Founding of Christendom : Constantine (part 1) post 26

 Chi Rho is one of the earliest Christian symbols.

 

 

 

We have finally reached the part of Christendom history that the fog begins to lift and history becomes more clear.

Pagan Rome will now be defeated by Constantine, and in my opinion with the help of his mother Helena. Helena was a woman of low birth and she was probably born around 248 AD. Living through three great persecutions of Christians by emperors: Decius (249 AD–251 AD) Gallus (251 AD–253 AD) Valerian (253 AD–260 AD).

HELENA MOTHER OF CONSTANTINE
St. Ambrose said she was a daughter of an innkeeper, and a Greek speaker in Turkey; she was probably a "stable-maid."  Her husband, Constantine’s father, Constantius Chlorus, was Serbian by birth. They met  while  Chlorus was still a soldier with no political rank. Helena and  Chlorus may have been married (about 270 AD), but it isn’t clear. Some refer to her as a concubine, with no legal marriage but also his wife. If Hellena were a secret Christian, they could have been married secretly by a Catholic priest, and never ratified by a pagan ceremony. This would clear up her being both.   Chlorus divorced her in 294, as a political move, most saying her humble origins were a liability, but more likely for political reasons.. They were married for more than 20 years. Constantine was born in 272 AD. Helena was banished, as a “concubine,” after the divorce and left to live alone near the court of Diocletian. She suffered like that for many years, but she was close to her son who also lived at the court.

Whether Helena was born to a Christian family and kept it secret, or whether she converted later in life, we don’t know. Church Historian Eusibius says she was converted by her son Constantine, after he became Emperor.

Founding of Christendom: Diocletian-- the Begining of the End -- post 25

After the death of Emperor Carus (282 - 283 AD), who was struck by lightning on a campaign in Persia, Diocletian became the new Roman emperor from 284 AD to 305 AD.  Like many Emperors before him, he left Christians alone in the beginning of his rule. He mainly wanted Rome to return to stability. For over a hundred years there had been a constant stream of emperors, usually tragically overthrown. This led to economic hardships and weakened borders with barbarians and Persians constantly hammering at the  outlining territories.

He reformed the taxation and economy, as well as restructured the Empire. Although not fully successful, his reforms slowed down the decline of the Empire. He feared the civil wars of the past returning. His insight was that the succession of power was unstable, The senate’s power had been diminished and the Emperor’s power increased. He was the sole ruler of Rome. But he wanted help ruling. He arranged for the Empire to be divided into the Western Empire and the Eastern Empire. Diocletian would still be the ultimate ruler, but he appointed men to rule different districts.

Diocletian ruled the Eastern Empire, and set up  co-emperors, called “Augustus,” one of the West– Maximian and one of the East himself. Maximian was a good friend of Diocletian in the army, a man he could trust. Both were soldiers. Maximian was more a man of action, and military commander, while Diocletian was more political. It seems that Diocletian wanted an able man to be his head of the army.

Each Augustus (eastern and western emperors) had a subordinate, called a Caesar, to share in the rule, and theoretically to succeed the Augustus, if he should die, or resign. The rule of four was called a “tetrarchy''. Two generals, Galerius and Constantius, became Caesars– Galerius under Diocletian in the east, and Constantius (father of Constantine – liberator of Christianity) under Maximian in the west.

Founding of Christendom: Calm Before the Storm: Origen of Alexandria -- Post 23

Origen the Theologian

Pope Fabian reigned from 236 AD to 250 AD  as captain of the Bark of Peter, while a relative calm descend on the Church.  He tended to the  Church with a missionary spirit,  appointing 7 missionary bishops to go throughout France, bringing them the Good News. Most of them were martyred, however not by Rome this time, but by pagan barbarians.

Origen of Alexandria. (185 AD –  253 AD) became famous for a debate he had with a pagan philosopher, at this time. Christianity had grown to the point that pagan philosophers felt the need to address this movement.

Origen is still considered to be one of the greatest Bible scholars of all time. He was a teacher at, The Catechetical School of Alexandria, which was the oldest catechetical school in the world. It functioned similarly to a college of today.   St. Jerome records that The Catechetical School of Alexandria was founded by St. Mark – the writer of the second Gospel.

