Editing Saint Thomas Christians (section)

=== Classical period ===
[[File:Quilon Syrian copper plates (849 CE) plates 1 and 4.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Tharisapalli plates|Tharisapalli Copper plate grant]] (9th century) – One of the reliable documentary evidences of the privileges and influence that Saint Thomas Christians enjoyed in early Malabar.<ref>Burjor Avari – India, the ancient past, Taylor & Francis, 2007, p.221, {{ISBN|0-415-35615-6}}</ref> The document contains signatures of the witnesses in [[Pahlavi script|Pahlavi]], [[Kufic]] and [[Hebrew]] scripts.{{sfnp|Pothan|1963|pp=102–105}} It is the oldest documentary evidence from India that attest the presence of a Persian Christian community in South India.<ref name="SundermannHintze2009">{{cite book|author1=Werner Sundermann|author2=Almut Hintze|author3=François de Blois|title=Exegisti Monumenta: Festschrift in Honour of Nicholas Sims-Williams |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3gOdaiXNKkC&pg=PA31|year=2009|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-05937-4|page=38}}</ref>]]

As the community grew and immigration by [[East Syriac Rite|East Syriac]] Christians increased, the connection with the Church of the East, centred in the Persian capital of [[Seleucia-Ctesiphon]], strengthened. From the early 4th century the [[Patriarch of the Church of the East]] provided India with clergy, holy texts, and ecclesiastical infrastructure, and around 650 Patriarch [[Ishoyahb III]] solidified the Church of the East's jurisdiction over the Saint Thomas Christian community.{{sfnp|Baum|Winkler|2003|p=53}}{{sfnp|Walker|2011}} In the 8th century Patriarch [[Timothy I (Nestorian Patriarch)|Timothy I]] organised the community as the [[India (East Syrian Ecclesiastical Province)|Ecclesiastical Province of India]], one of the church's Provinces of the Exterior.<ref name="Bundy"/> After this point the Province of India was headed by a [[metropolitan bishop]], dispatched from Persia, the "Metropolitan-Bishop of the Seat of Saint Thomas and the Whole Christian Church of India".{{sfnp|Brock|2011a}}{{sfnp|Baum|Winkler|2003|p=52}} His [[metropolitan see]] was probably in [[Cranganore]], or (perhaps nominally) in [[Mylapore]], where the shrine of Thomas was located.{{sfnp|Baum|Winkler|2003|p=52}} Under him were a varying number of bishops, as well as a native [[Archdeacon]], who had authority over the clergy and who wielded a great amount of secular power.{{sfnp|Baum|Winkler|2003|p=52}}

Some contact and transmission of knowledge of the Saint Thomas Christians managed to reach the Christian West, even after the rise of the [[Islamic empires]].{{sfnp|Frykenberg|2008|p=112}} [[Byzantine]] traveller [[Cosmas Indicopleustes]] wrote of Syrian Christians he met in India and [[Sri Lanka]] in the 6th century.<ref name="Indicopleustes2010">{{cite book|author=Cosmas Indicopleustes|editor=J. W. McCrindle|title=The Christian Topography of Cosmas, an Egyptian Monk: Translated from the Greek, and Edited with Notes and Introduction|date=24 June 2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cp9S9o5lj5oC&pg=PA119 |access-date=3 November 2012|edition=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-01295-9|pages=48, 119–120, 365–366}}</ref>{{sfnp|Walker|2011}}{{sfnp|Frykenberg|2008|pp=105,110}} In 883 the English king [[Alfred the Great]] reportedly sent a mission and gifts to Saint Thomas' tomb in India.{{sfnp|Frykenberg|2008|p=112}} During the [[Crusades]], distorted accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians and the Nestorian Church gave rise to the European legend of [[Prester John]].<ref>Silverberg, Robert (1996). ''The Realm of Prester John'', pp. 29–34. Ohio University Press. {{ISBN|1-84212-409-9}}.</ref>

