Thomas the Apostle

== Death ==
[[File:Peter Paul Rubens - Martyrdom of St Thomas.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Martyrdom of Saint Thomas (Rubens)|Martyrdom of Saint Thomas]]'' by [[Peter Paul Rubens]], 1636–1638, in the [[National Gallery Prague]]]]
[[File:chennai, basilica di san tommaso apostolo, museo, reliquiario dell'osso di s. tommaso e della lancia che lo uccise, 02.jpg|thumb|upright|The reliquary of the spear which killed St. Thomas, in [[Chennai]], India]]
According to Syrian Christian tradition, Thomas was killed with a spear at [[St. Thomas Mount]] in [[Chennai]] on 3 July in AD 72, and his body was interred in Mylapore. Latin Church tradition holds 21 December as his date of death.{{sfn|Farmer|2011|p=418}} Ephrem the Syrian states that the Apostle was killed in India, and that his relics were taken then to Edessa. This is the earliest known record of his death.{{sfn|Marco Polo|1920|p=117}}

The records of [[Duarte Barbosa|Barbosa]] from the early 16th century record that the tomb was then maintained and a lamp is burning there.{{sfn|Hunter|1886|p=237}} The [[St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica, Chennai]], [[Tamil Nadu]], India presently located at the tomb, was first built in the 16th century by the Portuguese, and rebuilt in the 19th century by the British.{{sfn|Neill|2004|p=29}} [[St. Thomas Mount]] has been a site revered by  Christians since at least the 16th century.{{sfn|Hunter|1886|p=31}}

=== Possible visit to China ===
Thomas's alleged visit to China is mentioned in the books and church traditions of [[Saint Thomas Christians]] in India{{sfn|Bays|2011|p=|loc=Ch. 1}} who, for a part, claim descent from the early Christians evangelized by Thomas the Apostle in AD 52. For example, it is found in the Malayalam ballad ''Thoma Ramban Pattu'' (The Song of the Lord Thomas) with the earliest manuscript being from the 17th century.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jtbYEAAAQBAJ |title = The Ramban Pattu |isbn = 9781087913766 |last1 = Curtin|first1 = D. P.|last2 = Nath|first2 = Nithul.|date = May 2017|publisher = Dalcassian Publishing Company }}</ref> The sources clearly have Thomas coming to India, then to China, and back to India, where he died.{{sfn|Bays|2011|p=|loc=Ch. 1}}

In other attested sources, the tradition of making Thomas the apostle of China is found in the "Law of Christianity" (Fiqh al-naṣrāniyya),{{sfn|Hoenerbach|Spies|1956|p=}} a compilation of juridical literature by [[Ibn al-Ṭayyib]] ([[Nestorianism|Nestorian]] theologian and physician who died in 1043 in [[Baghdad]]). Later, in the [[Nomocanon]] of [[Abdisho bar Berika]] (metropolitan of Nisibis and Armenia, died in 1318) and the breviary of the [[Chaldean Catholic Church|Chaldean Church]]{{sfn|Gilman|Klimkeit|2016|p=}} it is written:
{{Blockquote|text=
1. Through St. Thomas the error of idolatry vanished from India.

2. Through St. Thomas the Chinese and Ethiopians were converted to the truth.

3. Through St. Thomas they accepted the sacrament of baptism and the adoption of sons.

4. Through St. Thomas they believed in and confessed the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.

5. Through St. Thomas they preserved the accepted faith of the one God.

6. Through St. Thomas the life-giving splendors rose in all India.

7. Through St. Thomas the Kingdom of Heaven took wing and ascended to '''China'''.|author=Translated by [[Athanasius Kircher]] in [[China Illustrata]] (1667)|title=''Office of St. Thomas for the Second Nocturn''|source=Gaza of the Church of St. Thomas of Malabar, Chaldean Breviary}}

