Nasrani History, Pantaenus, Saint Bartholomew

Mission of Pantaenus in India and Saint Bartholomew, the Apostle in India

Authored by NSC- Admin on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 9:01 - 7 Comments

Mission of Pantaenus in India and Saint Bartholomew, the Apostle in India

1. Mission of Pantaenus in India

About a hundred and twenty years ( ca.180 or 190) after the traditional date of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas the Apsotle, a second Christian mission is reported to have reached India. The great Church in Alexandria, center of Egyptian Christianity sent its most famous scholar, Pantaenus, head of the theological School in that city, “ to preach Christ to the Brahmans and philosophers there”, wrote Saint Jerome in the fifth century.[1]

A deputation from India reached Alexandria some time in 179 or 189 AD. Impressed by the erudition of Pantaenus, according to Saint Jerome, they asked Demetrius to send him to India for discussions with their own Hindu philosophers and it is to the credit of the good bishop that he judged the Christian world mission to be no less urgent a priority then the advancement of Christian learning. Without hesitation he took his most famous scholar from the theological school and sent him as a missionary to the East. Eusebius also gives an early account of this mission.

Both Eusebius and Saint Jerome has reported that Pantaenus found Gospel of Mathew reported to have left there in India by Saint Bartholomew. Some writers has suggested that having difficulty with the language of Saint Thomas Christians, Pantaenus misinterpreted their reference to Mar Thoma ( Bishop Thomas) as Bar Tolmai ( the Hebrew name of Bartholomew). Some others say Eusebius and Saint Jerome confused India with Arabia or Persia as was done by some other classical writers.

Interestignly, the pupils and successors of Pantaenus, Clement and Origen, write about India as if they know more of that land than passing myths and in no way confused it with Arabia and Persia. They may have heard this from Pantaenus himself. They speak of “Indian Brahmans” and “gymnosophists” and Clement writes discerningly of the difference between “Sarmanane” and “Brahmans” describing the former in terms that suggest the “hermits” or “holy men of India”.[2]

2.Mission of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle in India

Two ancient testimonies exist about the mission of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle in India. These are of Eusebius of Caesarea ( early forth century) and of Saint Jerome ( late forth century). Both these refer to this tradition while speaking of the reported visit of Pantaenus to India in the second century.

According to Eusebius, Pantaenus, “is said to have gone among the Indians, where a report is that he discovered the Gospel according to Mathew among some there who knew Christ, which had anticipated his arrival: Bartholomew, one of the Apostles, had preached to them and had left them the writings of Mathew in Hebrew letters, which writing they preserved until the afore-said time”

Saint Jerome would have that Demetric, Bishop of Alexandria, sent to him India, at the request of legates of that nation. In India Pantaenus “ found that Bartholomew, one of the twelve apostles, had preached the advent of Lord Jesus according to the Gospel of Matthew, and on his return to Alexandria he brought this with him written in Hebrew characters..”

In these testimonies Eusebius appears to be not quite sure of what’s reported. Saint Jerome, while writing to Marcellus, acknowledge the primacy of Saint Thomas, the Apostle in India.

“ He ( Jesus) was present in all places with Thomas in India, with Peter in Rome, with Paul in Illyria, with Titus in Crete, Andrew in Greece, with each apostle and apostolic man in his own separate region. “.[3]

2.1 Opinion of Authors about Saint Bartholomew the Apostle mission in India

Previously the consensus among scholars was against the apostolate of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle in India. Majority of the scholars are skeptical about the mission of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle in India . Stililingus ( 1703), Neande ( 1853), Hunter ( 1886), Rae ( 1892), Zaleski ( 1915) are the authors who supported the Apostolate of Saint Bartholomew in India. Scholars such as Sollerius ( 1669), Carpentier ( 1822), Harnack ( 1903), Medlycott ( 1905), Mingana ( 1926), Thurston ( 1933), Attwater ( 1935) etc does not support this hypothesis.The main argument is that the India, Eusebius and Jerome refers here should be Ethiopia or Arabia Felix.

2.2 Kalyan – the field of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle missionary

The recent studies of Perumalil and Moraes hold that the Bombay region on the Konkan coast, a region which have been known after the ancient town Kalyan, was the field of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle’s missionary activities and his martyrdom.