[[File:King_of_Colombo_(Kollam),_Catalan_Atlas_1375.jpg|thumb|left|The "King of Colombo" ([[Kollam]], flags: [[File:Flag_of_the_Kigdom_of_Colombo,_Catalan_Atlas_1375.png |30x15px]], identified as Christian due to the Christian presence there) in the contemporary [[Catalan Atlas]] of 1375.{{sfnp|Liščák|2018|pp=4–5}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Massing |first1=Jean Michel |last2=Albuquerque |first2=Luís de |last3=Brown |first3=Jonathan |last4=González |first4=J. J. Martín |title=Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration |date=1 January 1991 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-05167-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wMK-Ba0-RG4C&pg=PA30 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Cartography between Christian Europe and the Arabic-Islamic World, 1100-1500: Divergent Traditions |date=17 June 2021 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-44603-8 |page=176 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eq0zEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 |language=en}}</ref> The caption above the king of [[Kollam]] reads: ''Here rules the king of Colombo, a Christian''.{{sfnp|Liščák|2018|p=5}} The black flags ([[File:Sultan of Delhi Flag according to the Catalan Atlas (1375).png|30x15px]]) on the coast belong to the [[Delhi Sultanate]].]]
The port at [[Kollam]], then known as Quilon, was founded in 825 by Maruvān Sapir Iso, a Persian Christian merchant, with sanction from Ayyanadikal Thiruvadikal, the king of the independent [[Venad]] or the State of Quilon, a feudatory under [[Sthanu Ravi Varma]] ''[[Chera Perumals of Makotai|Perumal]]'' of the [[Chera dynasty|Chera]] kingdom.<ref>Kerala Charithram P.59 Sridhara Menon.{{full citation needed|date=July 2024}}</ref><ref name="Travancore Manual page 244">V. Nagam Aiya (1906), [[Travancore State Manual]], p. 244.</ref> Sapir Iso is usually identified either as the East Syriac Christian merchant who led the East Syriac bishops [[Mar Sabor and Mar Proth]] to the Christians of Malabar or as the first of those two bishops. This accompanied the second Assyrian migration into the Malabar coast other than the [[Knanaya]] migration. The two bishops were instrumental in founding many Christian churches with Syrian liturgy along the Malabar coast and were venerated as ''[[Kantheesangal|Qandishangal]]'' (saints) since then by the Thomas Christians.{{sfnp|Perczel|2018}} It is believed that Sapir Iso also proposed that the Chera king create a new seaport near Kollam in lieu of his request that he rebuild the almost vanished inland seaport at Kollam (kore-ke-ni) near Backare (Thevalakara), also known as Nelcynda and Tyndis to the Romans and Greeks and as Thondi to the Tamils, which had been without trade for several centuries because the Cheras were overrun by the [[Pallava dynasty|Pallavas]] in the 6th century, ending the spice trade from the Malabar coast.<ref>{{cite web |title=History |url=https://www.quilon.com/history.htm |website=Quilon.com}}</ref> The Tharisapalli plates presented to Maruvan Sapor Iso by Ayyanadikal Thiruvadikal granted the Christians the privilege of overseeing foreign trade in the city as well as control over its weights and measures in a move designed to increase Quilon's trade and wealth.<ref name="Sharma2010">{{cite book |author=Yogesh Sharma |title=Coastal Histories: Society and Ecology in Pre-modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTTGWSme30YC |year=2010 |publisher=Primus Books|page=78|isbn=978-93-80607-00-9}}</ref>

Thus began the Malayalam Era, known as [[Kollavarsham]] after the city, indicating the importance of Kollam in the 9th century.{{sfnp|Malekandathil|2010|p=43}}
[[File:Church of the East in the Middle Ages.svg|thumb|right |upright=1.15|[[Church of the East]] and its [[Dioceses of the Church of the East, 1318–1552|dioceses]] and missions throughout [[Asia]], including [[India (East Syriac ecclesiastical province)|India]]]]
The great distances involved and the geopolitical turmoil of the period caused India to be cut off from the church's heartland in Mesopotamia at several points. In the 11th century the province was suppressed by the church entirely, as it had become impossible to reach,<ref>Fiey, J. M. (1993). ''Pour un Oriens Christianus novus; répertoire des diocèses Syriaques orientaux et occidentaux'', p. 96. Beirut: Orient-Institut.</ref> but effective relations were restored by 1301.{{sfnp|Wilmshurst|2000|p=343, 391}} However, following the collapse of the Church of the East's hierarchy in most of Asia later in the 14th century, India was effectively cut off from the church, and formal contact was severed. By the late 15th century India had had no metropolitan for several generations, and the authority traditionally associated with him had been vested in the archdeacon.{{sfnp|Baum|Winkler|2003|p=105}}

MS Vatican Syriac 22 is the oldest known Syriac manuscript copied in India.{{sfnp|Brock|2011a}}{{sfnp|Van der Ploeg|1983|p=3}} It is a lectionary of [[Pauline Epistles]] copied on AD 1301 (1612 [[Seleucid era|AG]]) in [[Kodungallur|Kodungallūr]] (Cranganore, {{langx|syc|ܫܸܢܓܲܲܠܐ|Shengala}}) at the Church dedicated to [[Quiricus and Julietta|Mar Quriaqos]].{{sfnp|Van der Ploeg|1983|p=3}}<ref name="MS Vatican Syriac 22" />{{sfnp|Perczel|2018}}{{sfnp|Mingana|1926|p=451-452}}

