Apostle Letters, Early Reference, Indian Tradition, Thomas the Apostle

Jackson: Two points: 1. You wrote: “Well what is interesting is …

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Comment posted Letters of St. Thomas the Apostle to Edessa from India by John Mathew.

Jackson:

Two points:

1. You wrote:
“Well what is interesting is the sudden shift from the Persian Church and Pahlavi language to Syriac Christianity and Syriac language after 400 AD or so. What could be the reasons for this shift and downplaying of the Persian link ?”

I don’t know where the 400 AD date comes from, could you explain?

The oldest monument to Christianity we have in Kerala seems to be the Persian Crosses (with Pahlavi inscriptions), and these are supposedly dated to the 7-10th centuries (ref: A.C. Burnell).

I think the shift away from our Persian compadres in Fars is basically due to the Islamic conquest of Iran. You can read letters from Patriarchs to the Metropolitans of Fars over the post-7th century years which chronicle the challenges the East Syriac Church faced back then. Fars was supposedly hard-hit by the Islamic conquest, and fell easily. So, my guess is, afterwards, we started to communicate directly with the East Syriac Patriarchs.

2. Regarding genetics.
There are a couple of Persian-connected communities in India.
a) of course, the Zoroastrian Parsis
b) the Nasranis
c) according to some, the Pallava dynasty that ruled South India for a while

Is R2 a common denominator amongst the 3 groups? Is R2 found in the descendants of the Pallavas in India?

J2 explains our connections with West Asians (Syriac peoples, and possibly Jews).

R2 perhaps explains our connections with the Persians. Are there any stats on the relative frequency of R2 vs J2 amongst the Syrian Christians?