Yaqob of India

Mar Yaqob of India, also known as Mar Jacob, was a metropolitan bishop of the St Thomas Christians of Malabar. The history and legends of the east Syrian prelates in India prior to the arrival of European explorers are shrouded in mystery because of the unavailability of surviving documents. The Vatican Syrian codex 22, the oldest surviving Syrian manuscript written in Malabar, specifically mentions an east Syrian bishop who was residing in Malabar at that time. According to this ancient document, (now in the Vatican Library), which was written by a Deacon named Zachariah bar Joseph addresss Mar Jacob as Metropolitan and director of the holy see of the Apostle St Thomas, the great captain and the director of the entire holy church of India.

The Christians of St. Thomas became strong enough to achieve independence. Before the coming of the Portuguese,St. Thomas installed Christian rulers of their own (Villarvattom) to be absorbed into the rajahs of Cochin.The metropolitan of Angamali was assisted in the operations of his office by an archdeacon. The archdeacon was selected by the Catholics from the influential Pakalomattom family. Upon the death of the metropolitan, the archdeacon was left with the task of managing the office alone. He petitioned the patriarch to name a successor to the deceased metropolitan.

Painting a comprehensive picture of this time in Ancient Indian Christianity remains an insurmountable task. The source material for this dark period, which existed in the East Syrian repositories of Mesopotamia and in the old records of the Indian churches, was destroyed by the Mongol hordes on the one side and by the Portuguese on the other. In fact, the vandalism of the Mongol invasions of the Middle East was only surpassed in this sphere by the repercussions of the Synod of Diamper in 1599. That act of faith simply led to the obliteration of all Indian records, since it was decided to burn all religious manuscripts tainted with the heresy of Nestorius. Thus historic records of The Malabar Church became lost to time. Cardinal Tisserant, however, registers a few minor references bearing upon the later medieval history of that church. The first dates from the fourteenth century, when a copyist named Zaccharias bar joseph bar Zaccharias made an allusion to the Catholicos Yahballaha III (1245–1314) and to Mar Jacob, bishop of India, in 1301.

The dating formula in the colophon to a manuscript copied in June 1301 in the church of Mar Quriaqos in Cranganoor mentions the patriarch Yahballaha III (whom it curiously describes as Yahballaha V), and the metropolitan Yaʿqob of India(described as ‘vicar and governor of the seat of the apostle Thomas’, and probably the bishop Yacqob mentioned as the scribe’s tutor).. Cranganore, described in this manuscript as 'the royal city', was doubtless the metropolitan seat for India at this time. The scribe was the fourteen-year-old Deacon Zakarya, son of Joseph, son of Zakarya, who is described as ‘the pupil of the bishop Yacqob’. The colophon of the manuscript suggests the ongoing relationship between the churches of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and Malabar and also the consciousness of St Thomas Christians about their apostolic origin. (One important aspect of the identity of the St. Thomas Christians was and continues to be their consciousness of their apostolic origin).

This holy book was written in the royal, renowned and famous city of Chingala (Cranganore) in Malabar in the time of the great captain and director of the holy catholic church of the East.. our blessed and holy Father Mar Yahd Alaha V and in the time of bishop Mar Jacob, Metropolitan and director of the holy see of the Apostle Mar Thoma, that is to say, our great captain and the director of the entire holy church of Christian India

The language used by the scribe about the patriarch Yahballaha III, however, is intriguing. The dating formula reads as follows:

When the great governor, the holder of the key of the Holy Apostolic Church of the East and the bright lamp illuminating its territories, the chief of the chief priests, the father of fathers, our blessed and holy father, was Mar Yahballaha the Fifth, the Turk, catholicos-patriarch of the East, the chief region of the world, which guides and illuminates the other regions; who stands above the Catholic Church like a lampstand to give light to all its servants and to dispel its fears.

It is interesting to see the superiority of the East over the West upheld in this formula, as three years later, in 1304, Yahballaha acknowledged the primacy of the Roman Church. Protestant and Catholic scholars have long disputed the significance of this acknowledgement, and it seems likely that Yahballaha’s acknowledgement in 1304 meant little in practice. It made sense for Yahballaha to cultivate good relations with Rome, but the recognition by the Church of the East of the primacy of the See of Saint Peter did not, in the eyes of the East Syrians, give the Western church the right to dictate their beliefs. The colophon of MS Vat Syr 22 is an interesting indication of how the East Syrians really saw themselves at this period. But there is one puzzling aspect of this colophon. It is not surprising to find the Ongut patriarch Yahballaha III referred to as a ‘Turk’. But it is surprising to find him referred to as ‘Yahballaha the Fifth’. The standard lists of the Easy Syrian patriarchs know only two earlier patriarchs named Yahballaha, viz. Yahballaha I (415–20) and Yahballaha II (1190–1222). None of the known anti-patriarchs were named Yahballaha.

About the same time, unexpected circumstances briefly provided the Indian Church with western contacts. Two of those visitors stand out as particularly important from the viewpoint of inter-Christian relations. The first was the Dominican Friar Jordan Catalanl of Sevcrar: [d.c. 1336) who, after the first stay in India, prompted Pope John XXII (1361-44] to establish the first Latin-rite diocese in the subcontinent at Quilon. It was, however, a very short-lived attempt. The second was the Franciscan and papal envoy John de Marignolli. who stayed in Quilon for sixteen months In 1348-49.

Their reports, as well as those of other such casual visitors, help us to get a clearer picture of Eastern Christianity in India in these centuries. In the 1320s the anonymous biographer of the patriarch Yahballaha III and his friend Rabban Bar Sauma praised the achievement of the Church of the East in converting 'the Indians, Chinese and Turks'. India was listed as one of the Church of the East's 'provinces of the exterior' by the historian ʿAmr in 1348.