In its nascent form, this tradition is found at the earliest in the [[Zuqnin Chronicle]] (AD 775) and may have originated in the late [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] period.{{sfn|Tubach|1995|pp=397–430}}{{sfn|Takahashi|2011}} Perhaps it originated as a 3rd-century pseudepigraphon where Thomas would have converted the Magi (in the [[Gospel of Matthew]]) to Christianity as they dwelled in the land of Shir (land of [[Serica|Seres]], [[Tarim Basin]], near what was the world's easternmost sea for many people in antiquity).{{sfn|Andrade|2018|pp=58–59}} Additionally, the testimony of [[Arnobius|Arnobius of Sicca]], active shortly after AD 300, maintains that the Christian message had arrived in India and among the Persians, Medians, and Parthians (along with the [[Serica|Seres]]).{{sfn|Arnobius of Sicca|1949|p=125}}

=== Possible travel into Indonesia ===
According to [[Kurt E. Koch]], Thomas the Apostle possibly traveled into Indonesia via India with Indian traders.{{sfn|Koch|1972|p=}}

=== Paraguayan legend ===
Ancient oral tradition retained by the [[Guaraní people|Guaraní]] tribes of [[Paraguay]] claims that the Apostle Thomas was in Paraguay and preached to them under the name of Paí Sumé or Avaré Sumé.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Portal Guaraní - FOLKLORE, TRADICIONES, MITOS Y LEYENDAS DEL PARAGUAY - COMPILACIÓN Y BIBLIOGRAFÍA RECOMENDADA - Compilación de Mitos y Leyendas del Paraguay - Bibliografía Recomendada |url=https://www.portalguarani.com/detalles_museos_otras_obras.php?id=103&id_obras=2374&id_otras=369 |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=www.portalguarani.com}}</ref>
{{blockquote|in the estate of our college, called Paraguay, and twenty leagues distant from Asumpcion. This place stretches out on one side into a pleasant plain, affording pasture to a vast quantity of cattle; on the other, where it looks towards the south, it is surrounded by hills and rocks; in one of which a cross piled up of three large stones is visited, and held in great veneration by the natives for the sake of St. Thomas; for they believe, and firmly maintain, that the Apostle, seated on these stones as on a chair, formerly preached to the assembled Indians.|source={{harvnb|Dobrizhoffer|1822|p=385}} }}

Almost 150 years prior to Dobrizhoffer's arrival in Paraguay, another Jesuit Missionary, F. J. [[Antonio Ruiz de Montoya]] recollected the same oral traditions from the Paraguayan tribes. He wrote:

{{blockquote|...The paraguayan tribes they have this very curious tradition. They claim that a very holy man (Thomas the Apostle himself), whom they call "Paí Thome", lived amongst them and preached to them the Holy Truth, wandering and carrying a wooden cross on his back.|source={{harvnb|Ruiz de Montoya|1639|loc=Ch XVIII}} }}

The sole recorded research done about the subject was during [[José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia]]'s reign after the [[Independence of Paraguay]]. This is mentioned by Franz Wisner von Morgenstern, an Austro-Hungarian engineer who served in the Paraguayan armies prior and during the [[Paraguayan War]]. According to Von Morgenstern, some Paraguayan miners while working nearby some hills at the [[Caaguazú Department]] found some stones with ancient letters carved in them. [[Dictator]] Francia sent his finest experts to inspect those stones, and they concluded that the letters carved in those stones were [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]-like symbols, but they couldn't translate them nor figure out the exact date when those letters were carved.{{sfn|von Morgenstern|1998|p=198}} No further recorded investigations exists, and according to Wisner, people believed that the letters were made by Thomas the Apostle, following the tradition.

=== Relics ===
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[[File:ShrineOfSaintThomasAtMeliapore18thCentury.jpg|thumb|upright|Shrine of Saint Thomas in [[Mylapore]], 18th-century print]]
[[File:Ortona -Reliquary chest of Saint Thomas- 2006 by-RaBoe 02.jpg|thumb|Relics of Thomas in the Cathedral of [[Ortona]]]]

==== Mylapore ====
Traditional accounts say that the Apostle Thomas preached not only in Kerala but also in other parts of Southern India – and a few relics are still kept at [[San Thome Basilica]] in Mylapore neighborhood in the central part of the city of [[Chennai]] in India.{{sfn|Muthiah|2014|p=}} [[Marco Polo]], the [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] traveller and author of ''Description of the World,'' popularly known as ''Il Milione,'' is reputed to have visited Southern India in 1288 and 1292. The first date has been rejected as he was in China at the time, but the second date is generally accepted.{{sfn|Muthiah|2014|p=}}

==== Edessa ====
According to tradition, in AD 232, the greater portion of relics of the Apostle Thomas are said to have been sent by an Indian king and brought from Mylapore to the city of [[Edessa, Mesopotamia]], on which occasion his Syriac ''Acts'' were written.

