Toward the end of the fifteenth century the Malabar coast of India was gaining the attention of the sea-faring Portuguese. In 1502, Vasco da Gama led an expedition to India, his first port of call being Calicut, a journey of a few hours north of Cochin.

This voyage was not one of discovery, for already the Portuguese had made their presence felt on the Malabar Coast. His previous visit to Calicut had left very unpleasant memories. They had fallen victim to the wiles of wealthy Arabian merchantmen who had influenced some of the Moslem community to attack the aspiring Portuguese traders. This, Da Gama, who ever sought to further the religious domain of the pope, saw as an insult and affront to Catholicism. Hence, his second expedition was partly a punitive one.

His fleet consisted of 20 vessels, most of which were armed. As well as carrying numerous soldiers, Da Gama had brought with him his spiritual and tactical advisers - priests of the Roman Catholic Church.

As the armada approached the shores of India it encountered a ship heavily laden with Moslem pilgrims returning from Mecca. Realising their helplessness in the face of such formidable odds, the pilgrims handed over to the Portuguese a sizeable ransom. But Da Gama's response was to set their ship ablaze!

With a valiant effort, born of desperation, the pilgrims succeeded in quelling the fire, only to have the heartless Da Gama return and order the re-torching of their vessel. The historian D'Orsey records how the terrified mothers held up their screaming children, pleading with Da Gama for mercy. But their cries only encouraged the priests who stood by and assured Da Gama that the horrendous scene being enacted was but a foretaste of further successes to come ("Portuguese Discoveries, Dependencies and Missions in Asia and Africa" p.5).

Their sadistic anticipations were soon fulfilled. Da Gama proceeded to Calicut and after heavily bombarding the town, sent in a raiding party who administered to the terrified inhabitants a dose of "savagery too horrible to describe." ("Encyclopedia Britannica" 1953 ed. art, Da Gama).

On this same voyage, Da Gama established a trading post and a factory in Cochin and in the following year, the Portuguese conferred upon this town the dubious honour of making it into the first European fortress in India.

Apparently the Portuguese continued to regard the Moslems as a pestilential obstacle to trade, for in 1510 they massacred the entire male population of Goa. (Ibid., Article, Goa). "By marrying his men to the widows of his victims he would give to Goa its own population." (Ibid. 1990 ed. art, Albuerque Alfonso de).

This, no doubt, reflected their innate hatred of the Moors and the Moslem religion, as they recalled how the Moors had overrun Portugal and Spain.

We must not assume that the sole purpose of, the Portuguese conquerors was the acquisition of wealth. "We have come in search of Christians and spies" - this was the answer given by one of the companions of Vasco da Gama to a couple of Moors who questioned them about the purpose of their journey to the East. ("The St Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, (1982) p.22).

There seems no doubt that the Portuguese saw themselves as a nation chosen by destiny to be emissaries of the pope and exponents of the teachings of Jesus Christ. King Emanuel is reported to have written in one of his dispatches to India:

"We are sending [in this expedition] religious persons and men well versed in the Christian faith and religion that they may celebrate the divine worship and administer the sacraments, so that you may be able to see for yourselves what is our religion and faith which was established by Jesus Christ." (Ibid., translated from Castanheda, Historia BU, Chap. 35, p.78).

One might suppose that the St Thomas Christians of the Malabar Coast would have welcomed the Portuguese as Christian brothers. Indeed, this is the impression given by the Encyclopedia Britannica for we are told, "Hard pressed by the Moslems, they welcomed the Portuguese." (Ibid., article, St Thomas).

Perhaps this was so with their initial contacts with some Portuguese. But if we are to believe that this continued to be so after they had become acquainted with the way in which the Portuguese dealt with the Moslems, then a serious question must arise in the minds of thinking Christians. Here was a professedly Christian nation who took their religion seriously enough to take their priests with them on their voyages of conquest, yet they acted with a savagery completely foreign to the very principles enunciated and practised by Jesus Christ. If we are to believe that the St Thomas Christians of India condoned and consented to profit from such barbarity, then we must believe that the St Thomas Christians also had lapsed into a similar state of depravity. A brief look at the behaviour of the Portuguese should dissuade charitable minds from arriving at such a conclusion.

