Sabor and Proth Qandisangal | |
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| Venerated in | |
| Feast | April 29 |
| Influenced | Saint Thomas Christians |
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| Christianity in India |
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Mar Sabor and Mar Proth, according to Syrian Malankara Christians, were two Syriac Orthodox Bishops believed to have arrived in 822 AD alongside a group of Christian settlers led by Sabar Yesor, a merchant from Antioch (modern-day Turkey). Together, they established ecclesiastical institutions in several regions, most notably the Akaparambu Church. Revered for their devoutness, they were posthumously recognized as saints by the local ecclesiastical body. [1] [2] The mission is said to have received permission from the then king of Kerala to build a church in Kollam.[3][4][5]
According to a recent study, it was revealed that Syriac Christians were predominantly influenced by the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch rather than the Church of the East. This meant that Syrian bishops Mar Sabor and Mar Afroth were identified as Syriac Orthodox bishops. The Portuguese, aiming to exert greater political control over the region through colonialism and church authority, labeled their Christian adversaries as Nestorians. However, this characterization was dispelled when the people reaffirmed their allegiance to the Syriac Orthodox Church during the Coonan Cross Oath. [6]
That the historicity of this mission cannot be verified does not dispute the epigraphical evidence that Christians were on the Malabar Coast in 9th century AD. Kollam Syrian copper plates, a 9th-century royal grant from Kerala, mentions that certain Maruvan Sapir Iso built a church at Kollam with the blessing of the then Emperor of Kerala. It is likely that Mar Sapir had a companion named Mar Prot.[7] A stone cross, one of the five Persian Crosses, with Sassanid Pahlavi inscription recovered also mentions certain "Afras the Syrian" as "the son of Chaharabukht".[8]
The two bishops are said to have died in Kerala and have been considered as saints by the Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and Syro Malabar Church.[9][2]
Sabor and Aproth were highly venerated in India among the Saint Thomas Christian community. A number of churches including Kottakkavu, Udayamperur, Kayamkulam, Kollam and Kothanallur, were dedicated to these saints.
Mar Sabor and Mar Afroth, although not acknowledged as saints by the Church of Rome, became subjects of alternative identification and veneration within the local Syro-Malabar community. Renamed Gervasius and Protasius, it was claimed that the twin brothers hailed from Rome and were martyred in the first century. Consequently, the Syro-Malabar Church established a separate parish, distinct from the one under the Syriac Orthodox Church, with the newly attributed names and narrative aligning them with Rome. This new parish, named Sts. Gervasius and Protasius, initially affiliated with Rome, later transitioned to become part of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.[10]
MS Vatican Syriac N. iv., which is dated to 1556 and written in the Kottakkavu Kandīshā Church, has the following colophon in folio 278:
"By the help of our Lord we have finished this book of the Prophets; it was written on a Monday, the 18th of February, in the year 1556 of the birth of our Lord. I, priest Jacob, the disciple of Mar Jacob, and from the village of Puraur, have written this book in the holy Church of Mar Shapur and Mar Iapot [Aprot]. May the holy name of God be praised for ever. Amen!"[11]
Mar is a Syriac term meaning '(My)Lord' usually prefixed for Saints and Bishops in the Syriac tradition.
When they arrived on the Malabar Coast, the Portuguese noted at least 78 extant church communities closely interwoven with the local community in different parts of Kerala. Quilon, Angamaly, Kaduthuruthy and Cranganore (now known as Kodungallur) had the largest population of Saint Thomas Christians in Kerala. Giovanni Empoli, who came to Quilon in 1503, estimated that there were more than three thousand St. Thomas Christians in Quilon alone.[12]
After 1561, Thomas Christians were branded heretics by the Goa Inquisition. The infamous Synod of Diamper (1599) anathematized all Christians of India who did not submit to Rome. The synod even branded Mar Sabor and Mar Prot as "Nestorian heretics" at the instance of the Portuguese.[9]
