NoraBillings: corrected information further and fixed typos to improve readability

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corrected information further and fixed typos to improve readability

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->Thomast48 at 21:33, 6 January 2022

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{{Use Indian English|date=October 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}

{{Infobox saint
| honorific_prefix= [[Saint]]
| name =
| honorific_suffix=
| image = File:Mar Knai Thoma.png
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption = [[Icon]] of Thomas of Cana
| titles =
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| home_town =
| residence =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| venerated_in = [[Syriac Orthodox Church]]<br>
[[Syro-Malabar Catholic Church]]
| beatified_date =
| beatified_place =
| beatified_by =
| canonized_date = 6 March 1990
| canonized_place =
| canonized_by = [[Ignatius Zakka I Iwas]] Patriarch
| major_shrine =
| feast_day = 36th day (Sixth Sunday) of the [[Great Lent]] ([[Syriac Orthodox Church]])
| attributes =
| patronage =
| issues =
| suppressed_date =
| suppressed_by =
| influences =
| influenced = [[Knanaya]]<br />[[Jacobite Syrian Christian Church|Knanaya Jacobite]]
| tradition =
| major_works =
}}

'''Thomas of Cana''' ([[Malayalam]]: Knāi Thoma or Tomman Kinān, [[Syriac language|Syriac]]: Knā'nāya Thoma) was a [[Syriac Christian|Syrian]] merchant magnate who arrived to the [[Chera dynasty|Chera Dynasties]] capitol city of [[Kodungallur]] between 345 C.E. and 811 C.E. Thoma brought with him Jewish-Christian families (early East Syriac Christian merchants) and clergymen from Persian [[Mesopotamia]].{{sfn|Frykenberg|2010|pp=113}}{{sfn|Fahlbusch|2008|p=286}}

Upon arrival, Thoma received copper-plates of socio-economic rights known today as the [[Thomas of Cana copper plates]].<ref name=":12">D'Aguiar, Rev. J. Monteiro. 'The Magna Carta of St. Thomas Christians', ''K. S. P.'', no. 4, p. 172 and 195.</ref><ref>[[The Indian Antiquary|''Indian Antiquary'']], LVI, 1927, p. 148.</ref>{{sfn|King|2018|pp=663-670}}{{sfn|Narayanan|2018|pp=302-303}} The descendants of Thoma and the migrants who arrived with him are known as the [[Knanaya]] or Tekkumbhar (Southist) Christians, found among the [[Saint Thomas Christian]] community of Kerala, India.{{sfn|Podipara|1971|p=2}}{{sfn|Frykenberg|2010|pp=113}} Scholars associate Thoma's migration with connecting the Church of Saint Thomas in India with the [[East Syriac]] liturgical tradition of the Persian [[Church of the East]]. {{sfn|Thomas|2018|p=4}}

==Epithet of Thomas==
The meaning of the ''Cana'' epithet is unclear; it may refer to the town of [[Cana]] or the land of [[Canaan]] in the Bible,<ref name=Swiderskib>Swiderski 1988b, pp. 55–56.</ref> or it may be a corruption of a [[Syriac language|Syriac]] term for merchant (''Knāyil'' in Malayam).<ref name=Neill42>Neill, p. 42.</ref> However, scholar Richard M. Swiderski states that none of these etymologies are entirely sound.<ref name=Swiderskib/> Scholar and Knanaya priest Dr. Jacob Kollaparambil argues that the "Cana" form is a corruption introduced by European scholars in the 18th century based on the Malayalam form Knāy and its variants (Kynāi, Knai, Kinān) found in the folk tradition of the Knanaya and the common parlance and literature of the people of Malabar.{{sfn|Kollaparambil|1992|pp=1-20}} This may be a reference to the Christian community of Kynai, in Bét Aramayé in Persia.{{sfn|Kollaparambil|1992|pp=1}}

