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SAINT THOMAS’ CROSS- A RELIGIO CULTURAL SYMBOL OF SAINT THOMAS CHRSITANSDr. Thomas Antony m. thomas. M Thomas Antony is a General Surgeon working in the National Health Services of the United Kingdom. He holds a FRCS from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Diploma in Laparoscopic Surgery from the Loius Pasteur Univeristy, Strasbourg, France and  a Diploma in Health Services Management from Keele University, England, UK. Studying about Syriac Christianity especially about Saint Thomas Christians has been a passion for him. He has published several articles in NSC Network- www.

In the printed media, he has contributed to ? Ching Feng, A Journal on Christianity and Chinese Religion and Culture, New Series vol 1- 2, 2. INTRODUCTIONCross is a universal symbol of Christians all over the world. Primitive Christian groups used the image of fish as their symbol. The Sign of the cross was reported to be used by primitive Christians according to Tertullian (b AD 1. Early in the third century, Clement of Alexandria mentions the Cross as the symbol of the Lord.

Romans and Greeks executed people on crosses. Cross or look- alikes were used by humans even from the Neolithic period. Swasthika was used by people of Indo- Europen origin like Indians, Persians, Slavs, Celts and Greeks. St Thomas Crosses are unique among St Thomas Christians. These were named Crosses of Saint Thomas Christians by the Portuguese missionaries as they found these widespread in almost all of the Saint Thomas Christian churches. Antonio De Gouvea and Duarte Barbosa give good account of the widespread use of these Crosses in South India.

This cross is the most ancient Christian emblem yet discovered in India. Celtic crosses are excavated in  places where Celtic people live. St Paul who himself being a champion of the power of Cross.(1 Cor. Gal. 6: 1. 4) doesn’t comment about any such acts in any of his epistles. This could be  a retrojection of later developments to the apostolic times. The East syriac liturgy of hours is particularly rich in hymns on the Cross.

INTRODUCTION. Cross is a universal symbol of Christians all over the world. Primitive Christian groups used the image of fish as their symbol. The Sign of the cross. My good friend Sandra Miesel, with whom I co-authored The Da Vinci Hoax years ago, was fond of starting out her talks about the mega-selling novel The Da Vinci Code. Thelema (/ . The law of Thelema is "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of. Freemasons, Francmaçons, Libremuoratori, Freimauren, were the names given throughout Europe to the builders of the great medieval cathedrals. Thanks to technology, and perhaps due to Christianity’s low status in our modern liberal age, there is a fantastic treasure trove of good, traditional Catholic.

The Syriac word for Cross is sliba which also represents the word for . The symbolism of cross gained prominence in the Syriac tradition earlier than it did in  the other traditions”.

Un libro è un insieme di fogli, stampati oppure manoscritti, delle stesse dimensioni, rilegati insieme in un certo ordine e racchiusi da una copertina. Saint Thomas Aquinas Saint Augustine Saint Albertus Magnus Saint Paul of Tarsus Saint Ambrose Saint Jerome Saint Gregory the Great Saint Thomas More.

They even considered the sign of the cross as one of the sacraments. It may be her Syriac Christian heritage and the veneration for the Cross by her church  that led her to search for the wood of the true cross.

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To mark the 10th Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum the Catholic Heritage Association of Ireland made our second pilgrimage to St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh. Far too often these days liturgical discussions pertaining to the Roman Rite start with the popular myth that the Traditional Latin Mass only dates back to the.

This Cross was the only object venerated in the Churches of Saint Thomas Christians when the Portuguese missionaries arrived. These Crosses were called as Crosses of the Saint Thomas Christians by the early European writers and thus led to the name Cross of the Saint Thomas Christians- Saint Thomas Cross.

The most popular  model of these crosses is that of the Cross found at Parangi Malai (Saint Thomas Mount), near present Chennai,  at the place of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas the Apostle. This is an ancient cross discovered by the Portuguese in the ruins of the Church at Saint Thomas Mount in AD 1. This was well popularised by the Portuguese Missionaries in Europe and glorified as the Miraculous Cross of Mailappore.

Mar Thoma Sliba was the only symbol of worship used by the Thomas Christians before the contact with the European Missionaries. It is well documented that the Christians of St Thomas did not have anything other than their Cross in their churches.

