Thomas

THOMAS, the Apostle, otherwise called Didymus, which in Greek signifies a Twin. The Hebrew Name Thomas signifies Euseb. l. 1. c. 13.also the same thing.e Eusebius seems to say that he was also called Jude, when he relates that Jude, otherwise called Thomas, sent St. Thaddeus the Disciple to Edessa, to King Abgarus. Some Editions of Eusebius call this Thaddeus the Brother of Thomas. No doubt is made but that St. Thomas was a Galilean, as well as the other Apostles; but the Place of his Birth, and the Circumstances of his Vocation, are unknown. He was appointed an Apostle in the 31st Year of the Vulgar Æra, and continued Luke vi. 13,14,15.to follow our Saviour during the three Years of his Preaching. We know none of the Particulars of his Life till the 33¹ Year of the Vulgar Æra, and a little before the Passion of our Saviour; when Jesus Christ, intending to go to Judea to raise up Lazarus, Thomas said to the rest, Let John xi. 16.us also go, that we may die with him: Let us die with Lazarus; or, Let us die with Jesus Christ; for the Interpreters take it in both Senses. St. Thomas meant by that, that by going to Judea they should be exposed to certain Death; for he knew the Hatred and Malice that the Jews and conceived against Jesus Christ. Some explain these Words, as if he intended to encourage the Apostles to this Resolution; but others Chrysost. in Joan. Hom. 61. p. 398.understand them as a Token of the Fear with which he was seized.

John xiv. 5, 6.At the Last Supper St. Thomas asked Jesus Christ whither he was going, and what way he would take? To which our Saviour answered, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. After the Resurrection, when Jesus Christ appeared to his Apostles, in the Absence of St. Thomas, he so far expressed his Diffidence of what they assured John xx. 19. - - 29.him, as to tell them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. Eight Days after, Jesus appeared again to all the Apostles, and to St. Thomas, who was then among them. Then Thomas having both seen and touched him,a no longer doubted that it was he, and cry’d out, My Lord, and my God. Then Jesus said to him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. A few Days after, when St. John xxi. 1.--- 13.Thomas and some other Disciples went a Fishing, on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus appeared to them, caused them to take a very great Draught of Fishes, manifested himself to them, and dined with them. The ancient Tradition says, that in the Distribution which the Apostles made of the several Parts of the World, wherein they were to preach the Gospel, the Country of the Parthians fell to the share of St. Thomas.² ‘Tis added, that he preached to the Medes,

Vol. III. to the Persians, the Carmanians, the Hircanians, the Bactrians, and to the Magians, People that then composed the Empire of the Parthians. The Author of the Imperfect Work upon St. Matthew, says,³ that being arrived at the Country wherein the Magi were still living, who came to worship Jesus Christ at Bethlehem, he baptized them, and made use of them in preaching the Gospel. Several of the Fathers inform us,d that he preached in the Indies; others, that he preached in Ethiopia. See T. 6. Chrysost. Append. Homil. 31.

We have no certain History that informs us what St. Thomas did during the Course of his Preaching. ‘Twas read in certain Apocryphal Books, that were in great esteem among the Manichees, that this Saint having received a Blow from a certain Person, he cursed him, upon which the Man was devoured by a Lion. This Story is read in Abdias, and St. Austin speaks of it in several Places,⁴ but he rejects the Story, and the Books that contain it, as Apocryphal, and of no Authority. Clemens Alexandrinusf reports, out of Heracleon, a Valentinian Heretick, that St. Thomas did not suffer Martyrdom; but the other Fathers expressly mention, that he died by the Hands of the Infidels. And ‘tis thought that he died at Calamine in the Indies, and that from thence his Body was brought to Edessa, where he was always honoured. The Portugueze pretend, that this Saint suffered Martyrdom at Maliapus in the Indies, and that in this City an ancient Inscription is to be seen, that says he was pierced through by a Lance, at the foot of a Cross, near this City; that his Body was there found in these latter Ages, and carried to Goa, where he is still held in veneration.

But to this is opposed the Tradition of the Greeks, the Esteem shewed by the Essenians to the Body of St. Thomas, the Testimonies of the Fathers, and the Martyrologies, which have mentioned the Body and Remains of St. Thomas so many Ages before this pretended Discovery at Maliapus in the Indies: Lastly, it is maintained, that no good Proof can be given that Calamine is the same as Maliapus. But we have no Intention here to enter upon an Examination of these Matters; they may be consulted who have purposely written upon Ecclesiastical History; as Baronius on the Year 44 of Christ, and M. De Tillemont upon the Article St. Thomas,

T. I.⁵ T. 1. p. 394. where he points out the Authors that have made any mention of this Saint, and the Originals that may be consulted about him. The Martyrologies take notice of the Death of St. Thomas, or his Translation to Edessa, on December 21, upon which the Latin Church celebrates his Feast to this Day. The Greeks make it upon the 6th of October. The Martyrology of St. Jerome sets down a Festival of this Saint on the 3d of June, and one of his Death on the 9th of February. See Florentinius’s Notes upon the Martyrology of St. Jerome.

