Thomas of Cana | |
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![]() Icon of Thomas of Cana | |
Venerated in | Syriac Orthodox Church Knanaya Community Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Kottayam Eastern Orthodox Church |
Canonized | 6 March 1990 by Ignatius Zakka I Iwas Patriarch |
Feast | 36th day (Sixth Sunday) of the Great Lent (Syriac Orthodox Church) |
Influenced | Saint Thomas Christians |
Thomas of Cana (Malayalam: K'nāi Thoma or Tomman Kinān, Syriac: K'nānāya Thoma) was a Syriac Christian merchant magnate who arrived to the Chera Dynasties capital city of Kodungallur between 345 A.D. and 811 A.D. Thoma brought with him Jewish-Christian families (early East Syriac Christian merchants) and clergymen from Persian Mesopotamia.[1][2]
Thoma received copper-plates of socio-economic rights known today as the Thomas of Cana copper plates.[3][4][5][6] The descendants of Thoma and the migrants who arrived with him are known as the Knanaya or Tekkumbhagar (Southist) Christians, found among the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, India.[7][1] Scholars associate Thoma's migration with connecting the Church of Saint Thomas in India with the East Syriac liturgical tradition of the Persian Church of the East. [8][9]
Portuguese sources of the 17th century note that due to Thoma's deeds as a Christian merchant, the native Nasrani of Kerala venerated him as a saint.[10] Thoma was officially canonized by the patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Ignatius Zakka I, in March 1990.
Since he lived before the so-called 'Nestorian schism,' St Thomas of Cana (fl. 345) is acknowledged as a Saint by Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians as well.
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