Did Maphrian Mar Baselius Yeldo introduce the Jacobite faith among the Syrian Orthodox Christians of Kerala in the 17th century?

Introduction

The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Christians of Kerala believe that they were under the Patriarchate of Antioch from the 4^th century onwards, following the faith, rites and traditions of this Holy See to the present day.  They base this claim on what they believe are the authentic and consistent accounts given in their ola manuscripts and other important literary and oral sources, as well as what has been generationally transmitted to them over the centuries.[1]  As the term ‘Jacobite’ began to be applied to the Syrian Church of Antioch only in the 6^th century, they believe that in adhering to the Antiochian faith, they too acquired the term by association from the 6^th c. onwards. They believe that this was the state in which the Portuguese first encountered them in 1498, as the undivided ‘Syrian’ Church of the St. Thomas Christians.   

According to their narratives, they were forcibly brought under Rome’s authority and faith at the Synod of Diamper convened by Portuguese Catholic authorities in 1599.  They further maintain that although after Diamper they outwardly conformed to Latin ways, they remained true to the Syrian Orthodox faith and secretly continued to appeal to Antioch for help, until at a seminal event known as the ‘Oath of the Leaning Cross’ in 1653, they renounced Rome and returned to their original faith, vowing never to take Roman dogmas again.

However, from the early 19^th century onwards, a number of primarily Western Church historians began to argue that the ‘Syrian Christians’[2] of Kerala adopted Jacobite dogmas and began to be called ‘Jacobites’ following the arrival of three hierarchs in the 17^th century.[3]  Prior to that, they argued, they were of the Nestorian faith of the Church of the East, and followed its rites and traditions.  According to these historians, the first of the Jacobite bishops to arrive was Mar Gregorius Abdul Jaleel in 1665, and twenty years later, in 1685, Mar Baselius Yeldo and Mar Ivanius.  As these bishops were deputed by the Patriarch of Antioch, it is argued that they were instrumental in introducing the Jacobite faith among the Syrian Christians (JSC) of Kerala. This narrative appears to dominate Western scholarship on the history of the Syrian Christians, and continue to do so to the present day.[4]

The JSC themselves reject this narrative, and believe that these 17^th century bishops, rather than introducing the Jacobite faith, were only helping in re-affirm the faith which they already professed.  Moreover, they date the origins of Jacobitism in their Church to their early links with the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch.  Western scholars who have not followed the dominant narrative also support this view.  George Howard^[5] analyses the liturgies of the SCM and concludes they were Jacobite and pre-date the arrival of the Portuguese, arguing that the examples of Nestorian liturgies condemned at the Synod of Diamper were not actually adopted by the SCM.^[6]  Whitehouse argues a number of historical points that support the SCM foundational narratives (1873:191).

 An examination of these arguments is thought to be of great significance at present (in 2020) when the Jacobite Syrians are facing a very serious threat to their existence.  This comes from the ‘Indian Orthodox Church’ of Kerala, who on the strength of a legal verdict they secured in 2018, are not only materially harming the Jacobites by forcibly and violently evicting them from their churches, but also re-assigning a historical narrative and identity to the JSC along the lines of Western historians’ opinions about the origins of Jacobitism in Kerala.

This paper will address the related issues and historical context of this debate, taking up the following points:

• What is ‘Jacobitism’?
• The Syrian Christians’ earliest links with Antioch
• The Church of the East in Mesopotamia and the impact of the Nestorian schism on the Syrian Orthodox Church
• Revival of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Mesopotamia: the establishment of the Maphrianate
• The state of the St Thomas Christians in Kerala in the colonial period
• Mar Baselius Yeldo, Maphrian and Saint

What is ‘Jacobitism?’

‘Jacobitism’ refers to the continued recognition of the Patriarch of Antioch as Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church to which a community of Christians in Kerala have belonged since the 4th century.  

The terms ‘Jacobite’ and ‘Jacobitism’ are derived from a 6^th century bishop of the Syrian Church called Mar Jacob Baradaeus who was responsible for the revival of the Church at a time when it was threatened with being overwhelmed by doctrinal disputes of the time.

The Council of Chalcedon was convened in 451AD to settle the Christological controversies that were raging, but when the matter became irreconcilable, the Syriac Orthodox Church (SOC) of Antioch, along with other Oriental Churches broke away from the Greek Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches.[7]  As a result, the SOC in particular was subjected to intense persecution by the Emperors of Constantinople, and in one such instance,  Patriarch Mar Severus the Great of was forced to flee his patriarchate in Antioch and go into exile in Alexandria in 518, and died there in 538, which two events brought the SOC to its lowest ebb.

However, the Church was revived a century after Chalcedon, in 541, through the exertions of the charismatic and indefatigable Jacob Baradaeus.   Mar Jacob Baradaeus travelled extensively in the Palestine-Syria-Mesopotamia region, consecrating bishops and ordaining hundreds of priests to replace those killed in the persecutions, and helped unify the scattered Syrian Church and reaffirm it on its anti-Chalcedonian doctrinal position. Its enemies pejoratively used the term ‘Jacobite’ to refer to the newly resurgent Syrian Church, although Mar Jacob Baradaeus was neither the founder of this Church nor its doctrinarian.[8]  

Being a part of the Syrian Church of Antioch, the Syrians of Kerala also came to be pejoratively referred to as the ‘Jacobites’ by their detractors, but the term began to be consistently attached to the Kerala Syrians only from the late-19^th century onwards.  The direct impetus for this appears to have been a schism in the Church in Kerala, when after a 50-year conflict, a group of Syrians adopted Protestant reforms in their dogmas and practices and seceded from the Syrian Church, calling themselves the ‘Mar Thoma Reformed Syrian Church’.  Naturally, the Reformed Syrians found approval and favour with the British colonial and Protestant religious authorities, and the pejorative term ‘Jacobite’ was given to the Syrians who refused to adopt such reforms.  The Syrian Christians, rather than rejecting the term, came to accept it as the 20^th century progressed.  Consequently, although the Mother Church in the Levant is no longer straddled by this inaccurate term, it has become the main defining term of the Syrian Christians of Kerala since the early decades of the 20^th century.  

The Syrian Christians’ earliest links with Antioch

According to the authentic historical accounts of the SC of Kerala their earliest links with Antioch came about in the following manner.[9] 

In the late 3^rd century, the Church established by St. Thomas was persecuted to near-extinction by the teachings of the Persian prophet Mani and his followers.  narrative histories The SC narrative histories accounts believe that the remnant of the original St. Thomas Christians that had not apostatised were unified and brought into ecclesiastical communion with the main body of Christians in the West by a seminal event in the 4^th century.  Syrian Christian accounts This was the epochal arrival of the Jerusalemite merchant Knai Thoma, who brought with him Bishop Mar Joseph of Edessa and a party of Mesopotamian settlers in 345AD, sent by the Patriarch of Antioch.^[10]  Fundamental to this revival was the establishment of links with the See of Antioch, and the ecclesiastical institutions introduced by Mar Joseph of Edessa, in accordance with the practices of Antioch that deputed him.

Thus, to the geographically distant Church in Kerala, Antioch became the source and provenance of every element of religious doctrine and practice ever since, including its liturgy, traditions, practices, liturgical language of Syriac, and its true Apostolic Succession.^[11] To the Christians of Kerala, the self-awareness of their religion and its status as a part of the Universal Church of Christ became inextricably linked with the concept of ‘Antioch’, the city thus becoming imbued with holiness and pre-eminence next only to Jerusalem.  Like all Christians’ attachment to the holy city of Jerusalem whether it was in the hands of the Christians of Muslims, the Kerala Syrian Christians’ deep conceptual attachment to ‘Antioch’ appear to have been independent of whether the city itself was physically standing or destroyed by natural disasters, war etc., or whether the Patriarch actually resided there.

