Officially and theoretically, all Malabar Christians were Uniates. The Inquisition was set up; prison, and in some cases death, were the penalties of relapse into schism. But the Inquisition rarely succeeded in securing hearty affection from its victims. There follows a complicated story of relapsed and deposed bishops; undoubtedly many of the clergy and people only accepted the union externally, while waiting for a chance of restoring a Nestorian, or at least non-Papal Church. The Uniate Metropolitan (now called Archbishop) moved his see to Cranganore on the coast. In 1653 a number of the clergy and leading men met in the Church of Alanghat and swore to renounce the jurisdiction of the Archbishop, to set up a non-Uniate Metropolitan as before. It was, of course, a secret conspiracy, for fear of the Portuguese. They chose Thomas Palakomatta, of the appointed family, to be archdeacon, and set about to obtain a bishop. They tried to get one from the Nestorians. But the Government was on the watch in that direction, and would let no one through towards Mesopotamia. One sees that the one point which mattered to the schismatical party was to be independent of Rome, represented to them by the hated conqueror. Evidently they cared little about the Council of Ephesus. So, as they could not get to Mesopotamia, they sent by sea to the Copts in Egypt. The Coptic Patriarch ordained and sent them a (Monophysite) Syrian[1] named Aithallâhâ, otherwise Ignatius. But he was caught and put to death.[2] This first attempt shows both the persistent determination of a party in Malabar not to be Uniates and their indifference as to whether they were to be in union with Nestorians or Monophysites. Both are characteristic. Thomas Palakomatta continued to rule his hiding faction as archdeacon while waiting for a bishop. There is a curious story that twelve of his priests went through an alleged form of ordination by laying a letter from the im-
- ↑ I take it he must have been a Monophysite. The Malabar people waver in the strangest way; but I cannot conceive a Coptic Patriarch ordaining a Nestorian.
- ↑ Germann: op. cit. 447-449. He tells the story differently (pp. 452-453), and says that Aithallâhâ was sent by the Uniate Chaldee Patriarch at Mosul; which makes his capture and death unaccountable. I follow the usual version as given by Howard: The Christians of St. Thomas, 45-46.