MS Vatican Syriac 22 has the following passage about the "Catholicos-Patriarch of the East" and the "Metropolitan of India" in folio 93r- 94v:
{{blockquote
 |This holy book has been copied in the royal, renowned and famous town Shengala, which is in Malabar in the land of India, in the holy Church  dedicated to the Mar Quriaqos, the glorious martyr... whilst our blessed and holy father Mar Yahballaha the fifth, the Turk, qatoliqa Patriakis of the East, the head of all the countries, was great governor, holding the offices of the Catholic Church of East, the shining lamp which illuminates its regions, the head of the pastors and Pontiff of the pontiffs, Head of great high priests, Father of the fathers... The Lord may make long his life and protect his days in order that he may govern her, a long time, for her glory and for the exaltation of her sons. Amen...<br>
And when Mar Jacob, Metropolitan Bishop was the overseer and governor of the holy see of Saint Thomas the Apostle, that is to say governor of us and of all the holy Church of the Christian India. May God grant him strength and help that he may govern us with zeal and direct us according to the will of his Lord, and that he may teach us His commandments and make us walk in His ways, till the end of time, through the intercession of the holy Apostle St. Thomas and all his colleagues ! Amen!..
 |source = [https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.sir.22 MS Vatican Syriac 22]
}}
This manuscript is written in [[Estrangela]] script by a very young deacon named Zakharya bar Joseph bar Zakharya who was just 14 at the time of writing.{{sfnp|Brock|2011a}}{{sfnp|Wilmshurst|2000|p=378}}{{sfnp|Van der Ploeg|1983|p=3}}<ref name="MS Vatican Syriac 22">{{Cite web |website=Nasranis |url=https://www.nasrani.net/2012/04/07/ms-vatican-syriac-22-ms-vatican-syriac-17-copied-in-south-india/|title=MS Vatican Syriac 22 & MS Vatican Syriac 17: Syriac Manuscripts copied in South India|date=6 April 2012}}</ref> The scribe refers Catholicos-Patriarch of the East [[Yahballaha III]] as Yahaballaha ''the fifth''.{{sfnp|Brock|2011a}} [[Johannes P. M. van der Ploeg]] comments that this may indicate that the patriarch was not well known among the Indian Christians.{{sfnp|Van der Ploeg|1983|p=4}}

[[File:Jordanus, on Saint-Thomas Chrsitians in India (Mirabilia Descripta, 1329–1338).jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Catholic critical account of Saint-Thomas Christians in India, written by traveller and missionary [[Jordan Catala|Jordanus]] in 1329–1338 in ''Mirabilia Descripta''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jordanus |first1=Catalani |last2=Yule |first2=Henry |last3=Parr |first3=Charles McKew donor |last4=Parr |first4=Ruth |date=1863 |title=Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East |page=23, para. 31 |publisher=London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_wQUVAAAAQAAJ/page/n52/mode/1up}}</ref>]]
In 1490, a delegation from the Saint Thomas Christians visited the [[Patriarch of the East]], [[Shemon IV]], to bring a bishop for India.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Antony|first=Martin Thomas|date=5 June 2010|title=The Story of Joseph, the Indian; A Historical Appraisal of the Affairs of St Thomas' Christians in the Pre Portuguese period|website=Nasranis |url=https://www.nasrani.net/2010/06/05/the-story-of-joseph-the-indian-with-a-historical-appraisal-of-the-affairs-of-st-thomas-christians/}}</ref> One among them was Joseph the Indian, who later became famous for his visit to Rome and the account of Malabar in Book VI of ''Paesi novamente retrovati'' (1507) by Fracanzano da Montalboddo.{{sfnp|Brock|2011a}} The patriarch responded positively to the request of Saint Thomas Christians, and appointed two bishops, Mar Thoma and Mar [[Yohannan (Yoseph of Awgin)|Yohannan]], dispatching them to India. These bishops, and three more (Mar Yahballaha, Mar Dinkha and Mar [[Yaqob Abuna|Yaqov]]) who followed them in 1503–1504, reaffirmed and strengthened traditional ties between [[India (East Syriac ecclesiastical province)|India]] and the Patriarchate. They were later followed by another bishop, Mar [[Abraham of Angamaly|Abraham]], who died in 1597. By that time, Christians of the [[Malabar Coast]] were facing new challenges, caused by the establishment of [[Portuguese India|Portuguese]] presence in India.{{sfnp|Wilmshurst|2000|pp=20, 347, 398, 406–407}}{{sfnp|Brock|2011a}}{{sfnp|Baum|Winkler|2003|pp=106–111}}