Acts of Apostle Thomas

VIII CHINA EVANGELIZATON : M. M. NINAN
VIII
CHINA EVANGELIZATION
Founding of the Church in China by the Apostle St. Thomas between 65 and 68 AD according to the archealogical
evidences. It is more likely that it took place between 40 and 52 AD. If this dating AD 65-68
AD is true, this took place soon after the first tour of Kerala ministry. ”Such a discovery rehabilitates the
tradition of the Chaldean Church (Iraq) and of the Church of the Syro-Malabar rite in Southern India called
the “Christians of St. Thomas”, who have always considered the apostolate of the Apostle and the Christian
establishment in China in the first century of our era as facts. In the Chaldean breviary, for example, one
can read: ”By St. Thomas, the Kingdom of Heaven took wings and flew all the way to the China. ”” Kerala
tradition indeed speaks of two tours. The mission in Kerala has a break in between 52 and 62 when Thomas
went to other parts of India and probably to China .
According to the tradition of the Church in India, the Apostle finished his mission there in 64 AD., and left
from Meliapouram (near Madras) for China at the beginning of… 65 AD. The Indian and Chinese sources
agree. There is thus a strong possibility that the two figures of Kong Wang represent the Apostle himself
with, at his side, his acolyte-interpreter. "
China and Japan claim that St. Thomas personally brought Christianity to China and Japan in 64 and 70
C.E., respectively. This view is promulgated by the Keikyo Institute.
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