In
the year 345 A.D., Knai Thoma, a rich merchant,
and 72 families from Edessa (or modern Urfa),
immigrated to Malabar (presently Kerala) and
established their colony. In the group there
were also priests, deacons and their bishop,
Uraha Mor Ouseph (Bishop Joseph of Uraha/Urfa).
Knai Thoma and his people were welcomed by
Cheraman Perumal, the Emperor of Kerala, and
were given permission to settle down in Kodungalloor.
They built a town in Kodungalloor with a church
and 72 houses. The name "Kodungallur"
is supposed to originate from "An Ur
of a Kodi Lingams or Town of a thousand Shiva
lingams". It is also known as "Mahadevar
Pattanam" meaning "town of Lord
Mahadeva or Shiva".
K’naneans (Cananaean according to the
Gospel of Luke) are a very distinct ethnic
and religious group whose ancestry traces
back to Abraham, the Patriarch of the Old
Testament. The Israelites became slaves in
Egypt and God delivered them through Moses.
He gave Moses the Ten Commandments and the
Holy Laws so as to administer to the needs
of the community to lead a very prosperous,
religious and civilized life in the land of
Canaan. |
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In celebration for having received the Holy Constitution,
Moses built a sacrificial altar out of 12 stones and
celebrated Mass in honour of God with an animal sacrifice.
In order to preserve the sacred constitution, he appointed
72 elders to memorise the Laws and to ensure its preservation
and interpretation on behalf of the entire community.
He appointed Judges to enforce the Divine Laws while
dealing with issues facing the people. He appointed
Aaron as the High Priest and the descendants of Levi
(Levites) to assist Aaron in the preservation of the
sacred scrolls, vessels and other Holy equipments
used during the worship of the Almighty. Phinehas,
the grandson of Aaron showed his zeal for the Divine
Laws during a period of crisis when the Faith of the
Israelites were put to test by Balaam. Pleased with
his display of zealousness, the Almighty Lord blessed
Phinehas and his descendents with an eternal pledge
of High Priesthood, just as he was to later bless
David and his Descendants with eternal Lordship over
the Israelites. The zeal of Phinehas was the inspiration
of the later day Zealots (Q'nanaya in Aramaic) beginning
with the Maccabean Dynasty in 186 BC.
Twenty years after the Nicean Council
(synod), Knai (or Q'nai) Thoma, an influential merchant
from Cana, brought a colony of 400 Syrian Christians
consisting of 72 families belonging to 7 clans with
instructions from the Bishop of Antioch (Antioch had
not been declared a Patriarchate then), Mor Eusthathius,
to the Malabar coast of India. The group included
men, women, children, priests, deacons and their bishop
Mor Joseph of Urfa (Uraha/Edessa). The names of the
seven clans, according to Mr. E M Philip, were: Bagi,
Belkuth, Hadai, Kujalik, Koja, Mugmuth, and Thegmuth.
The legend is that Mor Joseph had a startling dream
(vision) in which he saw the plight of the Christian
church in Malabar established by St. Thomas, the Apostle,
in the 1st Century. Meanwhile, Knai Thoma, who frequented
the shores of Kodungallur in search of spices and
other Indian wealth to be exported back to the World
trade ports of Baghdad and Egypt, noticed on the shores
of Kodungallur, local men who carried on their bare
trunk, crosses to mark their religious beliefs. But
they were not of high disposition as they were subjected
to persecution by their chaste brethren in lieu of
their belief in an unknown and unseen God. Thomas
interviewed them and found that they were the descendants
of formerly high ranking brahmin families who had
accepted the way of the cross as preached by St. Thomas
between 52 – 72 AD. He also learnt that the
Saint was martyred at the Corromandel coast and they
took him along on their annual pilgrimage to Malayattoor
and from thence to Mylapore. From them, he learnt
that St. Thomas had preached the Word of God in Hebrew
and his first converts/disciples were about 500 Jews
in Kodungallur, who were well versed in the semitic
language of Aramaic as well as could converse in the
local dialect of that period with the natives. But
after the martyrdom of the Saint, they became orphaned
for want of a spiritual guide who could nourish the
fledgling Nazarene community.
