EVOLUTION OF EPISCOPACY IN MALANKARA

 Paraphernalia of Malankara Moopan (first statute is from Neelamperoor & second is from Niranam Church)

  The first five-century period of South India is identified by literary documentation in Tamil. Most of the literary work gives some kind of information about the social and political life of this period. If one wants to understand the religious aspect of this period, one certainly needs to understand the social-political aspect of this period. Many of the literary works related to this period hardly deal with anything related to Indian Christianity. Some scholars studied literary works like Akananooru (168 CE) in detail to understand any references that exist related to the Malankara Nazranies. There are some indications in that direction, but one needs to do a lot more to claim it as history.

 Before going into details, we need to understand the origin of the priesthood in Christianity. It seems to have originated when Yesu told his apostles to go and convey the gospel to the world. The initial stages of the priesthood can be traced back to the Acts of the Apostles. The permission or ordination given by Yesu (Jesus) to his apostles can be called Kahnooso (Syriac). Those who received Kahnooso were able to perform all the duties of the priesthood in early Christendom and were called Kohane( parallel to Hebrew word for priest Kohen). Later, people were appointed to help these Kohanes, called Mshamshono (Shemmashan). Mshamshono (Deacons) were not given Kahnooso but were instead assigned to assist these Kohanes in their duties.

 One who has the Kahnooso has two duties to perform. (1) Reform (Kadshono) (2) Enlighten (nahrono). Nahrono asks the priest to enlighten the followers by explaining the Evangalion (kriothe du rooho kadisho) and Kadshono(first duty) asks them to participate/lead/distribute the benefit of Yesu’s crucifixion and purify the holy sacrament (to perform the Koodasha). It is also noted that when a Kohane gets his ordination, the Urara (Sthanavasthran) is spread to two sides while the person is on both knees. In the case of Mshamshono, he gets his Urara on one side while he is on his single knee (later day practice).

 In the early stages of Christendom, there were only Kohnen (one with Kahnooso) and Shimshono positions available. This practice was the same for all churches. When the population of members increased, Kohane's post also increased. Naturally, there was a need for someone to look after these Kohanes. This position was called Episcopos in Greek. In Syriac, the position was called Reesh Kohane. The Greek word means "overseer," and the Syriac word means "chief priest." The early church used both terms without any difference. The position of “Kohane” is the same as “Presbyter” in Greek. This position is divided into presbyters and episcopas(episkopos) in Greek. St. Paul many times addresses these presbyters as episcopas though the duties of these posts are equivalent, the powers related to church administration are different.

  The term Kassisa is derived from the Old Testament and is used in the church. The meaning of Kassisa (elder) is Moopan. The words "presbyter" and "kassisa" are one and the same. St. Paul referred to Thimothios as "Moopan" or "Elder" in 1st Thimothios 4:14 and 5:22, which is a Kassisa position. As Kassisa, he deals with the issue of ordination. This means that Thimothios, as a Kassisa, has the authority to ordain Kassisas. Paul advises him not to neglect the gift that is given to him and not to lay hands on anyone hastily. Again, we could see this in the acts of the apostles (20:17), where St. Paul calls his Kassisas and gives his parting advice. This is also an example of Kassisas being given the authority of overseers. Again, the third chapter of 1 Timothy clearly describes the role and prerequisites of a Kassisa and a Shemshono. All of this suggests that the early church had only two priestly positions in Christendom. From the above information, one could see that the apostles called the same person Kassisa and Episcopa. Again, St. Peter, in his letter (1 Peter 5:1), considers himself a fellow elder (koottu moopan). Also, please note that St. Paul, while writing to the Philippians, addresses only Episcopes and Shemshonos, i.e., not a word about Kassisas. Again, while he writes to Titus, he remembers Kassisas (1:5), and later he calls them Episcopa (Titus 1:7). What does this indicate?

 The Kassisa and Episcopa were in the same position in early Christendom. Both words were used interchangeably by the apostles until the Synod of Nicaea under Constantine separated them. In this synod, the bishop (Kahnooso) Alexander was declared patriarch, and he was consecrated by the council of 12 Kohanens. This practice of appointing an episcopa (bishop) by a council of presbyters was common in Alexandria.

 Now let us understand the situation that existed in Malankara. Circumstantial evidence along with beliefs indicate that St. Thomas might have been the originator of Indian Christianity in the first century (please note that my current understanding goes against this supposition). He might have come here in search of Jews settled in Malankara. He worked among them and converted a good number of people, along with locals, to form the first group of Nazranies. It is reasonable to believe that St. Thomas ordained Kohanes and entrusted him with duties before departing for other places of service. It is logical to believe that these Kohanes are entrusted with the power of ordination (to appoint new Kohanes). This was the practice followed by the apostles everywhere they went. They gave Kassisas the authority to ordain people when and where they needed the men with the spiritual permission known as Kahnooso. This was the situation that existed in Malankara during the first three centuries. We had Kassisas who were entrusted with the gift of ordaining other Kassisas who controlled the affairs of the church. Since the Malankara church had relations with Alexandria in its early stages, it followed the system followed by the Alexandrians.

 It is found from the documents that the Malankara church had relations/visits from Alexandria since we had long-standing trade relations with it. The earliest reference we get is from the Pantaneous story. I mentioned in my earlier postings that the story of Pntaneous (AD 189) is yet to be analysed and verified (because of the Bartholomew story). The reference indicates that he had collected a copy of the book of Mathai (Mathew) from India. But unfortunately, we have no tradition related to St. Bartholomew. (Now I am doubtful if this narrative has anything to do with historical facts.)

 We have very limited documentation related to the prelates during the first five centuries. These documents are insufficient to establish any hierarchical relationships with the Malankara church. Whether it is the Panteneous story or the Cosmas indicopleustes story, they all provide information about the Christians in India. The trader called Cosmas gives us information about the church in Malankara, along with churches in Thaprobane and Kalliana. The places he describes seem to have been in the geographical area of south India. It is worth noting that he mentioned a church in Maale and Thaprobane with Kassisas and believers, as well as a church in Kalliana (Bombay, Konkanam, Kollam, Calamina—no one knows where it is even today) with a bishop and believers. Is it indicating the early church practices of the Kassisa/Episcopa model?

 The other prelates said to have been visited during this period were Mar Dudi, Mar Joseph, Mar Yonan, and Theophilus the Indian. All these documents related to the above prelates need to be studied before drawing any conclusions. The Theophilus story is probably more closely related to the Malankara Nazranies, and the Arian aspect of this relationship, i.e., that Theophilus was ordained as an Arian bishop around 350 CE, should be studied.

 These relations with foreign prelates are nothing more than friendly visits by them and have nothing to do with the hierarchical relations of church administration. Had there been any other relationships, there would have been some kind of evidence that existed in Malankara (archaeological remains, tombs, beliefs, festivals, etc.). If these prelates were active in evangelical work, there would have been much documentation related to it. This indicates that these prelates were nothing but visitors or traders who took help from Nazranies.

 Many prelates visited, and many migrations occurred between the sixth and fifteenth centuries, as stated by church historians. We have some indications of the migration of Mar Sabor and Mar Phroth to Malankara. They settled in Malankara along with Nazranies and contributed to the Malankara church. It is worth noting that their migration gave birth to a new era in Malankara's calendrical calculation (as often claimed by church historians). It is an amusing argument that migration due to religious persecution in Persia has given hierarchical credibility in church administration in Malankara.

 We indeed had relations with foreign prelates from Alexandria, Persia, Antioch, and Rome, but the motivation for these relations was primarily for trade and not for church administration. Those prelates who came for trade recognised the opportunity for the respective churches and were involved in it. This changed the objective of later-day prelates and ended up in the subjugation of the Malankara Nazranies.

The continuous mental exploitation by foreign prelates turned the Malankara Nazranies into a subjugated church. The independent model of church administration practised by Malankara Nazranies was taken over by these foreign prelates for their benefit, creating an impression that they had ruled them since the beginning. The Kohane/Moopan model of church administration was replaced by the Metropolitan model. The Alexandrian model, which was practised by Malankara Nazranies, was the oldest form of administrative setup that existed in Christendom. This metropolitan model has also been accepted by the Malankara church along with the Kohane/Moopan model. There was a clear demarcation made by Malankara Nazranies to adopt the new model so that the ordination given by St. Thomas would continue as Malankara Moopan (please note that my recent study, Unmasking the Syriacs, negates Saint Thomas's visit to south India). To distinguish the position from episcopa, this moopan was called achchan. The Niranam grandhavari (Niranam Chronicle) mentions this while referring to Malankara Moopan.

 This Achchan was called Peredyootha (Periodiota) in some records. Mar Gregarious, who came to Malankara in 1665 CE, addressed the Peredyootha in his letter to the church at Mulanthuruthi and Angamali. This Peredyootha position had the authority to ordain Kohanes (priests) and Shimshonos (decons) as per the synod of Ansira in 314 CE. The practice of the council of 12 Kassissas with Achchan (Peredyootha/Moopan), similar to that of Alexandria, had been misinterpreted by foreign prelates, leading to the conclusion that Malankara had no metropolitan or priesthood. Further, this position had been misunderstood by these foreign prelates and named archdeacon. This caused a lot of trouble in Malankara church history.

 Many church historians fail to understand the Elder/Kassisa-Malankara Moopan model of hierarchy. They propose the archdeacon-metropolitan model of the hierarchy of the 15th century for the Malankara church. By doing this, they are forgetting the age-old tradition of Malankara Nazranies. Only with the arrival of the Nestorians, followed by the Portuguese, did the metropolitan model emerge in Malankara. The uniqueness of the Malankara modal can be traced back to the early period of church history in Christendom.

(This article was written at the end of 2009 and added to my blog without editing during the month of June 2011. Details in this article are from my earlier studies and some of the points in this article are not at all reflect my current position based on my recent research especially related to St. Thomas origin and development of Indian Christianity. For to know my current observations and research readers are requested to go through my recently published book on Indian Christianity named Unmasking the Syriacs:The Hidden Origin of Indian Christianity, An Archaeo-linguistic Approach. updated on 12.12.2022)