One Christ, Our Lord and God and His Suffering

Very often, the world immortalizes Jesus Christ focusing primarily at the Friday of the Passion on His suffering to bring the penitent to heights of emotional frenzy. However, this is not  the teaching of the Church which is so clearly identified in its Liturgical tradition that developed over the last 2000 years , but  has never deviated from the very basis that it was not in the human suffering our minds and thoughts  should be , but that it is the One Incarnated Lord and God that suffered , died and rose again. In a time when even within the Oriental Orthodox Christian traditions this is not taught so much that the laity had chosen to seek tainted faith from others. Praying that our Lord  transform each of us in this Friday and strengthen us to hold steadfast to this faith that was relevant to St. Dioscoros in 4th Century and yet important now even amidst fruitful discussions on reconciliation with the Chalcedonian Eastern Orthodox.

An old gem of a post by Thomas P. one of the early members of the ICON discussion group that has been very meaningful from the very first time I read in 2001.

There are "many christs" today. We also see many images of christs, some  depicting him as a blonde haired - blue eyed person, with highly  developed neck and shoulder muscles, resembling a wrestler. Such  imagery originates from our need for a physically powerful person to  protect us in our daily life or for prevailing in a highly competitive  world. So the world is creating christs to suite the physical needs.  The Bible also says that there will arise many christs after the  Christ.

Majority of followers of Christ of modern world does not believe in  the "One Christ". They tend to believe in Christ as an exceptional  human being or a "god-man" or "human-god" or one of many "avatArAs"  in history. We also see e-mails circulating in the Internet during  Passion Week explaining the painful experience (as a human experience) of crucifixion. If it was just a human being that  suffered on the Cross, then there are humans suffering even today.
There are those crucifying themselves every year during Holy Week as a  ritual. Even in other religions too, they inflict physical pain for a  religious experience.

In our Church, we do not divide Christ in to "human" and "divine" and  say that when Christ walked over water it was his divine nature  walking or when was hungry it was his human nature that experienced  the hunger. We maintain our faith in "One Christ". Just believing in  his human nature and his divine nature (in a separate manner) is not  enough for a Christian. Few years ago I asked a person who believes in  Chalcedon about his faith. He replied that Christ is "Perfect God and
Perfect Man", kind of "Human-God". This faith is not enough for a  Christian.

Christians must believe that God unified our corruptible humanity with His incorruptible divinity (out of his deep love and great compassion  for us), perfectly preserving the human nature. It is because of this  "Unity" of "His divine nature and our human nature" that we have  salvation through faith in the "One Christ". Thus we talk only about  "One Christ" and "One Church" which believes in Christ in this way.

The Church and the saints remembered in "Tubdeen" (Diptych), especially, St. Kurilose (Alexandria), St. Severios(Anthioc), St.  Diascoros (Alexandria), St. Anthimus (Constantinople), St. Philoxenos
(or Xenias, bishop of Mabug), St. Thimothios (Alexandria), St. Jacob  (Yakub Burdana, Anthioc) suffered a great deal for maintaining this  faith. There is no other way, but through the "One Christ", for the  salvation of human kind as explained by our Bishop Mar Barnabas  (America) through his Sermons and numerous works in English.

Our Passion week prayers (Promion, Sedra etc.) are rich with  explanation and confession of our faith in Christ. It is an  opportunity for us to concentrate on these prayers and meditate  on the content during the Holy Week.

 

Our Bishop Mar Osthathios (Niranam) encouraged the youth about the  writings of Pope Shenouda, some four years ago, in a youth meeting.  Following excerpts from the work "The One Nature and Suffering" will  help us understand our Holy Week prayers.

__________The One Nature and Suffering_____________

Surely, Divinity is not susceptible to suffering, but when the human nature underwent suffering, it was united with the divine nature.
Thus pain was inflicted upon this one Nature. This Explains why the  Creed set by the Holy Council of Nicea says, "The Only-Begotten Son of  God descended from heaven, was Incarnate and became man and was  crucified for our sake in the reign of Pilate, suffered and was buried  and rose from the dead".

There is a great difference between saying that the human nature  alone, apart from the Divine nature, suffered, and that the Incarnate  Only-Begotten Son was crucified, suffered, was buried and rose from
the dead. Thus, here we find the advantage of believing in the One  Nature which provides effective unlimited redemption.

