Mar Sabrisho and Mar Piruz, Nasrani History

Dear Antony: I understand your points about the indianization …

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Comment posted Arrival of Mar Sabrisho and Mar Piruz, Earliest Reports, Copper Plates, Katheeshangal,Christians & Churches at Quilon by John Mathew.

Dear Antony:

I understand your points about the indianization of practices, but this is not the liturgy per se. The original poster (Renu) was making a comment on the philosophical sophistication of Syriac Christianity; I would not call it philosophical myself — it is more theological than philosophical — but I agree with the sentiment that Syriac Christianity is not devoid of intellectual merit (to the contrary).

None of what you mentioned really points to Indianization of the liturgy in an intellectual manner. Sure there was possibly a variance in practices from Mesopotamia, but at the end of the day we must admit that there remains no trace of any independent developments in Malabar (if any existed).

The Persians and Central Asians can claim some influence of the Syriac liturgy (ref: Buck); we can’t. Hence, to call the liturgy as “Indo-Syriac” as Renu did, is not accurate at all.

Regarding the Dukrana. Yes, July 3 commemorates the transfer of the relics. It’s questionable as to why the Indians — who hold Thomas to be our father — celebrate this at all!

The Jacobites/Orthodox celebrate the Dukhrana at the proper date of December; you can consult the Syriac Orthodox Church resources website for our calendar; the MOSC must also have an online calendar as well. At any rate, in every Church I’ve attended (Orthodox/Jacobite) the Dukhrana was always held in December and never July.

The ecumenical massacre of the old traditions may be responsible for why *some* of the Puthenkoor keep July 3, but the official date of the Duhkrana (i.e., the death anniversary) is definitely December for the Orthodox/Catholic Churches.