fHOMAS
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THOMAS
other monk remained with Archbishop Joseph Sulaka.
For some time the new prelate got on well with the
Portuguese and tlie Jesuit missionaries, in fact, they
praised him for having introduced order, decorum,
and propriety in the Church services and all went har-
moniously for some time. Later, friction arose be-
cause of his hindering the locally-ordained Syrians
from saying Mass and preaching and instructing his
flock. Eventually an incident revealed that Mar
Joseph had not dropped his Nestorian errors, for it
was reported to the Bishop of Cochin that he had at-
tempted to tamper with the faith of some young boys
in his service belonging to the Diocese of Cochin.
This came to the knowledge of the bishop, tlirough
him to the Metropolitan of Goa, and thence to the
viceroy; it was decided to remove and send him to
Portugal, to be dealt with by the Holy See.
The following is the nature of the incident. Taking these youths apart, he instructed them that they should venerate the Blessed Virgin as the refuge of sinners, but were not to call her the Mother of God, as that was not true; but she should be styled Mother of Christ (Nestorius, refusing at the Council of Ephesus the term Tkeotokos proposed by the council, substi- tuted that of Christokos, which the Fathers refused to accept because under this designation he could cloak his error of two persons in Christ). Mar Joseph was sent to Portugal; arri\'ing there he succeeded in se- curing the good-will of the queen, then regent for her young son; he abjm-ed his error before Cardinal Henry, expressed repentance, and by order of the queen was sent back to his diocese. Gouvea tells us that as he continued to propagate his errors on his return he was again deported and Cardinal Henry reported his case to St. Pius V. The pope sent a Brief to Jorge, Arch- bishop of Goa, dated 15 Jan., 1.567, ordering him to make enquiries into the conduct and doctrine of the prelate; in consequence of this the first provincial council was held; the charges against Mar Joseph were found to be true and he was sent to Portugal in 1568, thence to Rome, where he died shortly after his arrival.
While the former was leaving India there arrived from Mesopotamia an impostor named Abraham, sent by Simeon the Nestorian Patriarch. He suc- ceeded in entering Malabar undetected. At the ap- pearance of another Chaldean who proclaimed himself a bishop the people were greatly delighted and re- ceived him with applause; he set about at once acting as bishop, holding episcopal functions, and conferring Holy orders and quietly estabhshed liimself in the dio- cese (Gouvea, p. 7, col. 2). Later the Portuguese cap- tured him and sent him to Portugual, but en route he escaped at Mozambique, found his way back to Meso- potamia, and went straight to Mar .\bed Jesu, the Chaldean Patriarch, having realized from his Indian experience that unless he secured a nomination from him it would be difficult to e.stabhsh himself in Mala- bar. He succeeded admirably in his devices, ob- tained nomination, consecration, and a letter to the pope from the patriarch. With this he proceeded to Rome, and while there at an audience with the pope he disclosed his true position (Du Jarrie, "Rer. Ind. Thesaur.", tom. Ill, lib. II, p. 69). He avowed to the pope with his own hjjs that he had received Holy orders invalidly. The pope ordered the Bishop of San Severino to give him orders from tonsure to the priesthood, and a Brief was sent to the Patriarch of Venice to consecrate Abraham a bishop. The facts were attested, both as to the lesser orders and the episcopal consecration, by the original letters which were found in the archives of the Church of Angamale where he resided and where he had died.
Pope Pius IV used great tact in handling this case. Abed Jesu must have taken ,\braham to be a prie.st; he is supposed to have abjured Nestorianism, and pro- fessed the Catholic faith, and conferred on him episco-
pal consecration; the pope had to consider the pcsl-
tion in which the patriarch had been placed by his
consecration and nomination of the man: the defects
were supphed, and Abraham succeeded also in ob-
taining his nomination and creation as Archbishop
Angamale from the pope, with letters to the Arch-
bishop of Goa, and to the Bishop of Cochin dated 27
Feb., 1565. Such was the success of this daring man.
On arrival at Goa he was detained in a convent, but
again escaped and entered Malabar. His arrival was a
sui'prise and a joy to the people. He kept out of the
reach of the Portuguese, living among the churches in
the hiUy parts of the country. As time passed on he
was left in peacefuloccupation. As is usual in such
cases the old tendencies assumed once more their as-
cendency, and he returned to his Nestorian teaching
and practices. Complaints were made; Rome sent
warnings to Abraham to allow Catholic doctrine to be
preached and taught to his people. At one time he
took the warning seriously to heart. In 1583 Father
Valignano, then Superior of the Jesuit Missions, de-
vised a means of forcing a reform. He persuaded Mar
Abraham to assemble a synod, and to convene the
clergy and the chiefs of the laity. He also prepared a
profes.sion of faith which was to be made publicly by
the bishop and all present. Moreover, urgent reforms
were sanctioned and agreed to. A letter was sent by
Pope Gregory XIII, 28 Nov., 1578, laying down what
Abraham had to do for the improvement of his dio-
cese; after the above-mentioned synod Abraham sent
a long letter to the pope in reply, specifying all that
he had been able to do by the aid of the Fathers (see
letter, pp. 97-99, in Giamil). This is called the first
reconcihation of the Syrians to the Church. It was
formal and pubhc, but left no improvement on the
general body, the liturgical books were not corrected
nor was Catholic teaching introduced in the Church.
In 1595 Mar Abraham fell dangerously ill (Du Jar- rie, tom. I, hb. II, p. 614). Unfortunately he survived the excellent sentiments he then had and recovered. After about two ye;irs, in 1597 (Gouvea, p. ii) he was a second time again dangerously ill; Archbishop Al- eixo de Menezes WTote and exliortcd him to reform his people, but for answer he had only frivolous excuses. He would not even avail himself of the exliortations of the Fathers who surrounded his bed, nor did he receive the last sacraments. Thus he died. The viceroy made known his death to Archbishop Menezes, then absent on a visitation tour, by letter of 6 Feb., 1597.
XIII. Archbishop Menezes received intelhgence of the death of Mar Abraliam while on a tour of pastoral visitation at Damao. Fearing the work on hand could not be postponed, he decided to act on the powers dele- gated to him by the pope in his last Brief, and nomi- nated Father Francisco Roz of the Society of Jesus who undoubtedly fulfilled the requirements demanded by the pope for the appointment. On receipt of the letter and the instructions accompanying it, the su- perior, knowing that the late Abraham before his death had assigned to his archdeacon the government of the church pending the arrival of another bishop from Babylon, and the s;ime had been accepted by the people, and foreseeing also the insecurity of the posi- tion, decided that ii would bo prudent to await the re- turn of the archbishop before taking any further step. The archbishop on returning to Goa weighed the gravity of the case, and felt bound in conscience to put aside every other duty for the time being, and safeguard the Syrian Christians from falling again into the hands of a new heretical intruder. He decided on visitmg the Serra personally. Father Nicholdo Pi- menta, then the superior of the Jesuit missions in India, writing to the General of the Society, Father Claudius Acquaviva, takes up the narrative as fol- lows: "It was not .small comfort to all that Alexius Menezes, the Lord Archbishop of Goa, moved by his zeal for the salvation of souls and at our jiersuasion
