Ælfric's Lives of Saints/Of Saint Thomas the Apostle

by Ælfric

XXXVI.

DECEMBER 21: PASSION OF ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE.

I was for a long while in doubt as to translating into English the Passion of St. Thomas the apostle, for various reasons; and chiefly because the great Augustine denies the story concerning a cup-bearer whose hand a black dog is said to have carried to a feast. In contradicting this story, Augustine himself wrote in these words — ' which narrative it is permitted us to disbelieve; for it is not in the catholic canon.' Nevertheless those who, owing to I know not what sort of blindness, are very bitterly opposed to the bodily punishments described in the Old Testament, because they are altogether ignorant of the spirit in which they were inflicted and of the dispensations of different times, both read it and respect it as being most uncorrupted and true. And therefore I desire to pass over that circumstance, and to translate the other matters which are contained in his Passion, even as the venerable lord AEthelwerd persistently requested me to do.

After the Saviour's passion and resurrection from death

and ascension into heaven, when His apostles

travelled throught this earth, then came Thomas

to the city of Caesarea, and the Saviour Himself

came to him from heaven, thus saying: —

' The king of the Indians, who is called Gondophorus,

hath sent his steward to the Syrian land

to seek a workman who is well skilled in his craft;

come now, I will straightway send thee forth with him.'

Then answered Thomas: ' Oh! thou my Lord,

send me whither Thou wilt, save to the Indians.'

The Saviour said to him: — ' Go now, and I will be with thee,

and will not forsake thee;

and after that thou hast gained for Me the Indians,

thou shalt come to Me with the glorious crown of martyrdom.'

Thomas answered Him: ' Thou art my Lord,

and I am Thy servant; Thy will be done.'

Lo then! the steward, who was named Abbanes,

(come) from the Indian king, rowed to land,

and went through the province seeking his errand.

Then Christ went to him, and said openly,

' What buyest thou, youth? ' He answered and said:

' My lord, the king of the Indies,

hath sent me to this country to inquire for workmen,

that I may hire them home for his work;

or I will buy them, if they are slaves;

such as are cunning in stone, and are approved of in wood,

that they may erect his palace in the Roman fashion.'

Then said the Saviour straightway to the youth:

'I have a workman, worthy and faithful,

whom I have often sent to various cities;

and whatsoever he getteth as meed of his labour

he bringeth to me without fraud.

This one I will send with thee, if thou so desirest,

provided that thou, honourably, after the work is done,

wilt send him back again safe to me.'

Then rejoiced Abbanes, and bowed at his knees,

and the Saviour committed the holy Thomas

to him, to take home; and so they departed.

Then Abbanes asked the venerable apostle:

'Tell me, in truth, if thou be His slave?'

Thomas answered him, ' If I were not His property,

I should very soon neglect His bests;

but I am His slave, and do not the things

which I myself choose, but that which my Lord tells me;

I am one of the countless number of His slaves,

and we all know (various) crafts in works,

and go throughout provinces, and without fraud

bring back to our Lord that which we earn.'

Then went they to ship, and hoisted their sail,

and went with the wind even as God guided them.

Then again said Abbanes unto the apostle,

'If thou art cunning in crafts, as thou saidst but now,

why would Thy Lord let thee come to me? '

Thomas said to him, concerning Christ's building:

' I lay the foundations which shall last for ever,

and I set the wall which shall never sink,

and make the windows which shall be very perfect,

that there shall be no lack to the house of the heavenly light.

I rear the building, so that the roof shall surmount

all edifices, and it shall be fair without,

and the work shall nevertheless be more beautiful within.

"Whatsoever there be in marble or in glorious building,

I verily make, and if thou wilt commit to me

boys to teach, I will instruct them truly.'

Then said Abbanes: 'Excellent is the man

who hath such workmen; he is better than any king.'

Thomas answered him: ' Excellently thou hast spoken.

He is a King's Son, only-begotten of His Father,

and holdeth His Father's kingdom on high mountains

where no enemy cometh to molest His peace;

neither shall be found there poor man nor sick.'

Then they sailed forth seven nights together,

and went to land; but it would be tedious to say

all the wonders which he wrought in that land,

because we must hasten to his noble passion.

