1.
Saint Thomas Christians
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Historically, the Saint Thomas Christian community was part of the Church of the East, centered in Persia. They were organised as the Province of India in the 8th century, served by Nestorian bishops, Saint Thomas Christians represent a multi ethnic group. Their language is Malayalam, the language of Kerala, and Syriac is used for liturgical purposes, the Saint Thomas Christians are so called due to their reverence for Saint Thomas the Apostle, who is said to have brought Christianity to India. The name dates to the period of Portuguese colonization and they are also known, especially locally, as the Nasrani or Nasrani Mappila. Nasrani is a term meaning Christian, it appears to be derived from Nazareth, Mappila is an honorific applied to members of non-Indian faiths, including Muslims and Jews. Some Syrian Christians of Travancore continue to attach this honorific title to their names, the term Syrian relates not to their ethnicity but to their historical, religious and liturgical connection to the Church of the East, or East Syrian Church. According to tradition, St. Thomas, one of the 12 apostles, came to Muziris on the Kerala coast in AD52 which is in the present day Pattanam, Kerala. The Cochin Jews are known to have existed in Kerala in the 1st century AD, the earliest known source connecting the apostle to India is the Acts of Thomas, likely written in the early 3rd century, perhaps in Edessa. The tradition of origin of the Christians in Kerala is found in a version of the Songs of Thomas or Thomma Parvam, written in 1601 believed to be a summary of a larger and older work. As per legend, the community began with Thomass conversion of Brahmin Gramams or families, the four clans Pakalomattam, Sankarapuri, Pattamukkil at Niranam Church, Kalli, and Kaliyankal were considered the most preeminent. Claims of descent from the various legendary gramams were used as a basis of a system within the community in the Middle Ages. After the 9th century A. D. such as the wearing of the sacred thread, the medieval historian Pius Malekandathil believes these were customs adopted and privileges won during the beginning of the Brahmin dominance of medieval Kerala. An organised Christian presence in India dates to the arrival of East Syrian settlers and missionaries from Persia, members of what would become the Church of the East, in around the 3rd century. As the community grew and immigration by East Syrians increased, the connection with the Church of the East, centred in the Persian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, strengthened. In the 8th century Patriarch Timothy I organised the community as the Ecclesiastical Province of India, after this point the Province of India was headed by a metropolitan bishop, dispatched from Persia, the Metropolitan-Bishop of the Seat of Saint Thomas and the Whole Christian Church of India. His metropolitan see was probably in Cranganore, or in Mylapore, under him were a varying number of bishops, as well as a native Archdeacon, who had authority over the clergy and who wielded a great amount of secular power. Some contact and transmission of knowledge of the Saint Thomas Christians managed to reach the Christian West, byzantine traveller Cosmas Indicopleustes wrote of East Syrian Christians he met in India and Sri Lanka in the 6th century. In 883 the English king Alfred the Great reportedly sent a mission, during the Crusades, distorted accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians and the Nestorian Church gave rise to the European legend of Prester John
2.
Kerala
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Kerala historically known as Keralam, is an Indian state in South India on the Malabar Coast. It was formed on 1 November 1956 following the States Reorganisation Act by combining Malayalam-speaking regions, spread over 38,863 km2, it is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Lakshadweep Sea to the west. With 33,387,677 inhabitants as per the 2011 Census, Malayalam is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the state. The region has been a prominent spice exporter since 3000 BCE, the Chera Dynasty was the first prominent kingdom based in Kerala, though it frequently struggled against attacks by the neighbouring Cholas and Pandyas. In the 15th century, the spice trade attracted Portuguese traders to Kerala, after independence, Travancore and Cochin joined the Republic of India and Travancore-Cochin was given the status of a state in 1949. In 1956, Kerala state was formed by merging Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin, Hinduism is practised by more than half of the population, followed by Islam and Christianity. The culture is a synthesis of Aryan and Dravidian cultures, developed over millennia, under influences from other parts of India, the production of pepper and natural rubber contributes significantly to the total national output. In the agricultural sector, coconut, tea, coffee, cashew, the states coastline extends for 595 kilometres, and around 1.1 million people in the state are dependent on the fishery industry which