It is well to realise that at this time Portugal was a nation whose rulers were completely subservient to ecclesiastical authority and power, and that power was absolute under the authority of a church which claims to speak, command and act on the authority of Jesus Christ.

But whatever the state of the Indian church, there are some things of which we may be sure - their religion was not compatible with that of the Portuguese. They looked to the Syrian Bible as their guide and refused to accept the traditions of Rome.

The celebrated historian Edward Gibbon mentions a fundamental difference between these religions. Of the St Thomas Christians he says:

"The title of Mother of God was offensive to their ear, and they measured with scrupulous avarice the honours of the Virgin Mary, whom the superstition of the Latins had almost exalted to the rank of a goddess. When her image was first presented to the disciples of St Thomas they indignantly exclaimed, "We are Christians not idolaters!" ("Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" ch. 47, p.31).

It was inevitable then that the Church of Rome would find the simplicity of their faith and their independence of Rome offensive. Claudius Buchanan, D.D. tells of their early contacts and designs:

"'These Churches', said the Portuguese, 'belong to the Pope.' 'Who is the Pope?' said the natives, 'We never heard of him.... ‘ 'We', said they, ' are of the true faith, whatever you of the West may be; for we came from the place where the followers of Christ were first called Christians."' (Antioch] ("Christian Researches in Asia" p.60 (1813)).

It is said that power corrupts and absolutes power corrupts absolutely. No better examples of the truth of this statement can be found than in the conduct of the colonial Portuguese. Under the ecclesiastical banners of the cross and the images of the Virgin Mary, they availed themselves of the secular governments' instruments of war to force their will on a less sophisticated people whose lands they proceeded to plunder.

In such an environment it is not surprising that some who were placed in command of these unfortunate people should become intoxicated with power, and revelled in their own sadistic outrages. An example of such conduct has been recorded by the traveller Sir James Tennant, and it is mentioned here in order to give the reader an insight into the attitude of those who regarded themselves as part of a race destined by God to lord it over those whom at times they regarded less than human:

"Jerome Azavido, a soldier less distinguished by his prowess than infamous for his cruelties, was dispatched to Ceylon in 1594 to avenge the iniquities endured by his fellow countrymen ... In the height of his success there, he beheaded mothers after forcing them to cast their babes between millstones ... He caused soldiers to take up children on the points of spears ... He caused many men to be cast off the bridge at Malwane for the troops to see the crocodiles devour them, and these creatures grew so used to the food, that at a whistle they would lift their heads above the water!" (Furia Y Souza, Steven's Translation, Vol. 111, pt.lll, Ch. XV, p.279. Cited by James Tennant - "Ceylon" Vol. 2, p.33).

In recognition of what vestige of decency and justice may have lingered in this papal-led government of Portugal, it should here be recorded that as a result of the publicity accorded the conduct of Commander Azavido and his accomplices, the Portuguese government was shamed into punishing him. Incarcerated in a Lisbon dungeon, he was able to ponder his reverses and speculate upon the fickleness of a system that condoned similar behaviour by a patriot such as Da Gama, yet used him as a scapegoat to appease public conscience!

Such were the people who intruded their attentions on the peoples of the Indies.

And what of the state of the Indian Christian church at the time of the Portuguese arrival? It is probably expecting too much to assume that it had preserved the faith in all its apostolic purity over a period of fifteen centuries. When we look back over the comparatively short history of Protestantism and compare the way in which its churches have changed their perceptions of truth, and compromised their protest against Romanism, we can then allow that many of the Christian communities in India must have become careless and indifferent.

The Reverend James Hough, M.A., F.C.D.S, believed this to be the case. Speaking of the Indian Christian church in the tenth century he observes:

"It partook indeed of that alloy which soon corrupted the profession of Christianity in all parts of the world; yet we need not hesitate to confirm that it would not suffer by comparison with any church in Christendom." ("History of Christianity" p.115).

Yet Hough was able to affirm that these Christians still regarded their apostolic Bibles as their sole authority on faith and godliness. He says:

"Tried by this test [SOLA SCRIPTURA] the impartial reader will be satisfied that the Syrian Church of India was a daughter of the primitive church of Christ." (Ibid.)