The Church of the East in Mesopotamia and the impact of the Nestorian schism on the Syrian Orthodox Church

Christianity spread rapidly in the Mesopotamian and Arabian region.^[12]  Although geographically these regions fell within the Persian Empire, their spiritual needs were met by the Patriarchs of Antioch that was in the Roman Empire, in accordance with the territorial divisions affirmed by the 6^th Canon of the Council of Nicaea.^[13]  Called the Church of the East, their chief bishop called the Catholicos (=governor) resided in the Persian capital Seleucia, and it was their custom to send their candidates to Antioch for consecration as bishops.^[14]

Nestorian heresy and secession of the Church of the East

In the early 5^th century, Nestorius tried to propagate what was considered heretical dogmas by all four Sees, i.e., the Churches of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, and for this he was excommunicated and exiled from all Churches at Ephesus in 431.  However, for various pollical and other reasons, the Church of the East adopted Nestorius’ teachings, and by the end of the 5^th century, completely seceded from Antioch. 

Impact of Nestorian schism on the Syrian Orthodox Church

The Nestorian schism had a serious impact on the SOC of Antioch, with the whole of the Mesopotamian region coming under the control of Seleucia.  As far as the Syrian Orthodox Church was concerned, when the Church of the East seceded, the office of ‘Catholicos of the East’ as the suffragan Metropolitan of Antioch ceased to exist.  Although the seceded ‘Nestorian’ Church of the East asserted its independence, there were still large groups of Syrian Christians in the Mesopotamia-Persia region who continued to adhere to Antioch in matters of faith and ecclesiastical submission. The defection of their Head, the Catholicos, along with other powerful metropolitans, left them weakened and this was rectified only about a hundred years later when Jacob Baradaeus consecrated sever metropolitans for them in the period 544-578.  It is seen that although the Church of the East continued to uphold the Apostolic Succession of St. Peter which it had received from Antioch,^[15] the secession from Antioch was unequivocally on doctrinal grounds, paving the way for prolonged antagonism between the two Churches.  

Revival of the Syrian Orthodox Church: the Maphrianate of Tigrit

The revival of the Syrian Christians in Mesopotamia and Persia was further strengthened when in 629, the Patriarch of Antioch Mar Athanasius I Gamolo brought together all the Syria Orthodox Metropolitans in Mesopotamia and consecrated Mar Marutha as the Great Metropolitan of the East in the city of Tigrit north of Seleucia. This metropolitan was also called Maphrian, and with the institution of this new office the Syrian Orthodox Christians of the region gained their own metropolitan, redressing the loss of the office of the Catholicos in Seleucia. That the Maphrianate was a new office under the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch is attested by the fact that neither in the letter of Mar Athanasius Gamolo, nor in the Canons of the Synod of 628, does it say that this office was the old Catholicate of Seleucia transplanted to Tigrit.^[16]

The Maphrians of Tigrit were elected by the Orthodox bishops in the Eastern regions, but they received consecration from the Patriarchs of Antioch.  Later the office of the Maphrian gained such importance that although it was a subordinated to the Patriarch, the Maphrians became consecrators of Patriarchs.^[17]

From the time of the secession of Seleucia in the late 5^th century, there were frequent conflicts between the Orthodox and Nestorian Churches in the Mesopotamian region. The monks of the Church of the East often made violent incursions into the Orthodox Church’s territories, attempting to seize monasteries and churches, and resisted equally violently by the Orthodox.   This hostility eased to some degree with the advent of the second Islamic Caliphate in Baghdad in the 8^th century, when all Christians were indiscriminately put under harsh taxation and other adverse conditions.^[18] 

In 991, the Islamic Caliphs recognised Tigrit as the seat of the Syrian Orthodox church, but within a hundred years, the city was attacked by the Arabs (in 1089), and the Maphrianate was moved to Mosul. In 1152 the two sees of Mosul and Tigrit were amalgamated and the Maphrian’s title became “Maphrian and Metropolitan of Mosul and Nineveh”.  However, when the Tigrit was destroyed by the Caliph in 1156, the Maphrianate was permanently moved to Mosul, and the Monastery of Mar Mattai became the seat of the Maphrian.  It was here that Mar Gregorius Bar Hebraeus, the most illustrious of all Maphrians of the Syriac Orthodox Church was ordained on 19 January in 1264 by Patriarch Mor Ignatius IV Yeshu.  The first Maphrian to take the title-name of ‘Baselius’ was Mar Baselius Elias of 1533, and from then on successive Maphrians have taken this name.^[19]  When a parallel ‘Maphrianate of Tur Abdin’ came into existence around the year 1500, the Maphrianate of the East with its seat in Mosul came to be known as ‘Maphrianate of Mosul’.^[20]  When its safety was threatened again, the Maphrian of Mosul took residence at the Patriarchate in Mardin.  When the last of the Maphrians passed away in 1848, the office was abolished in 1860, in accordance with the decision of the Universal Synod held under the Patriarch Mor Ignatius Yaqub II at the ‘Al Zafaran Monastery, as the drastically reduced population of Syrian Christians in the region did not warrant one any more.

The state of the St. Thomas Christians in Kerala

The territory of ‘all the East’ came under the authority of the Patriarch of Antioch, although they were not aware of it at the time.   From the arrival of merchant Knai Thoma in Kerala in 345AD with Mar Joseph the Bishop of Edessa and a party of Mesopotamian settlers, the ‘Syrian Church of Malankara’ formed by the union of the indigenous St. Thomas Christians and the settler-community together came under the authority of Antioch.  When the Church of the East and its Catholicoi in Seleucia apostatised and adopted Nestorian beliefs at the turn of the 5^th-6^th centuries, by all indications and accounts available to us at present the Christians of Kerala chose to remain true to Antiochian beliefs, and continued to do so in the whole of the Medieval period, until the 16^th century. 

In this thousand-year period, at times bishops deputed by Antioch came to them to live in Malankara for extended periods, often to die and be buried in the country.  At other times the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Christians sent candidates for ordination to Antioch or to Mosul. Several Jacobite Syrian sources make references to the Patriarch of Antioch or the Maphrian^[21] deputing bishops to Malankara, including the Niranam Grandhavari (Chronicle).^[22]  In religious matters they were continually supplied and sustained in the Orthodox faith by Antioch with bishops, malpans, and with manuscripts of Scriptures and prayerbooks. The numerous published histories of the Jacobite Syrians such as Pukadiyil (1869), Philip (1950), Kaniamparambil (1982, 1989) etc., and the primary-source accounts such as the testimony of ‘Joseph the Indian’ the Jacobite Syrian priest from Kodungalloor  recorded in Venice in 1501-2,^[23] the letters of Mar Thoma I of the mid-17^th century, the several letters of Mar Thoma IV written in the early decades of the 18^th century, the Niranam and Kandanad Chronicles  written by its prelates, all affirm this.  From these and scores of other religious and secular accounts, it appears that the Syrian Christians of Kerala enjoyed a secure religious life and prosperous secular life due to their commercial and mercantile prowess, because of the honours and privileges bestowed on them by the kings of Kerala, the foundation to which was laid when Knai Thoma and the Bishop of Edessa Mar Joseph arrived in 345. 

The Portuguese colonial period: 1498-1663

The significance of Mar Baselius’ arrival in Kerala could not be appreciated fully without the foregoing brief account of the origin and progress of the Syrian Church of Antioch and the Church of the East.  It was in the context of the stable and peaceful progress of the Syrian Church in Kerala that the Portuguese colonial powers and attendant Catholic missionaries arrived in 1498, marking the beginning of a new phase in the life of the Church when European interventions into the religious life of the Syrians began.  From the time of their arrival, the Portuguese religious authorities were displeased to find the Syrians following religious dogmas and practices antithetical to their own, and holding allegiance to Antioch rather than Rome.  Throughout the 16^th century, their focus appears to have been bringing about a fundamental change to this and bringing the Syrian Church under Rome’s authority. 

