The Jesuits Branded it Nestorianism
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| Jornada of Gouvea |
It is also said that there were two churches, the upkeep of which was borne by the Portuguese ; and that there many native converts were engaged in their service, The clergy must have come either from St. Francis Vincent College, established in 1540, or from that of St. Francis in Goa founded in 1541 for candidates from Canara, the Deccan, Malabar and other places.
Parur,Kokkamangalam ( South Pallippuram),Niranam,Chavil ( Ranni) and Palur ( Chavakkad) are the other Syrian Christian settlements.
By A D 505 the churches on both
sides of the peninsula lost their Dravidian liturgy.
There were also the apostates (Mani-gramakkar) that arose from the preachings of the Manikka Vachakar. Regarding the history and government of the Syrian Church dining the first few centuries, there is no authentic information. Reference is made to Frumentius with episcopal authority in South India about 325 AD; but this is denied by Hough who states that the Bishop was in Ethiopia and not in India. At the Nicene Council 325 A D, one of the bishops signed the decrees as John Bishop of Persia and Great India. Of this bishop nothing is known except that lie was a Persian bishop, and that his diocese might be near the Indus.
Catholics believed that the ancient apostolic church of India found Syrio-Chaldean bishops and Syrio-Chaldean liturgy before the arrival of the Syrian colony headed by Thomas Cana in 345 A D. This colony had only reinforced the Christian
community already in existence in Malabar, but did not give
to the community either the title or Syriac liturgy. From
this it may be seen, that the early Christians had been reinforced by the refugees from Mylapore and by the followers of
Thomas Cana and others.
When the Syrian church emerges into history, it is known
as the Nestorian branch of the Asiatic Church. Nestorius,
who was a Syrian by birth, was educated at Antioch, where
as presbyter, he became celebrated during his youth,
for his asceticism, orthodoxy and eloquence. On the death
of Sisinnius, Patriarch of Constantinople, this distinguished preacher of Antioch was appointed to the vacant See
by the Emperor Theodosius II, and was consecrated Patriarch
in A D 428.
In the 5th century the question as to how the
two natures are united in Christ, called forth two disturbing
heresies on the dogma of the redemption, the germ of which
had been already laid as there had ever been opposing tendencies on the above named question between the Alexandrians
and the. Antiochians,
Theodore of Mopsuestia, a scholar of Antioch, relying on
the duality of natures in Christ, was led to suppose also two
persons in him, whose natures he supposed united by an exterior bond, while to each he ascribed a peculiar subsistence
proper to itself alone, so that it was in a figurative sense that
Christ could be called one person.
These false principles were adopted by Leporius, a
monk of Massiha, in Gaul A D 426; but they were vigorously
promulgated by Nestorius. He maintained that m Jesus
Christ there were two persons: a human person born of
Virgin Mary; and the divine person that is the eternal Word.
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| Dutch Ships at Kodungallur,1708 |
In consequence of this error he denied to the Blessed Virgin
the title of Theotokos or Mother of God contrary to the Roman Catholic doctrine which confesses Mary to be the Mother
of the divine person in whom are intimately and indissolubly
united bv what is called the hypostatic union, the divine and
human person. For this he' was condemned and excommunicated by the third Oecumenical Synod at Ephesus in A D 431.
Nestorianism was soon suppressed in the Roman Empire.
The Emperor Zeno ordered Syrus, Bishop of Kdessa, to purge
the Diocese of that heresy, in A D 489, and the Nestorians were forced to seek refuge across the Roman boundaries into Persia. Teachers and students migrated into Persia where they founded a school in Nisbis which for a long time enjoyed
considerable celebrity. They found refuge and protection
with St. Thomas Barsumas, Bishop of Nisbis, who spread
Nestorianism in Persia.
