Indian Christianity

HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA : M. M. NINAN
Here is how the early CMS mission understood the history of Syrian Christians till their arrival.
THE
MISSIONARY CONFERENCE:
SOUTH INDIA AND CEYLON,
1879.
VOLUME II
HISTORICAL SKETCHES, OBITUARY NOTICES, AND APPENDIX.
MADRAS: ADDISON & CO., MOUNT ROAD.
LONDON: JOHN SNOW & CO.,
2, IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER Row.
1880.
XVI.—THE SYRIAN CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
By the Rev.. R. H. MADDOX.
THE Syrian Christian Chnrch of Malabar has an interest all its own in the annals of Church History. In the
darkest ages and in the most distant and obscure regions God has always had His own people, His appointed
witnesses for His truth.
Side by side with this ancient Christian Church in Malabar, there exists a considerable colony of Jews who,
it is supposed, made their way to India as early as the year A.D. 70, shortly after the destruction of the
second Temple, and the final destruction of Jerusalem. The presence of these two large and influential
communities in the country, linked by no common tie, yet witnesses together through strange vicissitudes for
eighteen centuries to the truth of God's revelation in the midst of heathenism, is a startling as well as
deeply interesting phenomenon in the history of the Church of God.
It is difficult to account with certainty for the origin of the Syrian Church in Malabar. The Christians
themselves claim the Apostle St. Thomas as the founder of their Church. This early and distinguished
origin has been called in question by many: it seems, however, to be pretty generally conceded by recent
writers on the subject, that to accept the truth is perhaps after all the most rational, as it is the simplest way, of
accounting for the tradition. That the tradition which ascribes the origin of the Syrian Church in Malabar to
the preaching of the Apostle St. Thomas is a very ancient one, and that it was very early diffused, is clear
from the fact, that our own King Alfred in the ninth century sent an embassy, under Singhelm, Bishop of
Shireburn, to visit the shrine of St. Thomas in India.
We have authentic records to show that as early as the second century there were Christians in India.
History records how that certain Egyptian sailors, who had been to India, brought back word to Demetrius,
Bishop of Alexandria, that the people who lived on those coasts desired further instruction and Christian
guidance. Accordingly we find the learned and eloquent Pantaenus was sent by the Bishop, to visit and
instruct them. From the account which the historian gives of the place and customs of the people there
seems to be no room to doubt that the country referred to is our own India, although it must be allowed that
the word India is used by early writers in a lax and uncertain way. The next reminder we have of the existence
of this Church is at the Council of Nicaa (A.D. 325) by the presence of John, styled Metropolitan of Persia and of
great India, establishing the fact that there was then a Church in India, over which the Metropolitan of
Persia claimed authority.
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