According to a fragment of an account of one such an arrival, written by an unknown Portuguese cleric in 1533, two bishops called Mar Yohannan and Mar Thomas arrived in Kerala in 1490 in the company of ‘Joseph the Indian’.^[24]  According to Syrian sources, when bishop Mar Yohannan arrived a second time in 1517, the Syrians received him ‘with great joy’, the people going out to meet him: ‘with the book of the Gospel, the cross, censers and torches, and they introduced them with great pomp and with the chanting of psalms and hymns’^[25].  The next to arrive were bishops Mar Yaballaha, Mar Denha and Mar Jacob, and the history of these bishops is shrouded in mystery.^[26] According to the accounts of Mar Jacob’s activities in Malankara, he was put under pressure to apostatise to Rome, which he appears to have done by slow degrees.^[27]  Eventually, when he moved in with the Franciscans, the Syrians abandoned him completely.^[28]

However, seeing the resistance of the body of the Church to follow Mar Jacob, the Portuguese missionaries brought in Latin bishops to slowly instruct and persuade the Syrians to conform to Rome.  But the Syrians refused to accept the young priests trained in these institutions and denied them entry into their churches.^[29] Realising that bishops sent to them by Antioch were being stopped or even brought to harm, the Syrians appealed to Pope Gregory of Rome (1572-85) to permit their Holy Fathers from Antioch to reach them.^[30] 

Unable to withstand the religious persecutions of the missionaries and denied protection from their rulers, the Syrians response to these depredations appear to have been to abandon their churches and homes in Kodungallur and Kollam, and, as the Jesuit historian Ferroli also says, they retreated ‘to the mountains’, ‘to live with the Hindus’ (Ferroli 1939:100).^[31]  The 16^th century is seen as a period of mass migrations of the Syrians, when they left their ancient urban settlements in Kodungallur, Kochi and Kollam, to the minor kingdoms in the hinterlands of Malabar where they were received favourably by the local kings.^[32]  What is evident in these instances is that the Syrians of Malankara were fervently attached to their Jacobite Syrian Orthodox faith, vigilant of its faith and doctrine, alert to any infringements of it, and considered only Antioch as the source of their faith and episcopal provenance. 

When a Nestorian bishop called Mar Abraham arrived in 1550, the Syrians examined him and finding his doctrine opposed to theirs, demanded that he renounced his faith and conformed to theirs as a pre-condition to their acceptance of him as their Metropolitan.  When he refused this, they agreed to accept him on certain conditions such as that they would accept priestly ordinations and other episcopal functions such as consecration of new churches etc. from him, but that he was not say Holy Qurbana or teach his doctrine in their churches.^[33]  It appears that the Syrians were willing to use Mar Abraham as a rallying figurehead in opposing the Portuguese, as the Portuguese had blockaded the entry to their own Syrian bishops, and Mar Abraham himself was subjected to persistent persecution by the Portuguese.  The two Chaldean Uniate Catholic bishops Mar Joseph Sulaqa and Mar Simeon, (belonging to the small group of dissidents from the Nestorian Church that had affiliated to Rome), who arrived in the latter half of the 16^th century were also accepted by the Jacobite Syrians within these restrictions, never adopting their dogmas or granting them authority over the Syrian Church in Kerala.^[34] 

Despite this consistent and prolonged resistance, the Syrians were eventually forced to capitulate to Rome’s authority in 1599 by the Synod of Diamper conducted through intimidation and coercion.^[35]  Gouvea attempts to portray Diamper as a largely peaceful council where the Syrians were readily pacified by Archbishop Meneze’s arguments (Malekandathil 2003: 263-5),  he later admits that there were there were loud protests from the Syrians over several days during the Synod, that fighting erupted outside the church, and the Syrians: ‘full of an infernal fury’, ‘rushed with passion’ into the church.^[36]  According to Scaria Zacharia, the Syrians were silenced with threats, resolutions were rushed through, and at the end signatures were forced from unwilling and tearful participants.^[37]  By these measures the Syrians were forced into renouncing the Patriarch of Antioch and confess their subjection to the Pope of Rome, and at the end of the Synod their books burnt in a bonfire in front to Udayamperoor church.  What was not burnt were confiscated.^[38] 

The Syrians remained in a state of destitution, their doctrine, allegiance, and rites altered, their Orthodox faith facing extinction.^[39] They continued to rebel, at times quietly, at others most vehemently, against the Catholic Archbishops Francisco Ros, Stephen Britto, and Francis Garcia.^[40] Outwardly they accommodated the orders of their Latin Archbishops, but secretly kept appealing to Antioch for deliverance.  What is evident in these instances is that even in the face of intense pressure to conform to Rome, the Syrians of Kerala continued to be fervently attached to Antioch and considered only Antioch as the source of their faith and episcopal provenance. 

In 1652, when a hierarch by the name Mar Ignatius Ahattalla, who the Syrians believed was their patriarch^[41] arrived in Surat, the Portuguese authorities captured and detained him in a Catholic institution in Mylapore.  In January 1653, when on the way to taking him to stand the Inquisition in Goa, the ship docked at Kochi, the Syrians heard about it and gathered in Kochi, and pleaded with the King of Kochi and the Portuguese Governor to release him.  But the Portuguese authorities drowned him in the sea of Kochi that night, and upon hearing this outrage, about 25,000 Syrians are said to have gathered in Mattancheri and taken the famous ‘koonen kurishu satyam’ or Oath of the Leaning Cross.  They tied stout mooring ropes to the granite cross in front of the Mattancherry church, and extending these ropes to all sides, they held on to them and taken the oath, for ever rejecting Rome’s authority over them.^[42]

The arrival of the Dutch

The defiant Syrian Christians went on to consecrate their Archdeacon Thoma as the first indigenous bishop, Mar Thoma I, but the Portuguese authorities continued to persecute them, subvert their faith and forcibly take over the parishes to its own authority.  It was at this time that the political fortunes of the Portuguese were struck a severe blow.  In a series of swift battles in 1662-63, the Dutch defeated the Portuguese in Colombo (Sri Lanka), Kollam, Kodungalloor and Kochi, and expelled them from the country.  As Protestants, their enmity towards the Portuguese colonials was not only political but also religious, and they initially took the Syrians under their protection.  However, succumbing to pressure from European Catholic royal houses in Holland and elsewhere, they were to reverse this policy, and soon permitted the Catholic missionaries to return, and it was in this manner that the Carmelite friar Sebastiani, now consecrated as a titular bishop, arrived and assumed power in Malankara as a Catholic Archbishop.  Sebastiani unleashed an intense propaganda and persecution against the Syrians, and began by slow attrition bringing the Syrian churches and their people under the Rome again, as key historians from the period testify. ^[43] 

Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church of Malankara in the latter half of the 17^th century, was in an impoverished and besieged state by the wilful neglect of the Dutch secular authorities to protect them, and the depredations of the Carmelite missionaries.

Mor Gregorius Abdul Jaleel

In this weakened state, the Syrians did the one action that they had final recourse to in times of crisis, and that was that they wrote repeated appeals and sent deputations to Antioch for bishops and teachers, firstly to perfect and canonise the consecration of Mar Thoma I, and secondly to re-affirm them in their Orthodox faith, and eventually Antioch complied by sending them the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Mar Gregorius Abdul Jaleel in 1665.  Unaware that the Portuguese had been vanquished and driven out of the country, Mar Gregorius remained in disguise in Ponnany near Kunnamkulam as a teacher of Arabic, until he was met and recognised by a Syrian faithful and brought to Paravur, and installed by the Syrians as their Metropolitan with all due honours.^[44] For a brief while the Syrians enjoyed a respite from the Carmelite missionaries’ overbearing excesses upon them because of the anti-Portuguese policy of the Dutch, and the Church began to recover.   But with the death of Mar Gregorius in 1681, and with the Dutch relaxing their anti-Catholic policies, the Portuguese Archbishops and Carmelite missionaries resumed their depredations on the Syrians. 

Syrian Orthodox Church of Malankara that had been in an impoverished and besieged state by the wilful neglect of the Dutch secular authorities to protect them, and the depredations of the Carmelite missionaries

The Maphrian and Saint, Mar Baselius Yeldo

Mar Baselius Yeldo was the Maphrian of Tigrit from 1671-1683. The title ‘Maphrian’ designated him as the second highest in the Syrian Church’s hierarchy next only to its Supreme Head, the Patriarch of Antioch.    Mar Baselius volunteered to travel to Kerala in response to their desperate pleas for help, despite his infirmity and the dangers along the route.  It is clear from his reception by the people in Kerala that he had not come to introduce a new faith, but to support the existing faith of the people.