Favoured by the Persian kings, the
number of adherents continued to increase. At last at a
Synod held in Seleucia in AD 498, the Persian Church wholly
separated from the orthodox in the Roman Empire and adopted the name of the Chaldean Christians. Their Patriarch
bore the title of Yazeclich. From Persia the Nestorian Church
spread to India, where its adherents are called St. Thomas
Christians. They spread as far as China.And 'it is quite certain," says Bishop Medlycott, "that at the
time of the visit of Cosmos to India (A D 530 to 535) these
churches as also the churches in India were holding the Nestorian doctrine of their bishops and priests."
Nor does this
historical fact cause surprise, when we take into consideration,
the opportunities, the bold attitude and the violent measures
adopted by the promoters of this heresy after expulsion from
the Roman Empire.
In A D 530 to 535, there was a Nestorian prelate presiding at Kalyan over her future destiny. The bishops, priests
and deacons, in India, and Ceylon, were the subjects of the Persian Metropolitan who was a Nestorian. Hence by the
year 530, the Indian Christians had all been captured in the
Nestorian net.In A D 630 to 660, Jesujabus of Adjabene claimed authority over India, and replaced Simeon
of Rayardshir, the Metropolitan of Persia, and so deprived
that church of her Ministry. In A D 714 to 728, Saliba
Zacha and other Nestorian Patriarchs raised the See of India,
among the exempted, which, owing to distance from the Patriarchal See, should, in future, send letters of commission but
once in six years. This ruling was subsequently incorporated
into a synodal canon. Looking into the traditions of the
St. Thomas Christians, it will be found that all their prelates
came from Babylon, the ancient residence, as they say, of the
Patriarchs or the Catholicos of the Fast. It is further known
and acknowledged by them, that whenever they remained
deprived of a Bishop fcr a long time they used to send messengers to that patriarchate for bishops. Sufficient proof of this practice has been given above; and, when discussing the arrival of four bishops in A D 1504, the Holy See was fully
aware that the Malabar Christians were under the control of
the Nestorian Patriarch. When Julian III gave Suluka, his
bull of domination as the Catholic Chaldean Patriarch, he distinctly laid down the extent of jurisdiction which had been
claimed and controlled by his late Nestorian predecessor.
Angamali is described as the last of the Nestorian Syrio-
Chaldaic Church, and Mar Abraham is said to be the last
Nestorian bishop of Angamali. " We are quite ready," said
Father Dahlmann, " to believe that the Nestorianism during
long periods was latent and probably unconscious, and that
also a good deal of animus, with which zeal for the purity of
the faith had little to do, was shown against the Malabar bi-
shops by the Portuguese of Goa. " None the less, there seems
to be no sufficient evidence of the preaching of St. Thomas in
this part of India, and in default of this, the probabilities are
in favour of the fact that the Christian community on the coasts was of Nestorian origin. The Nestorianism of Si-Ngan
Fou inscription in the heart of China is no longer disputed
and the ancient seventh century Crosses at Kottayam and
Mylapore with their Pahlevi lettering are suggestive of son e
similar influences.
In the works of most of the Protestants and Catholic writers it is unanimously asserted that their Church was Nestorian till 1509. Geddes, 1694, La Croze 1724, Buchanan 1814, Hough 1819, Whitehouse, Milne Kae 1892, and others affirm in the clearest terms that after the first four centuries, the Syrian Church fell into Nestorian heresy and was brought back under the authority of Koine by the indefatigable zeal of Archbishop Menezes. Gouvea 1606, D'Souza 1710, Joseph Asseman 1728, Le Quien 1740, Raulin 1745, Fra Bartolomeo and several Latin missionaries have persistently maintained the same. In short, all those who have written on this subject are agreed in branding the Syrian Church with the stigma of Nestorian heresy.
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| Nestorius,1688 sketch by Romeyn de Hooghe |
Another kind of heresy that found its way to India was that of Eutyches, a zealous' adherent of Cyril in opposition to Nestorius at the Council of Ephesus in A D 431. But Eutyches in opposing the doctrine of Nestorius went beyond Cyril and others and affirmed, that after the union of the two natures, the humnn and the divine, his humanity was absorbed in His
divinity. After several years of controversy the question was
finally decided at the Council of Chalcedon in A D 451, when
it was declared, in opposition to the doctrine of Eutyches,
that the two natures were united in Christ, but without any
alteration, absorption or confusion, or in other words in the
person of Christ there were two natures, the human and the divine, each perfect in itself, but there was only one person-
Eutyehes was excommunicated and he died in exile.