Under the leadership of the scholar Pantaenus, the school of Alexandria became an important institution of religious learning, where students were taught by scholars such as Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria , Didymus, and the great Origen, who was considered the father of theology, and  a leader in the field of commentary and comparative Biblical studies. Many scholars visited the school of Alexandria to exchange ideas and to communicate directly with its scholars.

Founding of Christendom: St. Cecilia post 22

These hundred years of turmoil were punctuated with persecutions. One of the most famous of the time was Cecilia.

St. Cecilia is the patroness of musicians and Church music because during her martyrdom, she sang to God.

As we have said before, not too much is clear about this early part of Church history. We have pieced together as well as we could the story of St. Cecilia.

St. Cecilia’s feast day is celebrated on November 22nd.

The Mass of Saint Cecilia prays:

“Arise, soldiers of Christ, throw away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

 
She is one of seven women, excluding the Blessed Virgin, commemorated by name in the
Canon of the Mass. She is thought to have died in the mid to late 230’s AD, since she is linked with Pope Urban, who died 230 AD. Who was succeeded by a string of martyred popes, during this persecution.

Cecilia was given in marriage to a pagan youth named Valerian. She had been a Christian since childhood, doing penances and fasting, while invoking the saints, and angels, to guard her virginity. Making a vow of virginity to Jesus before her parents had betrothed her; she begged that her parents wouldn’t marry her off. Some mistakenly say when telling her story, that she was betrothed to an angel. But this is silly. She, like all consecrated virgins in the Church, was betrothed to Jesus Christ.  The angel in the story was just her protector. Angels do not marry.
Mark 12:25
“For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”

Founding of Christendom: A 100 Years of Turmoil -- Post 21

 

 

After the death of the Roman Emperor, Marcus Arealius,180 AD, his son, Cammodus, inherited the throne. Commodus was not a stable person.  One good thing he did was he temporarily  halted Christian persecution. While his father never ordered a direct persecution of Christians, he did allow it to happen– usually by local rulers. Commodus’ leniency  resulted in the release of Christians from the mines in Sardinia, among whom was a future pope.

Cassius Dio, a first-hand witness, describes Emperor Commodus as: "not naturally wicked but, on the contrary, as guileless as any man that ever lived. His great simplicity, however, together with his cowardice, made him the slave of his companions, and it was through them that he at first, out of ignorance, missed the better [virtuous] life and then was led on into lustful and cruel habits, which soon became second nature."

Founding of Christendom: Against Heresy Post 20

 

We have already heard of St. Irenaeus. He had traveled to Rome, with St. Polycarp, to discuss the date of Easter with the pope. This has been a debate between the western Church and the eastern Church. Both have good reasons for celebrating Easter at different dates.

The problem was resolved with a compromise– the western Church would continue their tradition of celebrating Easter always on a Sunday, and the eastern Church would continue their tradition of celebrating it on the date according to their calendar.

Founding of Christendom: Saint Apollonius the Apologist and Martyr Post 19

Apollonius, martyr (185 AD) and defender of the faith, produced one of the most priceless documents of the early Church. He defended Chritianity before the Roman Senate.  Apollonius was a Roman senator who was denounced as a Christian by one of his servants. He was arrested and brought to trial.

The Praetorian prefect, Sextus Tigidius Perenis, arrested him, also putting the slave to death– the informer. Perennis demanded that Apollonius denounce the faith, and when he refused, the case was remanded to the Roman senate. Apollonius wrote out his defense in one of the most eloquent documents defending Chritianity. Despite his articulate defense, Apollonius was condemned and beheaded.

The account in the Roman Martyrology (feastday 21 April) is as follows:

    “At Rome, commemoration of Saint Apollonius, philosopher and martyr. Under the Emperor Commodus, he defended, before the Prefect Perennius and the Senate, the cause of the Christian faith in a finely argued address, and then, after being condemned to death, confirmed it by the witness of his blood.”

Here is a good account this relatively unknown
saint from ucatholic:

Founding of Christendom: Perscution in Lyons France Post 18

After a 23 year rule, Emperor Athonius Pius died in 161 AD. He had been the best emperor since Caesar Augustus.The phase of the “good emperors” (Trajan: 98-117 AD, Hadrian: 117-138 AD, Antoninus Pius: 138-161 AD and  Marcus Aurelius: 161-180 AD) was now to end with the reign of Marcus Aurelius.