The Indian king is named as "Mazdai" in Syriac sources, "Misdeos" and "Misdeus" in Greek and Latin sources respectively, which has been connected to the "Bazdeo" on the Kushan coinage of [[Vasudeva I]], the transition between "M" and "B" being a current one in Classical sources for Indian names.{{sfn|Bussagli|1965|p=255}} The martyrologist [[Martyrology of Rabban Sliba|Rabban Sliba]] dedicated a special day to both the Indian king, his family, and Saint Thomas:

{{blockquote|''Coronatio Thomae apostoli et Misdeus rex Indiae, Johannes eus filius huisque mater Tertia'' (Coronation of Thomas the Apostle, and Misdeus king of India, together with his son Johannes (thought to be a latinization of ''Vizan'') and his mother Tertia) Rabban Sliba|source={{harvnb|Bussagli|1965|p=255}} }}

In the 4th century, the martyrium erected over his burial place brought pilgrims to Edessa. In the 380s, [[Egeria (pilgrim)|Egeria]] described her visit in a letter she sent to her community of nuns at home (''Itineraria Egeriae''):<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/egeria/pilgrimage/pilgrimage.html|title=The Pilgrimage of S. Silvia of Aquitania to the Holy Places|access-date=10 May 2015|archive-date=15 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115010548/http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/egeria/pilgrimage/pilgrimage.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

<blockquote>We arrived at Edessa in the Name of Christ our God, and, on our arrival, we straightway repaired to the church and memorial of saint Thomas. There, according to custom, prayers were made and the other things that were customary in the holy places were done; we read also some things concerning saint Thomas himself. The church there is very great, very beautiful and of new construction, well worthy to be the house of God, and as there was much that I desired to see, it was necessary for me to make a three days' stay there.</blockquote>

According to [[Theodoret|Theodoret of Cyrrhus]], the bones of Saint Thomas were transferred by [[Cyrus I of Edessa|Cyrus I]], Bishop of Edessa, from the martyrium outside of Edessa to a church in the south-west corner of the city on 22 August 394.{{sfn|Harvey |2005|p= 124}}

In 441, the ''[[Magister militum per Orientem]]'' [[Anatolius (consul 440)|Anatolius]] donated a silver coffin to hold the relics.{{sfn|Segal|2005|pp= 174–176, 250}}

In AD 522, [[Cosmas Indicopleustes]] (called the Alexandrian) visited the Malabar Coast. He is the first traveller who mentions Syrian Christians in Malabar, in his book ''Christian Topography.'' He mentions that in the town of "Kalliana" (Quilon or Kollam) there was a bishop who had been consecrated in Persia.{{sfn|Sadasivan|2000|p=410}}

In 1144, the city was conquered by the [[Zengid dynasty|Zengids]] and the shrine destroyed.{{sfn|Segal|2005|pp= 174–176, 250}}

==== Chios and Ortona ====
[[File:Cattedrale-di-San-Tommaso-al-crepuscolo.jpg|thumb|Ortona's Basilica of Saint Thomas]]

The reputed relics of Saint Thomas remained at Edessa until they were moved to [[Chios]] in 1258.{{sfn|Thurston|1913}} Some portion of the relics were later transferred again, and now rest in the Cathedral of Saint Thomas the Apostle in [[Ortona]], Italy. However, the skull of Thomas is said to be at [[Monastery of Saint John the Theologian]] on the Greek island of [[Patmos]].{{sfn|Sanidopoulos|2010}}

Ortona's three galleys reached the island of Chios in 1258, led by General Leone Acciaiuoli. Chios was considered the island where Thomas, after his death in India, had been buried. A portion fought around the Peloponnese and the Aegean islands, the other in the sea lapping at the then Syrian coast. The three galleys of Ortona moved on the second front of the war and reached the island of Chios.