If the first aim of the Incarnation is redemption, and redemption  cannot be fulfilled through the human nature alone, faith in the One  Nature of the Incarnate Logos is an essential and undeniable matter.  Redemption cannot be fulfilled if we say that the human nature alone  underwent suffering, crucifixion, blood-shedding and death.

Turn to the Holy Bible and read what it says about God the Father, "He  that spared not His Own Son but delivered Him up for us all. (Rom.  8:32) and also, "For God so loved the world that He gave His Only  Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish..."  (Jn. 3:16), and "But that He loved us, and sent His One Son to be the  propitiation for our sins. ) (1 Jn. 4:10).

Thus, the One sacrificed by God is the Son, the Only Begotten Son,  that is, the Second Hypostasis (Person) of the Holy Trinity; the  Logos. The Bible did not say that He sacrificed His humanity or
anything of the kind although He died on the cross with His human  body, this is clear proof of the One Nature of God the Logos, and  herein is the importance of this unity for the act of redemption.

But, did the Divinity suffer?

We say that, essentially, the Divine nature is not susceptible to  suffering yet He suffered due to His humanity, and was physically  crucified. Hence we say in the prayer of the None (the sixth hour),
"You Who have tasted death physically in the sixth hour". He, the  man, united with the Godhead, physically died and His death provided  unlimited atonement.

The holy fathers explained this point through the aforementioned clear  example of the red-hot iron, it is the analogy equated for the Divine Nature which became united with the human nature. They explained that when  the blacksmith strikes the red-hot iron, the hammer is actually  striking both the iron and the fire united with it. The iron alone  bends (suffers) whilst the fire is untouched though it bends with the  iron.

As for the crucifixion of Christ, the Holy Bible presents us with a  very beautiful verse; St. Paul the Apostle speaks to the bishops of  Ephesus asking them: "... to feed the Church to God which He has
purchased with His Own Blood" (Acts 20:28); he ascribes, the Blood to  God, although God is Spirit, and the Blood is that of His human  nature. This expression is the most wonderful proof of the One Nature  of the Incarnate Logos; what is related to the human aspect can be  attributed to the Divine nature at the same time without distinction,  as there is no separation between the two natures

 

A resource by our Diocese to make each of us participate more meaningfully

http://ds-wa.org/good-friday.html

 

 

A resource by St. Gregorios Church in Toronto under the guidance of Fr. Lazarus shared through ICON

 

http://www.icon.org.in/misc/FullPassionWeek2.pdf

 

March 25 , 2016

Calgary, Canada

 

 

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Homily Notes and Scripture Readings - 2nd Week after Denaha

The Liturgical readings of the second week after Danaha ( Jan 17, 2016)  were

Evening :St.John1:26-34 , Morning :St.John1:35-42

Before Holy Qurbana

Leviticus22:26-33 , Proverbs9:1-9

Isaiah51:1-8

 

Holy Qurbana

IPeter3:7-15 , Hebrews1:1-2:4

St.John1:43-51

 

The fathers really  prescribed , we spent time trying to read and meditate on the words from Scripture prior to coming to Church and hear attentively from the noble priest the Homily.

 

Through various activities that we have filled our lives , We often neglect this practise and even  when if I listen quite often forget what was preached. In this week  ,  some thoughts that felt  really meaningful

 

( I Peter 3:15)

 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;   ( I Peter 3:15)

 ( Hebrews 1: 14- 2:4)

 

Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation

 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.   For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,   how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,   God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

These words really made sense so much reflecting on the Homily on St. John 1:43-51 given by our priest asking each of us to ask if a Christ centred experience through  whom the Apostle Nathanael whose doubts were cleared that he had to  exclaim out " “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

 Our Priest explained  the experience what led  the Apostle to have the experience. See it here explained in the Coptic synaxarium on the life of the Apostle thereafter ending in Martyrdom.

http://st-takla.org/Full-Free-Coptic-Books/Coptic-Synaxarium-or-Synaxarion_English/09-Bashans/Coptic-Calendar_15-Pashans.html

The key message that I believe that our priest was trying to convey is that each of us  instead of using the lives , piety ,holiness of the others etc. to set up our baselines, We come to realize that we have a Lord who knows all of us and who awaits and knows our inner needs  and to whom we must approach and be changed as the Apostle did first and which he abided through out his life.