==History==
Written accounts of Knai Thoma date to the [[Portuguese India|India's Portuguese period]].<ref name=Baum>Baum & Winkler, p. 53.</ref> The native tradition places Thomas’ arrival in 345 C.E. ; Reports by colonial officials give varying dates from 345 to 811 C.E.<ref name=Baum/><ref name=Vadakkekara239>Vadakkekara, p. 239.</ref> Thomas is said to have been a Syrian merchant, distinct from [[Thomas the Apostle]], who preceded him in evangelizing in India. According to the traditions, Thomas of Cana led a group of 72 families, as well as clergymen, to the port city of Kodungallur in the Malabar coast. There they met and supplemented the Saint Thomas Christians, who had been evangelized by Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.

Thomas was granted a [[copper-plate grant]] by the [[Chera Dynasty]] which gave his party and all native Christians socio-economic privileges. The [[Thomas of Cana copper plates]] are noted to have existed in Kerala until the 17th century, after which point they were lost. The Kollam Syrian plates of the 9th century historically mentioned a brief of the arrival of Knai Thoma. This is believed to have been a notation of the previous rights given to the Kerala Syrian Christians. <ref name=Neill42/> {{sfn|King|2018|pp=663-679}}{{sfn|Vellian|1986|pp=54–55}}

Scholars state the arrival of Thomas of Cana may reflect a historical migration of [[East Syriac Rite|East Syriac]] Christians to India. This may have been the era in which the region's relationship with the [[Church of the East]] developed. Stephen Neill suggests that East Syriac Christians may have come to India specifically because there was already an established Christian community, to whom they imparted East Syriac traditions.<ref>Neill, pp. 42–43.</ref>

In the 17th century, Historian of Portuguese India Diogo Do Couto and Archbishop [[Francis Ros]] of Angamaly-Cranganore both note that the Christians of Kerala chanted the name of Knai Thoma among their saints during their liturgies . {{sfn|Vellian|1986|p=18-25}}

In the 18th century (1782), [[Kariattil Ousep|Mar Ousep Cariattil]], Northist priest and leader of the Kerala Syrian Catholics, wrote a short history of the Malabar Church in which he included the arrival of Knai Thoma. Cariattil notes the importance given to the migration of Knai Thoma and his party by the Native Christians of St. Thomas in their traditions:{{sfn|Vellian|1986|p=39-40}}

<blockquote>Those known as the Christians of St. Thomas in Malabar had preserved from the year 52 of the popular era for seven entire centuries. After that failing the succession of Bishops, began a decadence of Religion. However this defect was remedied by a rich and liberal merchant and Zealous catholic, Knai Thoma, who returning in haste to Babylonia, his native country, brought with him a bishop and two priests of laudable behavior and great learning in Syriac and Chaldean, which are the languages of the Rite of the people of Malabar, They worked with great zeal, and very soon they made the ancient virtues and fervor of Christian religion reflourish. These (as the first apostles) helped the nation in everything pertaining to ecclesiastical discipline and sciences. And therefore the Nation always considered the Babylonians as their benefactors. In these circumstances due to the want of natives, during the following centuries the Bishops from Babylonia governed the churches with no vested interest, they being, as we said, of the same Rite"</blockquote>

===Thomas of Cana the “Bishop”===
In the native traditions of Kerala as well as the early 16/17th recordings during the Portuguese era, Thomas of Cana is always noted as a merchant. {{sfn|Kollaparambil|1992|pp=98-104}}

In the 18th century, the Lebanese scholar J.S. Assemani argued that Thomas of Cana was a 9th-century bishop, published in his text “Bibliotecha Orientalis” (1719-1728). In an attempt to trace Thomas’ origins, Assemani labeled Thomas of Cana as Bishop Thomas of Hadud, a 9th-century Nestorian bishop.{{sfn|Kollaparambil|1992|pp=98-104}}

