Links Beyond the Seas
From Alexandria to Persia — the early bridges of faith that connected the Indian Church to the wider world.
Pantaenus of Alexandria — A Missionary from the West
By the end of the second century, the Christian community in South India — founded, as tradition holds, by St. Thomas the Apostle — lived quietly along the Malabar Coast. They prayed, worshiped, and worked the land, preserving in their hearts the memory of the Apostle who once walked their shores. For nearly a hundred and fifty years after his martyrdom, this small but steadfast church seemed cut off from the outside world.
Then, around A.D. 189, a remarkable event bridged that silence. Pantaenus, a philosopher, theologian, and missionary from the great Catechetical School of Alexandria in Egypt, journeyed east “to preach Christ to the Indians.” His visit is recorded by Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History (Book V, Ch. 10), who notes that Pantaenus found a community of believers who “had already known Christ” and possessed a copy of the Gospel according to Matthew written in Hebrew — said to have been left behind by St. Bartholomew or St. Thomas.
Whether taken literally or symbolically, this meeting marks the first recorded contact between the ancient Church of Malabar and the wider Christian world. It revealed to Alexandria — and through it, to Christendom — that faith in Christ had taken root far beyond the Roman Empire, flourishing in a distant land where the Apostle Thomas had once proclaimed the Gospel. Through Pantaenus, the quiet faith of Kerala reached the ears of the Mediterranean Church, showing that Christianity’s heart was already global — a light shining from East to West.
The First Persian Immigration — Thomas of Cana
A few centuries later, new waves of connection arrived — this time from the East. Around the fourth century, a Christian merchant named Thomas of Cana (Knai Thomman) came from Persia or Mesopotamia to the Malabar Coast. With him traveled a group of families, clergy, and artisans from the Church of the East, seeking trade, settlement, and fellowship with the Christians of India.
According to local tradition, the Kerala ruler Cheraman Perumal received Thomas and his followers with honor and granted them land and privileges at Cranganore (Muziris). A copper plate charter, preserved in later copies, records these rights — including the freedom to build churches, ring bells, and live according to their customs.
This event marks the first Persian immigration, linking the St. Thomas Christians more closely to the East Syrian Church centered in Edessa and Seleucia-Ctesiphon. These new arrivals brought with them Syriac liturgical books, clergy, and theological learning. They strengthened the faith of a people who had preserved the Gospel through centuries of isolation and gave them renewed ties to the great Christian centers of the East.
The Second Persian Immigration — Mar Sabrisho and Mar Peruz
By the ninth century, another group of immigrants arrived from Persia — this time led by Mar Sabrisho (also known as Marwan Sabriso) and Mar Peruz, bishops of the Church of the East. They came seeking refuge from persecution and carried with them relics, manuscripts, and sacred vessels.
They were warmly received by the ruler of Venad, who granted them land at Quilon (Kollam), a flourishing port city. There they founded the Tharisapalli Church in A.D. 825, and their privileges were inscribed on the famous Tharisapalli Copper Plates, written in both old Malayalam and Pahlavi (Middle Persian). These grants guaranteed protection, trade rights, and self-governance — remarkable evidence of the Church’s peaceful coexistence with local rulers.
The arrival of these Persian Christians brought renewed vitality to the Indian Church. They introduced scholars, teachers, and liturgical treasures that strengthened both the spiritual and cultural life of the St. Thomas community. Through them, the Indian Church remained in communion with the Eastern patriarchates — a bridge stretching from Kerala to Mesopotamia, from Kollam to Ctesiphon.
A Church Connected Yet Distinct
These two immigrations — along with the earlier visit of Pantaenus — show that the Indian Church was never an isolated relic, but an integral part of the worldwide body of Christ. It maintained independence in practice and identity, yet remained connected through faith, prayer, and fellowship.
Long before European missionaries set sail, there already existed on the Malabar coast a vibrant Christian community — deeply Indian, profoundly Eastern, and unmistakably apostolic. Their churches faced east toward Jerusalem; their prayers were sung in Syriac; their customs reflected both Semitic and Indian culture. And their heart — shaped by centuries of faith — remained loyal to the words first preached by the Apostle Thomas.
Reflection
When Pantaenus came from Alexandria, he found not strangers but brethren in Christ. When Thomas of Cana and Mar Sabrisho came from Persia, they did not bring a new religion but renewed fellowship. Together, these encounters reveal a Church whose story was not of conquest but of continuity, not of domination but of devotion.
This is the legacy of the St. Thomas Christians — a community born of the Apostle’s faith, nurtured by the East, and sustained by God’s providence through centuries of change. Their history reminds us that the Church is truly “catholic” — universal, bound not by empire or language, but by the love of Christ that crosses every sea.
🪔 Prayer
O Lord Jesus Christ,
who called Your Apostle Thomas to bear witness in our land,
we thank You for the faith that took root upon our shores.
Bless the Church that still bears his name.
As You sent teachers like Pantaenus from the West
and faithful pilgrims from Persia in the East,
so send us, Lord, to renew Your light in our generation.
May we be a Church both ancient and alive,
rooted in Scripture, radiant in service,
and united in Your love that knows no borders.
