The Gospel of Thomas
Compiled and presented for Educational Purposes for the 'Golden Braid Ministries.'
First a little about the Apostle Thomas:
The Apostle Thomas is most commonly remembered as 'Doubting Thomas,' there is so much more to this very controversial member of the original circle that were chosen by Jesus ~ Sananda as his personal messengers, to bring his teachings to the world of man. Yet Thomas, for centuries was labeled the Heretic Apostle and all but ignored by the Church of Rome. Yet Rome was to find that as the European powers moved out of the 'Dark Ages,' and re-discovered the world around them that the footprints of Thomas had been there before them.
St Thomas in South
America ?
In fact there are many stories woven into Mesoamerican myth of ‘Toum ’ or St. Thomas the Apostle being in South America. They exist within the Inca, and the Mayan sacred texts. It is told that Thomas or ‘Toum,’ was one of the brothers who came to the lands of the Maya teaching with the Pale Prophet or (Quetzalcoatl).
Sadly, however of the many Codices that were transcribed, and translated by the early Spanish missionaries during the period of conquest, the originals have mostly been destroyed, leaving us with only the decipherments of the priests, and soldiers in their private journals. Writings do exist, though they are admittedly hard to get a hold of, of Spanish translations, made by Mayans as they tried to salvage what was left of their written history that the Conquistadorés, and the Jesuits, under the direction of the ‘ Papal Bulls,’ destroyed without regard. In these translations there are numerous mentions of the Pale Prophet, as well as his brother 'Toum,' or Thomas.
The same was the case with many temples, statuary and codices where references to the ‘ Bearded God’. Or the Pale Prophet were to be found. Any such a tale, was declared to have its origins in sorcery, and to be born of the Devil, such an occurrence was contradictory to the teachings of the Church of Rome.
In
early post-Colombian times some like the Franciscans identified that the
stories of the Maya spoke a white man referred to as ‘Toum,’ which was
said to be Saint Thomas as being the apostle who brought The Word to the
Mesoamerican civilizations.
To
the Portuguese and Spanish conquerors and clerics, the Americas were simply
"The Indies" for most of the sixteenth century. It was inconceivable
for them that so large a portion of humankind was overlooked in carrying out
Christ's Great Commission : " Go ye into all the world and preach the
Gospel to every creature". Soon the missionaries started discovering
footprints of St. Thomas. The discoverer of the footprints was a Father
Nobrega, whose mission was in Brazil. Father
Nobrega reported that the local tribe called Thomas "Zum," or
"Pay Zum", "Pay," it seems, being the name given to a
local priest or holy man. Well, does not ZUM rhyme with Toum?
Similar local holy men, and even footprints, were found in other places in
Paraguay, Peru, and Ecuador that were accredited toToum.
One missionary is reported in the Spanish journals at the time, to have sent a
rock, bearing foot like impressions, from Chile to Rome, for examination by
the church officials. A Portuguese missionary report of Thomas's martyrdom
says that his footprint was embedded in the rock on which he stood when struck
down. (Adam's Peak, the highest point in Sri Lanka, also boasts a footprint of
Thomas.)
The idea of an apostolic evangelization of the New World gradually took hold
among some people living in Latin America.
It was comforting amongst the growing number of Meztizo, (Mixed blood
populous) to believe that the new religion had links with their old one. In
Mexico the original inhabitants, encouraged by some of the missionaries, began
identifying Thomas with Quetzlcoatl, the Plumed Serpent god.
The Acts of Judas Thomas , placing Thomas in "India," provided at
least a legendary basis for identifying the apostle who must have evangelized
Mexico. "Quetzalcoatl" was a twin, and so was Thomas. Despite
criticism from less imaginative fundamentalists
and more solid scholarly sources, these views apparently developed a
considerable following, which are held as truths to this day.