Then at last they came to the king in India;

and Abbanes brought Thomas honourably

to speak with the king, and he said to him:

' Canst thou erect for me in the Roman fashion

a royal dwelling?' He said that he could.

Then they surveyed the place where it should stand,

and Thomas went measuring the place with a meteyard,

and said that he proposed to make the hall

first, in the east part; and the other buildings

behind the hall, both bath-house and kitchen;

and winter-house, and summer-house, and winsome bowers,

twelve houses together, with good arches;

but it is not customary to make such work in England,

and therefore we shall not tell their names clearly.

Then beheld the king, and said to the apostle:

' Thou art a noble artificer, and shouldest work for kings.'

Then the king entrusted to Christ's workman '

an unnumbered sum to further the work,

and rode throughout his towns as far as his kingdom extended.

Then went Thomas about, freely preaching

God's faith everywhere throughout the land,

and baptized the believing; and dealt the money

munificently to the poor, and reared Churches.

Then it so befell that he inclined unnumbered

folk to the faith, and established Churches,

and ordained priests for the Saviour's service

within two years, before the renowned king

Gondophorus returned to the province again.

Then it was thus made known to the king,

and he bade bind both the men with fetters,

Abbanes and Thomas, and thrust them roughly

into a dark prison, until they should be slain.

Then the king's brother was lying, despairing of his life,

who was called Gad, very dear to Gondophorus,

and he therefore delayed what he should do with them.

While he desired to torture them for a spectacle,

then Gad departed from the world to hell.

Then they kept the body in the heathen manner,

and the brother desired to 'wake' him worthily,

and to conduct his funeral with royal honours.

Then on the fourth day, suddenly in the morning,

arose that same Gad, raised up by God;

and the corpse-bearers were wondrously affrighted

by reason of the new wonder, that he Avas brought to life.

Then cried the requickened one, and said to his brother:

'Hearken now, my brother, concerning the holy man,

him whom thou desiredst to torture for a spectacle;

he is God's friend, and God's angels serve him;

my soul was verily led to heaven

by God's angels, and I there saw

the glorious palace which Thomas hath made thee,

in the very likeness in which he planned it here,

adorned with precious stones, fair beyond all.

While I was regarding the shining palace,

the angels said to me: " These are the buildings

which Thomas hath built for thy brother on earth."

Then I wished that I might be at least a doorkeeper

in that glorious house. Then said the Lord's angels:

" Thy brother is not worthy of this work's fairness;

if thou desire to have it, we will pray the Saviour

to raise thee up from cruel death,

and thou shalt buy it afterward, that thy brother may receive

his money which he thinketh to be wholly lost to him." '

After these words he hastened to the prison,

and sought the apostle, saying with weeping:

'My brother knew not, Lord, that thou wert the apostle

of the living God, and he hath highly sinned.'

Then he quickly unbound him, and besought him to receive

costly raiment. Then said the Lord's servant:

Yet knowest thou not that those who follow Christ

and desire to possess heavenly virtues,

wear not splendid garments nor fleshly adornings.

This pallium which I wear will last me out,

and my sark will not fail, nor my shoes burst out

before my soul departs from the body.'

Lo! then, as they went out of the old dungeon,

Gondophorus came towards the apostle of God,

earnestly beseeching pardon for his misdeeds.

Then said Thomas to him: ' Christ my Lord

hath of His mercy granted much to you,

in that He hath thus willed to reveal to you His secrets.

Now are your provinces and your towns

filled with holy churches and with the Saviour's faith;

be ye now yourselves ready to turn to Christ

that ye may be baptized from former sins,

and may be sanctified in the saving font.'

Then said Gad straightway to God's apostle:

I beheld the buildings which thou buildedst for my brother,

and angels interceded for me to the Almighty Saviour

that I might buy them.' Then said Thomas blithely:

' It standeth with thy brother whether thou mayest buy them.'

Then the king Gondophorus said to his brother:

' Since it is made for me, I think that it is mine;

let the apostle make for thee another work like it;

if, however, he cannot make another,

it may serve us both to possess this one.'

Then said the holy apostle: ' The Saviour hath builded

unnumbered dwellings and spacious palaces

from the beginning of the world magnificently in heaven;

and they can be purchased with true faith.

