The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

V. Origin and Witness of Malabar St. Thomas Christians

1. RISE AND SPREAD OF THE NESTORIAN MOVEMENT

It is again essential first to get the historical background of Conditionalism on the great Asian continent. Nestorius, presbyter of the church at Antioch, was made bishop of Constantinople in 428. He denounced errors that had already crept into the church—especially the offensive term “mother of God,” as applied to Mary, which title he declared to be a pagan invention. His fiercest antagonist was Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, who was a violent polemicist. Nestorius held that the two natures of Christ remained distinct, but were closely joined and harmonious. He held that Christ possessed two distinct personalities. So there were sharp differences. CFF2 106.3

After correspondence between the two patriarchs both parties agreed to lay their views before the influential Celestine I, bishop of Rome. As a result, in 430 a Roman synod condemned Nestorius’ views, and he was commanded to recant on pain of excommunication. Then came the General Council of Ephesus, in 431, when Cyril and the Alexandrian party again triumphed over Nestorius, who was permitted to retire to a cloister. Thus it was that Cyril gained the imperial support for his views. CFF2 107.1

2. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NESTORIAN MOVEMENT

As noted, Nestorianism as a movement rose in the fifth century. And despite deterrents it spread into Persia, Armenia, Syria, India, and even China. The Nestorians became known as the Protestants of Eastern Christianity, having always opposed any doctrine that regarded Mary as more than a woman, and in other respects advocated and preserved numerous early doctrines and usages of the primitive church. They claimed that their sect went back before Nestorius, to the apostle Thomas, many calling themselves “Thomas Christians.”—Their teachers, having been driven from Edessa, settled at Nisibis, which then became the center of their vast missionary enterprise. They also produced numerous theologians and philosophers. CFF2 107.2

After the Council of Ephesus in 431 the Nestorians obtained possession of the theological schools of Edessa, Nisibis, and Seleucia. Then, driven by imperial edict into Persia, they firmly established themselves there, later spreading to India, Bactria (in Afghanistan), and even as far away as China. The group in South India had continued on ever since the period of the early migrations, and were commonly known as Syrian Christians, or St. Thomas Christians. Thus it was that when the emperor expelled the Nestorians from the Roman Empire they spread all over the East as a new and independent sect. Nevertheless, papal emissaries ever sought to subject them to the pope, sometimes by cunning and sometimes by violence. CFF2 107.3

3. CHARACTERISTICS OF MALABAR ST. THOMAS CHRISTIANS

The St. Thomas Christians of Malabar were, accordingly, a body of Syrian Christians of Nestorian descent, dwelling in the interior of Malabar and Travancore, in southwestern Hindustan. They retained the Syriac language, held the validity of but two sacraments—baptism and the Lord’s Supper—and were governed by bishops under a metropolitan. They rejected the authority of Peter and neither invoked saints nor worshiped images. And they were subjected to intense persecution as the Inquisition was established at Goa. CFF2 108.1

Another remnant of these St. Thomas Christians was found by Dr. Claudius Buchanan, in 1807, near Travancore. He found that their church services were still conducted in Syriac, and that they disclaimed the heresies of Arius, Sabellius, Macedonius, Maianus, Julianus, and Nestorius. They allowed three sacraments—baptism, orders, and the Eucharist. But what is more significant, they believed that the souls of the dead do not see God until the judgment day. Let us note this in greater detail. CFF2 108.2