ANCIENT WITNESSES1. The narrations of Joseph the Indian.

He describes about the churches of Saint Thomas Christians and reports that they have only crosses in their churches. The Latin text clearly states that there are no statues. Joseph also mentions about a big cross at the foundation of the churches- probably the open air rock crosses found in Malabar.

Duarte Barbosa. Duarte Barbosa was a Portuguse traveller who came to India  with Cabral in AD 1. When Cabral left Malabar with .

Barbosa has written a lot about Christians in Malabar. He reports “ they say mass on altars like ours with a cross in front of them. And he who says mass is in the middle of the altar, and those who assist him are at the sides”.

It is assumed that Barbosa completed his book by 1. He has clearly documented the crosses in our churches and our devotion to the cross. If you read this together with Gouvea, it is evident that these crosses are those of Mylappore. Barbosa also talks about the tradition of martyrdom of Apostle Thomas at Mylappore. Giovanni De Empoli. In AD 1. 50. 3, Giovanni De Empoli refers to a Cross in Quilon in his work  .

Muttuchira Lithic inscriptions. Muttuchira Lithic inscriptions describes about setting up of three Crosses in AD 1. Cross, a granite and wooden Crosses  similar to Mailappore Cross. The Mar Thoma Sliba was placed in the Madbaha on the feast of sliba on 1.

December 1. 58. 0. It was found when the wooden rathaal was removed as part of renovation of the church. Antonio De Gouvea.

Antonio de Gouvea   has written  that Saint Thomas Christians had a great veneration towards Cross. Even in a remote place, there will be a Cross with facilities for a lamp which is lit throughout the night. Quando foy as Serras do Malavar, and lugares em que morao os antigos Christaos de S.

Thome and os tirou de muytos erros and obediencia da santa Igreja Romana, da qual passava de mil annos que estavao and reduzio a nossa Sancta Fe Catholica and obediencia da Santa Igreja Romana, da qual passava de mil annosqhe estavao apartados’ in AD 1. Red Turtle (2017) Movie Dvd Quality. Archbishop Alexis Dom Menezis during his visits to numerous Nasrani Churches. This cross was kept in a chapel which is open on one side only, with railings. Archbishop Menesis  celebrated a Holy Mass in front of this Cross. That means this Cross could have been  kept in the madbaha of that chapel.

Gouvea reports that this Cross was the most ancient one and the local Christians believed that this Cross was planted by Apostle Thomas himself. This is a witness that there was a tradition among Thomas Christians that the Cranganore Cross was planted by the Apostle Thomas himself and hence they called it as Cross of Saint Thomas. It was placed in the middle of a chapel which is open on one side with railings. The local Nasranis had a lot of devotion to this Cross which was believed to have made so many miracles even to the gentiles. Gouvea describes that the gentile king, when he lost something precious, sent some oil to this cross and he found the lost thing. Quando foy as Serras do Malavar, and lugares em que morao os antigos Christaos de S.

Thome and os tirou de muytos erros and obediencia da santa Igreja Romana, da qual passava de mil annos que estavao and reduzio a nossa Sancta Fe Catholica and obediencia da Santa Igreja Romana, da qual passava de mil annosqhe estavao apartados’  p 1. Crosses of the type discovered from Mailappore. This  invalidates the argument that many of these crosses were erected after the Portuguese glorified the Mailappore Cross.

These Crosses were called Mar Thoma Slibas or Saint Thomas Crosses, but these might not be erected by Saint Thomas the Apostle himself. We all know that during Apostolic times, Cross was not recognized as a Christian emblem. Rev Dr Pius Malekkandathil observes that all these Crosses might have been copies of the Cranganore cross which has been attributed to Apostle Thomas by tradition and hence called Saint Thomas Crosses. There are many who argue that with the phrase “Cruz de Sam Thome”, Gouvea meant as Cross of the city of Saint Thomas- Mailappore- Sam Thome means the City of Saint Thomas. In short, their argument is that Gouvea called these as Crosses of Mailappore, not Crosses of Saint Thomas. They argue that the term Saint Thomas Cross or Mar Thoma Sliba is a later invention manipulating Gouvea’s words. It is not true. Gouvea was describing widespread presence of granite Crosses in Malabar Churches as a prominent religio cultural symbol of Thomas Christians of Malabar.