant is blessed for having so great a treasure. Edessa thus became the blessed city by possessing the greatest pearl India could yield. Thomas works miracles in India, and at Edessa Thomas is destined to baptize peoples perverse and steeped in darkness, and that in the land of India. ... Into what land shall I fly from the just? I stirred up Death the Apostles to slay, that by their death I might escape their blows. But harder still am I now stricken:

684-633: The apostle in the New Testament is derived from the Aramaic תְּאוֹמָא Tʾōmā ( Syriac ܬܐܘܿܡܵܐ/ܬ݁ܳܐܘܡܰܐ Tʾōmā / Tāʾwma ), meaning "the twin" and cognate to Hebrew תְּאוֹם tʾóm . The equivalent term for twin in Greek, which is also used in the New Testament, is Δίδυμος Didymos . The Nag Hammadi copy of the Gospel of Thomas begins: "These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymus, Judas Thomas, recorded." Early Syrian traditions also relate

722-655: The apostle's full name as Judas Thomas. Some have seen in the Acts of Thomas (written in east Syria in the early 3rd century, or perhaps as early as the first half of the 2nd century) an identification of Thomas with the apostle Judas, Son of James . However, the first sentence of the Acts follows the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles in distinguishing the apostle Thomas and the apostle Judas son of James. Others, such as James Tabor , identify him as Jude, brother of Jesus mentioned by Mark. In

760-551: The central part of the city of Chennai in India. Marco Polo , the Venetian traveller and author of Description of the World, popularly known as Il Milione, is reputed to have visited Southern India in 1288 and 1292. The first date has been rejected as he was in China at the time, but the second date is generally accepted. According to tradition, in AD 232, the greater portion of relics of

798-965: The empty tomb and the girdle. Thomas' receipt of the girdle is commonly depicted in medieval and pre- Council of Trent Renaissance art. According to traditional accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians of India, the Apostle Thomas landed in Muziris ( Cranganore ) on the Kerala coast in AD 52 and was martyred in Mylapore , near Madras , Tamil Nadu in AD 72. He is believed by the Saint Thomas Christian tradition to have established seven churches (communities) in Kerala. These churches are at Kodungallur, Palayoor , Kottakkavu (Paravur), Kokkamangalam , Niranam , Nilackal (Chayal) , Kollam , and Thiruvithamcode . Thomas baptized several families. Many families claim to have origins almost as far back as these, and

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836-500: The end of the 3rd century) states, "India and all countries condering it, even to the farthest seas... received the apostolic ordinances from Judas Thomas, who was a guide and ruler in the church which he built." According to traditional accounts, Thomas is believed to have left northwest India when an attack threatened and traveled by vessel to the Malabar Coast , possibly visiting southeast Arabia and Socotra en route, and landing at

874-547: The error of idolatry vanished from India. 2. Through St. Thomas the Chinese and Ethiopians were converted to the truth. 3. Through St. Thomas they accepted the sacrament of baptism and the adoption of sons. 4. Through St. Thomas they believed in and confessed the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. 5. Through St. Thomas they preserved the accepted faith of the one God. 6. Through St. Thomas

912-1104: The first evangelist to establish those churches, the Assyrian Church of the East , the early church of Sri Lanka. Saint Thomas Christian denominations Syro-Malabar Catholic , Syro-Malankara Catholic , Latin Catholic Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church , Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Malabar Independent Syrian Church Chaldean Syrian Mar Thoma Syrian , St. Thomas Evangelical Protestant denominations Andhra Evangelical Lutheran , Assemblies Jehovah Shammah , Christian Revival Church , Church of North India , Church of South India , Garo Baptist , Indian Brethren , Indian Pentecostal Church of God , Church of God (Full Gospel) , North Bank Baptist Christian , Northern Evangelical Lutheran , Methodist Church , Presbyterian , The Pentecostal Mission , Seventh-day Adventist , United Evangelical Lutheran Thomas first speaks in

950-521: The former flourishing port of Muziris (modern-day North Paravur and Kodungalloor ) (c. AD 50) in the company of a Jewish merchant Abbanes/Habban. From there he is said to have preached the gospel throughout the Malabar coast. The various churches he founded were located mainly on the Periyar River and its tributaries and along the coast, where there were Jewish colonies. Thomas's alleged visit to China

988-638: The land of Shir (land of Seres , Tarim Basin , near what was the world's easternmost sea for many people in antiquity). Additionally, the testimony of Arnobius of Sicca , active shortly after AD 300, maintains that the Christian message had arrived in India and among the Persians, Medians, and Parthians (along with the Seres ). According to Kurt E. Koch , Thomas the Apostle possibly traveled into Indonesia via India with Indian traders. Ancient oral tradition retained by