Kyrie Eleison — Κύριε ἐλέησον —
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Maran esrahm alain — ܡܪܢ ܐܣܪܚܡ ܥܠܝܢ —
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Amen.
📜 Historical Evidence for the Early Global Links of the St. Thomas Christians
1. The Visit of Pantaenus (c. A.D. 189)
- Primary Source: Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Ch. 10.
“Pantaenus was sent to India, where it is reported that he found some who had already known Christ. They possessed the Gospel according to Matthew in Hebrew, which had been left there by the Apostle Bartholomew.”
— Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., V.10 (A.D. 324)
- Clement of Alexandria (Pantaenus’s student) indirectly confirms his teacher’s missionary zeal and the Alexandrian school’s global outlook.
- Stromata, I.1, VII.106: mentions Pantaenus as “the Sicilian bee who fed many with the honey of the Scriptures.”
- Scholarly References:
- Stephen Neill, A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707 (Cambridge University Press, 1984), pp. 26–28.
- A.E. Medlycott, India and the Apostle Thomas (London, 1905), pp. 90–95.
- H. G. Rawlinson, Intercourse Between India and the Western World (Cambridge, 1926), pp. 131–133.
Summary: These sources confirm that by the late 2nd century, there existed an established Christian community in India, known to the Church of Alexandria.
2. The First Persian Immigration — Thomas of Cana (Knai Thomman)
- Local Tradition: Recorded in The Acts of the Thomas Christians (Portuguese MSS, 17th century, based on earlier Syriac sources) and in the Ramban Pattu (Syriac-Malayalam ballads).
- Copper Plate Grants: Although the original plates are lost, copies survive in the Cochin Archives and the British Museum — traditionally dated to the 4th or 5th century, granting land and privileges to the followers of Thomas of Cana at Cranganore.
- Cultural Evidence: The community known as Knānāya Christians (from Knāy, meaning “merchant”) still trace their ancestry to this migration. Their social customs and endogamous practices preserve elements of Syriac and Persian Christian identity.
- Scholarly References:
- G. T. Mackenzie, Christianity in Travancore (London, 1901), pp. 42–48.
- A. Mingana, “The Early Spread of Christianity in India,” Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 10 (1926): 435–514.
- A. E. Medlycott, India and the Apostle Thomas, pp. 200–210.
- Placid J. Podipara, The Thomas Christians (1958), pp. 65–72.
Summary: The Thomas of Cana episode demonstrates continuing contact between the Malabar Christians and the Persian Church (Church of the East), bringing renewed clergy and trade connections.
3. The Second Persian Immigration — Mar Sabrisho (Marwan Sabriso) and Mar Peruz (A.D. 823–825)
- Primary Evidence: The Tharisapalli Copper Plates (A.D. 825).
These are the earliest surviving Christian documents in India.
- Issued by Ayyan Adikal Thiruvatikal, ruler of Venad (Travancore).
- Written in Vattezhuthu-Tamil and Pahlavi (Middle Persian).
- Preserved today in the Syrian Orthodox Seminary, Kottayam, and studied extensively by historians and epigraphists.
- They record royal grants to Mar Sabrisho and his followers for the establishment of a trading settlement and church at Tharisapalli, Quilon (Kollam).
- Primary Sources:
- Epigraphia Indica (Vol. 4, 1896): translation and commentary by V. Venkayya.
- Travancore Archaeological Series (Vol. 2, 1910): full text and analysis.
- “The Kollam Plates of Sthanu Ravi,” Indian Antiquary, Vol. 23 (1894).
- Scholarly References:
- G. T. Mackenzie, Christianity in Travancore, pp. 50–54.
- Stephen Neill, A History of Christianity in India, pp. 33–37.
- K. M. Panikkar, Malabar and the Portuguese (1929), pp. 12–14.
Summary: These Persian Christians from the Church of the East revitalized the Malabar Church, deepening its liturgical and theological connections with Mesopotamia. The Tharisapalli Plates remain tangible proof of an officially recognized Christian presence in 9th-century Kerala.
4. Broader Context — Links with the Church of the East
- The Indian Church remained under the Patriarch of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (modern Iraq) until the 16th century, as attested by several surviving letters:
- Letter of Patriarch Isho’yabh III to the Christians in India (c. A.D. 650).
- Letter of Patriarch Timothy I (A.D. 780–823), mentioning bishops appointed to India.
- Synod of Diamper records (A.D. 1599) that the Indian Church had long received bishops “from Babylon and Persia.”
- References:
- W. Wright, A Short History of Syriac Literature (London, 1894), pp. 7–10.
- J. M. Fiey, Christians in Iraq (1970).
- George Menachery, The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, Vol. I (1973).
🕊️ Summary Insight
The story of Pantaenus, Thomas of Cana, and Mar Sabrisho is not a series of disconnected legends but part of a continuous history of cross-cultural Christian exchange.
From the Alexandrian School of Egypt to the Syriac Church of Persia, and from Quilon’s copper plates to the liturgies still sung in Kerala today, the evidence shows an ancient, independent Indian Church deeply rooted in apostolic tradition yet vibrantly connected to the world — centuries before Western missions began.
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