Archdeacons, Medieval History, Nasrani History, Tomb of Archdeacons

B. George: You can check wikipedia for further details. …

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Comment posted Role, Characteristics, List and Tomb of Archdeacons (Arkadiyakons) of Saint Thomas Christians by John Mathew.

B. George:

You can check wikipedia for further details. But essentially it is a characteristic of the patriarchal DNA that seems to be present in a large percentage of Jews who have a tradition of being Cohens, which is the Semitic word for priest (Hebrew, Aramaic, Akkadian, etc.). What some researchers found was that, regardless of geographic origin, the Cohenim of the various groups of Jews in the Diaspora had this marker with high probability. This seems to coincide with the Hebraic tradition of the Aaronic priesthood being passed from father to son: if this was the case, all members of the Aaronic priesthood would propagate their patriarchal DNA markers.

This isn’t 100% however. Not all possessors of the marker are Cohenim, and not all Cohenim have the marker. As well, there are two classes of the marker.

Perhaps someone who understands this area deeply (e.g., Jackson) could further comment. Or you could go and read the wikipedia article and study its sources.

On the Nasrani side, it seems that some of our people also carry this marker. There was George Mathew, as well as (if I recall correctly) the admin of the Syrian Christian DNA project, who is Pakallomattom.

If the latter is representative, it does seem that Pakallomattom may have been converts to Christianity from Judaism. However, whether they converted to Christianity in India or in West Asia cannot really be determined.

It does seem strange that many of the St Thomas myths floating around in Kerala seem to have West Asian parallels (e.g., the myth of St Thomas throwing water in the air and it being suspended: that seems to be an import from the MIddle East). Perhaps it wasn’t Thomas who came to India, but rather the families of those he converted in West Asia who came to India, bring their myths.