St Thomas in the Holy Scripture: “Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”” (St Matthew 8:21; NKJV).

Below is an excerpt from a Malayalam article by the venerable (late) MC Kuriakose Rambachan- the author of many illustrious literary works.

*************************************************************

Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”” (St Matthew 8:21; NKJV).

Some commentators are of the opinion that this question was asked by St Thomas. Lord Jesus Christ was preparing to leave Capernaum and cross the Sea (of Galilee). St Thomas was attracted to the teachings of Christ and became His adherent. A question popped up in his mind- ‘whether to follow Christ immediately or should he do that after bidding final farewell to his father’? And that is how he asked the question- “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” The multitude following Jesus was content with seeing Him and hearing with what He preached. However, the blessed apostle's focus was firmly set on Christ and his heart entrenched with His divine instructions. (While listening to our Lord’s preaching) the apostle developed a thought about leading a life of sacrifice- renouncing everything for Christ’s sake. Let the readers contemplate that having such thoughts is the first step for living a hope filled life.

It is good to have a desire to live a life of sacrifice but one should be wary about thinking too much (or excessively scrutinizing such desire). The latter is dangerous and acts as a deterrent. We have noted this from the experience of many people.

One should trust in God and take the ‘leap of faith’ when being inclined to renounce everything for Christ. Leave the future to God. The Psalmist implores- “O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed” (Psalm 25:2). If we have that faith and longing expressed by the Psalmist, then we will not be put to shame.

Lord Jesus Christ’s response to the disciple’s question was thus- “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” (St Matthew 8:22).

Once they have set their mind to serve the Church, many young men have doubts like- should I get ordained or not? Should I marry or lead a celibate life? There are faithful, who having decided to offer financial contribution to the church, keep on delaying the date for giving the offering.

A delay in working upon godly desires only prevents us in experiencing the virtue of sacrifice.

St Thomas was in two minds- his heart had a great longing to follow Christ, but at the same time, thoughts about his duties as a son also took birth in his mind. (Upon hearing Christ’s response) St Thomas took the ‘leap of faith’. He didn’t resort to excessive thinking- calculating the pros and cons of following Christ, and that is why the former thought process (about following Christ) won over the latter (waiting till he has completed obligations towards his father).

********************************

O Lord Jesus Christ, by the prayers and intercession of our patron saint- St Thomas the Apostle, may our hearts be receptive to your teachings and be strengthened to be able to respond promptly to godly inspirations.

In Christ,

Rincy John

Reference: Translated from the Malayalam article- 'Mar Thoma Shleeha, Malankara Sabha, July issue, 1949.

Picture: (Late) MC Kuriakose Rambachan with His Holiness Baselios Geevarghese II Bava Thirumeni (of blessed memory) and His Grace Kuriakose Mar Gregorios Metropolitan (of blessed memory)/Pampady Thirumeni.

Little pearls from the Pearl Island -Part-2

Glory to the Triune God!

St Thomas Church, Gintupitiya

St Thomas Church, Gintupitiya

Perched on a hillock near the busier and more famous St Anthony’s Church Kochchikade (this is one of the churches which was affected by the 2019 Easter attacks), St Thomas Church Gintupitiya stands as a simple, silent and an unwavering witness to the Christian history in Sri Lanka. The current church is an Anglican one and is also the first Anglican church to be built in Sri Lanka. This parish celebrated the 200-year anniversary in 2015.

Dedicated to St. Thomas and patronized by the Anglican community lead by the Ondaatji family and the Colombo Chitty population, this church crowns the hill at Gintupitiya, one of Colombo’s most degraded suburbs at present. (Nilan Cooray, Pg-9, Quarterly tours no.20, National Trust Sri Lanka, 2011, accessed online).

The present church was built on the existing site of the ruins of the Roman Church, which in turn was said to have been built on the foundations of an earlier church of the Persian Christians. Quoting the Portueguese priest Fr Fernao de Queyroz’s work in ~17 century- “In the suburb of Colombo, the church of the Apostle St Thomas, where resided the father of Christians, there was preserved a small column stone- one of which the glorious Apostle worked with his own hands”. (Ref: Frederick Mendis, St Thomas Church Gintupitiya magazine commemorating 200 years of this church).

The current vicar Rev Jeyraj informed us that a Persian cross of 5^th century was discovered first in this church but the whereabouts of this cross is now unknown.