Marcus Aurelius (161-180) was the adopted son of Emperor Pius and the fulfilment of Plato’s hope of a philosopher king. He was not just a king of a country, but the emperor of the western world covering most of the coastal countries of the Mediterranean. Marcus was a real philosopher adopting one of the most practical philosophies for an emperor --Stoicism. Unlike Buddhism, which denies reality, Stoics embrace reality. Marcus’ book: “Meditations” is still a classic of stoic thought. The caricature of stoics being unemotional is not accurate. They just were not controlled by sentiment. It definitely lacked the insights of mercy that Christianity could give, as well as the sanctity of life.

Founding of Christendom: The Apologists -- post 17

The Apologists

After the martyrdom of Ignatius in Rome the Church both mourned and rejoiced for such a man. They waited to see if more persecution would come?

Trajan seemed more concerned with his legacy than with Christians. He continued his campaign in the Middle East, for another two years, after his success in Armenia. He conquered most of Mesopotamia all the way to Iran. But it was a series of costly and unstable victories. He may have caught some illness or suffered from heat exhaustion because he soon died on the voyage back to Rome.

Hadrian was the successor to Trajan. Hadrian (76-136 AD) was a cautious man and no general. He reigned for a pretty long 21 years and seemed to have died of natural causes. He lost the lands to the east recently acquired by Trajan.

Founding of Christendom: Great Martyrs: St. Simon of Jerusalem and St. Ignatius of Antioch -- post 16

Just before St. John died, Rome got a new emperor, by the name of Trajan. He was a Spaniard, a general who led the armies in Spain, and numerous campaigns around the Empire in Europe. A disciplined military leader, still relatively honorable by pagan Rome standards. He is considered one of the "good" emperors.

He showed very little interest in Christians in the beginning of his reign, that changed near his end. He was more occupied in winning glory in the beginning of his rule. He, being a good general brought  a huge victory  to his new rule, by conquering  the lands of Romania, called Dacia. Romania had wealthy gold mines, which helped the economy. This was the first expansion of the empire in a hundred years. He started doing great civic projects, building stadiums and developing infrastructure. It looked like the empire was going to correct its decline.

There were two great martyrdoms that happened under the reign of Trajan, not to say there weren't other martyrs, but two stand out: St. Simon of Jerusalem, and St. Ignatius of Antioch.

The Romans had ignored Christians for a few years since the death of Emperor Domitian. His successor Nerva and then Trajan didn't see any urgency in addressing Christians. But in the far east of the empire there were flare ups. One such case was with St. Simon of Jerusalem, during the reign of Trajan.

St. Simon of Jerusalem

St. Simon was one of the "brothers" of the Lord. He was the son of Clopas. Clopas, who was the brother of St. Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary. St. Simon’s brother, St. James the Just, was bishop of Jerusalem before him. St. James, meeting martyrdom a few years before the destruction of Jerusalem, needed to be replaced in his bishop's office. His brother was chosen. Most likely Simon was already a helper of his brother, St. James,

Founding of Christendom: First Great Heresy--Gnosticism - post 15

Orthodox Christian Fathers of the Church hold that Simon Magnus--the magician was the founder of Gnosticism. The same magician rejected by St. Peter (Acts 8:9)-- Church Fathers such as Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius, described Simon Magnus, as the founder of Gnosticism. The early Church considered him as the first heretic, the "Father of Heresies".

Simone Magnus is hard to trace after the account in the Book of Acts. From what I could glean, there was an animosity developed between St. Peter and Magnus, Magnus probably felt insulted and embarrassed by St. Peter's rebuke.

Simon Manus seemed to follow Peter to Rome and by his magic tricks gained a following there.

This led to disputes between the followers of St. Peter, and Simon Magnus' followers, some becoming violent.

Founding of Christendom: Pope Clement- the 4th pope--92AD -- post 14

Martyrdom of Pope Clement

 

A man named Nerva was proclaimed by the senate soon after the death of Domitian as the new Emperor. His reign was short, about 2 years or so--from 96-98 AD. Emperor Nerva returned to the policy of toleration of Christains.

It was probably at this time pope Clement the first, who became pope about two years earlier in 92 AD, wrote his famous epistle to Corintians.
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1010.htm

Clement's letter is one  of the oldest ancient Christian documents we have, aside from the writings of Paul and the Gospels. It was so important to early Christians that it was debated whether to include it in the New Testament. It was often read at Divine Liturgy, i.e. the Mass.