In our Church school discussion , we also had opportunity to reiterate this message  by God's grace, as  the topic of discussion was on St. Basil who writes of his own experience with Christ

" I had wasted much time on follies and spent nearly all of my youth in vain labors, and devotion to the teachings of a wisdom that God had made foolish. Suddenly, I awoke as out of a deep sleep. I beheld the wonderful light of the Gospel truth, and I recognized the nothingness of the wisdom of the princes of this world"

Also the words of our Lord came up in our lesson  St. John 12:46  - ^" I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.

May the Lord bless and His mercy upon us through the prayers of St. Mary and all the saints

Lord Have Mercy, Amen

Jan 17, 2016










 

Lesson on Lord's Prayer from Anoushka's grade 2 South West Diocese Church School

Lesson 12 - The Lord's Prayer

God wants to hear you talk to Him and He wants to see you pray the way He taught His disciples to pray using the Lord's Prayer

Prayer is talking to God , and God loves when we pray. The disciples, Jesus's closest friends, wanted to learn how to pray. The disciples were with Jesus all the time and they were with Him when He went to pray. Yet, they were still not sure how to pray.

 

Jesus teaches us we should pray with humility. God listens no matters if our prayers are long or short.  God knows what we mean in our heart even when we have trouble finding the right words.

 

Jesus also teaches us that we should not 'show off'' when we pray. God doesn't want us to pray just so people can see us, or pray loudly just so people will know we are praying. He loves when we pray in a quiet place with our own words and for our needs, what we are thankful for, praises, and what we are sorry for.

 

Jesus taught us a special prayer called 'The Lord's Prayer', which we should say often at home and at Church.

 

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come ,Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day , our daily bread and forgive us our debts and sins as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever .

Amin.

 

 Let us understand each part of this special prayer that Jesus taught us. :

Our Father, who art in heaven

We start the prayer out this way so we know that we're praying to God. He is our heavenly Father , and we are His children.

Hallowed be Thy name

This means Holy is Your name. Even though God wants us to call Him Father, He is still God. It is sometimes really hard to understand who God is and what He is like. How did He

make us? How is He perfect and never makes mistakes? God just wants us to remember that we need to treat Him super special because He is God and when we pray to Him we need to be respectful.

Thy kingdom come ,Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We should think all the time about living with God. This part means we are praying that people would live in peace and love with one another the way it is in heaven with God. It reminds us that we should be living the way God wants us to everyday.

Give us this day, our daily bread

God provides everything we need to live a life of a Christian. Too often we think about asking God to give us video games and princess dolls ,but forget to thank Him for the food we eat, the water we drink, even the air we breathe. When we ask God for things, that mean we trust Him and we will leave the decision to God.

and forgive us our debts and sins as we also have forgiven our debtors.

The next part of the prayer is asking for forgiveness for our mistakes . Forgiveness means that we are sorry for something we have done and we don't want to do it any more. But we also need to forgive people who have done wrong to us. Sometimes others hurt us very badly, so we need to ask God to help us forgive them because it's really hard or we don't want to . If we forgive others, God will forgive us.

Lead us not into temptation , but deliver us from the evil one.

This part of the prayer is really neat because it asks God to help us know the right thing to do. He will protect us against the evil that is in the world and  keep us away from it. Temptation is the idea that is in our heads, that might lead us to do the wrong thing, and we ask God to give strength to listen to Him and do what is right.

For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amin

The last part of the prayer is the best part! . We say out loud that God's kingdom will be forever. With God , we will always win !

 

We should not only say the Lord's prayer , but it's so important to think about what we are saying. When we pray, we should think about all the things we have to be thankful for and how God has given us everything we need . When we pray ''forgive us our debts'' ,we ask for forgiveness for those things we did wrong including those that we may have forgotten .

 

Prayer is our special way of talking to God, so remember to pray as many times as you can. God loves you and wants to know everything about you and how you are  doing.

________________________________________________________________________________

Thank You Sunday School Text Book team- South West Diocese

George Varghese

Calgary, Canada

January 3, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

Scripture Readings to January 1, 2016

Christ is Born ! Glorify Him !!

May we ponder with the readings of the Church upon those displaced from their Homes due to conflict in whatever forms , the Murders of  Innocent  around us- including those due to Abortion and Stem cell extraction.