Several Apocryphal Works have been imputed to St. Thomas; as his Acts, his Voyages, his Gospel, an Apocalypse, which have been condemned by Pope Gelasius. Abdias speaks of a Book which contained the Voyage of St. Thomas into the Indies, and an account of what he did there. We find the Acts of St. Thomas in Greek Manuscripts, in several Libraries.⁶ The spurious Gospel of St. Thomas was composed by Cyrill. Cathech. 6.Thomas the Disciple of Manes; and this Gospel was probably the same as that false one of the Infancy of Jesus, which M. Fabricius has printed in his Collection of the Apocryphal Writings of the New Testament. We have already mentioned the Story of a Man’s being torn in pieces by a Lion, after having been cursed by St. Thomas: This was probably taken out of the false Acts of St. Thomas, and is found in Abdias. ‘Tis also cited out of his Acts, that he baptized not with Water, but with Oil; which was also imitated by the Manichees.

There are Christians in the East-Indies which go by the Name of St. Thomas, because it is thought that St. Thomas preached the Gospel to them. They dwell in a Peninsula of the Indus, on this side the Gulph. There are also many in the Kingdom of Cranganor, and in the neighbouring Places; as also at Nagapatan, at Melcapar, at Engamar, beyond Cochin, where their Archbishop resides, who is under the Jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Babylon. ‘Tis said that the first Christians of the Indies, converted by St. Thomas, relapsed again into their former Infidelity, and so far forgot the Instructions they had received from this Apostle, that they did not so much as remember there had ever been any Christians in their Country: So that a certain holy Man, called Mar-Thome, or Lord Thomas, a Syrian by Nation, went again to carry the Light of the Gospel into those Parts. He converted a great number of the People, with the Assistance of some Priests of Syria and Egypt, whom he invited thither. The Christians of St. Thomas are infected with several Errors, but chiefly Nestorianism: And I am much inclined to believe, that they derived the Name of Christians of St. Thomas only because of this Mar-Thome, their Apostle, whom we just now mentioned.

St. Thomas is generally represented with a Carpenter’s Rule, and a Square; and in his Life, written by Abdias, ‘tis said that this Saint undertook to build a magnificent Palace for Gondosar King of the Indies; and that he told this Prince he was the Servant of a very skilful Architect, and that he was very knowing in whatever belonged to Works of Wood or Stone, and all sorts of Buildings. But the Edifice he spoke of was that which the Blessed hope for in Heaven, and which they build upon Earth, by the Practice of Virtue and Good-Works. And the Inscription of Malabar intimates that St. Thomas came into that Country, having in his Hand Regulam fabri lignarii, & palum; a Carpenter’s Rule, and a piece of Timber. ‘Tis also told, that when he first came into the Indies, he undertook to draw and move a great Beam or piece of Timber, without any Assistance, which could not be moved out of its Place by all the Labour and Industry of the Inhabitants. He tied his Girdle to it, and drew it after him, like a little Stick: The King of Maliapus was so affected with this Miracle, that he, and all his People were converted. These Facts have no great Credit, but have been sufficient to justify Painters and Sculptors, to represent St. Thomas under the Appearance of a Mason or Carpenter.

Many have affirmed⁷ that St. Thomas preached in China. This Opinion is founded upon the Breviary of the Syrians, where we read these Words: By St. Thomas the Error of Idolatry was subdued in the Indies: By St. Thomas the Chinese and Æthiopians were converted to the knowledge of the Truth: By St. Thomas the Kingdom of Heaven has taken wing, and penetrated as far as China. Hence they pretend that he went as far as the Indies, where he suffered Martyrdom, according to the Tradition of the Churches of Malabar, in the City of Calamine, a City altogether unknown, and which perhaps never had any Being. It is certain that the Knowledge of the Christian Religion is ancient in China: In a Collection of Canons we find one that speaks of the Metropolitans of China. The two Arabians, whose Travels have been lately published,⁸ own that the King of China had some Knowledge of Jesus Christ and his Apo stles. The say, that in their Journey they passed through Bezomna, that is to say, the Church of St. Thomas. Yet Father Couplet has often testified, that the Histories of China make no mention of the Preaching of Christianity in China; not even that wherein we find the Chinese and Syrian Inscription, of which we are going to speak.