In the year 1534, two Roman Catholic priests named Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier 1 gained permission from the Pope to establish an exclusive Order for the purpose of combating the inroads of the Protestant Reformation and for enforcing the Pope's assumed "divine" authority. With typical effrontery they called themselves the "Society of Jesus". Its members are commonly known as "Jesuits".

1Note: Rarely does Xavier share with Loyola the dubious honour of founding the Society of Jesus. The Collins Dictionary of Proper Names gives him this credit. Perhaps there has been an attempt to bolster his missionary image by disassociating him from one of the seamy sides of Roman Catholicism.

The Government of Portugal soon came to be dominated by the Jesuits and it was not long before some of them appeared in Portuguese India. The historian Kaye tells us of their intentions:

"They accompanied the conquerors principally for the purpose of converting the St Thomas Christians." ("Christianity in India" reviewed in Dublin University Magazine. Vol.54, p.340).

The most famous of the early Portuguese missionaries to arrive, in Southern India was Francis Xavier. His indefatigable missionary zeal is legendary in Christendom and he is revered as a saint by Roman Catholics. His body now rests in an ornate jewel-encrusted coffin with glass panels in the Cathedral of Bom Jesus in Goa.

Being a co-founder of the Jesuit Society, Xavier was naturally an automatic believer in the Society's dictum that "the end sanctifies the means". He could not tolerate what was known as "Jewish wickedness", such as Sabbath-keeping and refraining from eating pork, nor did he like the Moslems who regarded swine flesh with abhorrence and the Roman Catholics as idolaters. So, in the true spirit of Romanism, he opted for tried and tested methods of fear and force to coerce such people into conforming to the "true faith." On May 16, 1545 he wrote to D. Joao III, King of Portugal as follows:

"The second necessity for Christians is that your majesty establish the Holy inquisition, because there are many who live according to the Jewish Law and according to the Mahomedan sect, without fear of God or shame of the world." (Siva Redo). (Cited by A.K. Priolkar - "The Goa Inquisition" pp.23,24, 1961).

(For those who are not aware of Roman Christianity's ingenious device for maintaining the "Purity" of their faith, Collins Dictionary defines the Inquisition thus: "A tribunal for the examination and punishment of heretics in the Roman Catholic church." The Dominican Friars were exclusively entrusted with this "Holy Office" under the Pontificate of Pope Gregory IX in the year 1233).

King Joao was not disposed to grant Xavier's request. However, following his death, his infant grandson, Don Sebastian, assumed the crown and under the regency of a Catholic prelate, Cardinal Heserique, the "spiritual" needs of the Indies were readily recognized. In 1560 Aleixo Diaz Falcao was appointed Inquisitor of the Indies and he set up a Tribunal for the Inquisition at Goa.

The Christian churches of India had over the centuries coexisted and eventually thrived in what was essentially a Hindu and Moslem community. It is estimated that on the Malabar coast alone were upwards of a hundred Christian churches. Their followers had, along with the Jews, established themselves among the business leaders of their communities. Marignolle speaks of them being masters of the steelyards and becoming the chief merchandisers of the spice trade in South India (Mingana, "Early Spread of Christianity" John Rylands Library Bulletin, Vol.10, p.487).

But with the setting up of the Goa Inquisition, the Bible-believing Christians of the Indian Syrian Churches were to enter into a fatal struggle with the zealots of the papacy. Says Wilkinson:

"It was a dark night for the St Thomas Christians when the Jesuits, supported by the guns of Portugal, arrived in India." ("Truth Triumphant" p.314).

There would be few people, if any, who interest themselves in history who have not heard of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions. Most would be aware that Inquisitorial Tribunals were also set up by Roman Catholics in several other countries in which the Church enjoyed state support. But it is little known that Portugal extended her Inquisitorial arm to the Indies by establishing the Holy Office of the Inquisition in the Indian port of Goa.

During his recent visit of research in Southern India the author was amazed to discover how little is known of the Indian Inquisition. It is true that one can visit the remains of the now deserted city of Old Goa, where enterprising guides gladly dispense limited or misguided information about the Inquisition. Some will even oblige the more enquiring visitor by taking him to the ruins of the old "Aljube", the prison and torture house used in the Inquisition. But, in fact, all vestiges of that infamous house of terror were finally removed in the year 1859 when the remaining rubble was cleared away "on the occasion of the exposition of the body of St Francis Xavier." (Fonseca, "An Historical and Archaeological Sketch of the City of Goa", 1878 p.216).