Those
who would not subscribe to the doctrines declared at Chalcedon were condemned as heretics: then they seceded and afterwards gathered themselves around different centres which were
Syria. Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Cyprus ,Palestine, Armenia, Egypt and Abyssinia. The Armenians embraced the
Eutvchian theory of divinity and humanity being one compound nature in Christ. The west Syrians or the natives of
Syria proper, to whom the Syrians of this coast trace their
origin, adopted, after having renounced the doctrines of Nes-
torius, the Eutychian tenet. Through the influence of Severus,Patriarch of Antioch,
they gradually became monophysite. The monophysite sect
was suppressed by the Emperors, but in the sixth century
there took place the great Jacobite revival of monophysite
doctrine under James Banheus better known as Jacobus Zanzalus who united the various divisions into which the
monophysites had separated themselves into one Church
which, at the present day, exists under the name of the
Jacobite church. The head of the Jacobite church claims
the rank and prerogative of the Patriarch of Antioch, a title
claimed by no less than three church dignitaries.
Leaving it to subtle theologians to settle the disputes, we may
briefly define the position of the Jacobites in Malabar in respect of the above controversies. While they accept the
qualifying epithets pronounced by the decree passed at the Council of Chalcedon in regard to the union of two natures in
Christ, Ihey object to the use of the word two in referring to
the same. So far they arc practicably at one with the Armenians, for they also condemn the Eutychian doctrine; and a
Jacobite candidate for holy orders in the Syrian Church has,
among other things, to take an oath denouncing Eutyehes and
his teachers.
Prevalence of the Nestorian heresy among the Syrian Christians already referred to, is being denied by the Romo Syrians, who say that the Portuguese missionaries, bishops, priests and writers are completely mistaken in styling them as Nestorians in belief; and because of the false report all the subsequent writers continued to call them so. Further, the word "Nestorian" is commonly applied to the Syrio Chaldaic language. After the spread of Nestorianism in the eastern countries, the language of the people which was then Syro- Chaldean underwent certain modifications of character and pronunciation and came to be know n as Nestorian. Ncstorian and Chaldean were on that account used as convertible terms. In support of this contention the Romo-Syrians maintain that there always had been a small body of the Chaldeans of Mesopotomia who remained true to their faith and from them they received their bishops. They were Chaldeans of an oriental rite in communion with Rome and holding the Catholic faith. They contend that the Portuguese did not convert them irom any heresy but only made them submit to the jurisdiction of the bishops of the Latin rite having cut off their relation with the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon. They say that the saints were notoriously keen in detecting heresy and maintained that the aged bishop described by St. Francis as asking for indulgences could not have been in schism.
Further, it is pointed out that the Portuguese garrison at Cannanore read the Syrian Mass of the Bishops, and in A D 1348 the Syrian Christians at Quilon paid money to John Marignolli (1290-1360) as the Pope Clement's legate. *
It is also said that Nestorianism is very loosely applied by the Portuguese historians, and often denotes orientals and not heretics. Further, on many occasions, the Portuguese priests came to Syrian Churches, and had their masses offered in them, and in turn, the Syrian priests also offered their masses in the churches belonging to the Portuguese, and on many occasions the former heard the confession of the Syrians and gave them Holy Communion- Further, the early travellers to India — the Alexandrian Cosmos Indicopleustus who passed by the Malabar Coast, the Ambassadors Sighelm and Athelstan of Alfred the Croat, and the Venetian traveller,make no reference to the prevalence of Nestorianism. Many other arguments are adduced by the Romo-Syrians in support of this contention, and a few monographs are published in this connection. They now deny the credit of the Portuguese in the conversion of
the Syrian Christians to the Roman Catholic faith. As the
treatment of the subject is purely ethnological, and not historical, it is not our intention to enter into the merits of the
controversy.