This Inscription was found in 1628, in the City of Siganfu, the Capital of the Province of Xensi. It is in Chinese Characters, with several Lines in Syriac, and was made in the Year of Christ 780,a which answers to the Æra of the Greeks, or of the Seleucidæ, 1092. It says that in the Year which answers to the 636th of Jesus Christ, a holy Man, called Olopuen, or Lopuen, guided by the blue Clouds, and observing the Course of the Winds, came from Tacin, or from Syria, or Judea into China, and there taught the Christian Religion. But it is easy to perceive, that all this can have no relation to St. Thomas, who lived six hundred Years before. It was not Olopuen that made the Inscription, but the Christians, his Successors. Besides, we know nothing of this Mission, but by the Words of the Inscription there found, which they have had much Difficulty to decypher. Those that settled this Chinese Church were of the Sect of the Nestorians. The Authors of the Inscription name Hananjubna Patriarch of the Nestorians, who lived at that time; and in the Notitia of the several Metropolis’s of the Nestorian Church, we find a Metropolitan of China. But nothing of all this can persuade us, that St. Thomas the Apostle ever preached in this Country.

Here is the Translation of the famous Chinese Inscription, found in 1625. The Abbot Renaudot has corrected it after those who at first gave the Explication of it, and has printed it in his Notes upon the Account of the Travels of two Arabian Mahometans to China, printed at Paris, in Octavo, by Coignard, 1718.

Of Christ 780.“ In the Year of the Greeks MXCII, “ Mark Isdebuzid, Priest and Bishop of “ Cumdan,b a Royal City of the East, otherwise called Milice, (or Melece) Priest “ of Balth, a City of Turkhestan, set up “ this Table of Stone, in which is described the Mystery of the Life of our “ Saviour, and the Preaching of our Fathers before the Kings of China, in the “ time of the Father of Fathers Hanan- “ jubnah, the Catholick Patriarch.c a Christianity was known in China from the Year 636, and consequently 146 Years before the Erection of the Chinese Monument. b ‘Tis the City of Nanquin which was then the Capital of China. It was known to the Arabians by the Name of Cumdan. c He was Patriarch in 782. “ Adam, Deacon, Son of Isdebuzid, “ Bishop. “ Morsargis, Priest and Bishop. “ Sbar Jesua, (that is, Hope of Jesus) “ Priest. “ Gabriel, Priest and Archdeacon, and “ Head of the City of Cumbdan “ and Disrag. “ Adam-So, Deacon of the Bishop “ Papas of the Chinese.

In the Days of the Father of Fathers, Hananjuhnah, the Catholick Patriarch.

The Names of the Apostolical Men that are inscribed on the Margins of the Stone in Syriac Characters.

First Rank.

Aaron. Peter. Job. Luke, Matthew. John. Sbar-Jesua. Jesu-Adad. Luke. Constance. Noah.

Second Rank.

Atdaspha. John. Anusc. Marsargis. Isaac. Simeon. Isaac. Joel.

Third Rank.

Mar-Jubanon, Bishop. Isaac, Priest. Joel, Priest. Maher, Priest. George, Priest. Mahada Gunnesph, Priest. Maschadad, Priest. Andrew, Priest. Andrew II. Priest. David, Priest. Moses, Priest.

Fourth Rank.

Isaac, Priest. Elias, Priest. Moses, Priest. Abad-Jesua. Simeon, Priest. Gabriel. John. Simeon. Isaac. John.

Fifth Rank.

Jacob, Priest. Marsargis, Priest and Bishop. Haggai, Priest, Archdeacon of the City of Cumbden.

Paul, Priest. Simeon, Priest. Adam, Priest. Elias, Priest. Isaac, Priest. John, Priest. John II. Priest. Simeon, Priest.

Sixth Rank.

Jacob, Priest. Abad-Jesua, Priest. Jesu-Adad, Priest. Jacob. John. Subcholmoran (Praise to our Lord). Mor Joseph. Simeon. Ephraim. Ananias. Cyriacus. Amiun.

At the Top of each of the six Columns which compose the Chinese Monument, is a Chinese Explication of some one of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion. At the Head of the first Column is imitated the Existence of One only God, divided into Three Persons, the Creator of all Things. The Word Eloho is used therein, which in Syriac signifies God.

The second and third Columns continue to explain the Creation of the World, the Fall of the first Man by the Treachery of the Devil, who is there called Satan, a Word foreign to the Chinese Language.

The fourth explains the Coming of Jesus Christ, by his Incarnation, in these Terms: Donec personarum trium una communicavit seipsum clarissimo venerabilissimoque mixio, operiendo, abscondendoque veram Majestatem, simul homo prodiit in sæculum: Words which plainly express the Manner in which the Nestorians explain the Mystery of the Incarnation. It speaks of the Annunciation by the Angel, of the Appearance of the Star, and the Adoration of the Magi.

The fifth Column, the sixth, and the rest, speak of the Sacrament of Baptism, and of the other Ceremonies of the Christian Religion; as, that they sacrifice turning towards the East; that seven times a-day they prefer their Prayers for the Living and for the Dead; that they offer their Sacrifice on the first Day of the Week; that they wear their Beards long; that they shave the top of the Head; that they have no Attendance of Slaves; that they are not studious to gather Riches, that they give Alms liberally; that they fast, &c. Marks which agree well with the Syrian Christians of the East.

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