Most of today's visitors to Old Goa are pilgrims of the Roman Catholic faith who reverently worship at the remains of their hero and saint, Francis Xavier; yet how many of these devotees realise that they are revering the memory of a Jesuit who implored the King of Portugal to bring the infamous Inquisition to India, which in turn brought untold misery, torture and death to their very own forebears.

But the farther one travels away from this scene of former papal triumphs, such knowledge of the Inquisition fades. The writer was quite shocked when enquiring of a senior library assistant in Madras recently for information on the Goa Inquisition, to be confronted with a blank stare. "You mean the Spanish Inquisition?" came the perplexed reply.

One would expect that libraries operated by the Syrian Christian Churches of India would be an obvious source for records of popish excesses in India. On the contrary, most books dealing with the history of Indian Christianity portray the Roman Catholic Portuguese as benefactors, and the Inquisition rates barely a passing thought. Many of the books in these so-called Protestant libraries are written by Roman Catholics.

Under such circumstances one is entitled to suspect that there exists a well-organized and concerted effort to conceal the records of the unsavoury practices which have characterised the actions of Colonial Portuguese Catholicism.

If so, such suspicions are confirmed by the Rev. James Hough. In his voluminous work "The History of Christianity in India (1893) he calls many legendary beliefs of Indian Christianity into question and deplores the lack of truthfulness in recording its history:

"If asked what constitutes this constraint I could answer - The pertinacity of the Romanists in continuing to misrepresent the state of their own and the Protestants' foreign missions." (Vol.1, Preface).

Then he documents a very serious and personal example:

"Like M.P. Norbed, a Romish missionary in India, who tells us that he was compelled by Jesuits' libels to publish many things in justification of himself and his brethren, so have I been urged, on former occasions as well as present, from a similar cause, to expose the fallacy of their statements." (Ibid.).

Serious as these charges undoubtedly are, it should not be surprising. He is speaking of a church that indulged itself in deception from its very inception. For instance, how can the Roman Catholic church claim Apostolic succession from Peter, when it never existed prior to Constantine's union of church and state in the fourth century?; for the very term, Roman Catholic, indicates a coupling of church and state.

How can they claim Patrick of Ireland as a saint when he lived, worked, and died (372 - 463 A.D.) before Pope Gregory sent Augustine as the first Roman Catholic missionary to the British Isles in 597 A.D.? Furthermore, Patrick kept the seventh-day Sabbath! This latter fact alone makes it impossible for him to have had any connection with the Papacy, let alone being a Roman Catholic saint!

Says Edwardson:

"There is no more historic evidence for Patrick's being a Roman Catholic saint, than for Peter's being the first Pope. Catholics claim that Pope Celestine commissioned Patrick as a Roman Catholic missionary to Ireland; but William Cathcart D.D. says: 'There is strong evidence that Patrick had no Roman commission in Ireland. As Patrick's churches in Ireland, like their brethren in Britain, repudiated the supremacy of the popes, all knowledge of the conversion of Ireland through his ministry must be suppressed [by Rome at all costs]." ("Facts of Faith" p.135 and "The Ancient British and Irish Churches" p.85).

"Patrick must have been a Sabbath keeper, because the churches he established in Ireland, as well as the Mother Church in Scotland and England, followed the apostolic practice of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and of working on Sunday...." (Facts of Faith", p.137).

Wilkinson observes:

"One is struck by the absence of any reference to Patrick in the 'Ecclesiastical History of England' written by that fervent follower of the Vatican, the Englishman Bede, who lived about two hundred years after the death of the apostle to Ireland... The reason apparently is that, when this historian wrote, the papacy had not yet made up its mind to claim Patrick." ("Truth Triumphant" p.88).

Presumably one could become wearied through reading of the myriad deceptions of Catholicism, but the reader is asked to consider the following deception which played on the credulity of the Indian Brahmins during the time with which this book is concerned. The historian Kaye says:

"To break down the barrier of caste was a great achievement; for caste is the great stumbling block of the Gospel. The Jesuits did not attempt it. They went among the people with great parade of caste, and declared that they were sprung from the head of Brahma himself. To have made an assault upon caste would have been to portray their own secret and utterly to ruin their schemes." (J.S. Kaye "Christianity in India" p.33).

The above examples indicate the serious lack of veracity that characterizes much of Roman Catholicism. Conceding that the Jesuits sincerely believe that "the end 'sanctifies' the means," we would naturally expect the "end" in the case of Christian goals to be the establishment of the Gospel in the lives of Brahmins. In this instance, the Jesuits reveal that this could not have been their goal, for the caste system is the very antithesis of Christianity'. Did not Christ say, "All ye are brethren?" (Matt. 23:8). Thus, these members of the misnamed "Society of Jesus" demonstrated that they were in fact doing the work of the antichrist in the manner of antichrist. (For further evidence of the unreliability of Roman Catholic statements, (see Appendix A,B).

In Portugal, as in Spain, were to be found large numbers of Jews. In keeping with God's promise to Israel (Deut. 28:13) this race seems to have merited God's special favour in that they are renowned for their general astuteness and undoubted business acumen. But their very success has often brought down the envy and ire of others in the communities in which they lived and prospered. Thus it is considered by many that God has allowed His "chosen people" to suffer the curse which they called down upon their own heads when urging Pontius Pilate to hand over Jesus Christ to be Punished according to their law. "His blood be on us, and on our children." they cried. (Matt. 27:25).

The Jews of the Iberian Peninsular during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were no exception. In both Spain and Portugal they had taken advantage of the exceptional business and professional opportunities brought about by expanding empires. This provoked a jealous anger amongst the "Gentile" Roman Catholics who found it expedient to add to their religious intoleration of those whom the Papacy had already branded as heretics. Outrageous inventions against the Jews were circulated as if they were fact. They were accused of desecrating the holy symbols of Catholic worship, and of crucifying or otherwise sacrificing Christian children at their celebration of the Passover. Prescott comments on such fabrications in Spain:

"With these foolish calumnies, the more probable charge of usury and extortion was industriously preferred against them, till at length, towards the close of the fourteenth century, the fanatical populace, stimulated in many instances by no less fanatical clergy, and perhaps encouraged by the numerous class of debtors to the Jews, who found this a convenient mode of settling their accounts, made a fierce assault on these unfortunate people..." (as cited by A.K. Priolkar, "The Goa Inquisition p.5).

Prescott goes on to tell how:

"The only remedy left to the Jews was a real or feigned conversion to Christianity". St Vincent Ferrier, a Dominican of Valencia, is credited with what must surely be one of the greatest miracles of all time. He "changed the hearts of no less than 35,000 of the race of Israel!"

With such suspect motivation it was well nigh impossible for these "New Christians" to maintain a continuous outward show of Christianity while, at heart, remaining true to their ancient convictions and secretly practising the traditional rites and usages of their faith. This of course included Sabbath-keeping and abstinence from unclean meats like pork.

It was primarily to correct this situation that the Inquisition was introduced in both Spain and Portugal in the years 1481 and 1541 respectively. But there was also another group of Christians to whom the Inquisition was directed. They were the Waldenses who had moved from Southern France to Spain. As they also kept the Sabbath, they came under the category of Judaizers.

As we shall shortly be noticing the attention given to Indian "Judaizers" by the Goan Inquisition, it is important that we understand how this term, which was meant to be derogatory, came into Christian usage, and to whom it applied. One of the serious differences between the early Christians and the Roman Catholic church was Rome's substitution of Sunday as the Christian's Sabbath or day of rest. At the Council of Laodicea (365 A.D.) convened by the Roman Catholics, a decree was passed forbidding Christians to sanctify the Saturday-Sabbath and cursing those whom they branded as Judaziers. Canon 29 said:

"Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day.... If any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema for Christ." (Scribners' Nicene and Post Nicene Father's, Vol.14, p.148).

It is interesting to note that this decree also commanded these Christians to break the Sabbath by working on Saturday.

Two and a half centuries later, the practice of Sabbath-keeping among Christians was really worrying the papacy. Pope Gregory I, who in 597 A.D. was responsible for sending Augustine with a band of monks to Britain in order to bring the Celtic Church under Rome's control, was incensed by the widespread practice of Sabbath-keeping. There were even Sabbath-keepers in Rome! In the year 602 A.D. just two years before his death "he issued a bull declaring that when the antichrist was come, he would keep Saturday for the Sabbath!" (Wilkinson, "Truth Triumphant" p.195. cit. Epistles of Pope Gregory I).

But the "antichrists" persisted. By the time his namesake Pope Gregory III came to throne the Sabbath-keeping Christians were still being charged with Judaizing. Apparently Augustine had been so unsuccessful in his mission to Britain that "Gregory III wrote to the bishops of German Bavaria 'exhorting them to cling to Rome's doctrines and beware of Britons coming among them with false and heretical priests." (Neander, "General History of the Christian Religion and Church" Vol.3, p.49 note 1). Obviously Patrick had laid a firm foundation for Sabbath-keeping.

Notice that the term "Judaizing" has at no time applied to Jews, but to Christians who kept holy Saturday as the Sabbath, and that the term Sabbath always is applied to Saturday.

With the establishment of Portuguese colonies t, in India it was only to be expected that Jews from Portugal would be attracted by business opportunities created there. But with the establishing of the Inquisition in Portugal, they and the "New Christians" would look to India as a place where they could hopefully enjoy relative security and tolerance. Here they would naturally come into business and social contact with the Indian Jews and the St Thomas Christians. One could well imagine that they would be greatly encouraged to revert to open Sabbath-keeping.

But the arrival of Francis Xavier and the eventual granting in 1560 of his request for an Indian Inquisition, soon placed the Sabbath-keepers of India in a precarious position. Once more they would be vulnerable to the Inquisition's charges of Judaizing.

Only a brief look at the offences of which the Inquisition would take cognisance will here be attempted, with particular attention to those offences which would bring a charge of Judaizing.

Although it is believed that subsequent to the abandonment of the Inquisition in 1812 the records were either entirely removed to Portugal or completely destroyed, we have the evidences of certain travellers and historians as- well as a rather detailed account of one of its victims who lived to tell his tale. He was a French doctor of medicine by the name of Charles Dellon.

Thanks to the considerable efforts of an Indian historian Anant K. Priolkar who wrote and Published a book "The Goa Inquisition" (1961, Bombay) we now have information skilfully drawn from these sources and preserved as a salutary lesson for posterity. The author of the book which you are now reading, considers himself most fortunate to have obtained a copy of Priolkar's work through the kindly offices of a helpful librarian in India.

Like Priolkar, he has refrained from acknowledging by name those who have been of valuable assistance in his own humble research, for "It must be remembered that the Inquisition has been abolished but the spirit which guided its activities is not entirely extinct." (Priolkar - Introduction). History has shown that the aims of the Papacy never change. Her methods may, but the spirit which devised the "Holy Inquisition" shows no sign of becoming extinct.

Priolkar points out that "The Inquisition of Goa was modelled on the pattern of the Inquisition of Portugal," a manual of which he was able to obtain. ("The Goa Inquisition" p.87).

To these Portuguese regulations were added special edicts applicable to the Indian scene. These are quite lengthy and tedious, many of them being directed against the customs of the native Hindus, thereby hoping to coerce them into becoming Christians. Insolent laws were passed in Goa which succeeded in driving a large portion of the natives into other parts of the country beyond the practical jurisdiction of the Portuguese. Those who remained sought relief by consenting to baptism, whereupon many of them found themselves accused of retaining former habits and so found themselves arrested by the Inquisition on charges of heresy.

As the concern of this book is with Indian Christianity and its involvement with Sabbath-keeping, we are not able to dwell on the terrible insults inflicted on the religious culture of India and its devotees whose great misfortune was to come under the control of popish zealots and Portuguese tyrants. Their compatriot A.K. Priolkar has already done this job superbly. Should his book be no longer available, it would surely be in the interest of future liberty in India to have it republished.

We have previously noted that any Christian who kept holy the Sabbath day of the fourth commandment would automatically be categorized by the Roman Catholic Church as a "Judaizer". As with the Inquisition in Portugal and Spain, the Goa Inquisition considered Judaizing as heretical behaviour to be punishable by public burning at the stake.

When the Portuguese King, D Joao III had agreed to the establishment of the Inquisition at Goa, it was on the understanding that it would concern itself with the Christian population only, i.e. those who had been baptized as Roman Catholics. But Priolkar shows that this ruling "was ignored soon after his death; the cult of others was no longer tolerated." ("The Goa Inquisition p.187).

Perhaps this departure from the original charter was occasioned by the fact that Portuguese Christians in Goa were adopting many of the native customs connected with Hinduism. Obviously the Hindus in Goa were considered to be a bad influence on the Christians. Therefore they must be Christianized at all costs or be removed. In December 1567 a law was promulgated, "that the Hindu residents of the city of Goa and certain other cities should compulsorily attend preaching of the Christian doctrine by a priest deputed for the purpose." ("Cunha Rivera, op.cit.Fasc.IV,pp.68,69).

Interestingly, no such order for proselytizing was made concerning Moslems in Goa for the simple reason, as we have already noted, that the heartless Portuguese had virtually eradicated them as though they were a pestilent plague.

Neither do we read of any laws specifically made against the St Thomas Christians for not being baptized Roman Catholics; they were legally outside the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. Although, as it will be subsequently shown, many of their religious practices known as Judaizing would have drawn the attention of the Holy Office, yet it was not easy for the Inquisitors to enforce their will on people so widely dispersed in territories far from Goa.

But one other important factor must be taken into consideration. It seems that in certain areas of India the St Thomas Christians were surprisingly political. For many centuries they had survived in an alien environment, and not always were they able to rely on the whims of the Zamorins or Rajas to look after their well-being. Accordingly, over the centuries they had built up sizeable armies. Historians Mathew and Thomas cite the Portuguese historian Gouvea who says that the "Christians had supplied the Raja of Cochin with an army of 50,000 gunsmen." ("The Indian Churches of St Thomas p.26).

So it is evident that the St Thomas Christians, in this part of the country at least, were not likely to be pushed around, and that the Raja of Cochin was obviously in their debt. Therefore it would not always be easy for the Portuguese to bring suspected heretics to Goa to face the Inquisition.

As an example, D' Orsey B.D., Knight Commander of the Portuguese Order of Christ, tells us how some of the mountain-dwelling Christians forcibly ejected some troublesome Jesuit priests from their Presence; and this action took place some forty Years after the infamous Inquisition had commenced operations! ("Portuguese Discoveries, Dependencies, and Missions in Asia and Africa, P.190).

Obviously such an outburst against the Jesuits must have indicated an awakening on the part of the Christians. They had foolishly allowed the Portuguese in Cochin to gain a virtual monopoly on the export of pepper. Thus the Moors [Moslems] who had previously handled the trade were disadvantaged. No doubt it was this jealousy of the Moslems which encouraged some Hindu Rajas to cooperate in trading with the Portuguese, which in turn caused the Christian pepper merchants to prosper.

Now the Portuguese commenced pressuring the Christians to sever ecclesiastical links with Persia and Syria and accept the Pope as their Patriarch. This placed them in an invidious position as they did not wish to alienate the goodwill of the Portuguese and so place their pepper trade at risk. Soon the Catholic friars began easing themselves into the Syrian Churches where some were able to conduct mass according to the Roman rite.

Mathew and Thomas reveal how one of the Syrian bishops, Mar Jacob, allowed himself to be "bought up" by the Portuguese king "who was giving him a regular salary." ("The Indian Churches of Thomas" p.27).

Because of the powerful Roman Catholic interference with the Syrian Christians in Persia about this time, the dependant churches in India became quite confused. One of their Patriarchs, John Suid Sulaga of Baghdad had submitted to the pope who then appointed him Patriarch of the Chaldean Church. So now the Indian Syrian Christians were considered by Rome to come under the jurisdiction of Portuguese Catholicism. But this Patriarch was shortly to pay for his disloyalty. In 1555 he was murdered and replaced by Mar Abdiso who then claimed to be the head Patriarch of the whole Syrian Church in India.

Now came a period of greater confusion as bishops were appointed to India from both Persia and Rome. One such appointee from Persia to the Malabar coast, Mar Joseph, was detained on his arrival in Goa, but eventually he was allowed to proceed, and the reason later became obvious. He must have agreed to turn traitor, for he wasted no time in introducing into his churches the Roman practices of auricular confession, confirmation and extreme unction. (Ibid.).

But it appears that the scorn of his fellow church members was too much for him. He added to the confusion by later reverting to his previous faith; whereupon the Jesuits bundled him off to Goa from whence he was despatched to Lisbon and oblivion.

In the midst of all this turmoil, the Jesuits were busily engaged in their own subtle programme of subversion. This entailed educating the young St Thomas Christians in the language and ways of the Syrians, yet turning them out as young papal ministers. Wilkinson says:

"The Jesuit College founded at Vaipicotta, near Cochin, introduced the Syrian language. It allowed the youth of the St Thomas Christians to use Syrian dress. These youth were indoctrinated in the traditional beliefs and practices of the papacy. But when the teachers had finished the training of a number of Syrian Christian young people the Assyrian Church would not recognize them as clergymen." ("Truth Triumphant" p.321).

Having failed in their deceptive programme the Jesuits now turned on the leaders, cajoling and then threatening them. Wilkinson tells us that:

"The Jesuits surrounded the leaders in India with spies. They threatened them with the terrors of the Inquisition at Goa." (Ibid. p.321).

Revealing as these accounts of political intrigue are, they do not reveal any contention over the Sabbath day. Had the church by this time aban3oned its practice of Sabbath-keeping? We have just been reading of the bishops who were willing to auction their political allegiance, and of Roman Catholic doctrines being introduced into some St Thomas churches; yet there is no hint of problems over divergent views as to the correct day of worship. Apparently Roman priests who entered the Syrian churches did so on the day to which they were accustomed - Sunday. The inevitable conclusion is that these people should no longer be known as St Thomas Christians, but rather by the more appropriate term of Syrian Christians. It will be recalled, as already mentioned, that Rome had exerted her influence over the headquarters of the Syrian church in Persia.

But it must be realized that the conduct of Indian Christians in one locality does not necessarily reflect the conduct of Christians elsewhere. In those days travel was restricted by environment and isolation was very real, Christians being scattered widely throughout India. Nicolo de Conti, who travelled India, reveals that the Nestorians [a term often, though improperly, used to include Syrian, Jacobite and Armenian Christian churches] "were scattered all over India in like manner as are the Jews among us." (Major - "India in the Fifteenth Century", Travels of Nicolo Conti, p.7).

Apparently Christians living in places remote from centres of commerce had not accepted Sunday observance:

"In the remote parts of the dioceses, as well as towards the South as towards the North, the Christians that dwell in the heaths are guilty of working and merchandising on Sundays and holy days, especially in the evenings." (Rae - "The Syrian Church in India" pp.238).

It is true that the above quotation alone is not proof that these Christians were worshipping on the biblical Sabbath day. But in view of evidence presented previously, and the following quotation relating to a later period, we should give them the benefit of remaining true to their churches' ancient Sabbath belief. We cite a noted geographer of the seventeenth century, Samuel Purchas, who speaks of the Jacobite branch of the Eastern Church in India:

"They keep Saturday holy, nor esteem the Saturday fast lawful, but on Easter even. They have solemn service on Saturdays, eat flesh, and feast it bravely like the Jews." ("Pilgrimmes" Part 2, Book 8; Chap.6, p.1269 (1625)) as quoted by Edwardson in "Facts of Faith" p.154.

Notice that Purchas used the present tense, thus indicating that at the time when the Goa Inquisition was at its height, these Jacobites bravely defied the Roman Catholic demand that Saturday should be a miserable day of fasting. Furthermore, it was their day of "solemn service."

At a time well after the arrival of the British in India, Cladius Buchanan, who carried out Christian research early in the nineteenth century, reveals some surprising information regarding another branch of the Eastern Church, the Armenians of Hindustan:

"They have preserved the Bible in its purity, and their doctrines are, as far as the author knows, the doctrines of the Bible. Besides, they maintain the solemn observance of Christian worship, throughout our Empire, on the seventh day." ("Christian Researches in Asia" p.266, 1812).

The import of this startling information and its implications will be discussed later, but at this point it is profitable to spend some time pondering the now obvious great cover-up resulting in the mystery of the disappearing Sabbath in India. We shall see how it relates to a much broader aspect of a strange phenomenon through-out Christendom to prostitute the very day which their professed master claims as His own: "Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:28).