contributes 3% to the states income. The state has the highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly English, Kerala is one of the prominent tourist destinations of India, with backwaters, beaches, Ayurvedic tourism and tropical greenery as its major attractions. The name Kerala has an uncertain etymology, One popular theory derives Kerala from Kera and alam is land, thus land of coconuts, this also happens to be a nickname for the state due to abundance of coconut trees and its use by the locals. The word Kerala is first recorded in a 3rd-century BCE rock inscription left by the Maurya emperor Ashoka, the inscription refers to the local ruler as Keralaputra, or son of Chera. This contradicts the theory that Kera is from coconut tree, at that time, one of three states in the region was called Cheralam in Classical Tamil, Chera and Kera are variants of the same word. The word Cheral refers to the oldest known dynasty of Kerala kings and is derived from the Proto-Tamil-Malayalam word for lake, the earliest Sanskrit text to mention Kerala is the Aitareya Aranyaka of the Rigveda. It is also mentioned in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the two Hindu epics, the Skanda Purana mentions the ecclesiastical office of the Thachudaya Kaimal who is referred to as Manikkam Keralar, synonymous with the deity of the Koodalmanikyam temple. Keralam may stem from the Classical Tamil cherive-alam or chera alam, the Greco-Roman trade map Periplus Maris Erythraei refers to Keralaputra as Celobotra. According to Hindu mythology, the lands of Kerala were recovered from the sea by the warrior sage Parasurama. Parasurama threw his axe across the sea, and the water receded as far as it reached, according to legend, this new area of land extended from Gokarna to Kanyakumari. The land which rose from sea was filled with salt and unsuitable for habitation, so Parasurama invoked the Snake King Vasuki, out of respect, Vasuki and all snakes were appointed as protectors and guardians of the land
3.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
4.
Syriac Orthodox Church
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The Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, or Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean. Employing the Divine Liturgy of Saint James with Syriac as its official and liturgical language, the church is led by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Aphrem II since 2014, seated in Bab Tuma, Damascus, Syria. The Syriac Orthodox Church belongs to the Oriental Orthodoxy, a full communion of churches since the schism following the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Around 825, many Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, India, affirmed allegiance to the Syriac Orthodox Church, however, another part of clergy gained permission from the Ottoman authorities in Istanbul to reestablish the Syriac Orthodox Church soon after. The churchs present circa 5 million members are divided in 26 archdioceses and its original area is present-day Syria, Turkey, or Iraq. The churchs Levantine ethno-religious identity has been a matter of controversy since the 20th century, many refer to these as ethnic Syriacs or Assyrians, while other advocate the term Arameans. The Syriac Orthodox Church participates in discussions, being a member of the World Council of Churches since 1960. Due mainly to persecution throughout the centuries, a diaspora has spread from the Levant throughout the world, notably in Sweden, Germany, United States, Canada, Guatemala, Brazil, and Australia. The Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch claims the status as the most ancient Christian church in the world, according to Saint Luke, The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. As Jewish Christianity originated at Jerusalem, so gentile Christianity started at Antioch, then the center of the Hellenistic East, with Peter. 70 and 130, were out from Jerusalem and Palestine into Syria. When Saint Peter left Antioch, Evodios and Ignatius presided over the Patriarchate of Antioch, because of the significance attributed to Saint Ignatius in the Syriac Orthodox Church, almost all of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs since 1293 have been named Ignatius. Until 498, this church accepted the authority of the Patriarch of Antioch. The church also maintained a smaller church under a Catholicos, known by the title Maphryono. The Christological controversies that followed the Council of Chalcedon in 451 resulted in a struggle for the Patriarchate between those who accepted and those who rejected the Council. In 518, Patriarch Severus of Antioch was exiled from the city of Antioch, on account of many historical upheavals and consequent hardships which the church had to undergo, the Patriarchate was transferred to different monasteries in Mesopotamia for centuries. In about 1160 its seat was transferred from Antioch to the Mor Hananyo Monastery, in southeastern Turkey near Mardin and they reestablished themselves in Homs, Syria due to an adverse political situation in Turkey. In 1959 it was transferred to Damascus, where it currently resides
5.
