Indian Christianity

HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA : M. M. NINAN
CHAPTER TWO
ENTER THOMAS
Judas Thomas was one of the disciples of Jesus. He is also known as Didymus, which means the Twin.
Thomas means Twin in Aramaic and Didymus means Twin in Greek. He is generally known as the
Doubting Thomas since he refused to believe the resurrection unless he has verified it himself. If we
apply the criteria of Rom. 10:10 Thomas was the first Christian, since he was the first person to confess
that Jesus was indeed God.
His acts are not found in the Acts of the Apostles. But an apocryphal book written around 300 AD called
"Acts of Thomas”, describes it with embellishments and exaggerations. It was probably written in Greek
and was translated in to Syriac. (16). It is also found in Latin, Armenian, Ethiopic (Coptic), and Arabic.
These were written by Gnostic writers in Edessa and some scholars ascribe it to Bardaisan (155-223 AD)
of Syria. Apart from embellishments and exaggerations typical of these types of writings, the context and
historical facts are true. Archeology and Indian traditions substantiate the basic historic and geographic
context in this book.
St. Thomas
& Fragment of Acts of Thomas in Coptic
15