Mor Joseph (known as Aithlaha according
to the Edessene Scrolls) became the Bishop of Edessa
in 324 AD, a year before the Synod of Nicea. Mor Aithlaha
had the fortune to complete the Eastern side of the
Church of Edessa as well as made a cemetery for the
Church (the first recorded cemetery for the Christians
according to historical records). The original Church
of Edessa, the Church of St. Thomas, built around
the time he left for India in 52 AD, had been washed
away in a great flood in 203 AD during the reign of
King Abgar. A second flood washed through Edessa and
laid it waste in 303 AD. Ten years later, the foundations
of a new Church was laid at Edessa and that was completed
in the days of Mor Aithlaha. He took Knai Thoma to
the Catholicos of Selucia – Steciphon (modern
Baghdad) who was his spiritual superior and who was
given temporal power by the Bishop of Antioch to administer
to the churches of the Far East. Mor Eustathius was
the Bishop of Antioch during this period.
Mor Eustathius, who was Bishop of
Berœa in Syria, was transferred to Antioch in
324 AD. He was one of the most prominent opponents
of Arianism at the Council of Nicæa in 325 AD
and from 325 – 330 he was engaged in a continuous
literary warfare against the Arians. He was supported
by Mor Ethalaha, the Bishop of Edessa who too attended
the Synod. By his fearless denunciation of Arianism
and his refusal to engage any Arian priests in his
diocese, he incurred the hatred of the Arians, who,
headed by Eusebius of Cæsarea and his namesake
of Nicomedia, held a synod at Antioch in 331 AD at
which Mor Eustathius was accused of Sabellianism,
incontinency, cruelty, and other crimes. He was deposed
by the synod and banished to Trajanopolis in Thrace
by order of the Emperor Constantine. The people of
Antioch, who loved and revered their holy and learned
Patriarch, became indignant at the injustice done
to him and were ready to take up arms in his defence.
But Mor Eustathius kept them in check, exhorted them
to remain true to the orthodox faith and humbly left
for his place of exile, accompanied by a large body
of his clergy. The adherents of Mor Eustathius at
Antioch formed a separate community by the name of
Eustathians and refused to acknowledge the bishops
set over them by the Arians. The knanaya zealots of
Edessa, led by their Bishop, Mor Joseph (Aithlaha),
too were Eustathians, and so when Mor Eustathius was
excommunicated, they took a vow never to fall prey
to the Arian heresy and their propagandists, which
included even the highly placed Bishops who had conducted
the Synod at Nicæa.
It was during this period that Thomas
of Cana reported the status of the St. Thomas Nazarenes
of India to his Bishop. So they consulted with Mor
Eustathius and took his blessings to prepare themselves
to migrate to India to serve the cause of the St.
Thomas converts of India. In 345 AD, Knai Thomas and
Mor Joseph (Aithlaha) left Edessa and Aithlaha was
succeeded by Mor Abraham. (This succession has been
documented in the Edessene Chronicles, which has been
preserved and translated by Scholars today). In 373
AD, Edessa was run over by the Arians and the Eustathians
had to leave Edessa because of the persecutions of
the Arians. Five years later, the Orthodox Christians
reclaimed the Church of Edessa. In 393 AD, the coffin
(glossocom) of St. Thomas containing the remaining
relics was brought to Edessa from India, and placed
in the Church built in his name in the days of Mor
Cyrus, the Bishop.
The 72 Knanaya zealot families led
by Thomas and Mor Joseph landed in Kodungalloor (Crangannoore)
in 345 AD. Knai Thoma and his group sailed in three
ships. The leading ship called "Babylonia"
had three masts. The main mast flew King David's flag,
the second mast flew the Roman flag with the cross,
and the third flew the Edessene flag. Knai Thoma and
his people were heartily welcomed by Cheraman Perumal,
the Emperor. Cheraman Perumal sent his brother, Ramavarma,
and his minister, Vettathu Mannan, to receive Knai
Thoma and his people. Knai Thoma and his people were
given permission to settle down in Kodungalloor and
to do business. Later Cheraman Perumal bestowed Knai
Thoma and his people with 72 princely privileges and
thereby elevated them over 17 castes. This proclamation
was made on a Saturday in March (Kumbham 29), 345
and it was recorded on copper plates given to Knai
Thoma (known later as the 'Knai Thomman Cheppedu').