Very little is known of the history of the Syrian Church
for six centuries prior to the advent of the Portuguese.
During this period the Syrian Christians had very much fallen
oft in ceremonial purity. For, as observed by Sir William
Hunter, " For a thousand years from the fifth to the fifteenth
century, the Jacobite sect dwelt in the middle of the Nestorianism of Central Asia so that both the Nestorian and the
Jacobite bishops must have accepted the invitations of the
Syrian Christians in Malabar, who never troubled themselves
about the subtle disputations and doctrinal differences that divided their co-religionists in Europe and Asia Minor.They were on this account unable to distinguish between Nestorianism and any other form of Christianity. Further, speaking
of the Malabar Church at this period, Gibbon says, " Their
separation from the Western World had left them in ignorance of the improvements or corruptions of a thousand years;
and their conformity to the practices of the fifth century
would equally disappoint the prejudice of a Papist and a Protestant". Dr. Day refers to the arrival in India of the Jacobite and Syrian bishops who built churches and looked after the religious affairs of the Syrians. Marco Polo who visited India
during the thirteenth century speaks of the prevalence of
Nestorianism in India.
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| World map by Cosmas Indicopleustus |
In the thirteenth century, the first
Latin missionaries, John of Monte Carvino, Friar Jordanus
and John de Marignoli, arrived in Malabar and made converts,
but their labours were ineffectual.
Until the advent of the Portuguese in India, the Syrian
Church was following without any hindrance, in its ritual,
practice and communion, a creed of the Syro-Chaldean Church of the East. Conquest and conversion were as close to the heart of the Portuguese as were enterprise and commerce.
At first they gladly welcomed the Syrians as their brethren
Christians, and never thought of interfering with the doctrines,
but they were soon seen to change their attitude towards
them. The latter had their mother church at Babylon with
their Patriarch at Mosul in Asia Minor, and were of Nestorian
faith. This was shocking to Portuguese, who, after the conquest of territories and the establishment of their capital or
headquarters at Goa, soon entered on a policy of conversion,
and their first care was to intercept all correspondence with
the eastern Patriarchs and to prevent communion with them.
Franciscan and Dominican friars and Jesuit fathers worked
vigorously to win the Syrian Christians to the Roman Catholic communion. They established the Inquisition at Goa in
1500 and a Jesuit church and a seminary were founded at
Vaippikotta (Chendamangalam), near Cranganur, in the latter
of which was given instruction in theology, in Latin, Portuguese and Syriac languages. A college was also founded at
Cranganur by Friar Vincent with the assistance of a Viceroy
and a Bishop at Goa for the education of the Syrian youths
in doctrine and ritual of Rome. St. Xavier wrote home to
his royal patron urging him to endow this college intimating
that it would be the means of greatly increasing the number
of the adherents to his church .
The Cranganur college became a failure, for the Syrians
looked with suspicion even upon their own children who had
been educated there, and refused to recognise the Romish
orders that had been received, regarding their latinized habits
and customs as so many marks of apostasy from the faith of
their forefathers. Vincent intimated his intention to hand
over this institution to the Jesuits in the event of his
decease ; and Xavier wrote about it to the head of his
own order, Ignatius Loyala , and his friend Simon Roderick
requesting them to procure indulgences from the Pope for the
Syrian Christians. Thus under the immediate auspices of the
pious and amiable Francis Xavier, the Jesuits were introduced
to Malabar to work among the ancient Christian congregations.