==Northists and Southists==
[[File:Knaithoma bhavan.jpg|thumb|Knaithoma bhavan]]
{{see also|Knanaya}}
The arrival of Thomas of Cana figures into traditions concerning the division of the Saint Thomas Christians into "[[Northist]]" and "[[Knanaya|Southist]]" factions. In these versions, the Southists or Knanaya are the direct descendants of Thomas of Cana and his followers, while the Northists descend from the pre-existing local Christian body converted by Thomas the Apostle.<ref name=Swiderski7680>Swiderski 1988a, pp. 76–80.</ref> In some versions, Thomas of Cana had two wives or partners, one the ancestor to the endogamous Southists, and the other (generally described as a Kerala native) the ancestor to the Northists.<ref name=Swiderski7680/>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{Cite book |title= The Church of the East: A Concise History |last= Baum|first= Wilhelm |author2=Dietmar W. Winkler |year= 2003 |publisher= Routledge|isbn= 0-415-29770-2|page= 52 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yt0X840SjpEC|access-date= 8 June 2012}}
*{{cite book|first=Ernst |last=Fahlbusch |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZUBZlth2qgC&q=Knanaya&pg=PR1 |title=The Encyclopedia of Christianity: Volume 5 |page=286 |isbn=9780802824172 |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|Eerdmans]] |date=2008}}
*{{cite book|first=Robert |last=Frykenberg|title=Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199575831|date=2010}}
* {{Cite book |title= A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707 |last= Neill|first= Stephen|author-link= Stephen Neill|year= 2004 |publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn= 0-521-54885-3|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RH4VPgB__GQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|access-date=8 June 2012}}
* {{cite book |last=King |first=Daniel|year=2018|title=The Syriac World|publisher=Routledge Press|isbn= 9781138899018 }}
* {{cite book |last= Kollaparambil|first= Jacob|date= 1992|title= The Babylonian origin of the Southists among the St. Thomas Christians|publisher= Pontifical Oriental Institute |isbn= 8872102898}}
* {{cite book | last=Narayanan|first= M.G.S|year=2018|title= Perumals of Kerala|publisher= Cosmo Books|isbn= 8193368320 }}
* {{cite book | last=Podipara |first= Placid|year=1971|title= The Varthamanappusthakam|publisher= Pontifcal Oriental Institute|isbn= 978-81-2645-152-4 }}
* {{cite journal |last1= Swiderski |first1= Richard Michael |year= 1988 |title= Northists and Southists: A Folklore of Kerala Christians |journal= Asian Folklore Studies |volume= 47 |issue= 1 |pages= 73–92 |publisher= [[Nanzan University]] |jstor= 1178253 |doi= 10.2307/1178253 }}
*{{cite book |last=Thomas|first=Sonja|year=2018|title=Privileged Minorities:Syrian Christianity, Gender, and Minority Rights in Postcolonial India|publisher=University of Washington Press|pages=4}}
* {{cite book |title= Blood Weddings: The Knanaya Christians of Kerala|last= Swiderski |first= Richard Michael |year= 1988 |publisher= New Era |location= Madras |access-date=8 June 2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wUIaAAAAIAAJ&q=etymology#search_anchor}}
* {{cite book | last=Vellian |first= Jacob|year=1986|title= Symposium on Knanites|series= Syrian Church Series |volume=12|publisher= Jyothi Book House|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3PIMGwAACAAJ }}
* {{Cite book|last=Vadakkekara|first=Benedict|title=Origin of Christianity in India: A Historiographical Critique|year=2007|location=Delhi|publisher=Media House|url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=sr&id=7f3YAAAAMAAJ}}

{{commons category-inline|Knai Thomman}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomman, Knai}}
[[Category:Knanaya people]]
[[Category:Saint Thomas Christians]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Knanaya Community]]

Thomas of Cana - Revision history

NoraBillings: corrected information further and fixed typos to improve readability

->Thomast48 at 21:33, 6 January 2022

imported>WikiCleanerBot: v2.04b - Bot T20 CW#61 - Fix errors for CW project (Reference before punctuation)