Mar Baselius Yeldo takes up the challenge

In 1683, the then Metropolitan of the Malankara Church Mar Thoma II sent a fervent appeal to Antioch through a merchant named Joseph.  In this letter, he explained the sacrifices borne by Antioch’s previous delegate Mar Gregorius Abdul Jaleel in separating the Syrians of Malankara from Roman authority and restoring them to the pure Orthodox faith.  But Mar Thoma II also stated that since the death of Mar Gregorius in 1670, the Portuguese missionaries had resumed their oppression and harassment of the Syrians with renewed vigour, and were succeeding in bringing them back under Rome’s authority.  He pleaded the Patriarch to send a metropolitan and doctors (malpan) of the Church to Malankara to help unify the Orthodox faithful without wavering from their ancient faith. In 1684 yet another deputation was sent for the same purpose.  They arrived at the seat of the Patriarch in Mardin, at a time when the then Patriarch His Holiness Mar Ignatius Abdel Massih I was holding the great ceremony of the consecration of Holy Chrism (Mooron) at the ‘Al Zafran (Kurkuma) monastery, assisted by Maphrian Mar Baselius Yeldo and attended by most of the Metropolitans and bishops of the Syrian Orthodox Church.  Before the assembly dispersed, the Patriarch made an impassioned speech about the continuing crisis in the Malankara Church fomented by the Catholic missionaries.  As the Maphrian and Metropolitan of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the East, Mar Baselius Yeldo was deeply moved with pity when he heard this, and announced that he was willing step down from his office and go to the people of Malankara. The assembly were astonished to hear this, as the Maphrian was 91 years of age.  Realising the enormity of this self-sacrificing mission, they praised Mar Baselius’ courage and determination.  It is evident that it was Mar Baselius’ personal courage and dedication to his duty of care for the Church that persuaded him to volunteer himself despite his advanced years and attendant infirmities, and in the full knowledge of the dangers involved in the journey.  This was indeed a dangerous mission, as many before him had never reached their destination, having been captured and sent to the Inquisition, merely for being a hierarch of a Church not in communion with Rome.  The Patriarch finally gave his consent, and the Maphrian prepared for the journey.

Returning to the Maphrian’s seat at Mar Mattai’s monastery, Mar Baselius made detailed preparations.  He elevated Metropolitan Mar Dioscorus of Mosul as the new Maphrian, under the name Mar Baselius Geevarghese II.  Mar Baselius then put together a team of four to accompany him, namely, his brother Jumma, the newly consecrated bishop Mar Ivanius Hidayathulla, and two monks Joea and Matai from the monasteries of Mar Mattai and Mar Behnam.^[45] Mar Ivanius was from the Maphrian’s own village of Kooded, and the team were united in their dedication to the mission, and committed to face the challenges ahead. Apart from the necessary funds,^[46] Mar Baselius also assembled precious gifts to give to the Church in Malankara such as Holy Chrism (Mooron), and invaluable manuscripts.^[47]    Before setting off, Mar Baselius is also thought to have prayed and committed the party to the protection of God Almighty and made a vow that upon reaching Malankara safely, he would build a church in the name of St. Mary.^[48]

The Patriarch Mar Abdul Masih was fully aware of the very real danger involved in their journey.  It was perhaps this, and a wish that the Maphrian should be reunited with the Mother Church in Syria without coming to any harm that prompted the Patriarch to write a letter to the Jacobite Syrians in Malankara, commanding them to send the Maphrian back after a short stay of two years.  But fearing that the letter may get into the hands of the Portuguese and reveal the identity of the party, the Patriarch took the precaution of not using any words that would give away their identity, referring to the Maphrian as ‘the treasure that I am sending you’, and asking that they ‘bring it as far as Basra, where it will be received’. ^[49]  The Patriarch’s concern for his aged Maphrian and the reality of the danger of being captured by the Portuguese is reflected in this letter.

The journey and arrival

Setting off by ship from Basra, Mar Baselius and companions travelled in disguise and arrived at Surat, and from there they sailed for Kerala.  Like the Patriarch of Jerusalem^[50] Mar Gregorius Abdul Jaleel before them, they were also unsure as to what extent the Portuguese still controlled the coasts of Kerala, and taking extreme caution, disembarked in Thalassery, a port in the very north of Kerala far distant from the Syrian Christian centres.  From there they set off on foot in an easterly direction, and reaching the sparsely populated interior of the country, turned their way due south with the intention of travelling through the hinterlands to reach the population centres of the Syrian Christians in central Kerala.  Apart from all the dangers along the way from men who would do them harm and wild animals that would destroy them, they most probably travelled without any clear idea of the route, the lie of the land, the language, or the exact location of their destination.  It is not difficult to envisage the brave and resourceful party’s haphazard journey through at times densely forested mountainous country, carrying their precious belongings and provisions, always anxious of detection. 

This was a journey of tragic consequences on the one hand, and glorious achievements on the other.  In the last leg of their journey where the forests were particularly dense, the party joined a caravan travelling west from Tamil Nadu, and it was in this phase that they suffered their greatest trials.  On one occasion they were attacked by a leopard, when it was stopped and made to retreat by the divine power of the Saint’s hand-held cross.  At a place now called Pallivaasal, the Saint foresaw the danger in staying at an inn too close to a river in a ravine and the party camped on higher ground, and heavy rains caused a flash-flood that night, washing away those in the inn and their animals.  Here the Saint suffered his greatest loss when his brother Jumma and monks Joea and Matai died due to illness.^[51] Mar Baselius Yeldo improvised an altar here and said the Holy Qurbana in thanksgiving for their deliverance, and according to tradition, it was by this event that the place came to be known as ‘Pallivaasal’, meaning ‘the place of the church.’

Arriving at Kozhipally near the market town of Kothamangalam, Mar Baselius Yeldo and Mar Ivanius rested. Deciding that it was no longer wise to travel together, and instructing Mar Ivanius to hide himself in a tree, Mar Baselius proceeded on foot to do some reconnaissance.  Coming to the banks of the Kothamangalam river, Mar Baselius encountered a Hindu gentleman grazing his cattle there, and when Mar Baselius indicated that he wanted to be taken to a church, the gentleman left his cattle, and crossing the river, led him to the St. Thomas church (Mar Thoman Cheriapally) in Kothamangalam, and how the anxious parishioners went out hastily and fetched Mar Ivanius also from his hiding place.  Mar Baselius and Mar Ivanius were the only survivors of this ardours journey, the others having perished along the way.  Even so, it was an astonishing feat by any standards, especially for that time and place.  It was a journey of 250+miles (400 kms) on foot, the last quarter of it through densely forested mountainous terrain.  

The immediate aftermath of the arrival in Kothamangalam

The arrival of Mar Baselius electrified the Mar Thoman Cheriapally parishioners, and indeed the whole Jacobite Syrian Orthodox church.  The church bell tolled and the parishioners and villagers rushed to the church to witness the sudden and miraculous appearance in their midst of the second highest Holy Father of the Church next only to the Patriarch himself, the Maphrian Mar Baselius Yeldo.  They ministered to Mar Baselius and Mar Ivanius, their joy at these Fathers’ arrival tempered by sorrow at the enfeebled state of the aged Maphrian, the trials they had undergone, and the loss of their companions.  Even as the whole Church was thrilled, they were filled with humility and gratitude towards the Holy Mother Church of Antioch that had deputed these precious lives for their relief and deliverance. 

A week after his arrival, on the 14 of Kanni, the Maphrian consecrated Mar Ivanius as the Metropolitan of the Jacobite Syrians, and on the 17^th, he received the solemn last rites.  Mar Baselius succumbed to the exhaustions of the journey, passing away on Saturday the 19^th of Kanni (September 29^th) 1685.^[52]  Before he died, the Saint entrusted the Jacobite Syrian Church of Malankara into the hands of Metropolitan Mar Ivanius, commanding him to keep it safe from ‘Frankish theology’ and keep it firm in the Syrian Orthodox faith.  Mar Baselius spent 13 days in the parish church of Mar Thoman Cheriapally when through many instances the people perceived his saintliness, and mentioning the miraculous light that emanated from the granite cross outside the church at the time of the Saint’s passing as witnessed by the thousands of people gathered there.  The next day the Saint was entombed within the sanctuary.  

