﻿S66 Arco'UNT or the st. tiiome' chiustians 



If one adds to these liistoiical dates tlie name of 

 Siiriints jctaincd by the St. Tho)ne Christians, their 

 distinct features and complexion somewhat fairer 

 than the rest of the Mnlabars, the style of theit 

 building, esj)ecially their churches, but above all, 

 the o'eiieral use oi' t\\c Sijricm or rather Ckaldcean laii- 

 g-uage, v.'liich is preserved to this day in all their re- 

 ligious functions, e\ en in those churches which have 

 since embraced the lloman rite, and that to this day 

 they take their christian and family names from the 

 )St/ri(tn or Clialdcean idiom, no doubt can remain but 

 tliat the St. Thome Christians are originally a colony of 

 Nestoricins, who fleJ from the dominions of the 

 Greek emperors, after Theodosius the Second hdid 

 commenced to persecute the followers of the sect *, 



They made at fiist some proselytes amongst the 

 Bramins and Nairs, and were on that account much 

 respected by the native princes, so that even at pre- 

 sent they consider themselves equal in rank to either 

 of the above two casts. They are in fact in much 

 greater estimation amongst the Hindoos, than the 



new 



QmI amplissimam obtcnuerunt ffidlficandarum Ecclesiarum in iis re- 

 gionibus faculratem, provcntibus etiam ad hoc non exiguis attributis, 

 cujus privilegii alioriimque exemplar laminis asneis insculptum, litteris 

 ron tantum Ma/ai>nnas, voruth Ca?iein>/is, Tamulatns^ et Bifungari. 

 CIS exaraturri ostensum fuit Menessio in Te'vcAacare^ ubi inter pretio- 

 stores Ecclesiae resin Cimeliarchioasbervabatur. 



* Nestor lus was patriarch of Constantinople, A. D. 428, under 

 the reign of Theodosius the Second — His heretical opinions were first 

 declared in 42p, and condemned by the first council o{' Ephesus in 4S1, 

 But the emperor was not prevailed nn to banish Nestor i us till 4^5 j 

 and four years more had elapsed before sentence of proscription passed 

 against his followers. Gibboti, Vol. viii. png. 297. 



Gibbon however (b, 340) asserts on the authority of St. Jerome 

 \C\m'~,'Ai (ad Marcellam Epist. J that the Indian Missionary St. Tho- 

 mas was famous as early as his time — Now Jerome died in 420 — 

 Consequently the sect originally established in Malal)ar by ThomXs 

 could not have been that of Nestorius — Yet Gibbon himself ap- 

 {lears 10 have overlooked this inconsistency. 



Note by the Secretary. 