December-27 ,2015: First Sunday after Christmas (The Holy Family flee to Egypt)

 

Evening :St.Matthew10:16-23 , Morning :St.John15:18-21

Before Holy Qurbana
Genesis37:13-28 , Zechariah8:3-8
Isaiah5:20-30

 

Holy Qurbana
Acts16:6-10 , ICorinthians10:1-13
St.Matthew2:9-15,19-23

 

December 27 , 2015 - Memory of slaughter of Holy Innocents

 

Evening: St. Matthew 2:13-18 , Morning : St. Mark 6:1-6

Before Holy Qurbana :
Exodus 1: 1-22 , Isaiah 60: 8-14
Jeremiah 31:15 -20

 

Holy Qurbana
Acts 7: 11-29 , Romans 15:1-7
St. Matthew 2:13 -18

 

January 1, 2016 : New Year's Day, Circumcision of our Lord, Memory of St. Basil and St. Gregory.

 

Evening , St.Luke13:6-9 , Morning :St.John9:4-7

 

Before Holy Qurbana
Genesis12:1-9 , Deuteronomy10:12-11:1
Ezekiel18:21-24

Holy Qurbana
IJohn3:13-18 , Romans2:28-3:8
St.John15:5-19

Egoism and self-love create an inauthentic life.

 This is  a small portion of a greater homily by Archibishop Lazar Puhalo , as transcribed from the  book "Not by Bread alone' on the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew Chapter 18 :1-5
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" Unless you be converted and become as little children , you shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven." Unless you cease being egocentric, living in delusion about yourself, and return to authenticity of life , acknowledging what and who you are in reality, you will not be able to enter heaven ; or perhaps just as correctly, " you will not be able to experience the kingdom of heaven in your heart" ( see Luke 17:21)

Is it not our very delusions about ourselves that prevent us from sincerely repenting? Is it not our failure to reconcile ourselves with our self that generates most of our bitterness and anger ? Perhaps one of the great paradoxes of our fallen nature is our tendency to become egocentric about a false illusion of ourselves rather than seeking to have a realization of our actual self. We spent more time cloaking the reality of our person from our own selves than struggling to perfect the virtues that should be natural to us. Often, our lack of humility stems from the desire to acquire that false sense of self-esteem that depend on the opinion of others - or worse still, on our impression of their opinion.  Yet what greater sense of value could we have, what more perfect source of necessary self -esteem could we draw from the fact that Christ our God loved us enough to give His life for our salvation? God loves us and values us for ourselves , provides the means for our sanctification , and never interferes with our freedom to chose or reject all that He has  given us. This is the key to authenticity of life: we have freedom. And God has provided for us the means of a return to our true being as His own image and likeness, letting us chose between reality and illusion, while guiding us toward the better like a loving parent. We are offered a freedom from desire that allows us to fully experience the pure and unconditional love of God
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The Orthodox Christian Faith - (Core faith on Church)

These are notes that was made in a hurry after a small message for the  half day Church School teachers' meeting in Edmonton  May 2015. 

The Orthodox Faith - Church

From Childhood, I have been told that ‘I am Orthodox ‘and figured this is what we as family and those that we meet in our Church must be. 

Not realizing the crux of what the Orthodox Faith is, I presumed these follow the rules; they are strict, conservative and unchanging and must be some kind of group like the Pharisees but Christians that evolved after Jesus Christ.

To see the image that was my mind, a reference passage from the Gospel is St.  Luke 6: 1-3, where even small things like eating a grain on Sabbath day matter to these Pharisees.  

For me these later day rule keepers has enforcers in our homes like parents and to me the main rule keeper was my Grandmother whom we have to grudgingly obey by going to attend Holy Qurbana on Sundays, participate with her in evening prayers together from the Oldest to the youngest, get up early on Feast Days to go to Church for services etc..

It was much later in my Engineering College days when somehow reciting the later part of the Holy creed on the Holy Spirit at lightning speed in a Church during the worship that a thought came to my mind to slow down and realized how carelessly that that I am talking of God the Holy Spirit. That realization made me very much humbled with the fact that this is what I have been doing all along the childhood when we say the Creed every time and the teaching and our faith cannot be separated from  what is ‘Church ‘ .