Frederic Mendis further states in the same article that after the Dutch invasion (succeeding the Portuguese), the Roman church at Gintupitiya fell into ruins but the churchyard continued to be used for three small cemeteries- one for slaves, one for natives and one for heathen. It was probably at this time the name ‘Santhomepitiya’ (plain of St Thomas) was changed to Gintupitiya (plain of the heathen). With the advent of British, the Tamil/Malabar Christians following the Anglican tradition submitted a petition to reconstruct this church. The governor Sir Robert Brownrigg readily granted their request.

The holy Altar

This Anglican church has some interesting and unique aspects. Firstly, the holy Altar is on the farther end and not closer to the congregation meaning, during the Mass, the priest faces towards the Altar. This is unlike the Anglican tradition where the priest faces towards the people during the Mass with the Altar being closer to the congregation. Rev Jeyraj told that while constructing the present church they didn’t alter the worship architecture of the church in ruins.

Tombstone of Ondaatji family

The ruins of earlier cemetery

The ruins of the previous cemetery still exist in the church compound. One of the tombstones stated the name of Ondaatji family. Rev Jeyraj stated that they are amongst the prominent and notable families of the 17^th century and might have had a history with the Orthodox church in the past (considering that St Thomas Christians existed before the arrival of Portuguese in Sri Lanka).

Notification at the entrance gate of the church

With Rev Jeyraj and family

St Margaret's Convent Colombo.

Located in a quiet neighborhood at Hudson Road is the St Margaret's Convent. There is a little history of Malankara Orthodox Church associated with this convent.

His Grace Alexios Mar Theodosius Thirumeni (of blessed memory)

On June 29, 1940, His Grace Alexios Mar Theodosius Thirumeni (of blessed memory) started a convent (at Bethany). In establishing the convent, Thirumeni took the help of Margaret sisters of Ceylon. The first batch of nuns consisted of TK Thankamma (Thekethayil, Thevelakara), CZ Annamma (Churulukuzhiyil, Vennikulam) and KA Dinamma (Kurudamannil, Ayroor) who had their training in Ceylon. (Ref: pg- 478, The Orthodox Church of India, David Daniel, New Delhi, 1986).

The chapel at St Margaret's Convent

Statue of St Margaret near the chapel.

To be continued…

In Christ,

Rincy John

Link to Part-1 of the article is here.

Little pearls from the Pearl Island (Sri Lankan diaries) -Part-1

The Anuradhapura Cross of Sri Lanka

Glory to the Triune God!

This month being September (the month of the feast day of Alvares Thirumeni), John Achen and I wished to undertake a mini pilgrimage to the churches related to the life and times of Alvares Mar Julius Thirumeni (of blessed memory) and it was God’s immense grace that we were able to visit such places in Sri Lanka few days back and the series is about providing information in those respects.

Sri Lanka, known previously as Ceylon (other names include Taprobane/Serendwip), is a small island country situated on the south coast of the Indian Ocean. Also called as the ‘Pearl Island’, this is a beautiful country blessed by rich biodiversity and was unfortunately engulfed in civil war that lasted almost two decades. As with India, it also had a thriving trade route in ancient times with the then known west and was occupied by Portuguese, then Dutch and finally British- obtaining freedom in 1948.

One of the earliest notices of the existence of Christianity in Ceylon is that of Cosmos Indopleustus, an Egyptian merchant, afterwards a monk of the fifth century, who cites in his work- Christian topography that ‘in Taprobane, there existed a community of believers, with an episcopal form of discipline, priests, deacons and a liturgy’. As to doctrine, they were of same faith and form of ecclesiastical government as the Syrian churches in the southern promontory of India and there is a high probability that this Church so implanted survived till the arrival of Portuguese in 1505 (Sir James Emerson Tennent, Christianity in Ceylon, Chapter 1, pg2-4, 1850, reprint 1998, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi).

During an archaeological excavation in a place called Anuradhapura (situated north of Colombo- ~4.5 hours by train) in the year 1912, a cross was discovered having a close resemblance to the Persian cross/St Thomas cross of Kerala. This cross, now called as Anuradhapura cross, owing to its similarity with the St Thomas Cross of Kerala cites a possible link between the church in Kerala and Ceylon in ancient times.