Founding of Christendom: Succession of Popes begins: Popes St. Linus and St. Cletus -- post 13

Little information survives about the governing of Rome during Emperor Vespasian's ten-year rule.

After successfully defeating Judaea, and Nero's death, with a succession of equally doomed  emperors in one year,(known as: "The Year of the Four Emperors") Vespasian became Emperor.

Emperor Vespasian reformed the monetary system of Rome, initiated several ambitious construction projects, including the building of the Roman Colosseum. Through his general Agricola, Vespasian increased imperial expansion in Britain. After he died at age 69, in 79 AD, he was succeeded by his eldest son Titus, becoming the first Roman emperor to be succeeded by his natural son, and establishing the Flavian dynasty.

Founding of Christendom: Destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem-- post 12

Destruction of the Temple

 After the martyrdom of St. Peter, the leadership of the Catholic Church was left to Linus who was ordained by Peter a few years earlier. Not much is known of Linus other  than he was a former slave, St. Paul loved him, Peter trusted him and he was with St. Paul in his last hours.

St. Mark returned to Alexandia in Egypt after Peter's death. He ministered as best he could to the Christians there. A strong tradition in Egypt holds that in the year 68 AD, Easter Sunday fell on the same feast day of the pagan god Serapis. St. Mark was seized by Serapis worshipers and dragged through the streets until he was dead.  

Meanwhile in Jerusalem Christians were being rounded up beginning in 64 AD. St. James the Just was no longer there to help. He was martyred two years before. Like the situation of St. Stephan, the Roman proconsul had suddenly died in 62 AD. The Jews took advantage of the power vacuum-- arresting and killing.

This persecution produced the inspiration for the Letter to the Hebrews, to strengthen the leaderless Church of Jerusalem. Probably dictated by St. Paul in Hebrew or Arimaic and later translated into Greek by St. Luke.

This has been a controversy for a long time but early Church historian Eusebius states that "some have rejected the Epistle to the Hebrews, saying that it is disputed by the church of Rome, on the ground that it was not written by Paul." In response, he endorses the view of Clement of Alexandria: that the epistle was written by Paul in Hebrew (unsigned through modesty), and translated  into Greek by Luke, similar in style with Luke's Acts. [Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 6.14.2–3 (text), citing Clement's Hypotyposes,]
 

Fall of Jerusalem

Shortly after the Nero persecution broke the replacements of Fesus, the former prefect of Judea, were two succeeding evil men: Albinus and Florus. Both were  greedy, brutal, and stupid.

Nero's brutal rule of the empire led to  revolts all over the Empire. One of the most fierce was in Israel,  by the so-called "Zealots" or the 'Daggermen." This would be the beginning of the end of the Jewish nation of Israel.

Rome had lost her patients with Israel and was going to destroy it once and for all.

Founding of Christendom: Christianity is Outlawed-- post 11

After the death of Claudius; during the "Five  Golden Years" before Nero took power-- the laws against Jews in Rome were eased. So tradition has it that St. Peter returned to Rome. Whether St. Paul knew this or not is unclear or most likely that St. Peter returned just after his Epistles.

St. Peter probably  returned to Rome around 54-57 AD with a possible break from 57-62 AD. The period of time would be the same  as St. Paul's letter to the Romans and his imprisonment in Roman, after being arrested in Jerusalem.

We surmise that St. Mark wrote his Gospel in Rome under the direction of St. Peter, during his three year stay in Rome, 54-57, AD.

In 58 AD we are told St. Mark arrived in Alexandria, Egypt, without Peter, and founded the Church there. He was asked by St. Peter  to return to Rome from 63 AD to 67 AD.



Nero took power around 60 AD. There was nothing usual at first. He had good advisors Seneca and Burrus, who ran the Empire well waiting for him to attain age. But soon the power got to Nero. He killed his mother; started having drunken orgies and all kinds of indulgences.  He divorced his wife, and married his mistress. He forced Seneca into retirement and Burrus died. Nero more and more gave into passions of egoism and lust.


Romans paid little attention to Christians, at this time. They were considered a strange sect of Judaism. But this was soon to change.