So I feel it appropriate to start learning and sharing on the four attributes that Holy Creed give to Church – ‘‘One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic ‘ , from what I have read and come to believe .

One –   To begin to know the Oneness of the Church, we need to know the Oneness is not something new but that we read our Lord praying in St. John 17

“I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.  All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one”  and

We see the early Church gathering together as ‘One’, awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit at the feast of Pentecost in Acts 1: 14 and thereafter in Acts 2: 44-48. Teaching of Church as ‘One’ is what was lived by the earliest Christians as taught by St Paul to the Church in Ephesus Ephesians 2: 12 – 22

‘ remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

 For He himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,  by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.  For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

This form the fundamental faith for the Orthodox Church as ‘One’ Body and thus makes it difficult for us to call the different groups of Christians that departed from it as ‘Branches’ or  ‘Churches’ and deviate from what it has believed from first century.

Holy -   From the above passage of  Ephesians 2 , it should be noted  that  the Holiness of the Church is in the work of the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit in its fullness within the Church and each of us joined to it by  Holy Baptism and Chrismation by being ‘ born again’ are called to be Holy .   In the Scripture of St. Mathew 5:48, our Lord asks His disciples to be perfect, therefore as your Heavenly Father is perfect ‘   In the Old Testament, we read the Lord asking the priests to be consecrated (Set apart) and commanding the people of God ‘Be Holy because I, the Lord your God, am Holy’.

 This is reiterated again to the Church in letters of the Apostles and their disciples to the early Church.  Read 1 Peter 1: 3 – 2:10.    Greek word for ‘Holy ‘is ‘Hagios’, which also mean ‘that which is separated’.  Our core faith is that the Church is set part and Holy because the Holy Spirit is guiding it and we have the model of those before who lived in it.

Catholic –   The word ‘Catholic’ using it as solely meaning ‘Universal’ has been misused trying bring to being other jurisdiction as within it and a major cause of for the separation of the Roman Catholics from the Eastern Orthodox in 1054 over the argument by the Church in Rome as overseer over the other places where the Church was (Antioch, Alexandria etc.) , also one of the key reason of disagreement with the Syrian  Church of Antioch which has come to assume it has a position to oversee the ancient Church in India.

The word Catholic actually means ‘in its fullness ‘and comes from joining two words - ‘Kat’ plus ‘Holiki’. Kat mean ‘according to’ and Holiki mean ‘the whole’. It translates to the Church where all its teachings, practices, faith and tradition in its fullness is  the ‘ Church’ and thus every parish by its own if it follows it can be attributed as ‘ Catholic’ . The word ‘Catholic’ was attributed as first used by the great father among the Saints, St. Ignatius of Antioch of 1^st Century.

“Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful to baptize or give communion without the consent of the bishop. On the other hand, whatever has his approval is pleasing to God. Thus, whatever is done will be safe and valid. — Letter to the Smyrnaeans” (Source Wikipedia)

 This prayer of fullness within the Church is the prayer St. Paul shows as example to Church in Ephesians 3: 14-20.

¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father,  from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ^so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

Apostolic -   Apostolic does not mean a Church has to be founded by an Apostle or it has to have a chain of succession from the Apostles but that which is being built on the foundation of the teaching of Jesus Christ and that followed and practised by Apostles and the Church all along in which the essential is not compromised.

Having gone through the marks and going through the word  ‘ Orthodox ‘(‘ Ortho’ –  ‘Right’  and Doxa ‘ Glory’)  , for each of us as Sunday School teachers and individual members of Church  we have  great role to  understand and do what we are called to   ‘stand separated ‘ and  in continuing its mission in redeeming  humanity and the world  to be truly  give Glory to God.

Two final parting thoughts

How can we avoid the lack of dedication to put to practice like hose baptized and chrismated Orthodox Christians before us to live out the faith - faith that is consistent with what has been followed with Holy Tradition as lived and taught as taught by the Fathers, in accordance to Scripture, Creed and everywhere in the Church ?