The city of Galle, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is the place identified as the “Tharshish” in the Old Testament according to folklore. “For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.” (1 Kings 10:22 KJV). The aforementioned author- Sir James Emerson Tennent in his work also attests to the biblical accounts of trading relations between Sri Lanka with the ships of Hiram and king Solomon (Tennant, Ceylon-An account of the island, Pg 551,577).

There is another legend about one of the wise men (Magi) and Sri Lanka. It is said that one of the wise men (Magi-the wise men who visited baby Jesus and offered gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh) was a Tamil King from Yalapannam (Jaffna) in northern province of Sri Lanka and this fulfilled the prophecy as in Psalm 72: 10- “The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.” (KT Rajasingham, Asian Tribune, 25-12-2006, accessed online). 

Also stated is that this king (some other legends say his name was Kassappa from which Gasper is derived) journeyed to Bethlehem when Lord Jesus was born and offered frankincense. Years later, he joined St Thomas in his apostolic mission in India (Frederick Mendis, St Thomas Church Gintupitiya magazine commemorating 200 years of this church).

The oral tradition holds that St Thomas made a stop at Colombo port before arriving in India and here he preached to the fishermen about Lord Jesus on a hillock close to the sea (where the St Thomas Church, Gintupithiya now stands). We will see more about this historical church in the next post.

The traditional location near the St Thomas Church (on a hillock) where St Thomas is believed to have preached to the fishermen.

To be continued…

In Christ,

Rincy John

Courage, Thy name is Thomas.

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

The Gospel reading for the New Sunday is from the Gospel of St John 20:19-29. Let us read the Gospel passage:

Icon-The Belief of St Thomas

“Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”  And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (NKJV)

“Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” - (St John 11: 16); such was the response of St Thomas when the Lord decided to undertake the journey to Judaea knowing very well that trouble awaited them. We also note in the first verses of the above Gospel reading that the disciples (excluding St Thomas) were assembled in a room with doors shut for they feared the Jews. We do not where St Thomas was; but the rest of the disciples in the room feared for their lives. The man who needed to be convinced of the truth of resurrection may have been going around the city probing about the Risen Lord without concern for his safety.

It is then that the Lord appeared to the rest of the disciples and when the disciples told this encounter to Thomas, he wasn’t entirely influenced.

The British poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote in ‘The Memoriam’:

“There lives more faith in honest doubt,

Believe me, than in half the creeds.”¹

St Thomas was brutally honest. He wasn’t someone who would acknowledge something without being sure of it. It takes lot of courage to ask an honest doubt- our society since time immemorial has been known for belittling those who have asked doubts. The news of the resurrection sounded too good to be true. St Thomas had to be convinced. He didn’t fear his doubts evoking laughter or sharp reactions from the other disciples. He wanted to put his finger into the print of the nails and his hand into the side of our Lord.

St Gregory the Great comments thus:

“The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ’s wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the resurrection.”²

Eight days later, Jesus Christ appeared again to all disciples. Our Lord exhorted St Thomas to believe the resurrection by putting his finger in His nails and to touch His side by his hand. There was no looking back for St Thomas. Overcome with love and devotion, he uttered the most beautiful and insightful proclamation: ‘My Lord and My God’!

This was Thomas, slow to believe, needed conviction but once convinced there was no stopping him. Perhaps this explains the Church Traditions that he may have traveled farther with the gospel than any of the other apostles.

I have cited many times the sermon by a priest-monk of the Indian Orthodox Church- Very Rev Sudha Paul Rambachan. Rambachan in one of his sermon reminisced that what brought him to Christianity was the conviction of his room-mate Christian friend who was undoubtedly sure that his Lord can heal the family member of their mutual friend. Unfortunately, this is the conviction that we are lacking in today’s times.

There is also a legend that the two fingers of St Thomas were fused together and after touching the wounds of his Lord, the fused fingers got separated. Since St Thomas’s hands had touched the Lord, the other Apostles kissed the hands of St Thomas and thus started the tradition of the kissing of hands of priests/bishops.

May the prayers of our spiritual father- Apostle St Thomas be a refuge for us and may it help us to walk on the right path with courage and conviction.

In Christ,

Rincy John

Ref:

¹Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam A. H. H. OBIIT MDCCCXXXIII: 96, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45349/in-memoriam-a-h-h-obiit-mdcccxxxiii-96, accessed on April 27,2019.

²Homily of St. Gregory the Great, Crossroads initiative, published on April 03, 2018 https://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/media/articles/doubting-thomas-2/, accessed on April 27,2019