Thomas the Apostle

=== Mission in India ===
{{Main|Saint Thomas Christians|Christianity in India|Christianity in Kerala}}

[[File:Postal stamp of St Thomas.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[India Post|Postal Department of India]] issued a stamp commemorating his mission to the country.|right]]
[[File:Silk route.jpg|thumb|left|Map of ancient [[Silk Road]] and [[Spice Route]]]]
According to traditional accounts of the [[Saint Thomas Christians]] of India, the Apostle Thomas landed in [[Muziris]] ([[Cranganore Fort|Cranganore]]) on the Kerala coast in AD 52 and was martyred in [[Mylapore]], near [[Chennai|Madras]], [[Tamil Nadu]] in AD 72.{{sfn|Johnson|Zacharia|2016}}<ref name="stthoma"/>{{sfn|Fahlbusch|Bromiley|Lochman|Mbiti|2008|p=285}}{{sfn|Slapak|1995|p=27}} The port was destroyed in 1341 by a [[1341 Kerala floods|massive flood]] that realigned the coasts. He is believed by the [[Saint Thomas Christian]] tradition to have established [[Ezharappallikal|seven churches (communities)]] in Kerala. These churches are at Kodungallur, [[St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Palayoor|Palayoor]], [[Kottakkavu Mar Thoma Syro-Malabar Pilgrim Church, North Paravur|Kottakkavu]] (Paravur), [[Kokkamangalam]], [[Niranam Church|Niranam]], [[Nilackal St. Thomas Church|Nilackal (Chayal)]], [[Kollam]], and [[Thiruvithamcode Arappally|Thiruvithamcode]].<ref name=ppn>[http://www.payyappilly.org/history History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704231759/http://www.payyappilly.org/history/ |date=4 July 2015 }}, Payyappilly Palakkappilly Nasrani family</ref> Thomas baptized several families.{{sfn|Mani |2016|p=14}} Many families claim to have origins almost as far back as these, and the religious historian Robert Eric Frykenberg notes that: "Whatever dubious historicity may be attached to such local traditions, there can be little doubt as to their great antiquity or to their great appeal in the popular imagination."{{sfn|Frykenberg|2008|pp=101–102}}

{{blockquote|It was to a land of dark people he was sent, to clothe them by Baptism in white robes. His grateful dawn dispelled India's painful darkness. It was his mission to espouse India to the One-Begotten. The merchant is blessed for having so great a treasure. [[Edessa, Mesopotamia|Edessa]] thus became the blessed city by possessing the greatest pearl India could yield. Thomas works miracles in India, and at Edessa Thomas is destined to baptize peoples perverse and steeped in darkness, and that in the land of India.|Hymns of [[Ephrem the Syrian|Saint Ephrem]], edited by Lamy (Ephr. Hymni et Sermones, IV).}}

{{poemquote|... Into what land shall I fly from the just?
I stirred up Death the Apostles to slay, that by their death I might escape their blows.
But harder still am I now stricken: the Apostle I slew in India has overtaken me in Edessa; here and there he is all himself.
There went I, and there was he: here and there to my grief I find him.|quoted in {{harvnb|Medlycott|1905|p=|loc =Ch II}}}}

[[Ephrem the Syrian]], a [[Doctor of the Church|doctor]] of [[Syriac Christianity]]<!---not just Syriac BTW--->, writes in the forty-second of his "Carmina Nisibina" that the Apostle was put to death in India, and that his remains were subsequently buried in [[Edessa]], brought there by an unnamed merchant.{{sfn|Medlycott|1905|p=157}}

[[File:Tomb of St. Thomas in India.JPG|thumb|left|The tomb of Saint Thomas the Apostle in [[Mylapore]], India]]
According to Eusebius' record, Thomas and Bartholomew were assigned to [[Parthia]] and northwest India.{{sfn|Medlycott|1905|pp=1–17, 213–297}}{{sfn|Farquhar|1926|p=30}}{{sfn|Smith|1914|p=235}}{{sfn|Brown|1956|pp=49–59}} The ''[[Didascalia]]'' (dating from the end of the 3rd century) states, "India and all countries condering it, even to the farthest seas... received the apostolic ordinances from Judas Thomas, who was a guide and ruler in the church which he built."

According to traditional accounts, Thomas is believed to have left northwest India when an attack threatened and traveled by vessel to the [[Malabar Coast]], possibly visiting southeast [[Arabia]] and Socotra en route, and landing at the former flourishing port of [[Muziris]] (modern-day [[North Paravur]] and [[Kodungalloor]]) (c. AD 50) in the company of a Jewish merchant Abbanes/Habban (Schonfield, 1984,125).<ref name="ppn" />{{better source needed|date=June 2022}} From there he is said to have preached the gospel throughout the Malabar coast. The various churches he founded were located mainly on the [[Periyar River]] and its tributaries and along the coast, where there were Jewish colonies. In accordance with apostolic custom, Thomas ordained teachers and leaders or elders, who were reported to be the earliest ministry of the Malankara Church.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}