St Thomas Christians in Asia
Among all the churches founded by St Thomas, in the course of his epic journey, the Church of the East, in the Persian empire, concentrated in the Iraq of today, spread, despite periodic persecution to be the largest church outside the Roman empire, with an extensive missionary wing. By the seventh century, it suffered a split consequent on Christological controversies. Under the Arab rule, there came to be two churches; The Patriarch of the East at Seleucia, and thereafter Baghdad; and the Catholics of the East at Tagrit, established under Antiochean inspiration. But the assault of the Mongols (1263)and by Timur (1394) led to a steady decline and near extinction of both under Islamic rule. Today, there is a scattered minority of orthodox Christians in Iraq. Linked to the Syrian orthodox church who venerate St Thomas as their Patron Saint. Not much is known about the church in China founded by St Thomas, except that Parsian records of the seventh mention the metropolitan of China. The presence of Parsi missionaries around 635 is seen from the Sin-Gnam-Fu Monument in Shensi provice of middle China. Christian communities, linked to the(Persian) Church of the east, are known to have existed in the North and west of India, until the Islamic conquest. Significantly, the archeological museum in Taxila records the visit of St Thomas to the town in AD 40; it was the capital of Parthian king, Gondoforus, as well as the ancient Buddhist learning centre, Takshashila, of Ashoka’s time. Compared to the outer churches founded by St Thomas, the one that established soon after he arrived at the port of Kodungallur in A.D 52, has had exceptional continuity escaping the fate of persecution or annihilation, which the other churches faced through their life. The worst that the Indian church suffered, and that too in recent centuries, was the repeated depletion, on the exertions of rather aggressive western colonial missionaries. Traditionally known as The Malankara Church, it has remained active and vibrant to this day, in the peace and traditional socio-cultural harmony of Kerela