Impact of the arrival of Mar Baselius Yeldo and Mar Ivanius on the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church

The political and religious historical context of the arrival of Saint Mar Baselius was seen in sections 4 and 5 above.   With the passing away of Mar Gregorius Abdul Jaleel, the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church had been brought to a parlous state again.  It was at this time that Saint Mar Baselius and Mar Ivanius undertook their perilous journey and arrived among the faithful in Kerala. What the Saint and his companion Mar Ivanius accomplished was undoubtedly a glorious achievement, because from the time the Saint set foot in the church premises in Kothamangalam, the impoverished and besieged Church appear to have reinvigorated itself and set themselves on the path of recovery and rejuvenation.  

Unlike at the arrival of many scholarly Carmelite monks and rich and powerful Catholic Archbishops, they immediately recognised, even in their destitute and enfeebled state, Saint Mar Baselius and Mar Ivanius as their own Syrian Orthodox Holy Fathers sent by their Patriarch of Antioch.  It is a point of note that the immediate and unconditional acceptance of Mar Baselius Yeldo and Mar Ivanius by the Jacobite Syrians occurred in the context of their rejection over the previous 32 years, of all the benefits that would have accrued to them if they had merely submitted to Rome. They had suffered the slow attrition over half a century of Portuguese Catholic missionaries’ encroachments into their faith and traditions, the forcibly extracted surrender at Diamper and the half a century of continuing conflict.  Through it all the Syrians appear to have kept the flame of their faith burning, though corrupted by the many accretions of Roman dogma and practices.

But upon the arrival of Mar Baselius Yeldo and Mar Ivanius, the Syrians appear to have discerned in them the voice of the true Jacobite Syrian Orthodox faith, and like sheep that recognise the voice of true shepherds, they celebrated their arrival, receiving and honouring them as their own Holy Fathers.  Their joy at their arrival had a profound impact on the Syrian Christians of Kerala, deepening and reaffirming in them the true faith of the Syrian Orthodox Church.  They were cognisant of the great sacrifice made by Antioch for their benefit and for the preservation in them the true and glorious faith of their forefathers.  By this new-found vigour, they re-committed themselves to defend it with all their strength. 

It is noteworthy that in the celebrated narrative of Mar Baselius’ arrival and short life in Kerala, there is not a single direct or implied reference to him encountering challenges or rejection from the Jacobite Syrian Christians.  Also, there is no indication that the Maphrian used the 13 days that he was alive to speedily instruct and indoctrinate them in Jacobitism.  The contrast is sharpest when compared with the reception accorded to the various Latin, Nestorian and Chaldean bishops who arrived in Kerala in the 16th -17th centuries and attempted to govern the Syrian Church and be accepted by the people, as described in the earlier sections. The acceptance of the Maphrian and his companion Mar Ivanius appears to have been unconditional and total by the Jacobite Syrian Christians, indicating they shared the same faith and ecclesiastical lineage to Antioch, and that Jacobitism was thus not a new introduction.

In spite of their sorrow at the Saint’s sudden passing the Jacobite Syrians were able to reinvigorate and emphatically re-orientate themselves towards Antioch by the presence among them of the young and spirited bishop Mar Ivanius.  Mar Ivanius, consecrated as Metropolitan of the Jacobite Syrians before Mar Baselius’ death, proved himself to be just the right metropolitan for those times, a ‘treasure’ himself that was to oversee the upliftment and strengthening of the enfeebled Church, setting it back again on firm foundations of its faith, creed and traditions, returning it back to its ‘primitive’^[53] purity from which the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Christians of Malankara have not wavered ever since.

While his death on the 13^th day of his arrival was a loss to the Jacobites, it also brought incalculable riches to the Church and indeed to the whole region. The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, and indeed the whole people of the region without distinction of caste, creed or faith, recognised the saintliness of Mar Baselius from the countless miracles wrought by the powerful intercession of the Saint as documented in the church records.  The stream of pilgrims to the church has flowed ceaselessly to the present day.  Mar Baselius Yeldo was formally canonised on 20 October 1987, and it is an astonishing testament to the devotion of the Malankara Jacobite Syrians to the Saint that there are at present more than 70,000 individuals named after the Saint according to parish records.  According to tradition, those who at their baptism were dedicated to the Saint and his name dutifully return to the church on the day of his anniversary or dukhrono, making that day a solemn festival attended by large numbers of people. 

The parish church of Mar Thoman Cheriapally in Kothamangalam also honour the Hindu gentleman who had led Mar Baselius to them, and mark the profound debt owed to him by having successive generations of his lineage lead the procession on the annual commemorative feast day with a lighted oil-wick lamp.

The Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church continues to profess its ancient faith derived from Antioch, and continue to submit to the authority and Apostolic Succession of the Holy Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch to the present day.

References

a) Publications in Malayalam

Abdel Ahad Ramban Bartoloyo (1948) History of the Syrian Church. Tr. from Syriac by a team of Jacobite priests. Published by Fr. Yackob Thakadiyil. Kottayam.

Adimali, Dn. Baiju (2007) Kothamangalam muthappan: charithravum nattuprambariavum. (The Saintly figure of Kothamangalam: History and local traditions). Yordan Publications, Valara P.O.

Hudaya Canon (10 Chapters) (1974/2003) Tr. by Metropolitan Yacob Mar Julius.  Seminary Publications, Mulanthuruthy.

Chediath, G. & Appassery, G. (1990) Bar ebraya- sabha charithram, randam bhagam: paurastya mafrianmar (Bar Hebraeus: History of the Church, Part II: The Eastern Maphrians). Oriental Institute, Vadavathoor.

Kaniamparambil, Very Rev. Kurian Cor-Episcopa (2003) Yacobaya suriyani sabhayile anchu parishudhanmaar (Five Saints of the Jacobite under the Holy See of Antioch).

Paulose, Chevalier K.V. (2002) sthuthi chovvakkappetta vishudha sabhayude charithram (History of the Holy and True Orthodox Church).  St. Gregorius Publications, Kunnackal. Pp. 265-270.

Skaria kathanar, Nedunthallil (1949) Mar Baselios bavayude charithram. (Life of Holy Father Mar Baselius).

Vettikkunnel, Fr. M. (1720) malayāḷattiloḷḷa suṟiyān̠ikkārkkȧ bhavicca bhavitaṅṅȧḷ(The catastrophes that have befallen the Syrians of Malayala): a narrative of the religious history of Syrian Christians of Kerala. Leiden University Library: ms. Or. 1214, ed. by Sarah Knight, Doctoral thesis.

b) Publications in English:

Athanasius, Mar, (of Alexandria): Letter to Serapion, translated by C.R.B. Shapland. Epworth Press,1951.

Click to access Athanasius-Letters-to-Serapion-CRB-Shapland.pdf

Baldaeus, Philip (1672) A description of the most celebrated East-India coasts of Malabar and coromandel.

Bernard, T (1924) A Brief Sketch of the History of the St. Thomas Christians.  St Joseph Press Thiruchirapalli

Bernstein, Rev. A. James (2008) Surprised by Christ. Ancient Faith Publishing, Chesterton, Indiana. Pp.183-6.

Brown, Leslie (1982) The Indian Christians of St Thomas.  Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Cheeran, J (2009) Indian Orthodox Church AD 52-2007.  K.V. Mammen Kottackal Publishers

Cureton, W. (1886) Ancient Syriac Documents relative to the earliest Establishment of Christianity in Edessa and the neighbouring Countries, from the Year after our Lord’s Ascension to the Beginning of the Fourth Century. London.

Daniel, K.N. (1933) Rome and the Malabar Church.  in Kerala Society Papers, Series 11 307-340.

‘The Didache’, also called the ‘Teachings of the Twelve Apostles to the Nations’, or ‘The Doctrine of the Apostles’, written between 50-120AD.

Ferroli, Domenico (1939) The Jesuits in Malabar Vol.I. Bangalore.