1026-508: The letters carved in those stones were Hebrew -like symbols, but they couldn't translate them nor figure out the exact date when those letters were carved. No further recorded investigations exists, and according to Wisner, people believed that the letters were made by Thomas the Apostle, following the tradition. According to Syrian Christian tradition, Thomas was killed with a spear at St. Thomas Mount in Chennai on 3 July in AD 72, and his body

1064-597: The life-giving splendors rose in all India. 7. Through St. Thomas the Kingdom of Heaven took wing and ascended to China . In its nascent form, this tradition is found at the earliest in the Zuqnin Chronicle (AD 775) and may have originated in the late Sasanian period. Perhaps it originated as a 3rd-century pseudepigraphon where Thomas would have converted the Magi (in the Gospel of Matthew ) to Christianity as they dwelled in

1102-617: The major ferial days of Advent . Traditionalist Roman Catholics (who follow the General Roman Calendar of 1960 or earlier), the Lutheran Church , and many Anglicans (including members of the Episcopal Church as well as members of the Church of England who worship according to the 1662 edition of the Book of Common Prayer ), still celebrate his feast day on 21 December. However, most modern liturgical calendars (including

1140-421: The religious historian Robert Eric Frykenberg notes that: "Whatever dubious historicity may be attached to such local traditions, there can be little doubt as to their great antiquity or to their great appeal in the popular imagination." It was to a land of dark people he was sent, to clothe them by Baptism in white robes. His grateful dawn dispelled India's painful darkness. It was his mission to espouse India to

1178-459: The resurrected Jesus had appeared to the ten other apostles until he could see and feel Jesus' crucifixion wounds . When the feast of Saint Thomas was inserted in the Roman calendar in the 9th century, it was assigned to 21 December. The Martyrology of St. Jerome mentioned the apostle on 3 July, the date to which the Roman celebration was transferred in 1969, so that it would no longer interfere with

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1216-489: The same oral traditions from the Paraguayan tribes. He wrote: ...The paraguayan tribes they have this very curious tradition. They claim that a very holy man (Thomas the Apostle himself), whom they call "Paí Thome", lived amongst them and preached to them the Holy Truth, wandering and carrying a wooden cross on his back. The sole recorded research done about the subject was during José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia 's reign after

1254-459: The south, it is surrounded by hills and rocks; in one of which a cross piled up of three large stones is visited, and held in great veneration by the natives for the sake of St. Thomas; for they believe, and firmly maintain, that the Apostle, seated on these stones as on a chair, formerly preached to the assembled Indians. Almost 150 years prior to Dobrizhoffer's arrival in Paraguay, another Jesuit Missionary, F. J. Antonio Ruiz de Montoya recollected

1292-565: The tomb, was first built in the 16th century by the Portuguese, and rebuilt in the 19th century by the British. St. Thomas Mount has been a site revered by Christians since at least the 16th century. Traditional accounts say that the Apostle Thomas preached not only in Kerala but also in other parts of Southern India – and a few relics are still kept at San Thome Basilica in Mylapore neighborhood in

1330-580: The tradition of making Thomas the apostle of China is found in the "Law of Christianity" (Fiqh al-naṣrāniyya), a compilation of juridical literature by Ibn al-Ṭayyib ( Nestorian theologian and physician who died in 1043 in Baghdad ). Later, in the Nomocanon of Abdisho bar Berika (metropolitan of Nisibis and Armenia, died in 1318) and the breviary of the Chaldean Church it is written: 1. Through St. Thomas

1368-657: The way?" John 20:24–29 tells how doubting Thomas was skeptical at first when he heard that Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to the other apostles, saying, "Except I shall see on his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." But when Jesus appeared later and invited Thomas to touch his wounds and behold him, Thomas showed his belief by saying, "My Lord and my God". Jesus then said, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." The name Thomas ( Greek : Θωμᾶς) given for

1406-476: Was established in the year 1950. According to a census published by the association in 2023, it claimed 1,136 congregations and 88,976 members. It is affiliated to the Baptist World Alliance . The following Baptist associations are its constituent bodies: This article about an organisation in India is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about Baptist Christianity

1444-462: Was interred in Mylapore. Latin Church tradition holds 21 December as his date of death. Ephrem the Syrian states that the Apostle was killed in India, and that his relics were taken then to Edessa. This is the earliest known record of his death. The records of Barbosa from the early 16th century record that the tomb was then maintained and a lamp is burning there. The St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica, Chennai , Tamil Nadu , India, presently located at

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