Gregorios Abdal Jaleel
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Mar Gregorios Abdal Jaleel Bawa was a Syriac Orthodox bishop of Jerusalem from 1664 until his death. He is chiefly remembered for his 1665 mission to India, in which he established ties between the Malankara Church and the Syriac Orthodox church and he is venerated as a saint by his church. Abdal Jaleel was born in Mosul, Iraq, in 1654 he was ordained metropolitan bishop for the Ameed diocese in Turkey by the Patriarch Mar Ignatius Shemun. In 1664, he was elevated as the Metropolitan of Jerusalem with the title Mor Gregorios, in India Gregorios established ties between Thomas Malankara Church and the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch, and introduced the West Syrian Rite. He died in India in 1681, and his remains are interred in the St. Thomas Church at North Paravur, on April 4,2000, Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I declared Mar Gregorios Abdal Jaleel a saint. It was referred to as the Syrian Church in the epistle of St. Ignatius, the Syrian Christian label was also attached to the Churches in Syria, which was submitted to the ecclesiastical authority of the Church of Antioch in the ancient capital of Roman Syria. The Saint Thomas Christians were in communion with the Church of the East until their encounter with the Portuguese in 1599, there after the Christians of St Thomas had been influenced by many belief streams at different points of time. These influences have resulted in serious rifts and in the breaking down of the monolithic apostolic church to different fragments under different faith stream. They were organised as a Church in the 8th century, served by foreign bishops, after the Coonen Cross Oath incident, Archdeacon Thomas was ordained as bishop by the laying on of hands by twelve priests. This was considered necessary in view of the extraordinary circumstances, appeals were sent to various Eastern Christian centers and Mor Gregorios Abdul Jaleel Bawa of Jerusalem was the first to respond. Mor Gregorios reached Ponnani, then an important port on the south Western coast of India, knowing the prevailing political climate, he traveled further south by land in disguise until he came across some Syrian Christians from the North Paravur church. He revealed his identity showing them the Sthathikon from the Patriarch of Antioch and they led him to their church and sent word to others. The Archdeacon and many people rushed to the place to welcome the Bawa, soon after, Mor Gregorios canonically ordained the Archdeacon as Metropolitan Mar Thoma I. Together, they traveled to various churches affirming the Orthodox faith, in 1670 March Gregorios and Mar Thoma I together ordained Mar Thoma II as the second Malankara Metropolitan. An important encyclical by Mor Gregorios dated 5th Kumbam 1668 gives us a record of the Malankara Church during the period and they did this in order to establish a new chapter in Malankara. The ultimate aim of the Synod was to transform the Syrian Christians into the Roman Catholic fold by use of force and in this process, the support of Portuguese military and the local Kings made their task much easier. Gregorios died on 27 April 1681 and it is said that he knew beforehand the exact hour of his demise. In accordance with his instructions, he was dressed in the pontifical habits with cross and staff in hand and taken to the church seated in a chair
6.
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
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The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church also known as Indian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church centered in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the churches of Indias Saint Thomas Christian community, the church is headed by the autocephalous Catholicos of the East and the Malankara Metropolitan, presently Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II. It is believed that Saint Thomas Christians of Malabar were in communion with the Church of the East from 496 to 1599. They got episcopal support from Persian bishops, who traveled to Kerala in merchant ships through spice route and ruled by a hereditary local chief called an Archdeacon from Pakalomattam family. Saint Thomas Christians were administratively under the single native dynastic leadership of an Archdeacon and were in communion with the Church of the East, centered in Persia, the indigenous Church of Malabar/Malankara followed the faith and traditions handed over by the Apostle St. Thomas. During 16th century, the Portuguese Jesuits began deliberate attempts to annex the native Christians to the Catholic Church, and in 1599 they succeeded through the Synod of Diamper. Resentment against these measures led the majority of the community under the Archdeacon Thomas to swear an oath never to submit to the Portuguese, known as the Coonan Cross Oath. The Malankara Church consolidated under Mar Thoma I welcomed Gregorios Abdal Jaleel, meanwhile, the Dutch East India Company defeated the Portuguese in supremacy of the spice trade in Malabar in 1663. The Malankara church used this opportunity to escape from Catholic persecution with the Dutch East India Companys help, at the request of the Malankara Church, the Dutch brought Gregorios Abdal Jaleel of Jerusalem, a Syrian Orthodox Church Bishop, in their trading vessel in 1665. Mar Thoma I forged a relationship with the Syriac Orthodox Church and gradually adopted West Syrian liturgy, while the spread of Christianity around the Mediterranean was led by apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Thomas spread its message in the East. He preached in south India to a community of Jewish diaspora, native Dravidian majority, small groups of Jains, Buddhists. This Nasrani faith it is claimed had many similarities to ancient Judaism, Malankara Nazranies formulated a script to write Syriac-Malayalam after making certain changes in Syriac script. Despite many competing faiths, St. Thomas Christians held to their creed until the arrival of Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century, in 1601, Menezes consecrated Fr. Francis Roz as bishop of Angamaly, which marked the beginning of Roman Catholic hierarchy in Malankara. In 1652 Mar Ahatallah, a prelate from Syria, reached Mylapore near present-day Chennai, in 1653, under the leadership of, Nazranis gathered at Mattancherry church in Mattancherry, Cochin on 3 January 1653, and swore an oath known as the Coonen Cross Oath. As large number people were holding the rope, the cross bent a little and they wanted to combat the aggressive Portuguese padroado rule and regain spiritual and administrative autonomy for the Church. Hence later on 22 May 1653 at St Marys Church Alangad,12 elderly priests laid hands on Archdeacon Thomas and they appealed to several eastern Christian churches to defend their faith from Latin intrusion. Mar Gregorios of Jerusalem regularized Mar Thoma I as the Metropolitan, due to widespread complaints against Jesuits in Malankara, Rome sent Carmelites in two groups from the Propagation of the Faith to Malabar headed by Fr. They gradually gained support, especially with the help of Palliveettil Mar Chandy Kathanar, according to Jesuit reports they succeeded in wooing three of the four advisors of Mar Thoma I
7.