What can we do to encourage and continue in foot path of the methods used by the Church consistently in deciphering what is essential and non- essential in our settings today to build on our faith and live it?  May God help us

1.    The Orthodox Church faith and practices – Fr. Mathew Vaidyan

2.    An article by Fr. Bijesh Philip -  St. Thomas Orthodox Seminary , Nagpur

http://malankaraorthodoxchurch.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=115&Itemid=233

   3. http://returntoorthodoxy.com/one-holy-catholic-apostolic-suscopts-bishop-youssef/

Update :-  September 2016
A wonderful book on this topic recently picked up and will recommend to be read by all Sunday School teachers
- Christ and  the Church  by ArchBishop Gregory Afonsky 

Cry of the Assyrian !!!! -2

Cry of the Assyrian -2

On March 26 , posted  here on the pod cast of  Crucible of the Assyrians


http://rightglory.blogspot.ca/2015/03/cry-of-assyrian-1.html

On March 27, I wake up to reading that the Spiritual Leader of the Ancient Church of the East enters Eternal rest . Memory Eternal !!! . May his prayers be with the Cry of the Assyrians and with each of us.

http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/2015/03/catholicos-patriarch-mar-dinkha-iv-enters-eternal-rest/

I felt it very  appropriate that the community of Christians from Kerala living within India and abroad ,those who owes their paternity as Church to St. Thomas , to listen, take heed and act  to the cry of the Assyrian .

In the podcast  crucible of the Assyrians it is mentioned that the Tradition is that St. Thomas converted the Assyrian to Christianity before the crucifixion and the Ancient Church of the East carried the  faith to India  and China.

It is believed that like me that there are around 5 Million St. Thomas Christians across the world today that trace their origin to the state of Kerala in India where St. Thomas the Apostle of Christ came in AD 52 and founded the Church bringing the Gospel of Christ en-route to the Jewish community. I believe they are  broadly divided into

1. From Knanaya community that trace their heritage either direct lineage to Thomas of Cana an Assyrian  trader from the ancient Church of the East that immigrated as a community to Kerala or those from the local community already evangelized by St. Thomas the Apostle,   that that took to the faith of the Church of the East . Its current local leader Mar Aphrem of India is the Locums Tenens until a new Spiritual leader  is selected for the Ancient Church of the East - those suffering in the podcast ' Crucible of the Assyrians' as well as the very small community in Kerala. Interestingly they are also known as Chaldean Church of the East and not Roman Catholic.

2. From the local Christians in Kerala that chose to be under the Roman Catholic rather than the very small minority under the Church of the East. Interestingly they follow the East Syrian liturgical tradition though certain aspects within it has be modified to be in synch with Roman Catholicism.

3 and 4 . The two groups within the Oriental Orthodox Christian tradition
- Jacobite Syrian also known as Pathrikeese group who chose to be under the  fold of the Syrian Orthodox Church  of Antioch
- Malankara Orthodox Church as an Autonomous and Autocephalous community with its prelate known as Catholicose of East and Malankara Metropolitan of the Ancient see of St. Thomas

Between these two groups alone , it is believed that there are around 3.5 to 4 Million that has from within it many that spend time fighting and quarrelling amongst themselves and forget their own heritage. Interestingly they follow the West Syrian Liturgical tradition that they adapted from 16th Century. I am of the later community not only by accident of birth ,but also by choice . Historically both these groups still claim their heritage to St. Thomas and agree they lived as one community in Kerala , India isolated from the ancient Councils of the Church of Nicea ,Constantinople and Ephesius ( Oriental Orthodox Christians accept these councils as fundamental teaching/foundation to their faith while the Church of the East accepts only the first two Councils and there exist yet another group called Eastern Orthodox Christians who chose to hold 4 other councils as dear to them. The Roman Catholics separated from this Eastern Orthodox  in 1052 AD) .

5. Marthomites - This group separated from groups 3 and 4 , as an isolated group adopting the Protestant Anglican tradition. Interestingly they follow the West Syrian liturgical tradition though there are certain aspects modified to be in synch with Anglican teaching.

All these five groups are either known or  taken pride to be known as Nasrani or Nazarene and called St. Thomas Christians  and sometimes slanderously to those outside to reject Christ. We in His mercy are  granted another occasion to celebrate the glorious resurrection of our Lord .
Let us remember that Christ identified with every one of the least and told to St. Paul that  while he is persecuting Christians, he is persecuting Jesus Christ.

Let us each look to ourselves that by not praying and acting to help the Assyrian when we can , we too could be persecuting Jesus Christ.

May Lord have mercy upon each of us. , Amen