The tale is provided by Giambattista De Lectis, physician and writer of the 16th century of Ortona. After the looting, the navarca Ortona Leone went to pray in the main church of the island of Chios and was drawn to a chapel adorned and resplendent with lights. An elderly priest, through an interpreter informed him that in that oratory was venerated the Body of Saint Thomas the Apostle. Leone, filled with an unusual sweetness, gathered in deep prayer. At that moment a light hand twice invited him to come closer. The navarca Leone reached out and took a bone from the largest hole of the tombstone, on which were carved the Greek letters and a halo depicted a bishop from the waist up. He was the confirmation of what he had said the old priest and that you are indeed in the presence of the Apostle's body. He went back on the galley and planned the theft for the next night, along with fellow Ruggiero Grogno. They lifted the heavy gravestone and watched the underlying relics. The wrapped in snow-white cloths them laid in a wooden box (stored at Ortona to the looting of 1566) and brought them aboard the galley. Leone, then, along with other comrades, he returned again in the church, took the tombstone and took her away. Just the Chinardo admiral was aware of the precious cargo moved all the sailors of the Muslim faith on other ships and ordered him to take the route to Ortona.

[[File:Ortona -San Tommaso - Portal- 2006 by-RaBoe 01.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Portal of Ortona, Saint Thomas' Basilica]]
He landed at the port of Ortona 6 September 1258. According to the story of De Lectis, he was informed the abbot Jacopo was responsible for Ortona Church, which predisposed full provision for hospitality felt and shared by all the people. Since then the body of the apostle and the gravestone are preserved in the crypt of the Basilica. In 1259 a parchment written in Bari by the court under John Peacock contracts, the presence of five witnesses, preserved in Ortona at the Diocesan Library, confirming the veracity of that event, reported, as mentioned, by Giambattista De Lectis, physician and writer Ortona of the 16th century.

The relics resisted both the Saracen looting of 1566, and the destruction of the Nazis in the [[battle of Ortona]] fought in late December 1943. The basilica was blown up because the belfry was considered a lookout point by the allies, coming by sea from San Vito Chietino. The relics, together with the treasure of Saint Thomas, were intended by the Germans to be sold, but the monks entombed them inside the bell tower, the only surviving part of the semi-ruined church.
[[File:Ortona -San Tommaso- 2006 by-RaBoe 03.jpg|thumb|Slab of chalcedony which covered the Apostle's relics at Chios, now in the Basilica of Ortona{{sfn|Medlycott|1905|p=}}]]

The tombstone of Thomas, brought to Ortona from Chios along with the relics of the Apostle, are preserved in the crypt of St Thomas Basilica, behind the altar. The urn containing the bones is placed under the altar. It is the cover of a fake coffin, fairly widespread burial form in the early Christian world, as the top of a tomb of less expensive material. The plaque has an inscription and a bas-relief that refer, in many respects, to the Syro-Mesopotamian. Tombstone Thomas the Apostle on inclusion can be read, in Greek characters uncial, the expression 'osios thomas, that Saint Thomas. It can be dated from the point of view palaeographic and lexical to the 3rd–5th century, a time when the term osios is still used as a synonym of aghios in that holy is he that is in the grace of God and is inserted in the church: the two vocabulary, therefore, indicate the Christians. In the particular case of Saint Thomas' plaque, the word osios can be the translation of the word Syriac ''mar'' (Lord), attributed in the ancient world, but also to the present day, is a saint to be a bishop.

====Iraq====
The finger bones of Saint Thomas were discovered during restoration work at the [[Church of Saint Thomas, Mosul|Church of Saint Thomas]] in [[Mosul]], [[Iraq]] in 1964,<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|script-title=ar:من الأرشيف: اكتشاف ذخيرة الرسول توما بيد مطران الموصل مار سويريوس زكا عيواص|url=http://www.syrian-orthodox.com/readnews.php?id=530|work=Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate|access-date=18 May 2018|language=ar|archive-date=23 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623164839/http://syrian-orthodox.com/readnews.php?id=530|url-status=dead}}</ref> and were housed there until the [[Fall of Mosul]], after which the relics were transferred to the [[Mar Mattai Monastery|Monastery of Saint Matthew]] on 17 June 2014.{{sfn|Arraf|2018}}<ref name="theorthodoxchurch.info" />