Knai Thoma and his people built a town in Kodungalloor
with a church and 72 houses. The place awarded to
the immigrants was at "Mahadevar Pattanam"
meaning "Town of Lord Shiva and Parvathi".
They were also called Southists (Thekkumbhagar) because
they lived on the south side of the Kodungalloor Mahadevar
Temple. The St. Thomas Christians (native Christians
of Kerala) lived on the northern side of this Syrian
settlement and served their Syrian masters. They were
liberated from the strictly enforced caste system
by payment of money to the caste Brahmins as compensation
for their spritual liberation and they consisted of
converted Hindus from various caste levels of the
Hindu society. They were unified under the singular
label of Vadakkumbhagor and were not permitted to
identify with their former religion or caste.
Knananites did not intermarry with
native Christians and maintained their endogamous
Jewish tradition originating from Abraham. To this
day, the Knananites continue as an endogamous community.
Striking similarities exist between Knanaya Nasranis
and the Cochin Jews. Both groups were granted 72 privileges
by the ruling Cheraman Perumals. Copper plates given
to the Jews (kept in the Mattancherry Synagogue) were
handed to Joseph Rabban just as Knai Thoma was given
similar copper plates during the fourth century. Both
groups are endogamous. The similarities between these
two groups were brought out in a research done by
Dr. Shalva Weil, an Anthropologistand senior researcher
from the NCJW Research Institute for Innovation in
Education, Hebrew University in 1982 titled “Symmetry
between Christians and Jews in India: the Cnanite
Christians and the Cochin Jews of Kerala,” –
Contributions to Indian Sociology, Vol. 16, No. 2:
175-196.
During the 18th and 19th centuries,
Syrian Christians became involved in several internal
conflicts. One of the major disputes was regarding
the ownership of funds and its interest bestowed upon
the Ancient Syrian Church by the British (known also
as Vattippanam). After years of legal battle, the
Court, declared that the group led by Mor Dionysus
Joseph Pulikkottil, the Malankara Metropolitan, being
the original Syrian Church, and hence they became
the beneficiary of the funds. The person who helped
Mor Dionysus win this renowned court battle was Edavazhickal
Pothachan (E. M. Philip). His dedication to the cause
of the Syrian Church won him the title "Nasrani
Simham" meaning Lion of the Nazarenes.
On January 21 (Makaram 8), 1882,
with the blessings of Mor Joseph Pulikkottil, eleven
Knanaya priests assembled at St. Stephen's Knanaya
Church, Veliyanad, and formed an organization called
"Malankara Jacobite Syrian Knanaya Committee".
The meeting unanimously elected Mr. E. M. Philip Edavazhickal
as the secretary and Uthuppan Thomma Puthenpurackal
(Vazhayil) as the treasurer. The formation of this
Knanaya Committee was a significant turning point
in the Knanaya history. The Knanaya Committee codified
rules and guidelines for the administration of the
nine Knanaya churches which existed as of that date.
Further, the Knanaya Committee was instrumental in
bringing together the Knananites spread from Ramamangalam
to Ranny based on their endogamous nature. In 1910,
upon the Knanaya Committee's request, Patriarch Ignatius
Abdulla created a Knanaya Diocese with personal jurisdiction
considering their ethnic background (i.e., all Knananites
and their churches, irrespective of location, will
be administered by the Knanaya Diocese). On August
31, 1910, the Patriarch ordained Fr. Geevarghese Edavazhickal
(Mar Severious) as the first Knanaya Bishop.
The Knanaya Diocese which started
with 9 churches now has 107 churches spread all over
the world. |
