THE CHRISTIANS OF ST. THOMAS AND THEIR LITURGIES: COMPRISING The Anaphora of St. James; St. Peter; The Twelve Apostles; Mar Dionysius; Mar Xystus; and Mar Evannis; Together with the Ordo Communis. TRANSLATED FROM SYRIAC MSS. OBTAINED IN TRAVANCORE. BY THE REV. GEORGE BROADLEY HOWARD, B.A., LATE ASSISTANT CHAPLAIN IN THE DIOCESE OF MADRAS. "In illis igitur (sc. Liturgiis Ecclesiæ) non Doctoris alicujus eximii, non Concilii, sed totius Ecclesiæ vox auditur."-RENAUDOT, Lit. Orient. Coll., tom. i. p. lii. OXFORD and LONDON: JOHN HENRY AND JAMES PARKER. TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, CHARLES THOMAS, BY DIVINE PERMISSION LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, PRIMATE OF ALL ENGLAND, AND METROPOLITAN, This Work, UNDERTAKEN IN THE HOPE THAT IT MAY IN SOME DEGREE CONTRIBUTE TO THE REVIVAL OF SYMPATHY, AND SO EVENTUALLY TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERCOMMUNION, WITH AN ANCIENT CHURCH, DURING MANY AGES SEVERED FROM CHRISTENDOM, BUT NOW, BY THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD, PLACED IN NEAR RELATION TO OUR ANGLO-INDIAN EMPIRE, IS, WITH HIS GRACE'S KIND PERMISSION, MOST GRATEFULLY AND RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. PREFACE. THE present volume will be found to consist of two distinct parts; the first containing a sketch of the history of the Christians of St. Thomas from the earliest times to the present day, and the second a translation of the six Anaphoræ mentioned in the title-page. The principal sources of information of which I have availed myself in preparing the first part of the work are mentioned at p. 8, and are frequently referred to in the notes. Besides the writers there specified, there are several others, as Duperron, Hamilton, and Moens, whose works might be consulted with advantage by those who are disposed to trace as far as possible the records of this interesting people. To attempt anything of this kind was beyond my present purpose, and I have contented myself with giving a general sketch of their history, in the earnest hope that it may tend to re-awaken the sympathy of English Churchmen for these native Indian Christians, some few of whom may not improbably be subjects of the British Crown. Those who are able to turn to the learned work of Eusebius Renaudot, will there find all the Anaphoræ which are here translated, with very many more be |