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Thomas of Cana
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Thomas of Cana
Thomas of Cana (Malayalam: K'nāi Thoma or Tomman Kinān, Syriac: K'nānāya Thoma) was a Syriac Christian merchant magnate who arrived to the Chera Dynasties capital city of Kodungallur between 345 A.D. and 811 A.D. Thoma brought with him Jewish-Christian families (early East Syriac Christian merchants) and clergymen from Persian Mesopotamia.
Thoma received copper-plates of socio-economic rights known today as the Thomas of Cana copper plates. The descendants of Thoma and the migrants who arrived with him are known as the Knanaya or Tekkumbhagar (Southist) Christians, found among the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, India. 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
Portuguese sources of the 17th century note that due to Thoma's deeds as a Christian merchant, the native Nasrani of Kerala venerated him as a saint. Thoma was officially canonized by the patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Ignatius Zakka I, in March 1990.
The meaning of the Cana epithet is unclear; it may refer to the town of Cana or the land of Canaan in the Bible, or it may be a corruption of a Syriac term for merchant (Knāyil in Malayalam). However, scholar Richard M. Swiderski states that none of these etymologies are entirely sound.
Scholar Dr. Jacob Kollaparambil argues that the "Cana" form is a corruption formalized by European scholars in the 18th century based on the Malayalam form Knāi and its variants (Kynāi, Kinān) found in the folk tradition of the Knanaya and the common parlance and literature of the people of Malabar. This may be a reference to the Christian community of Kynai, in Bét Aramayé in Persia (Southern Mesopotamia).
A number of Portuguese era sources labeled Knai Thoma as a Syriac Christian in religion but “Armenian” in nationality. In the 18th century Lebanese scholar J.S. Assemani expressed that the Portuguese likely interpreted the term Aramean (another term for Aramaic or Syriac Christian) as Armenian and dubbed him as such.
Scholar Dr. Jacob Kollaparambil notes that while Assemani's rationale is plausible a more concrete explanation may be associated with the fact that many of the East Syriac Christian bishops who arrived to Kerala in the 15th and 16th century such as Mar Yohannan, Mar Thomas, and Mar Jacob Abuna were originally citizens of the territory known as Greater Armenia in the Middle East. The Portuguese labeled these bishops as citizens of Armenia in their own writings as well. Dr. Jacob Kollaparambil notes that because the Portuguese associated the East Syriac bishops in Kerala with Armenia, out of their own ignorance they likely extended this same nationality to Knai Thoma as well.
In the native traditions of Kerala as well as the early 16/17th century recordings during the Portuguese era, Thomas of Cana is always noted as a merchant.
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Thomas of Cana
Thomas of Cana (Malayalam: K'nāi Thoma or Tomman Kinān, Syriac: K'nānāya Thoma) was a Syriac Christian merchant magnate who arrived to the Chera Dynasties capital city of Kodungallur between 345 A.D. and 811 A.D. Thoma brought with him Jewish-Christian families (early East Syriac Christian merchants) and clergymen from Persian Mesopotamia.
Thoma received copper-plates of socio-economic rights known today as the Thomas of Cana copper plates. The descendants of Thoma and the migrants who arrived with him are known as the Knanaya or Tekkumbhagar (Southist) Christians, found among the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, India. 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
Portuguese sources of the 17th century note that due to Thoma's deeds as a Christian merchant, the native Nasrani of Kerala venerated him as a saint. Thoma was officially canonized by the patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Ignatius Zakka I, in March 1990.
The meaning of the Cana epithet is unclear; it may refer to the town of Cana or the land of Canaan in the Bible, or it may be a corruption of a Syriac term for merchant (Knāyil in Malayalam). However, scholar Richard M. Swiderski states that none of these etymologies are entirely sound.
Scholar Dr. Jacob Kollaparambil argues that the "Cana" form is a corruption formalized by European scholars in the 18th century based on the Malayalam form Knāi and its variants (Kynāi, Kinān) found in the folk tradition of the Knanaya and the common parlance and literature of the people of Malabar. This may be a reference to the Christian community of Kynai, in Bét Aramayé in Persia (Southern Mesopotamia).
A number of Portuguese era sources labeled Knai Thoma as a Syriac Christian in religion but “Armenian” in nationality. In the 18th century Lebanese scholar J.S. Assemani expressed that the Portuguese likely interpreted the term Aramean (another term for Aramaic or Syriac Christian) as Armenian and dubbed him as such.
Scholar Dr. Jacob Kollaparambil notes that while Assemani's rationale is plausible a more concrete explanation may be associated with the fact that many of the East Syriac Christian bishops who arrived to Kerala in the 15th and 16th century such as Mar Yohannan, Mar Thomas, and Mar Jacob Abuna were originally citizens of the territory known as Greater Armenia in the Middle East. The Portuguese labeled these bishops as citizens of Armenia in their own writings as well. Dr. Jacob Kollaparambil notes that because the Portuguese associated the East Syriac bishops in Kerala with Armenia, out of their own ignorance they likely extended this same nationality to Knai Thoma as well.
In the native traditions of Kerala as well as the early 16/17th century recordings during the Portuguese era, Thomas of Cana is always noted as a merchant.
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