About
Thomas in India
Many early Christian writings, later rejected by orthodoxy, filled the very considerable gap left by the cursory New Testament record of apostolic missionary work that was supposed to cover "all the world." Most of the Twelve were enshrined in other books, usually called "Acts," that describe the life of each, the territory he covered, his teachings, miracles, and martyrdom. During the second and third centuries, particularly, there was an outpouring of such apocryphal literature.
The
various apocryphal Acts of the Apostles were not entirely religious in
character. They were writings of a type commonly called by classicists
"romances.” The Acts of Judas
Thomas emerged; it seems, from the East Syrian civilization of the
upper Euphrates Valley early in the third century. It was apparently written
originally in Syriac (a variant of Aramaic, which was the language of Jesus
and his followers). The Gospel of
Thomas and the later Acts of
Judas Thomas came out of the same Syriac milieu.
What we know of Thomas from the Gospels which are books written in the century
in which he lived by men among whom the memory of the twelve disciples was
fresh, some of whom may well have known him personally.. They do not tell us
much about him but they do give us firm contemporary evidence that that there
really was such a person. Of his
mission to India, it is not until the third century that the ancient Christian
writers begin to mention it, and even then they give no more than slight
allusions, never a full account.
Later, towards the end of the fourth century, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory of nazianzus, St Ephraim the Syrian and St. Jerome mention St. Thomas by way of illustration while writing of other things. To these fourth century fathers India is the place of St. Thomas’s labours; but others of earlier date say Parthia, that is the Persian Empire Stretching from North-West India to Mesopotomia; and of these the most notable is Eusebius the historian, who wrote early in the fourth century. He says: “When the apostles and other disciples of Jesus ~ Sananda were scattered over all the world, Thomas, so the tradition has it, obtained as his portion Parthia. Eusebius quotes as his authority for his statement the famous Alexandrian Father, Origen (CE 185-254)
These teachings that are to be found in the “ Acts of Thomas,” are
rejected by the Orthodox Church of Rome. And are said” “officially” to
be heretic and the “Acts of Thomas.” never found its way to the canonical
scriptures. They were part of the ‘ Apocrypha,” which was actually once
included as part of the “ Bible,” but later removed, and to day the “
Apocrypha" : is consider “ Sacred Scripture,” though not as being
part of the “ Original Roman Bible.”
The official policy states, “ The fact that the author of The Acts
recieved the name of a contemporary King (Gondaphorus); coincidental, and is
no guarantee that the other details of the story are true.”
Occasionally both India and Parthia are mentioned as in the notes of
Hippolytus who wrote at Rome in the early years of the third century. He
writes, “Thomas preached to the Parthians. Medes, and Persians, Hyrcanians,
Bactrians and Margians, and was thrust through the four members of his body
with a pine spear at Calamene, the city of India, and was buried there.”
Historical politics ...surrounding the heretic Apostle
The Apocryphal Version of the New Testament, is based upon the pre- Roman texts of a collection of works by the Apostle’s, not all of which was written by the Apostles themselves. Thomas is considered by Rome to be Gnostic and thus a heretic under the eyes the Orthodox policies of ‘ Rome’s official policies; “ concerning their edited version of the gospels in the 'European' renditions of the Bible. Mainly Thomas was ostracized because of his radical teachings, which inspired men into thinking, they could actually be Christ like and attain ascension themselves. That they were created in the perfection of God the Father n Heaven. to this we can only respond, " ... and The truth shall set you free."
Gospel
of Thomas
There are varied versions of the Gospel of Thomas therefore we have elected to
present a unbiased comparison for you to view. This Intelligent look at
the Gospel of Thomas can be found upon a web site posted by Peter Kirby http://www.gospelthomas.com/gospelthomas112.html
Peter Kirby has done an excellent job of presenting the Gospel of Thomas while
managing to remain in the “ No Spin Zone,” allowing you to makeup your own
mind.
Acts
of Thomas
Some of you who are serious students of Early Christian Historical Reality may
want to investigate “The acts of Thomas,” may we suggest the following web
link. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/actsthomas.htm