Grade 7 Lesson 10

Grade 7 Lesson 10: Monastic Origins

Learning Outcomes

Monasticism

• G7.LO50 - Distinguish Monasticism vs Marriage and how they are two different paths towards salvation.

Textbook Lesson

• Lesson 10 Textbook PDF

Expanding Thoughts on Lesson

• Apostolic Origin - St. Thomas: The Apostle of India
  • Quote from Lanterns on the Lanes, by George Abraham (N.p.: Notion Press, 2020)
  • More information: By the 7th Century, specific references to the Indian church began to appear in Persian records. The Metropolitan of India and the Metropolitan of China are mentioned in the consecration records of Patriarchs of the East. At one stage, however, the Indian church was claimed to be in the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of Fars, but this issue was settled by Patriarch Sliba Zoha (714- 728 AD) who recognized the traditional dignity of the autonomous Metropolitan of India.

There were other developments in the Persian Church with potential importance to the Indian Church. A renaissance of the pre-Chalcedon faith began led by St. Jacob Baradaeus, emphasizing the West Syrian Christological tradition of the one united nature, influencing the church in Persia as well. Availing of the relatively favorable political climate following the Arab conquest of Syria and other parts of West Asia, a maphrianate of the anti-Chalcedonians was established and Mar Marutha, a native Persian, became the first Maphriana (Catholicos) of the East. The jurisdiction of this Catholicos at Tigris extended to 18 episcopal dioceses in lower Mesopotamia and further east, but significantly, not to India.

On the church's growth in India during the first 15 centuries, the balance of historical evidence and the thrust of local tradition point to its basic autonomy sustained by the core of its faith and culture. It received with trust and courtesy to missionaries, bishops, and migrants as they came from whichever eastern Church- Tigris or Babylon, Antioch or Alexandria, but not from the more distant Constantinople or Rome. There were times in this long period when the Christians in India were without a bishop and were led by an Archdeacon. On such occasions, requests were sent, sometimes with success, to one of the Eastern prelates to help restore the episcopate in India. Meanwhile, the church in Persia and much of the west declined by internal causes and the impact of Islam, affecting both the "Nestorian" Patriarchate of the East (Babylon) and the Catholicate of the East (Tigris). As will be seen from the later history of the Indian Church, the latter was reestablished in India (Kottayam) in 1912 while the former was transplanted to America in 1940.

• The Colonial Era
  • The reason for accepting help from the Syrian Orthodox Church was that they spoke the language Syriac as it was the liturgical language of the Christians in India, and the traditions were very similar.

Lesson Resources

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Connecting Materials

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