Thursday, November 29, 2007
Long Train Ride Ahead
I won't be posting for a while as I will soon get on a train to Siliguri (sp?) near Darjeeling. The ride should take about two days and I won't have access to internet. This will be the longest transportation time I've ever dealt with. I'm not exactly looking forward to it, but Tamding already bought the tickets. Of course, we are actually on a waiting list, so maybe I won't be going. But we have been told that we are likely to get seats. Wish me luck. Although I'mnot quite sure what to wish for.
San Thome Basilica, etc.
Well, today was the first day I actually did some tourism on this trip. We went to the St Thomas Mount, the San Thome Basilica, and the beach. I didn't actually plan to go to the St Thomas Mount, but our driver took us to the wrong place. That was fortuitous, however. The St Thomas Mount has the best view you can get of Chennai. And there was a nice chapel there. So it was cool. It also gave us the grand tour of Chennai, as it was nowhere near where I wanted to go.
From there we went to the San Thome Basilica, which is a great example of intra-Christian rivalry. Originally, it was a shrine and tomb (for Thomas) built by the St Thomas Christians. When the Portugese arrived, they tore down that shrine, forcibly converted the St Thomas Christians, and built a new church, the San Thome Basilica. But that's not what's there today. The British has zero tolerance for Catholicism and tore that building down and built a proper Anglican church, which they called the St Thomas Cathedral. That's the building that stands today. But it was, of course, converted to a Catholic church and its name changed back to the San Thome Basilica when the British left India. And the few St Thomas Christians who remain view it as their main holy site. And, of course, the Catholic Church makes no mention of who built the current building or any history of the St Thomas Christians. If you go to the church, you get the impression that St Thomas and his followers were always Roman Catholics.
The beach nearby was interesting, if not particularly pleasant. We did see a sea snake sunning himself near the shore. It took me a while to figure out what it was because it's tail is flat and so much bigger than its head. And its scales are unlike those of any snake I'd ever seen. It looked like a snake, but at first I thought it might be some fake rubber snake. But then it moved and I finally made the connection of sea and snake. Then I realized that it would be best to not get very close. They are among the most poisonous snakes in the world. The good thing is that they really don't move too well when on land. It also explained why nobody was swimming. I'd also add that it was the first beach I'd ever seen with goats. I'm not kidding.
From there we went to the San Thome Basilica, which is a great example of intra-Christian rivalry. Originally, it was a shrine and tomb (for Thomas) built by the St Thomas Christians. When the Portugese arrived, they tore down that shrine, forcibly converted the St Thomas Christians, and built a new church, the San Thome Basilica. But that's not what's there today. The British has zero tolerance for Catholicism and tore that building down and built a proper Anglican church, which they called the St Thomas Cathedral. That's the building that stands today. But it was, of course, converted to a Catholic church and its name changed back to the San Thome Basilica when the British left India. And the few St Thomas Christians who remain view it as their main holy site. And, of course, the Catholic Church makes no mention of who built the current building or any history of the St Thomas Christians. If you go to the church, you get the impression that St Thomas and his followers were always Roman Catholics.
The beach nearby was interesting, if not particularly pleasant. We did see a sea snake sunning himself near the shore. It took me a while to figure out what it was because it's tail is flat and so much bigger than its head. And its scales are unlike those of any snake I'd ever seen. It looked like a snake, but at first I thought it might be some fake rubber snake. But then it moved and I finally made the connection of sea and snake. Then I realized that it would be best to not get very close. They are among the most poisonous snakes in the world. The good thing is that they really don't move too well when on land. It also explained why nobody was swimming. I'd also add that it was the first beach I'd ever seen with goats. I'm not kidding.
St Thomas the Apostle
A brief history of St Thomas for y'all. The story really starts 500 years before he was born, when a shipwreck stranded a large group of Jewish traders on the western coast of India. They weren't able to return to Israel, and founded a community that grew to be very extensive by the time of Jesus (and still exists today). When Jesus died, most of the Apostles traveled to various Jewish communities of the known world to spread the new Gospel to the Jews. Thomas chose to travel to southern India. He wasn't the only one to go to India, as Bartholomew traveled to northwest India breifly and then went to Armenia. Thomas first arrived in India in Kodungallur in 52 AD and began to spread the gospel. He managed to survive for 20 years before being killed in Chennai on what is now called St Thomas Mount. He was stabbed in the back with a lance, which is a better fate than some other Apostles suffered. His remains were said to be buried near the beach in Chennai, but the history is somewhat sketchy about that. Nonetheless, there used to be a shrine that was where the San Thome Basilica now stands. The St Thomas Christians believed that his remains were in that shrine. There are also claims that his remains were removed and taken to Edessa, but Thomas's spiritual descendents dispute that.
Regardless of where his remains actually are, Thomas did leave behind a sizeable community of Christians, some descendents of which still exist today. Their existence was well documented by Marco Polo and Vasco de Gamma. In the 16th Century, however, most of the St Thomas Christains were forcibly converted to Catholicism by Portugese invaders. And today, most of the Christains of Chennai are still Catholics. The forcible conversions were necessary, of course, because the St Thomas Christians represented a threat to the Catholic Church's claim to be the only true form of Christianity. It was an especially dangerous issue because the St Thomas Christians were actually converted by an Apostle. So the church at the time even made efforts to claim that St Thomas never even made it to Southern India, thus discrediting the St Thomas Chistians' claims. During Pope John Paul II's tenure, the Catholic Church finally decided that Thomas's remains really were at what is now the San Thome Basilica. But the current Pope has once again disputed this. As you might expect, the Catholics here in India aren't very happy with the new Pope and have ignored his reassessment.
Regardless of where his remains actually are, Thomas did leave behind a sizeable community of Christians, some descendents of which still exist today. Their existence was well documented by Marco Polo and Vasco de Gamma. In the 16th Century, however, most of the St Thomas Christains were forcibly converted to Catholicism by Portugese invaders. And today, most of the Christains of Chennai are still Catholics. The forcible conversions were necessary, of course, because the St Thomas Christians represented a threat to the Catholic Church's claim to be the only true form of Christianity. It was an especially dangerous issue because the St Thomas Christians were actually converted by an Apostle. So the church at the time even made efforts to claim that St Thomas never even made it to Southern India, thus discrediting the St Thomas Chistians' claims. During Pope John Paul II's tenure, the Catholic Church finally decided that Thomas's remains really were at what is now the San Thome Basilica. But the current Pope has once again disputed this. As you might expect, the Catholics here in India aren't very happy with the new Pope and have ignored his reassessment.
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