Mar Thoma Syrian Church
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The Mar Thoma Syrian Church is a Syrian Christian church in the state of Kerala, India. Its members are part of the one of the Saint Thomas Christian community, Church in Malabar flourished under various ecclesiastical faith streams from time to time. The Mar Thoma Church is an autonomous Oriental church with Syriac High Church traditions, the church emerged from a reformation movement within the Malankara Syrian Church inspired by contact with Anglican missionaries. The reformation was an attempt to eliminate certain practices prevalent in the Malankara Church which the reformers believed were brought about after the Synod of Diamper and this led to a rift in the church hierarchy between Abrahams supporters and the metropolitan bishop, Mar Dionysius IV. Abraham Malpan sent his nephew Deacon Mathew to Antioch to be consecrated as Bishop Mathews Mar Athanasius, the leadership dispute was settled in 1852 with Mathews Mar Athanasius being recognized as Metropolitan, serving until his death in 1877. The reformist faction renamed to form the Mar Thoma Syrian Church in 1898, in 1940 a schism formed in the Mar Thoma Syrian Church over the extent of reformation, the modern reformists founded the St. Thomas Evangelical Church in 1961. Until the beginning of 20th century, Mar Thoma Christians lived in a few districts of Central Travancore, since that time they have spread with the 20th-century Indian diaspora to North America, Europe, the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The church currently has around 950,000 members in Kerala and their mother tongue is Malayalam, the language of Kerala. Malabar is a used to denote Kerala coast in earlier days. It was between Gokarnam and Kanyakumari the southern point of India, Kerala, the present south-western state of India is only a part of Malankara. It is also thought to be a cognate of this name Maliankara, a place near Muziris, Mar Thoma is Aramaic, means Saint Thomas. Members of the Marthoma Syrian Church are commonly called as Marthomiyar, the original liturgical language used in Saint Thomas Christians was East Syriac language which is a variant of Aramaic. The Reformation movement in the Malankara Syrian Church later resulted in formation of an independent indigenous Malankara church. In 1898 during the reign of Titus I Mar Thoma the church accepted its name as Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church or Marthoma Syrian Church of Malabar to comprise its order, the members of this church are known as marthoma nasrani or marthoma Syrian nasrani. The Mar Thoma Syrian Church has a constitution and has a democratic pattern of administration. Each diocese has its own council and an assembly, the assembly members are elected by the individual parishes, and the diocesan council members are elected by the assembly. All members of a parish are members of Edavaka Sangham and they also have the right to elect their representatives to the Diocesan Assembly, the title of the head of the Church is addressed as Mar Thoma Metropolitan. He is ordained from among the duly consecrated bishops of the Church, the present Marthoma Metropolitan is the Most Reverend Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma who resides at Poolatheen at Church Headquarters in Tiruvalla, Kerala
8.
Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
9.