Geddes, Michael (1694) The History of the Church of Malabar. London (reprinted 2015, Facsimile Publisher)

González, Justo L (2005) Essential Theological Terms. Westminster John Knox Press.

Gouvea, Antonio De (1606) Jornada do Arcebispo de Goa Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes Primaz da India Oriental. Coimbra, translated by Pius Malekandathil (2003), LRC Publications, Kochi.

Greatrex, Geoffrey; Lieu, Samuel N. C. (2002). Justinian’s First Persian War and the Eternal Peace: The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars (Part II, 363–630 AD). Routledge,London.

Hough, James (1839) The History of Christianity in India, Vols I, II, III &IV. Seely and Burnside, London. Elibron Classics Facsimile editions, 2006.

Joseph, T. K. (1930b) Mar Jacob’s religious persuasion Kerala Society Papers, Series 6, Trivandrum.

Joseph, T. K. (1930d) in Notes, to G. Schurhammer, Some Remarks on Series 4, Thomas Cana Plates, Mar Jacob’s Orthodoxy. Kerala Society Papers. Series 4, p.304. Trivandrum.

Kaniamparambil, Very Rev. Dr. Curien (1989) The Syrian Orthodox Church in India and its Apostolic Faith. Philips Gnanasikhamony, Detroit, MI.

Kollaparambil, J. (1981) The St Thomas Christians’ Revolution in 1653. Catholic Bishops House, Kottayam.

Kollaparambil, J. (2001) The Synod of Diamper. The Impact of the Synod of Diamper on the Ecclesial Identity of the St. Thomas Christians. in, George Nedungatt (ed.) ‘The Synod of Diamper Revisited’ pp.147-172. Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome.

Loughlin, James F., “The Sixth Nicene Canon and the Papacy,” American Catholic Quarterly Review, volume 5, January to October 1880, (Philadelphia, PA: Hardy & Mahony, 1880), 230.

Neill, Stephen (1984) A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707. Cambridge University Press.

Pratten, Rev. B.P. (1871) Syriac Documents attributed to the first three centuries. Clerk, Edinburgh.

https://archive.org/details/SyriacDocuments/page/n3

Malekandathil, Pius (2012) Religious Rhetoric:  Mercantile Strategies and a Revolting Community:  A study on the conflicts between the St Thomas Christians and the Portuguese Padroado, in: Negotiating Religion: Perspectives from Indian History.  Manohar, New Delhi. pp353-381.

McGuckin, John (2004) Saint Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy. St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, U.S

Menacherry, George (ed.) (1998) Indian church history classics. Vol. 1, The Nasṟānies South Asia Research Assistance Services, Ollur, Thrissur.  http://www.indianchristianity.com/html/chap3/chapter3a.htm

Michael, Patriarch of Antioch (1166-1199) The Syriac Chronicle of Michael Rabo (the Great). Translated by Matti Moosa (2014), Beth Antioch Press Teaneck, N.J.

Mingana, A. (1926) The Early Spread of Christianity in India, Bulletin of John Ryland’s Library 10:2 pp.435-514.

Mundadan, A. M. (1984) History of Christianity in India Vol.1, Church History Association of India, Bangalore.

Mundadan, A. M. (2003) Indian Christians: Search for Identity and Struggle for Autonomy Vol. 4. Dharmaram Publications.

Mundadan, A.M. (2000) The Life and Nature of The St. Thomas Christian Church in the Pre-Diamper Period. LRC, Kochi.

Mosheim, Johann Lorenz Von (1892): Ecclesiastical History from the Birth of Our Saviour to the Eighteenth Century. Translated from German by James Murdock.  Striptural Tract Repository, Boston.

Neale, Rev. John Mason (1873) A History of the Holy Eastern Church: The Patriarchate of Antioch. Rivingtons, London.

Neill, Stephen (1984) A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707. Cambridge University Press.

Payyappilly, I. (2016) Dux ad Historiam: Unfolding the Archdiocesan Archive of Ernakulam-Angamaly. Major Archbishop’s House, Kochi.

Perczel, István (2006) Language of Religion, languages of the people, languages of the documents: the legendary history of the Syrian Christian people of Kerala. in Ernst Bremer, Jörg Jarnut, Michael Richter and David Wasserstein (eds), Language of Religion – Language of the People: Judaism, Medieval Christianity and Islam/Mittelalter Studien; 11/(Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag), p. 387-428

Perczel, István (2013) Some New Documents on the Struggle of the Saint Thomas Christians to Maintain the Chaldaean Rite and Jurisdiction in: Peter Bruns, Heinz Otto Luthe (eds.), Orientalia Christiana: Festschrift für Hubert Kaufhold zum 70. Geburtstag (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz), p. 415-436.

Perczel, István (2014) Alexander of the Port/Kadavil Chandy Kattanar: A Syriac Poet and Disciple of the Jesuits in Seventeenth-century India, in Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 14: 30-49

Philip, E.M. (1950) The Indian Church of St. Thomas, London Mission Press, Nagercoil, India; also, republished by Dr. Kuriakose Cor-Episcopa Moolayil (2002), Mor Adai Study Centre, Cheeranchira, Kerala.

Podipara, Placid (1976) The hierarchy of the Syro-Malabar Church. Prakasam Publications, Alleppey, India.

Podipara, Placid (1986) The Canonical Sources of the Syro-Malabar Church. Oriental Institute of Religious Studies, Kottayam.

Poonen, T. I. (1948) A Survey of The Rise of The Dutch Power in Malabar.  St. Joseph’s Industrial School, Trichinopoly.

Prosser, P.E. (2001) Church history’s biggest hoax: Renaissance scholarship proved fatal for one of the medieval papacy’s favourite claims. Christian History 20.4 (Nov. 2001).

Pulikkunnel, Joseph (1997:52) Identity of the Nasṟāni church.  Indian Institute of Christian Studies, Edamattom.

Pulikunnel, Joseph (1988) The Chaldean Connection of the Indian Church. Indian Institute of Christian Studies, Edamattom.

Rae, G Milne (1892) The Syrian Church in India. William Blackwood, Edinburgh.Schaff, Philip (1884) History of the Christian Church Volume III. Charles Scribner, New York.  https://archive.org/details/historyofchristi03scha/page

Schurhammer, G. (1934) The Malabar Church and Rome during the Early Portuguese Period and Before.  Trichnopoly, India

Smith, W. S. (1867) Obstacles to Missionary Success among the heathen:  the Maitland Prize essay for 1867, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; reprinted by http://www.ForgottenBooks, 2015

The Travancore Royal Court of Final Appeal (1889) The Seminary Casebook Vol 1, Case No III of 1061.Yule Accessed in ‘The Royal Court of Final Appeal 1889’, published by The Orthodox Church Book House, Kottayam, India.

Thekkedath, Joseph (1972) The troubled Days of Francis Garcia S. J. Archbishop of Cranganore (1641-1659) Gregorian Biblical Bookshop.

Thekkedath, Joseph. (1982) History of Christianity in India, Vol. II, Church History Association of India, Bangalore.

Voobus, Arthur (1976) The Synodicon in the West Syrian Tradition. Louvain.

Voobus, Arthur (1982) The Canons Ascribed to Marutha of Maipherqat and related sources. Leuven.

Vallavanthara, Anthony: (1984) India in 1500 AD: the narratives of Joseph the Indian.   Research Institute for Studies in History, Kottayam. 

Vellian, Jacob (1975) The Romanization Tendency. The Syrian Churches Series 8. K P Press, Kottayam, India.

Visscher, Jacob Cantor (1663) Letters from Malabar.  Translated by Major Heber Drury, 1862, Madras.

Wallis Budge, E. A. (1928): The monks of Kublai khan the emperor of China, The Religious Tract Society, London. http://www.aina.org/books/mokk/mokk.htm#c9

Whitehouse, Rev. T. (1873) Lingerings of Light in a Dark Land.  William Brown & Co, London.

Wigram W.A. (1910) An Introduction to the History of the Assyrian Church 100-640 A.D. SPCK, London.