The town of Kalyan, was an ancient port and it is supposed to be the Kalliana, the traveler Cosmas Indicopleuustes visited in the 6th century as he reports in his “Christian Typography”.

According to Pseudo- Sophronius ( 7th century) Saint Bartholomew preached to the “ Indians who are called Happy” and according to the greek tradition the Apostle went to” India Felix”. The word Kalyan means “felix” or “happy” and it is argued that the Kalyna region came to be known to the foreign writers “ India Felix” and its inhabitants, Indians “called the happy”

Perumalil interprets the “ India Citerior” of Hieronymian Martyrology as Western India, and the “India” of the Passio bartholmei as the Maratha Country.[4]

There are no local tradition about the mission of Pantaenus or the Apostolate of Bartholomew the Apostle in India. According to Moraes this is due to the fact that the history of Christians of Bartholomew got intermingled with that of the Thomas Christians ( the Syriac tradition is that, Saint Bartholomew preached in Armenia). According to Perumalil, Bartholomew Christians continued as a separate community till the coming of the Portuguese and got merged with the Christians of Bombay.[5]

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Last Update August 10th 2009.
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NSC NETWORK Article Footnotes

  1. Jerome- Epistola LXX ad Magnum oratorem urbis Romae [↩]
  2. Clement- Stromata, 15 [↩]
  3. Jerome – “ Epistola LIX ad Marcellam’ [↩]
  4. Perimalil “ The Apostles in India” [↩]
  5. Moraes “ A History of Christianity in India AD 52-1542 [↩]
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7 Responses

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George Thomas NORWAY
Apr 21, 2009 2:47


Post : 14165

The Apostles, St. Pantaenus, St. Frumentius and St. Bartholomew are also connected with India.

Of these the missionary activities of St. Bartholomew in India is documented by early fathers such as St. Ambrose and Theodore

Saint Ambrose — “And when the hearts of the people of his neighbours sufficed not to him to receive his seed, he (St. Bartholomew ) through-pierced like in fleeing in to the last countries of the lands of India, and entered in to the temple where there was great company of sick people without number”

Theodore—– “The blessed apostle Bartholomew preached first in Licaonia, and after in India, and at the last in Alban, a city of great Armenia, and there he was first flayed and afterward his head smitten off, and there he was buried.

Do we have local traditions about the Apostloate of Saint Bartholomew or Saint Pantaenus, Saint Frumentius.

John Mathew CANADA
Apr 21, 2009 12:39


Post : 14187

George Thomas:

I’m not so sure you can make such a statement with any degree of certainty.

If you look into these claims (St. Pantaenus, St. Frumentius and St. Bartholomew) you’ll find that the “India” the author is referring to is often vague.

“India” meant a lot of things to various people and much of the time, it was not our India. “India” could refer to Ethiopia, Arabia, or — the closest — Parthia and maybe North-west India.

With Frumentius and/or other Alexandrians, you can read the original accounts (e.g., Zacharias Rhetor), and learn that this India most likely was Ethiopia or maybe Arabia.

Pantaneus may have come to our India, but it’s not absolutely clear if he’s talking about our India. Many dispute this.

The tradition of St. Bar Tulmai is also unclear. If you look at the order of cities above, it certainly doesn’t seem to be our India.

Now, all the ancients weren’t so ignorant of “India”. Bardaisan definitely seems to know about our India (describing Brahmins and Buddhists), Cosmos Indicopleatus too (describes the geography of Malabar, plants, spices, etc.). And of course, the various prelates of the Church of the East knew about India — they’ve referred very specifically to our community several times in their letters, etc., over the centuries.

It’s hard enough trying to give substance to the claim that Mar Thoma came to India—this is very hard, and there is as of yet no decent evidence to support this. But the evidence for Mar Thoma coming is orders of magnitude better than the evidence for the others you’ve mentioned.

George Thomas NORWAY
Apr 24, 2009 22:56


Post : 14328

Dear John Mathew

Thank you. On further reading in case of Saint Frumentius, the term India was used vaguely and there are no continuity in traditions with modern India.