On July 18th 64 AD a 9 day fire destroyed most of Rome; someone was to blame. The people blamed Nero who was known to be lost in his own world of hedonism, and let the fires burn. This is where we get the saying: "Nero fiddled as Rome burned"

Founding of Christendom: Paul's second Mission-- post 10

Once again in Antioch of Syria, Paul decided to return to the churches he established. St. Mark wanted to come along again, but Paul didn't want to take him. So Barnabas seemed to work out a compromise. He and Mark would go to Cyprus, their first leg in their first mission, and Paul and Silas, who had come up to join them from Jerusalem, would go to Asia Minor (Turkey) in Taurus Mountains--- part of their second leg.

Paul and Silas reaffirmed the churches at Iconium and Lystra in the Taurus Mountains-. It is speculated that Paul understood those towns to be in the area of Galatia, this will be the churches referred to in his letter to the Galatians.

On the way to Iconium Paul fell sick and was taken care of by the believers there and formed a deep affection for them. Silas and Paul are joined by St. Timothy, in Lystra; one of Paul's most endearing companions. After the town of Lystra, Paul is told by the Holy Spirit not to preach in Asia Minor (Turkey) and make his way to Aegean next to Troy. On the western coast of Turkey.  

In Aegean, St. Luke joins the group. Paul and his group crossed the water to Phillippi, starting his mission in Europe through Macedonia and Greece.

They arrived in Philippi about 51 AD. There were almost no Jews in the town so they preached as they could. Adapting to the environment. Paul exercised a demon from a slave girl, but her owner was not happy with this, because of her demonic gifts, she had made him money. This stirred up a crowd causing riots--- seeking Paul.

Paul was arrested by the Romans of Philippi. He was beaten by rods and imprisoned. Then an earthquake destroyed the prison allowing Paul to escape-- but he didn't. He instead sought to save the soul of his guard on duty. He converted the guard and baptized him and his family.

Founding of Christendom : Council of Jerusalem -- post 9

Apostles Gather for the Dormition of Mary
and the Council of Jerusalem

It has been 7 years since the Apostles left Jerusalem. St. Peter met with much success in Rome. But Simon Magus-- the magician from Acts (cf. Acts 8) appeared in Rome, confronting Peter, his old enemy, causing turmoil and riots to break out. The problem grew to the point that emperor Claudius expelled all Jews--- not making a difference between Christians, Jews, or Gnostics.  Peter headed back to Jerusalem by way of Corinth doing some preaching there.

There may have been a plan for all the Apostles to gather back in Jerusalem at this time, 49 AD for the first council. It can't be documented that all the Apostles were present, but there may be a clue in that tradition holds that all the Apostles were present for the death of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Both may have coincided. Maybe there were signs that her time was short. They all wanted to be there, and probably thought it practical, at the same time have a council to deal with the problems they were having with the preaching and controversies of the Mosaic law.

Remember they were mainly fishermen and were not prepared to debate the Bible like scholars, so this may have been an opportunity to consult on particular questions.

There is a tradition that St. Thomas came late, after the Blessed Mother's dormition, and wanted to see the body. Recalling the doubting, he had at the resurrection, but there was no body to be found, thus her body was Assumed into heaven, her body in heaven like her son, she is now sitting at his right hand, as Queen Mother already established by Jewish tradition, that the Mother was queen and sits at the king's right side.

Jesus foretold his mother’s place because it was established by Sacred Tradition by God the Father in the Old Testament.
“But to sit on my right hand, or on my left, is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared.” (Mark 10:40)


All  the Apostles were converting Gentiles, except St. James "the just,” who stayed in Jerusalem, so there was little doubt that they were doing the right thing, but how to address the questions they were dealing with was needed. James living in Jerusalem sought a compromise, with few a requirements, because he was dealing with only Jews in Jerusalem.

St. Paul returned to Antioch after the council. Peter followed him but started to avoid eating with the Gentiles, probably intimidated by the strength of personality of James, who was the “brother” (cousin) of Our Lord, and so admired by the Jews.

Soon Paul confronted  Peter "to his face" (cf.Galatians 2:11) about him giving into human respect and avoiding eating with Gentiles. Obviously St. Peter wasn't rejecting his teaching, which was just confirmed in council, but Paul was confronting a weak man, in over his head. Peter must have thought often :”Who am I? A fisherman. Telling people how to live? Opposing Mosaic Law?” By his insecurities he failed in this case, to follow what he taught.