Wigram, W.A. (1908) The Doctrinal Position of the Assyrian or East Syrian Church. SPCK London.

Wilmshurst, D. (2000) The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318-1913 Peeters Publishers.

Wilmshurst, D. (2011) The Martyred Church – A History of the Church of the East. East and West Publishing, HK.

Yacoub III, H.H. Mar Ignatius; Patriarch (Undated, c.a.1980) Address given at Gottingen University, Germany, accessed on 20.6.2019, at:  https://www.syriacstudies.com/2018/04/30/the-syrian-orthodox-church-of-antioch-by-h-h-mor-ignatius-yacoub-iii-patriarch-of-antioch-and-all-the-east-for-the-period-1957-1980/

Zacharia, Scaria (1994) The Acts and Decrees of the Synod of Diamper (English version).  Indian Institute of Christian Studies, Edamattom, Kerala.

c) Online resources:

1. History of the ‘Catholicate of the East’ in the “Malankara Syriac Christian Resources”: 

http://syriacorthodoxresources.org/History/index.html

http://syriacchristianity.info/bio/MorBaseliosYeldho.html

(The author gratefully acknowledges the invaluable wealth of information contained in these two resources, which have been incorporated into this article.)

2. http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/marutha_nicaea_02_text.htm

3. www.earlychristianwritings.com

Article written by: Dr Sarah Knight, Cambridge U.K. Jan 2021

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End notes

[1] Naturally, the original St. Thomas Christians of Kerala underwent many changes in their name, traceable in their historical narratives. They were successively known as Margakkar or Mar Thoma Margakkar (Followers of St. Thomas) from the 1^st -4^th c., Mar Thoma Nasranikal (The Nazarenes of St. Thomas) or Nasrani Mappilas (The Noble Nazarenes) from 4^th -17^th c., Suriyani Kristyanikal (Syrian Christians) from the 17^th to the 19^th c., and Yakobaya Suriyani Kristyanikal (Jacobite Syrian Christians) from the late 19^th c. onwards to the present day.  There is overlap in these dates, and after European contacts in the 17^th to 20^th centuries when some sections seceded, they took new names which are essentially permutations of these names.  The original community still goes by the name Yakobaya Suriyani Sabha (‘Jacobite Syrian Church’) or, Satya Suriyani Sabha (=Syrian Orthodox Church’).  

[2] From the arrival of the Dutch in 1663, this was the general name applied to them.

[3] This line of argument appears to have been promoted especially by Western historians in the 19th and 20th centuries. See a representative sample among the scores of such accounts, in: Hough 1839 Vol.I:32-45, Vol II:299-301; Milne-Rae 1892:232-3,261; Mingana 1926:44fn.1; Brown 1963:45; Neill 1984:24; Perczel 2006:421-422. Some of them ante-date the introduction of Jacobitism in Kerala to 1653, as a historical ‘accident’. To substantiate this they give the strange account that, in seeking help to resist the on-going Portuguese efforts reduce them to Rome, the Syrian Christians had sent letters indiscriminately to the two Miaphysite Churches of Antioch and Alexandria, and also to the Nestorian Church in Baghdad, but that by chance, only Antioch had responded.

[4] During the European colonial period, several Catholic and Protestant-leaning groups seceded from the Jacobite Syrian Church, and Indian historians of these new Churches also appear to support this Western dominant narrative, reiterating the ‘Nestorian’ identity of the Syrian Christians, although these divergent narratives are often self-contradictory and lacking in cohesion.

[5] Assistant Chaplain in Madras, published The Christians of St Thomas and their Liturgies in 1864, based on Syriac manuscripts obtained in Malabar.

[6] ‘It is doubtful whether the Nestorian heresy took a deep hold in this branch of the Church’ (Howard 1864:18).

[7] From this time onwards the Oriental Churches were erroneously called ‘Monophysites’ from a serious   misunderstanding of their Christological position, but this was rectified in the late 20^th century, with the term ‘Monophysite’ being replaced by ‘Miaphysite’, which reflected their doctrine more accurately.  The great Oxford scholar Dr. Sebastian Brock first pointed out the error, and helped its correction accepted among the wider scholarly community.  See ‘The Syrian Orthodox Church in modern history’, in Christianity in the Middle East. Studies in Modern History, Theology and Politics, ed. A. O’Mahony (2007), 17–38.

[8] The term ‘Jacobite’ was applied to the revived Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch as well, especially in the Medieval times.  See Horatio Southgate 1840 Vol.II:179-80; Bar Hebraeus’ Chronicon Vol.2, translated by Chediath 1990:48-9; Ignatius Aphram Barsoum, translated by Matti Moosa 2003:300.  But in modern times, the Mother Church has utterly rejected the term, and it is no longer applied to it.

[9] The historical narrative is condensed from accounts given in the Mathai Vettikkunnel manuscript (1720), the 1771 Ola manuscript, the two Syrian Christian Chronicles of Niranam (latter half of the 18^th c.) and Kandanad (late 19-20^th c.), and several other secondary compiled accounts based on ancient olas such as Pukadiyil (1869), and Philip (1950) and Kaniamparambil (1982).  

[10] Kandanad Grandhavari (Cheeran 2008:28-31).

[11] Pukadiyil 1869:113-8; Philip 1950:70-75.

[12] Abdel Ahad 1948:483-5; also, in Bar Hebraeus pp.20-23. According to Abdel Ahad, by the early 3^rd century, there were over 20 dioceses in these regions (1948:483-88).

^[12] Bar Hebraeus pp.24-25; Badger 1850 Vol.1:137-8.

[13] Canon 6 of Nicaea gave the chief bishops of Alexandria and Antioch authority over large geographical territories following ‘ancient customs’ implying that their status was an already recognised one, merely reaffirmed by Nicaea. Accordingly, from 325 onwards, the Patriarch of Antioch presided over the greater part of the political diocese of the Orient, which comprised fifteen provinces, including Syria, Phenicia, Cilicia, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and later over Jerusalem as well and, the patriarch of Alexandria, over the whole diocese of Egypt with its nine rich provinces.  The patriarch of Rome presided over the entire West, with two prefectures, the Italian and the Gallic, with all their dioceses and provinces’. (Schaaf 1884:272-3, also footnote 1; and p.283.)

[14] Bar Hebraeus p.24 indicates clearly that this link between Antioch and Seleucia existed from Ante-Nicene periods.

[15] Bar Hebraeus quotes a line spoken by the doctrinarian Abu Zahaq Bar Avan to Catholicos Abraham (912-932) challenging him on his avarice: ‘This is the throne of Simon Cephas.  But (your) actions are that of Simon Magus.’

[16] See the Introduction to Bar Hebraeus by the editors Chediath and Appassery (pp.6-14). They state: ‘There are some writers in Kerala who have mixed up the Catholicate of Seleucia and the Maphrianate of Tigrit, seeing it as one.  Similarly, some consider the Maphrianate of Tigrit as a continuation of Seleucian Catholicate. Some have even stated that “The Synod of 628 passed (a resolution) that the Catholicose must in future be called the Maphrian”’ (p.14).  But they reject these, and assert that Bar Hebraeus delineates the history of both the Catholicate and the Maphrianate as two separate strands of history of two different Churches, and attest that his account is truthful and reliable (p.13), and that ‘What was established in Tigrit was a new Diocese and a new institution. It has no connection with the Seleucian Catholicate. To write contrary to this is a distortion of history’ (p.244).

The Maphrian was however in common usage, also called the ‘Catholicos’.  Bar Hebraeus mentions that when the people of Baghdad referred to himself as the ‘Catholicos’, the Catholicos of the Nestorian Church became envious and contemplated starting a quarrel with him (p.158), but this was prevented when the latter died shortly after.

[17] (Maphryono in Syriac, =”one who bears fruit” or ‘consecrator’). This was confirmed by the Synod of Kafartuta in 869 (Bar Hebraeus 84-5).