There are no local traditions in case of St. Pantaenus and St. Bartholomew.

M Thomas Antony UNITED KINGDOM
Apr 26, 2009 23:45


Post : 14432

Re. Bartholomew and India, see the following link.

http://konkanicatholics.blogspot.com/2006/08/st-bartholomews-india-connection.html

I am not sure about the credibility of the information. It is said that there were icons of St Thomas and St Bartholomew on the farcade of the 1806 church built by Portuguese in kalyanapura. This must be due to local tradition or any evidences. This story must be considered in the light of the finding of a Persian cross also in Goa.

Eusebius’s account of Pantenius tells about Bartholomew mission in India, Jerome tells that “Pantenius was sent by Demetrius to India so that he might preach Christ among the Brahmins and philosophers of that nation”. The mention of Brahmins certainly settles the place as India. (This is also quoted from the same blog.)

Again, I have read that there was a group of Goan Catholics joined the Puthencoor in Kerala at a certain point after the revolt in kerala- possibilities are they were originally syriac christians fully latinised by Portuguese and when there were problems with the relations with the Portuguese missionaries, they just joined an available syriac church.

Are there any other traditions or references available ?

Sujith Philipose INDIA
Apr 27, 2009 13:31


Post : 14465

Hi Antony,

wrt the Orthodox church in Goa, I visited that church in Ribandar this easter. Check out this site http://www.stalvares.com

It has an interesting history. But I doubt there being a syrian church/christianity prior to the Portuguese.

John Mathew CANADA
Apr 27, 2009 18:40


Post : 14474

Dear Sujith:

No reason for doubt: Goa is one of those places were a Persian/Pahlavi Cross was discovered–which means that a Syriac Church definitely existed there at one point in time. In addition to Kalyan, Patna, Malabar and Mylapore, Goa also appears on lists that discuss the expansion of East Syriac Christianity into India—apparently Nestorianism (to use the term lightly) was dispersed throughout India in ancient times.

And, although I despise “oral traditions” (at least w.r.t. history) for completeness I’ll add that if you search on NSC you’ll find references to a Goan tradition of Syriac-sounding names, etc. I forget exactly where this is located … perhaps on the NSC page about the Persian Crosses.

But yes. I agree that Mor Julius Alvares didn’t seem to be connected with the pre-Portuguese Syriac Church of Goa… I haven’t seen to much biographical info on Mor Julius, but I think I saw it reported somewhere that he was a Brahmin convert to Christianity. Again, I can’t vouch for this info … I’m still looking for corroboration.

I believe the Qurbono was translated from Syriac into Latin for this group.

Maurice D. 173.32.238.76 not found
Feb 19, 2010 13:37


Post : 21418

In 1886 the Padroado jurisdiction ended in South Canara but the Portuguese were trying to preserve their influence. Some parishioners of Kallianpur-Milagres, because of their close association with the Goan clergy, they preferred to be under the Padroado. When the Goan clergy suddenly left and priests of Propaganda Mission arrived, they filed a suit against the Propaganda and lost it, They associated themselves with Fr Anthony Alvares, a former Goan a Catholic Jesuit priest who was ex-communicated and later became the orthodox syrian bishop Mar Julius I of Goa. The dissidents separated from the Mother church under the guidance of the suspended Goan priest. ANOTHER GOAN PRIEST, Fr Zephryn Noronha, whom Fr. Alavares had brought to Bhramavar built a church of their own and dedicated it to Our Lady of Miracles at Brahmavar (St Mary’s Syrian Church) now known as St. Mary’s Cathedral.

Fr. Alvarez Mar Julius started the Bahmavar Mission in Karnataka in 1888. This mission was started in order to give spiritual leadership and help in the spiritual growth of those people who left the Roman Catholic Church and joined the Orthodox Church of Malabar.

(BRAHMAVAR IS ABOUT 60KM NORTH OF MANGALORE (AFTER CROSSING UDUPI ON NH17)

ALSO SEE:
Mar Thoma: The Apostolic Foundation of the Assyrian Church and the Christians of St. Thomas in India
Stephen Andrew Missick
http://marthomachurch.org

MD.

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