Who is
St. Thomas the Apostle?

Little is recorded of St. Thomas the Apostle in the gospels, nevertheless thanks to the fourth Gospel, his personality is clearer to us than that of some others of the Twelve. His name occurs in all the lists of the Synoptists (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6, cf. Acts 1:13), but in St. John he plays a distinctive part. First, when Jesus announced His intention of returning to Judea to visit Lazarus “Thomas” who is called Didymus (the twin), said to his fellow disciples: “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16). Again it was St. Thomas who, during the discourse before the Last Supper, raised an objection: “Thomas said to him: Lord, we do not know where you are going and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5).

St. Thomas is most remembered for his incredulity when the other Apostles announced Christ's Resurrection to him: “Unless I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25); but eight days later, he made his act of faith, drawing down the rebuke of Jesus: “Because thou has seen me, Thomas, thou has believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and believed” (John 20:29).

The Church of St. Thomas Christians is an Apostolic Church founded in India by St. Thomas. According to ancient, strong and continuous tradition, St. Thomas landed in Kerala (southern part of India) in 52 AD. It was possible for him because there were many Jewish and Arab traders coming from the middle east to India to make business with the Indian community. The main commodity of their trade was black pepper and spices. Since St. Thomas was from the middle east and could speak the language, it was an easy access for him to travel with those traders to India.

St. Thomas established many Christian communities in Kerala and different parts of Southern India; the communities formed by St. Thomas are called St. Thomas Christians even today . The tradition holds that St. Thomas founded 7 churches in Kerala. After preaching and establishing Christian communities in different parts of India, he suffered martyrdom at the hands of Hindu priests in 72 AD.