Portuguese India
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The first viceroy, Francisco de Almeida, established his headquarters in Cochin. Subsequent Portuguese governors were not always of viceroy rank, after 1510, the capital of the Portuguese viceroyalty was transferred to Goa. Until the 18th century, the Portuguese governor in Goa had authority over all Portuguese possessions in the Indian Ocean, from southern Africa to southeast Asia. Portugal lost effective control of the enclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 1954, and finally the rest of the territory in December 1961. In spite of this, Portugal only recognised Indian control in 1975, after the Carnation Revolution, the first Portuguese encounter with the subcontinent was on 20 May 1498 when Vasco da Gama reached Calicut on Malabar Coast. Anchored off the coast of Calicut, the Portuguese invited native fishermen on board, one Portuguese accompanied the fishermen to the port and met with a Tunisian Muslim. On the advice of this man, Gama sent a couple of his men to Ponnani to meet with ruler of Calicut, over the objections of Arab merchants, Gama managed to secure a letter of concession for trading rights from the Zamorin, Calicuts Hindu ruler. But, the Portuguese were unable to pay the customs duties. Later Calicut officials temporarily detained Gamas Portuguese agents as security for payment and this, however, annoyed Gama, who carried a few natives and sixteen fishermen with him by force. Nevertheless, Gamas expedition was successful beyond all expectation, bringing in cargo that was worth sixty times the cost of the expedition. Matters worsened when the Portuguese factory at Calicut was attacked by surprise by the locals, Cabral also ordered his ships to bombard Calicut for an entire day in retaliation for the violation of the agreement. In Cochin and Cannanore Cabral succeeded in making advantageous treaties with the local rulers, Cabral started the return voyage on 16 January 1501 and arrived in Portugal with only 4 of 13 ships on 23 June 1501. The Portuguese built the Pulicat fort in 1502, with the help of the Vijayanagar ruler, Vasco da Gama sailed to India for a second time with 15 ships and 800 men, arriving at Calicut on 30 October 1502, where the ruler was willing to sign a treaty. Gama this time made a call to expel all Muslims from Calicut which was turned down. He bombarded the city and captured several rice vessels and he returned to Portugal in September 1503. Francisco de Almeida left Portugal with a fleet of 22 vessels with 1,500 men, on 13 September, Francisco de Almeida reached Anjadip Island, where he immediately started the construction of Fort Anjediva. On 23 October, with the permission of the ruler of Cannanore, he started building St. Angelo Fort at Cannanore, leaving Lourenço de Brito in charge with 150 men. Francisco de Almeida then reached Cochin on 31 October 1505 with only 8 vessels left, there he learned that the Portuguese traders at Quilon had been killed
10.
Bishop
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A bishop is an ordained, consecrated, or appointed member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within these churches, bishops are seen as those who possess the full priesthood, Some Protestant churches including the Lutheran and Methodist churches have bishops serving similar functions as well, though not always understood to be within apostolic succession in the same way. Priests, deacons and lay ministers cooperate and assist their bishop in shepherding a flock, the earliest organization of the Church in Jerusalem was, according to most scholars, similar to that of Jewish synagogues, but it had a council or college of ordained presbyters. In, we see a system of government in Jerusalem chaired by James the Just. In, the Apostle Paul ordains presbyters in churches in Anatolia, in Timothy and Titus in the New Testament a more clearly defined episcopate can be seen. We are told that Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus and Titus in Crete to oversee the local church, Paul commands Titus to ordain presbyters/bishops and to exercise general oversight, telling him to rebuke with all authority. Early sources are unclear but various groups of Christian communities may have had the bishop surrounded by a group or college functioning as leaders of the local churches, eventually, as Christendom grew, bishops no longer directly served individual congregations. Instead, the Metropolitan bishop appointed priests to each congregation. Around the end of the 1st century, the organization became clearer in historical documents. While Ignatius of Antioch offers the earliest clear description of monarchial bishops he is an advocate of monepiscopal structure rather than describing an accepted reality. To the bishops and house churches to which he writes, he offers strategies on how to pressure house churches who dont recognize the bishop into compliance. Other contemporary Christian writers do not describe monarchial bishops, either continuing to equate them with the presbyters or speaking of episkopoi in a city, plainly therefore we ought to regard the bishop as the Lord Himself — Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 6,1. Your godly bishop — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 2,1, therefore as the Lord did nothing without the Father, either by Himself or by the Apostles, so neither do ye anything without the bishop and the presbyters. — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 7,1. Be obedient to the bishop and to one another, as Jesus Christ was to the Father, and as the Apostles were to Christ and to the Father, — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 13,2. Apart from these there is not even the name of a church, — Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallesians 3,1. Follow your bishop, as Jesus Christ followed the Father, and the presbytery as the Apostles, and to the deacons pay respect, as to Gods commandment — Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnans 8,1. He that honoureth the bishop is honoured of God, he that doeth aught without the knowledge of the bishop rendereth service to the devil — Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnans 9,1
11.