I would think St. Paul was more of an encouragement than a hindrance. Paul encouraged Peter to trust in God who chose him, Paul was there to firm up Peter, who in turn was in the office to firm up all the Church.

Jesus predicted this:
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32)

St. Peter, being humble enough to take the correction, didn't seem to miss a beat. He continued to live and evangelize in the region during the reign of Claudius, about 7 years, before returning to Rome. Rome would be impossible to return to until Claudius died, since all Jews were expelled. After the death of Claudius the ban was lifted.

continue to next chapter

Founding of Christendom: Paul's First Mission-- post 8

We have covered the Apostles that were the most obscure. So let us now turn our attention to one of  the best documented--- the Apostle St. Paul. We won’t cover his whole story here.

We already witnessed his conversion, and  his short attempt at preaching, before he left to live in Arabia in the desert for three years praying and meditating, to prepare for his mission to preach. He probably had other private revelations and visions of instructions from our Lord at this time too.

St. Paul was already established as a leader in the Church. He was present in Jerusalem when Herod Agrippa the first  died. He was bringing supplies and money from Antioch. St. Paul is the best documented of the Apostles. He earned it. He worked tirelessly and without compromise.

The faithful gathered, in Antioch, for a liturgical  mass in 45 AD for guidance in evangelization. It must have been a great feast for the celebrants were the bishops:
 St. Paul and Barnabas, Simone Niger (thought to be Simone of Cyren the one who helped Jesus' carry his cross) and Manhen, foster brother of Herod Antipas--the same Herod who questioned Jesus himself. Some speculate that this is how we got some of the information of what happened at Jesus' trial with Herod.

St. Luke says in Acts (13:2) that St. Barnabas and St. Paul were to be set aside for a great work. This begins St. Paul the Evangelist on his first missionary journey.

St. Barnabas and St. Paul headed for Cyprus, Barnarbas' home land, with Barnabas' cousin, the young St. Mark, whose house Pentecost took place. The three traveled the whole island and established a method of preaching first in synagogue, and once rejected there, they turned to the Gentiles.

Preaching through the whole island, they reached the  town of Paphos, on the western end. They were asked to explain their doctrine to the Roman proconsul, Sergius Paulos. They were opposed by a Jewish magician, who felt challenged by these foreigners. St. Paul rebuked him and he was stuck blind for his deceit. We are told the proconsul Sergius believed in Christ.

The group of three headed for the main land and they decided to go through the Taurus mountains to the city of Antioch in Pisidia, (Not to be confused with the town of Antioch in Syria) which was a major military colony, the Legion of Lark, started by Julius Caesar. They were mostly soldiers from Gaul (Celtics from western Europe-- mainly France)

The Taurus Mountains would be intimidating to the little group. They towered 2 miles high and the pass to the city they beheld was a real challenge. There were robbers,  no rest areas, or towns along the way-- a grueling haul. It was such a challenging decision that St. Mark decided to go home to Jerusalem. But St. Paul and St. Barnabas decided to go on.

Paul and Barnabas entered the synagogue in Antioch and preached; attracting large crowds even of Gentiles. St. Paul debated the Jews and created quite a stir. Thrown out of the synagogue, Paul and Barnabas went to the Gentiles and established a flourishing Christian community. After so many troubles they went southeast, about a hundred miles, to the town of Iconium.

The same pattern was repeated; they preached in the synagogue first, and then to the Gentiles. Again establishing communities. Then went to the Lystra, where St. Paul healed a cripple. He and Barnabas were hailed as gods. Paul and Barnarbas rejected this, saying "we are just men''. The Jews from the nearby towns came to stir up problems, which ended with St. Paul being stoned and being left for dead. He survived, and went to the next town Derbe, establishing another community.

They backtracked through the four towns again, to firm up the faith and ended up on the shores of the Mediterranean, where they started, when St. Mark had left them. Paul and Barnabas sailed back to Antioch in Syria. This was the year of 49 AD; this ended their 4 year first missionary journey.


Continue to next chapter

Founding of Christendom: St. Thomas' Second Journey to India- post 7

We rejoin St. Thomas and his travels, after the council of Jerusalem  he traveled back to India, by sea this time.

 A new route to India  was being used by 50 AD ---the monsoon route. discovered by the Greek seaman Hippalos, from Arabia to India;  it shortened the route from a year to about 40 days.

