The faith and tradition regarding St. Thomas

The JSOC share their faith and the tradition of   their Apostloic origins, with all other ancient Christians of southern India. 

They believe that St. Thomas the Apostle arrived in their Malayala-country by ship, landing in Kodungalloor in 52 CE.  Here, by the amazing miracles he worked and the Gospel of Christ he preached, he was able to convert small pockets of people to Christianity.  This work was centred in 7 locations, namely, Kodungalloor, Palayur, Paravur, Gokkamangalam, Niranam, Nilackal and Kollam.  An 8th one in Tiruvithamcode is also included, but it is accorded only a ‘1/2-church’ status for some obscure reason.  In all these places the Apostle established churches and erected crosses, and eventually he was martyred in 72 CE in Mylapore on the east coast of India. 

Although his relics were removed to Edessa in Mesopotamia sometime in the late 3rd-early 4th century, this did not alter the Kerala Christians self-articulated narrative of their first conversion.  In their communal feast-days they sing and perform ancient ballads recounting related events.  To the present day they continue to explicitly invoke the memory of St. Thomas by the annual commemoration of his martyrdom, and Mylapore remains a centre for pilgrimage.  The place is considered so holy that even its dust is thought to have miraculous properties.  They carry handfuls of it home for blessing and protection.  Fully six out of the seven churches, as well as the ‘half-church’ established by St. Thomas have remained as Christian centres of worship to the present day. .   The 7th church in Nilackal, being in the mountainous area was abandoned as unsuitable for habitation at some point in the distant past, but this was  restored as an ecumenical church in the early 21st century. 

Many localised legends have survived, attached to each of the locations where churches were established, which are memorialised in the ballads of the Syrian Christians.  To the present day this narrative is integral to their communal and social identity in Kerala.  It appears to have remained consistent and unaltered.