Bread
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Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history it has been popular around the world and is one of the oldest artificial foods, proportions of types of flour and other ingredients vary widely, as do modes of preparation. As a result, types, shapes, sizes, and textures of breads differ around the world, Bread may be leavened by processes such as reliance on naturally occurring sourdough microbes, chemicals, industrially produced yeast, or high-pressure aeration. Some bread is cooked before it can leaven, including for traditional or religious reasons, non-cereal ingredients such as fruits, nuts and fats may be included. Commercial bread commonly contains additives to improve flavor, texture, color, shelf life, Bread is served in various forms with any meal of the day. It is eaten as a snack, and used as an ingredient in other preparations, such as sandwiches. It forms the main component of bread pudding, as well as of stuffings designed to fill cavities or retain juices that otherwise might drip out. Bread has a social and emotional significance beyond its importance as nourishment and it plays essential roles in religious rituals and secular culture. Its prominence in daily life is reflected in language, where it appears in proverbs, colloquial expressions, in prayer and in the etymology of words, the Old English word for bread was hlaf, which appears to be the oldest Teutonic name. Old High German hleib and modern German Laib derive from this Proto-Germanic word, Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods. Evidence from 30,000 years ago in Europe revealed starch residue on rocks used for pounding plants. It is possible that during this time, starch extract from the roots of plants, such as cattails and ferns, was spread on a rock, placed over a fire. Around 10,000 BC, with the dawn of the Neolithic age, yeast spores are ubiquitous, including on the surface of cereal grains, so any dough left to rest leavens naturally. There were multiple sources of leavening available for early bread, airborne yeasts could be harnessed by leaving uncooked dough exposed to air for some time before cooking. Pliny the Elder reported that the Gauls and Iberians used the foam skimmed from beer to produce a kind of bread than other peoples. Parts of the ancient world that drank wine instead of used a paste composed of grape juice and flour that was allowed to begin fermenting, or wheat bran steeped in wine. The most common source of leavening was to retain a piece of dough from the day to use as a form of sourdough starter. In 1961 the Chorleywood bread process was developed, which used the intense mechanical working of dough to dramatically reduce the fermentation period, the process, whose high-energy mixing allows for the use of lower protein grain, is now widely used around the world in large factories
12.
Vestment
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Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially among the Eastern Orthodox, Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans. For other garments worn by clergy, see also clerical clothing, the rubrics for the type of vestments to be worn vary between the various communions and denominations. In some, clergy are directed to wear clerical clothing in public at all, most. This generally consists of a collar, clergy shirt. In the case of members of orders, non-liturgical wear includes a religious habit. This ordinary wear does not constitute liturgical vestment, but simply acts as a means of identifying the wearer as a member of the clergy or a religious order. A distinction is made between the type of vestment worn for Holy Eucharist or Holy Communion and that worn for other services. In other traditions, there is no name for this attire, although it often takes the form of a Geneva gown worn with or without preaching bands. In the more ancient traditions, each vestment—or at least the stole—will have a cross on it, a number of churches also have special vesting prayers which are recited before putting each vestment on, especially the Eucharistic vestments. For the Eucharist, each vestment symbolizes a spiritual dimension of the priesthood, in some measure these vestments harken to the Roman roots of the Western Church. Use of the following vestments varies, some are used by all Western Christians in liturgical traditions. Many are used only in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, cassock an item of clerical clothing, a long, close-fitting, ankle-length robe worn by clerics of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran and some Reformed churches. Stole The long, narrow strip of cloth draped around the neck, a vestment of distinction, deacons wear it draped across the left shoulder diagonally across the body to the right hip while priests and bishops wear it draped around the back of the neck. It may be crossed in the front and secured with the cincture, traditionally, this was done by priests when wearing Eucharistic vestments, whereas bishops always wore it uncrossed. Modern usage is for both bishops and priests to wear the stole uncrossed, corresponds to the Orthodox orarion and epitrachelion. Alb The common garment of any ministers at the eucharist, worn over a cassock, most closely corresponds to the Orthodox sticharion. Cassock-alb or cassalb is a modern garment and is a combination of the traditional cassock. It developed as a convenient undergarment worn by clergy and as an alternative to the alb for deacons, a white or off-white cassock-alb has replaced the traditional cassock and alb in some Anglican and Lutheran churches since the 1970s