[18] A Jacobite Archdiocese was present in Baghdad from the establishment of the city as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphs in 762 AD. Dionysius I Telmaharoyo’s Annals (9^th c. AD), Michael the Great’s Chronicle (12^th c.AD) and Bar Hebraeus’ Chronography (13thc. AD) all give ample evidence of the presence of the Jacobite Church uninterruptedly in Baghdad (Budge 1932: 95, 143). Bar Hebraeus narrates his own reception as the newly consecrated Maphrian in 1264 by the citizens of Baghdad (pp.157-8, 161-2).

[19] Bar Hebraeus p.207.

[20] Ibid.

[21] In Malankara this term is often seen to be used interchangeably with that of ‘Catholicos’, as seen in Vettikkunnel 1720. See also note 34.

[22] After enumerating the Four Primary Patriarchates of Rome, Alexandria, Constantinople and Antioch, the Niranam Grandhavari adds: ‘But the Patriarch of Jerusalem takes precedence over them all. He walks in front of them bearing the Cross.  These Four Patriarchs have been (thus) established (unquestionably.) The 6^th Patriarch is Antioch’s Second, the Catholicos of Tigris. Malayalam-country is under his jurisdiction.’ (Niranam Grandhavari ed. by Manalil: 2002:103-4)

[23] This Joseph, when he met Pope Alexander VI of Rome, asserted that his Patriarch dwelt in ‘Antioch’, and that his ‘overbishop’ was called the ‘Catholica’, who sent Bishops and Metropolitans to Malabar ‘and to the provinces, as he deems fit’ (Vallavanthara 1984:168-69; 231).

[24] Schurhammer 1934:1-3.  Details of this account are not reliable, and contrary to Syrian Christian sources. This Joseph was the famous Syrian Christian priest from Kodungalloor, who on his subsequent journey with Cabral, visited Rome and declared before Pope Alexander VI that his Patriarch resided in Antioch (Vallavanthara 1984:166-70).

[25] K.T. Zachariah 1973:55.

[26] The identities and actions of these bishops given in Jesuit historian Schurhammer’s account (1934:20-21) are contradictory and problematic, and only Mar Jacob’s presence in Kerala from 1504 to 1550 is recorded with any reliability.

[27] See Mar Jacob’s 2 letters in Schurhammer 1934:10-24.

[28] K.N. Daniel, Kerala Society Papers, Series II:307-340.  Schurhammer has endeavoured to argue that the Syrians did not abandon Mar Jacob (1934:33-38), but this is contrary to the contents of his letters mentioned (Footnote 53). According to Jacobite Syrian historian Kaniamparambil, ‘Mar Jacob died a Roman Catholic in Fort Kochi’ (1982:124).

[29] Pukadiyil 1869: 124; Hough 1839 Vol.I:246-8; Geddes 1694:9-11.

[30] ‘ …Therefore, permit our Lord and Holy Father the Patriarch on the throne of Antioch from ancient times to continue to send us bishops again.  For we have come to know that when they are sent here, they are being detained and oppressed. We beg the Holy Father of Rome to save us in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the name of the Holy and Blessed Mary, Mother of God.’ K.T. Zachariah 1973:55-6.

[31] Archbishop Ros, writing in 1604 (Schurhammer 1934:22) mentions how the Syrians left Kodungallur on account of ‘the many molestations’ the Latin priests inflicted on them.  They ‘hindered the cassanares from saying Mass with leavened bread, forced them to eat fish on fast days and insisted that Lent begin on Ash Wednesday’. Since their parish churches and material assets were acquired by the parishioners themselves and not through royal or diocesan patronage, their abandonment would have been serious losses to the Syrians.

[32] Whitehouse observes the steady migration of SCM in this period from the central provinces, southwards and eastwards (1873:64). One such parish was the Kottayam Great St. Mary’s church consecrated in 1550.

[33] Mundadan1984 Vol I: 177-8.

[34] According to Kaniamparambil, Sulaqa and Simeon were crypto-Nestorians, who in the troubled times of 16^th century, were trying to bring the Syrians under the Nestorian Church, but that in simultaneously attempting to please Rome as well, they became rejected by both the Portuguese and the Syrians (1989:56-63).   

For an independent account of the perilous life of Mar Abraham in Kerala and the tragic fate of Mar Joseph and Simeon, see Geddes 1694:12-40. For images of the Nomocanon Mar Abraham brought, and his ‘Curse on Nestorius’ appended to its margin, see Payyappally 2016:157-67).

[35] Menezes is reported to have said to the Archdeacon: ‘sign, Father, for it is proper to place the axe at the root of the evil’ (Malekandathil 2000:123-4).  This metaphor was seen earlier when a real axe was placed leaning against the door of the Mar Sabor-Aphroth church in Udayamperoor at the commencement of the Synod. (Kandanad Chronicle, ed. by Cheeran 2008:32). 

[36] Malekandathil 2003:267, 274-276; Zacharia 1994:27-8.

[37] Zachariah 1994:27-28, 41).  

[38] The Jesuit historian Fr. Henry Hosten has noted that far more Syrian books, collected by the order of Menezes at the Synod of Diamper, and many more during his subsequent visits to parishes, were systematically burnt.  Hosten cites a letter by the Jesuit Father J.M. Campori of the Seminary of Vaipincota near Paravur, dated November 28^th 1599: “Fr. Ros (later, Archbishop) and I are busy examining their books. We delete, cut out, and throw into the fire entire books.  All considered this work as a marvel. Formerly they (the Syrians) were so attached to their books that they would not even allow them to be opened by us.  Now they are not annoyed to see us erase, truncate and burn entire books as we pleased” (Hosten 1927:85, footnote 32).

[39] Thekkedath 1972:21-33.

[40] Thekkedath 1972:21-33.  Jacobite Syrian historian Fr. K.T. Zachariah mentions how they ‘painfully endured’ the enforced Latin Mass and placing of statues in their churches (1973:65).  According to the Syrian manuscript called the ‘1771 ola’, despite the oaths sworn at Diamper, the Archdeacon and the Syrian people refused to follow Latin ways, and the Portuguese attempts at bribing the Archdeacon for his compliance were in vain (1771 ola 90-91).

[41] His identity remains obscure.

[42] See Mathai Vettikkunnel’s letter to the Dutch Governor (Malayalam version 1720), the 1771 Ola, Pukadiyil (1869), E.M. Philip (1950), K.T. Zachariah (1973), Kaniamparambil (1982, 1984) et.al. for the Jacobite Syrians’ version, and Joseph Thekkedath (1972) for a Catholic version of these events.

[43] See the account of Dutch historian Philip Baldaeus (1672); Dutch Protestant minister Jacob Canter Visscher’s 37 letters from Kochi 1717-24 translated by Heber Drury (1862); Michael Geddes (1694), and Maturin La Croze (1724).

[44] Kaniamparambil 1982:148-152 has an extended account, and Philip (1950:173-8) includes an epistle written by Mar Gregorius.

[45] It is unclear whether Mar Ivanius received consecration before departure or only after their arrival in Kothamangalam.

[46] Just as in the case of other similar instances when Syrian Orthodox bishops travelled to Malankara, it has to be assumed that the large funds required for their journey to Malankara were met by the Mother Church, as there is no mention of the Malankara Church making any contributions towards this.

[47] One such manuscript is the ‘Ordination Book’ of Mar Baselius Yeldo, which is still extant today.  It has 492 folios of Syriac text in the Serto script, and contains the Amalogia (Homologia=Confession of Faith), and the Order for the ordinations of deacons, archdeacons, priests, the consecration of bishops, churches, Holy Chrism, tabalaitha etc (ff 1- 430).  This is followed by the Anaphora of the Jacobites, Promions, readings and prayers and shalmootho.  Finally, ff. 481-492 contain signatures of scores of priests who had been ordained into the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church of Kerala following this Order.

[48] This was later fulfilled by his companion and successor, Metropolitan Mar Ivanius Hidayttulla

[49] See Appendix 1.

[50] This was the titular title of the Syrian Orthodox Metropolitans of the Holy City of Jerusalem.

[51] K.T. Zachariah 1973:74.

[52] K.T. Zachariah 1973:74.

[53] As noted by Mosheim (Vol. 1:5-6), when a Church has held only one set of doctrines and practices and no one has altered it, that Church can be said to preserve a ‘primitive’ purity.