Indian Antiquary Vol 32

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 20

THE INDIAN ANTIQUART.
(JANUARY 1903.
This is from a translation pablished by Samuel Bagster & Sons, London, 1846 : the name of the translator is not given. I have not seen the original Greek. But, if the word paprypoor is used for church, it would probably imply that the relics of St. Thomas or some part of them were enshrined there.
18. -Socrates, surnamed Scholastious, of Constantinople; born 306; the date of bis death is not stated, but it must have been after 445, as his history of the church, written in Greek, extends to that year.
In book 1. ch 19, he writes:-"When the apostles went forth by lot among the nations, " Thomas roceived the apostleship of the Parthians."
In book 4, ch. 18, he writes :-"But I must here mention a ciroumstance that occurred at "Edessa in Mesopotamia. There is in that city & magnificent church (mapripov) dedicated to "St. Thomas the apostle, wherein on account of the sanctity of the place, religious assemblier
are incessantly held."
Socrates here uses the word paprúpoor, which was generally applied to chorch or basilion where the relics of some martyr were deposited. He must, I think, be taken to mean that the relics of St. Thomas, or some part of them, were enebrived in this church. The incident which he relates took pluce while the emperor Valens, who reigned 364 to 37%, was at Edessa. The above passages are taken from a translation published by Samuel Bagster & Sons, London, 1844. The name of the translator is not given.
19. - St. Gregory of Tours; born probably in 538, bishop in 573, died 594. Extract from “Libri miraculorum : liber primus : de gloria beatorum martyrum : capat XXXII. : de Thoma apostulo :"
- Thomas apostolus (Post an 66, 21 Dec.) secundum passionis ejns historiam, in India "passus esse declaratur. Cajas beatum corpus post multam tempus assumptam in civitate quamp “Syri Edigsam vocant, translatum est, ibique sepaltam. Ergo in loco region's Indine, quo "prius quievit, monasteriam habetur, et templum mirae magnitudinis, diligenterque exornatum " atqne compositum. In hac igitur aede magnum miraculum Deus ostendit. Lychnos etenim "inibi positas, atqne illaminatas, ante locum sepulturae ipsius perpetualiter die noctaque diviño "nutu rerplendet, a nullo fomentam olei scirpique accipiens : neque vento extinguitur, neque cape "dilabitar, neque ardendo minuitar; habetque incrementum, per apostoli virtatam, quod nescitar "ab homine, cognitum tamen habetar divinae potentiae. Hoc Theodorus qui ad ipsum locum "accessit nobis exposait. In supradicta igitur urbe, in qua beatos artus diximus tumulatos, "adveniente festivitate, magnos aggregator populorum coetus, ac de diversis regionibus cam votis "negotiisque venientibus, vendendi comparandique per triginta dies sine alla telonei exactione "licentia dator. In his vero diebus qui in mensi habentur quinto, magna et inusitata popolis "praebentur beneficia. Non scandalum surgit in plebe, non musor insidet mortificatae carni, "non latex deest sitienti. Nam cum ibi reliquis diebus plusquam centenum pedam altitudine "aqua hauriatar a pateis, tunc paululum si fodias, affatim lymphas exuberantes invenies, quod "non ambigitur haec virtute beati apostoli impertiri. Decarsis igitur festivitatis diebus, telon“eom pablicum redditar, mosca quae defait adest, propinquitas aquae dehiscit. Dehinc emissa "divinitus pluvia ita omne atriom templi a sordibos et diversis squaloribus qui per ipsa solem"nia facti sunt mandat, at putes locum nec fuisse calcatum."
Migne : Patrologia Latina, Vol. 71, Paris, 1849, cols. 733-.
The information contained in the above passages may be summed op as follows, with the remark that the years given in the list are generally the years of the death of the writers named: