We shall now endeavour to piece the few remaining pieces of India's jigsaw puzzle together. To help identify the pieces we shall digress briefly to acquaint ourselves with the setting and times of that monstrous invention of the papacy for the enforcement of its decrees - the Goa Inquisition.

The Portuguese City of Goa during the sixteenth century became one of the largest and richest cities in the world. As the capital of the Portuguese eastern empire, with a population by the end of the sixteenth century of 225,000, it ranked in size with the contemporary cities of London and Antwerp (Penrose, " Goa, Queen of the East" p.55).

Situated on one of the lush islands at the wide mouth of the Mandavi River, its protected harbour had become one of the world's busiest ports. Its great warehouses were bursting with the natural riches of the Orient which filled the holds of an endless stream of European ships. They, in turn, unloaded their extravagant cargoes of European luxuries and those items necessary to a congenial way of living in a European outpost in Asia.

Goa gained a reputation as an important distribution point for Arab horses. Fine Arab steeds were very much in demand in India, and the Portuguese importers found this trade very lucrative. But another profitable trade had developed in another form of livestock - human beings! S.C. Pothan tells us that:

"The Portuguese also inaugurated slave trade by seizing able-bodied men and women in the neighbouring Indian territory and selling them. They opened a slave market in Goa." ("The Syrian Christians of Kerala", 1963, p.31).

Apparently this market not only served the export trade but was in much demand by the local Portuguese whose lifestyle was extravagant and profligate. But we are also told that there was a lively trade in Kaffirs, a derogatory term for the natives of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. The girls who, we are told, were very much in demand, were paraded for sale in the nude. (B. Penrose - "Goa, Queen of the East" p.67).

There is indisputable evidence of the fact that the church joined with the secular government in sanctioning this inhuman practice for they made it known that they had the power to set slaves free. In 1592 the viceroy of Goa "proclaimed that slaves of infidels who converted themselves to Christianity would be freed." (Cunha Rivara - cited by Priolkar, "The Goa Inquisition" p.141).

In keeping with the true aims of the Portuguese in these times, religion dominated the political and social life of Goans. Towering above the numerous warehouses, shops, bazaars, gambling" dens and private dwellings were magnificent churches and convents. One of these churches was the Cathedral of St Catherina, the building of which; commenced in 1562 and took some sixty years to complete. It was described by an Anglican, Dr Fryer, .towards the end of the seventeenth century, as a cathedral hardly surpassed in grandeur by any church in England. By the end of the sixteenth century, although still incomplete, it boasted no fewer than eighty thousand parishioners!

Standing today, presiding over a desolate scene of departed glory, it remains as a magnificent memorial to the religious fervour of a misguided nation and its religious zealots. It was this religious fervour that eventually burdened the citizens of Goa with the upkeep of sixty convents and the support of twenty thousand friars! (Priolkar, "The Goa Inquisition" p.188).

But there was one building in this thriving metropolis that more than any other reflected the autocratic bigotry of a Government devoted to the propagation of papal supremacy. Prominently situated near the busy waterway of the Ribiera Grande and close to the civic centre, it would seldom escape the attention or the thoughts of the citizens. It was held in such awe and apprehension that few would dare to be heard uttering its official name - the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Rather, if mentioned at all, it was referred to by "the mysterious appellation 'Orlemgor' - the Big House." (Ibid. p.31).

This building was originally a sultan's palace but after confiscation by the Portuguese it became the residence for their viceroys and governors. In 1560 it was taken over by the Inquisition and over the years considerably rebuilt to suit its new role in religious affairs. Boies Penrose says:

"It was by 1600 a stately and handsome edifice, three stories in height and with a beautiful facade of black stone: (its black outside appears a fit emblem of the cruel and bloody transactions that passed within its walls).... Its outside casing was five feet thick and within were two hundred cells for the unfortunate heretics, apostates, bigamists, sodomites, and sorcerers, who were about to undergo the auto de fe." ("Goa, Queen of the East" p.69).

In the confines of the Orlemgor was the sinister-looking "Aljube" (Archbishop's prison). It was a great mystery to all except anyone having had the misfortune to become one of its "guests"; not that there were never any who lived or were released after serving a sentence in the Portuguese galleys. No! the poor wretches were just too frightened to talk, because one of the conditions of their release was to observe strict secrecy regarding their ill-treatment. One who did save his life by a confession of guilt and was released after a term at the Lisbon galleys had the good sense to remove himself beyond the Portuguese jurisdiction. After some few years in France he plucked up the courage to reveal his experiences. He was the Frenchman Dr Dellon and he tells us that:

"Those who have escaped death by their extorted confessions, are strictly enjoined, when they leave the prisons of the Holy Office, to declare that they have been treated with great tenderness and clemency, in as much as their lives, which they justly merited to lose, should be spared. Should anyone, who has acknowledged that he is guilty, attempt to vindicate himself on his release, he would be immediately denounced and arrested, and burnt at the next Act of Faith, without hope of pardon." (Dellon, quoted by Priolkar "The Goa Inquisition", Sec.2, p.34).

This would explain why those who had thus been released were ever regarded as affected by their ordeal. Buchanan reports on a conversation he had with an elderly Franciscan Father who had been connected with the Inquisition saying of those he knew who had been liberated:

"They never speak afterwards of what passed within that place. He added that ... he never knew one who did not carry about with him what might be called, 'the mark of the Inquisition', that is to say, who did not shew in the solemnity of his countenance, or in his peculiar demeanour, or his terror of the priests, that he had been in that dreadful place." (Ibid. p.95).

Dr Dellon described the Archbishop's prison as:

"The most filthy, dismal, and hideous of all I ever witnessed, and I doubt if there can be any other in the world more repulsive."

As mentioned. previously, the original charter given by Portugal for the establishment of the Indian Inquisition was for the preservation of the Roman Catholic faith through the threat of punishment of those who might be tempted to become lax or apostate.

Although the terms of this charter were never really seen as a stumbling block to increasing Portuguese interference in the religions and private lives of the indigenous peoples, it was deemed desirable to bring them within the legal pale of the Inquisition. Hence all kinds of incentives were proffered to those Hindus who would embrace Roman Christianity. Among such positive incentives offered them was a monopoly of public positions, favourable laws of inheritance, and generally improved civic rights and privileges. Those Hindus who failed to avail themselves of such opportunities usually came to be seen as undesirable residents of Goa. Their religion was discouraged by repressive regulations affecting certain of their religious rights and customs. Many were exiled. Those who remained were subjected to deprivation of their means of subsistence and even their ancestral rights in the village communities. Their temples and shrines were ruthlessly destroyed and they were forbidden to rebuild them.

Another particularly odious Edict of Faith was the obligation of Goa's citizens to spy on behalf of the Inquisition. Those who failed to apprise the Tribunal of Offences of which the Inquisition took cognizance were themselves committing an offence against the Inquisition. As the witnesses were never required to substantiate their charges and their identity was never revealed to the accused, it can be readily perceived that the system would lend itself to abuse. Priolkar quotes H.C. Lea on this particular form of corruption in Spain and claims that "the same infamous trade flourished in Goa":

"The trade of false witness was a thriving one, both for gain and gratification of enmity. These were regular associations of perjurers, who made a living by levying blackmail on rich new Christians, accusing those who refused their demands, so that the unfortunate class lived in perpetual terror and purchased temporary safety by compliance." ("The Goa Inquisition" p.108).

The Hindus themselves were not immune to the lure of reward from such evil practices which some of them perpetrated even on their fellow men. "For instance", says Priolkar who cites Cunha Revara as authority:

"In a letter addressed by the King of Portugal to the viceroy of India on March 24, 1702, we find a reference to the arrest of six recent Indian converts who moved from door to door demanding money from the Hindu residents under the threat that if the latter refused they would be falsely denounced to the Inquisitor, Frei Manoel de Assumpeao, as having hidden away Hindu orphans to prevent their being baptized." (Ibid. pp.108,109).

One can only imagine the air of distrust, suspicion and general malaise imposed upon the business and social life of this European outpost in India. It was to lead to the eventual downfall of the Portuguese Empire in India. But the main culprits in this travesty of European "civilisation" were the religious leaders of whom the wily Jesuits were chief.

As the Indian natives demonstrated their lack of confidence in the Goa government by removing themselves to areas outside Portuguese jurisdiction, so the Jesuits increasingly moved into secular affairs. The Encyclopedia Britannica (1953 Art. Goa) tells us that Goa's trade was gradually monopolised by the Jesuits. But worse still was their abuse of the Inquisition. They joined with the Dominican friars to enrich their pockets and gratify their ambitions, and in the process gained for it the reputation as "the most pitiless" Inquisition in Christendom.

[Its] "infamy never reached greater depths, nor was more vile, more black, and more completely determined by mundane interests than at the Tribunal of Goa, by irony called the Holy Office. Here the Inquisitors went to the length of imprisoning in its jails women who resisted their advances, and after having satisfied their bestial instincts there, ordering that they be burnt as heretics." ("A India Portuguesa, Vol.11, Nova Goa", 1923, p.263 - cited in "The Goa Inquisition" p.175).

These self-styled apostles of Christ were able to turn one of the Inquisitorial functions to their own particular financial advantage. It was the practice of the Inquisition, upon seizing a suspect, to impound his personal possessions and property. We are told by Tavenier that such liquid assets as gold and silver jewellery were never recorded and never seen again, "being taken by the Inquisitor for the expense of the trial." (Tavernias' Travels in India" p.184 - cited in "The Goa Inquisition" p.174).

Tavernier goes on to tell how the Inquisitors obtained valuable or rare articles by sending a servant to auction to bid for the prisoner's effects. As few would dare to offer a greater price, these priests would purchase at bargain prices! Such was the incentive to imprison wealthy persons, that arrests of poor people were considered scarcely worth the trouble. (See Dellon "Goa Inquisition" Sec.2, pp.36,37)

Although the confiscation of assets proved to be very lucrative, yet the practice merely served to whet the rapacious appetites of these wolves in sheep's clothing. Erelong deceased person who had left substantial estates were being posthumously charged with crimes against the Inquisition. States Dellon:

"The jurisdiction of the Inquisition is not limited to the living or to those who have died in prison, but processes are often instituted against persons who have been dead many years before their accusation. When any important charge is preferred against a person deceased, his body is taken out of his tomb, and, on conviction, consumed at the Act of Faith; his estates are seized, and those who have taken possession compelled to refund." (Ibid. Sec. 2 p56).

Let us now look in on a scene where the above claim is being enacted. The account is given by Dellon and the translation is the one used by Rae:

"The cases of such as were doomed to be burnt had yet to be disposed of, and they were accordingly ordered to be brought forward separately. They were a man and a woman, and the images of four men deceased, with the chests in which their bones were deposited ....Two of the four men statues also represented persons convicted of magic, who were said to have Judaized. One of these had died in the prison of the Holy Office; the other expired in his own house, and his body had been long since interred in his own family burying ground, but, having been accused of Judaism after his decease, as he had left considerable wealth, his tomb was opened, and his remains disinterred to be burnt at the autoda-fe.... We may well throw a veil over the smoky spectacle on the banks of the river which seems to have attracted the viceroy of Goa and his heartless retinue." ("The Syrian Church in India" pp.217,218), (cited in "Truth Triumphant" p.320).

One of the terrible uncertainties with which the accused were expected to come to terms was the fact that they were not told the nature of the accusation brought against them. Yet they were expected to confess their crime. As can be imagined, this would pose a serious problem for both the guilty and the innocent. The guilty ones would have a problem determining which one of his misdemeanors the Inquisitor had in mind, while the innocent would naturally deny knowledge of any infringement of the Inquisitorial regulations. As the accused were always considered guilty, the only way to avoid serious punishment was to confess to some misdemeanor, whether real or imaginary.

The ever present threat of torture was used to persuade the accused to confess his crime. It was also used by the Inquisition as an expedient to obtain a confession where the evidence against the accused was incomplete, defective or conflicting. As mentioned earlier, survivors of the Inquisition were extremely reluctant to speak of their experiences. Dellon, who escaped torture by confessing, confirms that torture did take place at Goa:

"During the months of November and December, I every morning heard the cries of those to whom the torture was administered, and which was inflicted so severely, that I have seen many persons of both sexes who have been crippled by it....

"No distinctions of rank, age, or sex are attended to in this Tribunal. Every individual is treated with equal severity; and when the interest of the Inquisition requires it, all are alike tortured in almost perfect nudity." (Dellon Chapter XXIX), (cited in "The Goa Inquisition" Section 2, pp.48,49).

This then, gives us an insight into the times: and conduct of the Portuguese affairs in Goa during the traumatic years of confrontation with the Syrian Christian Church. Now that it had capitulated to Roman Catholicism and placed itself under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition, how did it fare?

But before proceeding to give the answer, is it not pertinent to reflect on the papacy's practical application of the "moral laws of human behaviour" as exercised by "Christs' Church" while in total command of a selected portion of India? What then may we expect if the Pope John Paul II 's vision of "globalist supremacy" as outlined by Malachi Martin were to be translated into reality?

By any account, the sixteenth century was a remarkable one for Europe. It was during this century that Western civilization burst out of the fog of the Dark Ages into the sunshine of the Reformation. Already Hollands intellectual giant, Erasmus, was making his presence felt in the new Age of Learning. Between the years 1516 and 1522 he had brought out three editions of his Greek New Testament. This translation of the New Testament was taken from manuscripts and versions that had been handed down from apostolic times. It had been jealously guarded by the Syrian, Greek and Gallic churches, all of whom had a history and tradition of seventh-day Sabbath keeping. His New Testament of the Byzantine tradition differed markedly from the Alexandrian line of manuscripts from which the Roman Vulgate derived.

Two great scholars and linguists, Martin Luther and William Tyndale, quickly realized the value of Erasmus' New Testament as a source of spiritual and moral enlightenment. By 1534 both the Germans and the English were able to read what Rome called "Waldensian Bibles" in their own language. In 1537 the French received their own Waldensian Bible, known as the Olivetian. Thanks to the recent development of printing and the consequent upsurge in literacy, the domain of these Bibles soon became strongholds of the Protestant Reformation.

By mid-century Pope Paul III had responded to the plans of the newly-formed Society of Jesus and called a prolonged council of war against Protestantism - the Council of Trent. But even as the Council deliberated, an updated version of the New Testament, followed by the Old Testament known as the Geneva Bible, had arrived in Britain to fuel the Reformation.

In accordance with plans formulated at Trent, the Jesuits endeavoured to counter these English Bibles by thrusting their Rheims Bible upon the English-speaking world. The declared purpose of this Bible was "to shake out of the deceived people's hand the false heretical translations of a sect called Waldenses." (Preface to Geneva Bible). But this Bible was not generally welcomed, especially by Protestants.

Thus we have an acknowledgment by Rome of two important points - that the Waldensian Bible was responsible for the Received Text of Erasumus on which Luther and Tyndale relied heavily, and that it was sufficiently different in doctrine from their Latin Vulgate to support the Protestant Reformation.

One result of the failure of the Romish Bible to replace the Bible of the Waldenses was the Pope's decision to reclaim Britain by force. As has always been the case, the Vatican used the armed might of another political power to carry out its nefarious intentions. In 1588, King Philip II of Spain set out to invade England with a mighty armada of some 130 ships which included ships from the recently vanquished Portuguese navy. The destruction of the Spanish Armada led to British naval supremacy and the spreading of Protestantism.

However, for the Christians of India, the sixteenth century was even more traumatic. Little did they realise at the time of the Portuguese arrival early in the century that their ancient Syrian form of worship would virtually cease to exist before the century ended. Neither could they have foreseen that their churches would be forcibly inducted into Roman Catholicism, their Syrian Bibles and literature totally destroyed, and that their leaders would commit their church to the jurisdiction of a terrible form of European persecution - the Goa Inquisition.

It seems that the Portuguese in India were determined to atone for Rome's losses to the Protestants in Europe by expunging all traces of non-conformist Christianity in India.

As a result, practically nothing is known of the travail and anguish of these former St Thomas Christians over the next century. But what we do know is that Portugal and Spain no longer ruled the waves, let alone the Arabian Sea.

With successive victories of the Dutch, French and British over the Portuguese armies in India, the Portuguese gradually lost control over their vast Eastern empire. Their territories on the Malabar Coast contracted increasingly around their stronghold of Goa.

By the mid-seventeenth century it seemed feasible for the Patriarch of Babylon to consider resuming control over the long-lost church in India. He ordained and dispatched to, India a new leader by the name of Ahatalla, but on his arrival at Marlapore, just a little south of Madras, he was kidnapped by Portuguese agents and shipped to Goa, where in 1653 he was burned at the stake. (see "Truth Triumphant". p.329)

The indignation of the Malabar Christians awakened their desire to be free of their oppressors. No doubt, during the intervening half century of unrecorded history, many a Christian had been betrayed by apostate leaders and delivered up to the Holy Office of the Inquisition.

Outraged by the burning of their newly-designated leader, a spontaneous gathering of protest converged on the small town of Mattancherry near Cochin. Before a huge cross, they assembled to protest against the papal-led priests of Portugal. Regarding it as a sacred symbol, they tied long ropes to the cross, so that all could grasp them while taking an oath to sever their allegiance to Rome. This event has become known as the Coonen Cross - meaning the bent cross, and is today regarded by Indian Syrian Christians as a landmark in their history.

But decisions taken in the heat of emotional crises are not necessarily well-considered ones. When the papal leaders learned of the defection of some four hundred thousand Christians from their church they immediately dispatched Carmelite emissaries to visit among the dissenters in order that the disaster might be averted. Their efforts were not without success, for we must realise that the majority of these people had been brought up in the pomp and ritual and fear of Catholicism. Their knowledge of Syrian Christianity was solely hearsay from a by-gone era. No Syrian Christian literature, including the Bible, was available to them. Their leaders were virtually all Roman Catholics.

When faced with the cajoling, the anathemas and threats of the papal clergy, a split developed among those who had embraced the Coonen Cross. Approximately two-thirds of the protesters had second thoughts, electing to remain loyal to the Pope and continue in his "blessing". Thus they became known as Romo-Syrians, while the more daring spirits elected to remain true to their oath and return to the Syrian ways of worship of their forebears. But by this time they had completely forgotten that the observance of Sunday as a day of rest and worship was purely an invention of Rome. From henceforth it would be left to a few brave souls, mainly among the orthodox Jewish communities of the Malabar Coast and, as we shall shortly see, to Armenians, to keep alive even the notion that the Sabbath commandment was still binding. With the progressive loss of Portuguese control, a small colony of orthodox Jewry survives today not far from the shrine of the Coonen Cross, and Sabbath (Saturday) services are held regularly in their synagogue.

But in areas that were still under Portuguese control, any would-be Sabbath keeper would be aware of the high price that would be exacted for any outward semblance of Judaizing. Historian Rae gives us an insight into the type of offenders caught within the dragnet of the Inquisition:

"Besides hunting down heretics, Jews, New Christians and all who were accused of Judaizing (that is conforming to the ceremonies of the Mosaic law, such as not eating pork, attending the solemnization of the Sabbath', partaking of the paschal lamb, and so forth), the Goanese Inquisitors also replenished their dungeons with persons accused of magic and sorcery." (Rae, "The Syrian Church in India" p.200).

As the Portuguese government has seen fit either to conceal or destroy official records of the Goa Inquisition, we can only speculate as to how long it took to stamp out any vestige of Sabbath-keeping in territories under their control. But Dellon, who was held by the Inquisition from 1674-1678 - nearly eighty years after the Synod of Diamper - makes this observation regarding those who were accused by the Inquisition of Judaizing:

"... that of a hundred persons condemned to be burnt as Jews, there are scarcely four who profess that faith at their death; the rest exclaiming and protesting to their last gasp, that they are Christians, and have been so during their whole lives; ...." (cited by Priolkar, "The Goa Inquisition" Sec.2, p.35).

Obviously Rae had fallen into the common trap that God had mistakenly included the Sabbath commandment with the moral law of the Decalogue.

During the eighteenth century the British inexorably tightened their grip on India and the Dutch and French influence, progressively waned. This was the great age of British expansionism. With them they brought the religion of the state Church of England and the all-conquering Protestant Bible of King James, known as the Authorised Bible.

Yet the Portuguese continued to exert strict religious control over their greatly diminished Empire. To do so, they persisted in maintaining the Holy Office of the Inquisition.

It seems that the British were negligently tolerant of continuing Portuguese intrusion in the lives of those Indians living in British India and who remained under the spell and domination of the Romish religion which they had left behind. But increasingly, there was criticism of Britain's failure to protect her subjects from the remaining tentacles of the Inquisition. Dr Claudius Buchanan of the Anglican Church conducted Christian researches in Asia very early in the nineteenth century. He was concerned that a papal Inquisition should still exist with the implied tolerance of the British Government, and that some British territories should be amenable to its power and jurisdiction. This led him to visit Goa. It is certain that his published findings in "Christian Researches in Asia" provided the catalyst for British intervention in bringing this particularly obnoxious facet of Roman Catholicism to its end in India. But that was not until the year 1812.