When Alex-de-Menezes, Archbishop of Goa, heard of the movement, he arrived at Cochin in January 26, 1599, where he was received with great pomp. He then visited the important Syrian churches and the seminary, and ordained as many as one hundred and fifty three priests. Armed with the terrors of the Inquisition, invested with the spiritual authority of the Pope, and encouraged in his efforts by the Portuguese king whose governors readily backed him up, he held the Synod at Diamper or Udayamperur on Sunday, June 20th, 1599, the third Sunday after Whitsuntide. The first session began with a solemn mass for the removal of schism and a sermon by himself on the same subject, after which, dressed in full pontificals and seated in his chair, he solemnly addressed the Synod ou business matters with the aid of a faithful and pious interpreter Jacob Kattanar who could interpret to the whole assembly fully to comprehend the wording of the decrees. After this all the clerical members of the Synod were compelled to swear a solemn oath in which they were directed to profess their faith not only in the Nicene creed, but in all those Romanish additions which are contain- ed in the creed of Pope Pious IV; and to swear to God that they would never receive into their church any bishop, archbishop, prelate, pastor or governor, unless expressly appointed by the bishop of Rome. Joseph Kattanar read the provision in Malayalam and the clergy repeated it after him on their knees. They were also advised individually to have their firm belief in the statements made above, and made to swear and protest to God by the Holy Gospel, and the Cross of Christ in proof thereof. The lay delegates were also then made to do the same " in their own name" and in the name of the people of the bishopric. Thus Archbishop Menezes and his Jesuit assistants had the satisfaction of having converted the whole church and made believers in the whole range of Tridentine dogma. Many other changes were also introduced The Syriac language was allowed, but the Syrian mass was altered at the Synod, and it is the one used by the Syro-Romans even to this day. The service books of the churches were expurgated and all Xestorian passages expunged. The popular Nestorian books were all destroyed. The doctrine of transubstantiation with all its attendant departures, doctrines containing penance and extreme unction, celibacy of the clergy, reformation of the church affairs, reformation of manners were all changed after the Romish fashion.
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| Menezes |
After the Synod had passed all the decrees, Menezes delivered his final charge to the assembly. A procession was
made round the church, during which Te Dcum was sung
by choir and people. This ended, the Archbishop pronounced
his benediction to which the Archdeacon responded aloud
"Let us depart in peace" and Synod broke up. Thus the
Synod of Udayamperur came to an end after a session of six
days, in June 26, 1599. The Archbishop then spent two months in visiting and
organising the churches, and soon after returned to Goa.
But the Jesuit government became so intolerable to the Syrian
Christians that they resolved to have a bishop of their
own from the East and applied to Babylon, Alexandria, Antioeh
and other headquarters, as if these ecclesiastics possessed the same creed.
A man named Ahatalla, otherwise known as Mar Ignatius, was accordingly sent by the Patriarch of Antioch but was on the way intercepted by the Portuguese who secured him at Goa and shipped him off to Europe. According to
another account he was either drowned in the Cochin harbour
or burned at the Inquisition at Goa.This cruel deed so
far provoked a large body of Syrians that they met in solemn
conclave at the Coonan Cross at Mattancherry in Cochin,
and with one voice renounced their allegiance to the Church
of Rome. This incident marks an epoch in the history of
the Syrian Church, and led to a separation of the community
into two parties, viz,, the Pazhayakuru (the Syrian Romans)
who adhered to the Church of Rome according to the Synod
at Diamper, and the Puttenkuru, the Jacobite Syrians, who,
after the Oath at the Coonan Cross, got Mar Gregory from
Antioch, acknowledged the spiritual supremacy thereof. The
former owed its foundation to the Archbishop Menezes, and
the Syond at Diamper in 1599, and its reconciliation after the
revolt to the Carmelite bishop Father Joseph of St. Mary,
whom the Pope appointed in 1659, without the knowledge of
the King of Portugal, as the Vicar Apostolic of Malabar. It
retains in its services the Syrian language and ritual and
acknowledges the spiritual authority of the Pope and the Vicar
Apostolic. The members of this party are known as the
Catholics of the Syrian rite to distinguish them from the converts direct from heathenism to the Latin church of the
Roman missionaries.
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*John Margnoli:Giovanni de' Marignolli ( Johannes Marignola ) variously anglicized as John of Marignolli or John of Florence,was a notable 14th-century Catholic European traveller to medieval China and India.He reached Quilon in Easter week of 1348.
Edited By Ramachandran