 St. Thomas seems to have stayed on the island of Socotra off the Arabian coast  for some time making converts there, waiting to sail to India. This island was on the sea route using the monsoons.



There is evidence of Christians on the island of Socotra in the 10th century, the Arab geographer Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani, stated that in his time most of the inhabitants were Christians.  When St. Francis Xavier arrived on the island in 1542, on his way to India, there was still a Christian community in the hills of the island. They claimed St. Thomas brought them the Faith.

A Christian community existed on the island of Socotra all the way up to the 1800's, until they were wiped out by Mulism Wahabis.

There is a strong tradition from both Christian and Hindu that St. Thomas arrived in Cranganore on Malabar on the south west coast of India in the year 52 AD (the time St. Paul was in Corinth). Cranganore was the capital of the Chera kingdom. It is relatively the same area as the present Kerala.




It seems Thomas arrived alone. There was no Jewish community in India at this time, so he went to the locals from the start. He probably learned some Prakrit, the language in the north.  on his first mission, using this briefly, till he acquired Tamil, the local language.

The Bramans wrote in Keralolpathi about St. Thomas' arrival:

"Thoman, an opponent of all vedas [came to the Malabar coast and converted] many prominent people in the land"

In another writing, [I can't even pretend to pronounce] Nagargarandhravaryolam, a record  from the family Kalathu Mananotes writes:

"Kali year 3153 [52AD] the foreigner Thomas Sanyasi  came to our village, preached there, causing pollution. We therefore came away from that village."

This Town, Palayoor,  still has a Syro-Malabar  Church on the ruins of a Hindu temple to this day.

Christian tradition holds that there were miracles by the hundreds and baptisms by thousands, St. Thomas was quite successful on his second mission. Jews, who came later, in 68 AD, found a thriving Christian Church.

Though documentation of his efforts are rare, we can see his work by its fruits. When the Europeans arrived in the 1500's, they found a Church, honoring St. Thomas, with a priesthood, which still exists today, with hundreds of thousands of believers.

St. Thomas labored 17 years preaching. When he saw it was a solid community; he moved on to the next kingdom of Chola, near the city of Madras. This is where he was killed by Brahmans, pierced through the heart, by a knife, or a spear; we are not sure. But His tomb is honored by Christian Indians to this day, in the area of Mylapore.

Founding of Christendom,--St. Thomas First Mission to India-- post 5

St. Thomas.



St. Thomas, is famous for his "doubting."  But he was a realist. He knew how things work and wanted proof.

It is ironic he was sent to India, whose land was dominated by a religion that denied objective reality-Hinduism claims that reality is an illusion.


Many of the Apostles went beyond the borders of the Roman Empire. So it appears that the Apostles took Christ at his word and went to all the world they were capable of going to.

Though the evidence for all this speculation is murky, we can reconstruct evidence to get a picture.

Particularly St. Judus-Thaddaeus (also known as, St. Jude, not to be confused, with Judas the traitor) and St. Thomas are the best documented, after St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. John.

Let's piece together first, the travels of St. Thomas.


Thomas met a merchant from India, possibly a Christian, named Habban, who told him that King Gundofarr of Taxila, in India, needed a carpenter. It appears that St. Thomas had some skill as a carpenter, like our Lord.

Thomas most likely traveled by land there, because there is a strong tradition that he founded Churches in the Mesopotamia region.

Iran, claims he preached and founded their Church, on his way to India.

India was a trading partner with the Roman Empire at this time. Taxila had strong connections with the Persion Empire too, so they probably spoke Aramaic, the official language of Persia.

So St. Thomas  could communicate since he spoke Judean Aramaic, which is closely related.

More than likely India had a Jewish community where he could preach, and give him time to learn some of the local Indian language, and prepare to go to the Gentiles of India.

King Gundofarr was not Indian; he was Parthian, that is Iranian, and seemed open to allowing the preaching of the Gospel. St. Thomas managed some converts and a small community.

He left  it to the care of a man named Gaurasva. Unfortunately, the kingdom of Gundofarr was wiped out. Kushan barbarians attacked and completely destroyed it, including the small Christian community.

Thomas traveled back to Israel, for the council of Jerusalem, but he would return. Thomas, was not finished in India.

continue to next chapter