Yet leaders of the Church of England were very much aware of the plight of the Syrian Churches, who had long been deprived of their Syriac Bibles and literature. The Rev. Buchanan D.D. throws some light on these fragmented churches. His comments on the Christians living in the mountainous interior of South India are based on his visits with widely-scattered Christians. This is what he was told:

"About 300 years ago [early sixteenth century], an enemy came from the west bearing the name of Christ, but armed with the Inquisition and compelled us to seek protection of the native Princes. And the native Princes have kept us in a state of depression ever since." ("Christian Researches in Asia" (1811) p.117).

"The glory of our church has passed away; but we hope your nation will revive it again. I observed that 'the glory of a Church could never die, if it preserved the Bible'. 'We have preserved the Bible' said he, 'the Hindu Princes never touched our liberty of conscience." (Ibid.).

Apparently this was a reference to the only known surviving Syriac Bible. It was graciously offered to Dr Buchanan who placed it in the Cambridge University Library for safe-keeping.

In November 1990 the author of this book had the privilege of meeting with the Chaldean Metropolitan, Dr Aprem, at his home in Trichur in South India. Mar Aprem has seen this Bible, and being familiar with the Syriac, claims that it agrees very substantially with the King James Authorized Version. This places it in the same family as the Bible of the Waldenses - the Bible so hated by Rome. No wonder the Indian Syrian Bible was hated and hunted for destruction by the Portuguese Catholic Church in India.

It is not surprising then, that when the Anglican Church Missionary Society offered to translate the Authorized Bible of King James into the main Indian languages, the surviving Syrian Christians accepted with gratitude. Because the New Testament portion of the King James Bible was based on Erasmus' Byzantine Greek text they now virtually had their Syriac Bible back again, but this time it was in their own language.

Understandably, considering their isolation and lack of association with other communities of like faith, their worship practices had suffered and their faith wavered. Buchanan reported of the churches in one area:

"Instruction by preaching is little in use among them now. Many of the old men lamented the decay of piety and religious knowledge." (Ibid. p.121).

While in another area he was able to report:

"I attended divine service on Sunday. Their liturgy is that which was formerly used in Churches of the Patriarch of Antioch." (Ibid.).

It is interesting to note that nowhere does Dr Buchanan make any mention or give any hint of Saturday Sabbath-keeping among those inland Syrian churches of the South. Yet we must assume that those who had taken to the mountains, following the subjugation of the Syrian churches at Diamper, would have consisted mainly of those who had been unwilling to submit to Portuguese religious control. Even so, many of these people found it difficult to escape the long tentacles of Roman Catholicism and the Inquisition. Buchanan remarks:

"In its [Inquisition] influence therefore may be fairly attributed no small portion of the rapid success attending on the Crusades of Menezes amongst the churches of Serra [mountainous area in South India] for the Syrian Christians well knew that had they offered any resistance, the arm of the Inquisition was long enough to reach them even in the fastnesses of their mountain homes." (Ibid. p.249).

However, India is a large country and there were amongst those Christians who had migrated to India numerous communities of the Eastern Church of Armenia. Of them Buchanan makes an important claim:

"Of all the Christians in central Asia, they have preserved themselves most free from Mahomedan [Moslem] and Papal corruption." (Ibid. p.257).

Buchanan had good reason to observe the relative freedom from papal corruption, especially among those Armenians who had settled in that region of central and northern India which he refers to as Hindustani. There they had successfully established themselves among the Hindus and built numerous Christian churches. And the day on which they worshipped was the Biblical Sabbath day - Saturday!

1 "Hindustan" is an ancient name for the peninsular of Southern Asia now known as India. In British times it came to designate that area between the Himalayas and the Ghats of South India.

Not only is this fact of particular interest in tracing the history of Christian Sabbath-keeping in India, but Buchanan brings to light another very interesting observation. Upon discovery of these Sabbath-keepers, Buchanan became concerned that the thinking of Christian Protestant England ran parallel to Roman Catholicism in branding these Sabbathkeeping Christians as Judaizers. He was constrained to plead their case:

"The Armenians in Hindustan are our own subjects. They acknowledge our government in India, and they are entitled to our regard. They have preserved the Bible in its purity, and their doctrines of the Bible 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; and they have as many spires pointing to heaven among the Hindoos, as we ourselves. Are such people then entitled to no acknowledgment on our part as fellow Christians? Are they forever to be ranked by us with Jews, Mahomedans and Hindoos?" ("Christian Researches in Asia" (1811) p.259).

The author is sure that the import of this dramatic evidence of relatively recent biblical Sabbath-keeping will not be lost on the reader. M C Gabrielian, M.D., a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, confirms the Armenian claim that:

"Soon after the ascension of Christ three of His apostles, Thaddeus, Bartholomew and Jude, successively preached the gospel in Armenia." ("Armenia, a Martyr Nation" (1918) p.67).

The fact that in the nineteenth century the Indian branch of this early church was still observing the seventh-day Sabbath, underscores once more the continuance of a practice obviously established by the Apostles.

In this connection it is well for us to realise that Armenia has the honour of being the world's first Christian nation. Gabrielian continues:

"We know that when Gregory the Illuminata, who was born about AD 257, proclaimed the message throughout Armenia, he found Christians everywhere, and a church which though society persecuted and oppressed [by the Sun-worshippers of Mithraism] had existed from Apostolic times. He was, in fact, rather the restorer than the founder of the Armenian Church, which became the church of the whole nation half a century before the cross was emblazoned on the standard of Rome. The Armenians may justly claim to be the oldest Christian nation in the world." (Ibid. p.67).

Therefore, as was the practice of the early Christian churches, these Christians observed the sanctity of the seventh day of the week as a memorial of creation. After Constantine's efforts to unite Christianity and paganism we find a period when both Saturday and Sunday observance became acceptable in Christendom. With the later Roman occupation of Armenian territory, we find these two days competing for allegiance:

"As one glances over the Armenian Church calendar he is struck not only by the array of sacred feasts, but also by their frequent and severe fasts. It is further noteworthy that they not only keep Sabbath in the commemoration of Christ, but Saturday also in memory of the finished work of creation. 11("Armenia, A Martyr Nation" pp.26,27).

1 Note the almost hopeless confusion in sections of Christendom over the true meaning and purpose of the Sabbath day. Here it has been transferred to Sunday in commemoration of Christ, yet the Sabbath was given to man to commemorate creation (Exodus 20:11).

There appears to be no record of the time and circumstances surrounding the first migrations of Armenians to India. But Firth, in his "Introduction to Indian Church History" (p.34) reminds us that in the seventh century Mesopotamia and Persia came under Moslem rule. These changed circumstances may have caused Armenian Christians to migrate to India where Christianity was tolerated. Both J.W. Kaye in his book, Christianity in India (1859) and Rev. Richard Collins in Missionary Enterprises in the East, refer to an Armenian merchant by the name of Thomas Cona as settling on Malabar Coast towards the close of the eighth century. The early Portuguese writers also give his nationality as Armenian, calling him Thomas Conares.

So it appears that the Armenian Church in Hindustan, having been so isolated in Persia from the parent church which had suffered from the influence of Romanism, and which later had migrated to those parts of India outside the effective jurisdiction of the Goa Inquisition, had retained the observance of Sabbath-keeping throughout the centuries. By early nineteenth century, in Hindustan at least, their churches were as numerous as were those of the now flourishing Churches of England.

Very interestingly, the Armenian Bibles which they had brought with them to India were according to Dr Buchanan, unadulterated. Obviously, Buchanan found them in basic agreement with the Protestant Authorised Bible of King James. In writing of his visit to the Indian town of Angamalee in the year 1807, Buchanan makes similar claims for the Bible of the Syrian Christians:

"How wonderful it is, that during the dark ages of Europe, whilst ignorance and superstition, in a manner, denied the Scripture to the rest of the world, the Bible should have found an asylum in the mountains of Malayala; where it was freely received by upwards of an hundred churches." ("Christian Researches in Asia" p.140).

So here is further evidence of the apostolic pedigree of the New Testament portion of these Bibles. The inescapable conclusion then is that the Roman Catholic Church hated these Bibles because their own Bibles had been deliberately perverted in an attempt to support their man made dogmas and traditions. Hence the prodigious efforts by Rome to destroy Byzantine Bibles. Following the invention of printing and the multiplicity of copies, Rome is presently foisting upon Protestants its corruptions of scripture through the numerous modern versions of the Bible. Most Bible Societies are only too willing to help them. They have allowed themselves to come under the umbrella of the United Bible Society which includes Roman Catholics on its board. One notable exception is the Trinitarian Bible Society of England which promotes only New Testaments that are based on the Byzantine texts, such as the Protestant King James Bible.

In more recent times, Armenian traders are known to have migrated to India. Bishop Baliozian, Armenian primate of the Far East, claims that during the early seventeenth century Armenian artisans had been taken in large numbers to Persia and by the end of the century many had left Persia for India, finding the climate of British rule congenial to the practice of their faith. Thus sizeable numbers of Armenians who, being surrounded by

Persian Moslems had not experienced any other form of Christianity than their own, would have settled in India and established their customs of worship among Hindus, Moslems, and Syrian Christians. This could very well explain why Buchanan would find them worshipping on Saturday, while the long-established Christians who had been exposed to Portuguese Catholicism and threats of the Inquisition apparently held their services on Sunday.

Such historical evidence as we have examined cannot be ignored. Roman Catholics may not like it, Protestants may not wish to admit it, but the fact remains, that seventh-day Sabbath observance in India had survived the consistent and systematic onslaughts of Romanism and paganism until as late as the early years of the nineteenth century. And, as acknowledged by Buchanan, far from being Jews, these commandment-keepers were indeed Christians.

So if Protestant England had difficulty in recognizing true Sabbath-keepers as Christians, how likely is it then that many who were seized by the Inquisition as Judaizers were in fact genuine Christians of the Eastern Churches?

Perhaps Dr Buchanan's concern for these Armenian Sabbath-keepers was prompted by his knowledge of fairly recent unsavoury practices in British religious history. Only some 150 years earlier, several ministers in England had been persecuted by the state church for defending the biblical seventh-day Sabbath. John Trask was thrown into prison and his wife, a school teacher of "devout Christian character", spent fifteen years in prison. John James persisted in preaching biblical Sabbath-keeping, so on 26 November, 1661, he was hanged "and his head was set upon a pole opposite the meeting house in which he preached the gospel." (Dr. J.M. Cramp, "History of the Baptists" (1868) p.351) (cited in "Facts of Faith" p.144).

Shortly after a former speaker in one of Cromwell's parliaments, Dr Thomas Bampfield, wrote two books (1692 and 1693) defending the seventh-day Sabbath. As reward for this apostolic zeal, he attracted the wrath of the state-supported church and was imprisoned." ("Facts of Faith" p.144).

How then did the British church react to Buchanan's appeal for brotherly love and understanding? The author would welcome information, for this is one of the mysteries surrounding the disappearance of the Armenian Sabbath keepers of India. Perhaps, what could not be accomplished by papal persecution and pagan pressure, was indeed accomplished by brotherly "love". Undoubtedly, they were told of the undesirability of taking the Bible too literally and of the advantages, both social and financial, of falling into line with those whose protests against Roman Catholicism were at best selective and at worst politically inspired.

Certainly, after observing the Sabbath for centuries according to the commandment made known by God to them through their Armenian Bible, they would be aware that the Church of England had acknowledged the authority of Rome which claims to have the power to promote the pagan day of the sun ahead of Christ's day of Sabbath rest. Logically then, many came to look up to Rome as authority in matters of faith, liturgy and politics.

By the year 1830 the Sultan of Turkey appointed a Patriarch over Roman Catholic Armenians in India. Such action recognized the defection of some one hundred thousand Armenians from the mother church to Rome (M.C. Gabrielian, "Armenia, A Martyr Nation" 1918 pp.153, 154.). Where the compulsion of the Inquisition had failed, freedom of choice had triumphed!

Christianity in India had finally succumbed to the authority of that pseudo-Christian religion of the papacy. Tradition and dogma were elevated above God's Holy Word.

Until the advent of the twentieth century, Sunday-worship remained virtually unchallenged in India. In 1895 the fledgling Seventh-day Adventist Church commenced mission work in Calcutta. Today, they and a Reform Movement bearing the same name, are valiantly reintroducing the Sabbath truth to the vast millions of India. Seventh-day Baptists also have a small presence there.

A significant number who are now accepting the Sabbath of Christ are converts from fragmented Eastern Christian churches. While recently carrying out research in India the author received this interesting comment from Pastor Paulose Varghise, himself a convert from Syrian Christianity to Seventh-day Adventism:

"In Kerala we have a group of people called Chaldean Syrian Christians. They claim that they are the descendants of Thoma of Canna .... These people also agree that their forefathers kept the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week.

"It was my privilege to take the Adventist message to these people and they never disagreed. But the question why they observe Sunday is due to the pressure and practice of the present age."