THE LEGEND OF ST. THOMAS. 
5 
can be reached. In what literature is the name of St. 
Thomas first associated with India ? It wUl appear, I think, 
that the home of that literature, the original hot-bed in 
which it was reared, was no other than the Church of Edessa, 
For there is no other place within the area occupied by 
the language in which those works were written, that had 
any such interest in the fortunes and destiny of the Apostle. 
The story of Thomas' preaching and martyrdom in India 
is first found in the Apocryphal Acts of Thomas; and it 
is curious to note that throughout that work the Apostle 
is generally called Judas Thomas, a name which he also 
receives in that group of documents which Eusebius found 
among the archives of Edessa. It is a palpably gnostic 
work, and students of gnosticism, judging from the stage 
of development at which they find that heresy in the Acts, 
assign it to the end of the second century. It may have 
been written by Bardesanes {b. 155, d. 223).^ But whoever 
the real author was, I think that the details of this work 
are not only consistent with the belief that they were put 
together by a member of the Edessene Church, but almost 
defy explanation on any other hypothesis. 
The substance of the Acts of the Holy Apostle Thomas 
and the Consimimation of Thomas the Apostle is as follows : 
The apostles were all in Jerusalem and they portioned out 
the regions of the world among them. By lot India fell to 
Judas Thomas, also called Didymus. And he did not wish to go, 
saying that he was not able on account of the weakness of the 
flesh. And how can I, being an Hebrew man, go among the 
Indians to proclaim the truth ? And while he was thus reason- 
ing and speaking, the Saviour appeared to him throiigh the 
night and said to him : Fear not, Thomas, go away to India and 
proclaim the word ; for my grace shall be with thee. But he 
* Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, A.D. 853, attributes it to Leu- 
cius Charinus. But who or what this Leucius was, whether a writer or a 
riere collector of .Apocryphal literature, no one seems to know. Dr. George 
Salmon regards him (Smith's Die. Chr. Biog.) as " a fictitious personage." 