If then ye will now rather be busy about those buildings,

and wish to speak in earnest concerning the heavenly riches,

then may your possessions run before you;

and they cannot follow you at your death.

Let now your goods profit the widows,

the poor, and the sick; and know, of a truth,

that they shall be kept for you, a hundred-fold,

where no ending shall come to you for ever.'

Then sprang his fame widely throughout the land,

that to India had come Christ's apostle,

one who could heal by the touch of his hands

the deaf and the blind, and raise the dead.

Then weened the country-folk that he was God Himself,

and brought him diadems, and offered him robes

royally fashioned, and desired to offer him

bullocks and rams, as to a mighty god.

Then Thomas announced that they should all come

to an assembly, that he might tell them

what there was for them to do; and they did so.

Then they came again from afar to a field,

and carried many thither diversely afflicted,

that the holy Thomas might heal them.

Then the holy Apostle ordered them to take up all the sick

unto one place, and stood in the midst

with hands upstretched to the heavens, and said:

' O Thou Holy God, invisible ruler,

and continuing unchangeable for ever,

Thou who didst send us Thine Almighty Son,

Who gave us the power that we might heal

all sick and infirm in His name,

and promised us, moreover, that whatsoever we asked

in His holy name of His Heavenly Father,

that same He would grant us as being Almighty God:

now pray we in His name that Thou wouldest heal these infirm ones,

that this people may know with full faith

that Thou art God alone, with Thine only-begotten Son,

and with the Holy Ghost, O ruler of heaven.'

After this invocation, then they said, ' Amen.'

Then came there such a light, as if lightning flashed there,

so that they all thought that they should be destroyed,

and lay long prostrate beside the apostle.

Then Thomas arose up, and bade them arise, and said:

' My Lord Himself hath come hither like shining lightning,

and hath healed you; lift up your heads.'

Then arose the sick wondrously healed,

glorifying the Almighty and His venerable apostle.

Lo, then Thomas mounted on a stone, and stood

that they might all of them see him at once,

and cried aloud, and said to the people:

' Hearken now, all; the Saviour sent me

hither to this country, and I am His servant,

a man even as ye are, and He sent me to the end

that I might teach you how ye should altogether

forsake the shameful gods, and turn with faith

to your Creator who alone is true God,

and will keep those who believe on Him.'

So for a long time he taught the people the faith,

and how they should eschew sins and disgraceful deeds,

and how they should continue in good works.

He said again to the multitude who were in the assembly:

' I am no God, but am God's servant;

Take your money which ye desired to give me,

and deal it to the poor for the Lord's love,

and be ready for baptism with full faith.'

Then they quickly did so, and on the Sunday

were baptized into Christ fourteen thousand,

besides women and children who were not counted.

Then was the holy Thomas again directed by God

that he should go to the farther India,

and went thither, and performed miracles.

He healed there with God's help halt and blind,

and all infirmities and the horrible lepers,

and drave out devils, and raised the dead.

The country folk could not gainsay his teaching

when he wrought such wonders in their very presence.

There was a certain women called Syntyche, who had been six years blind,

and was then healed by the holy apostle,

and came, seeing clearly, unto her kinswoman

named Migdonia, who had left her blind.

Then said Migdonia: ' This man is God Himself,

or God's angel, who hath enlightened thine eyes

thus without leechcraft.' And they spake thus a long while

until they both went to where the apostle was preaching.

Then Migdonia believed on the living God

through the apostle's lore, and would no longer come

to her husband's bed, after that preaching.

This Migdonia was the king's wife's sister;

and her husband then prevailed with Mazdai the king,

so that the apostle straightway was put in prison.

Then Migdonia came sorrowfully to the prison,

and fell at his feet with fear, saying:

'I beseech thee, master, apostle of the living God,

that thou wilt not for me undergo so foul a reproach,

lest God's anger come upon me on that account.'

The man of God said to her: ' Go thou home again,

and I will come home to thee, that thou mayest thereby understand

that I, of my own will, suffer for my Creator's name,

and how much faith may accomplish through God.'

Then she did so, and locked her door,

lying prostrate in prayers within her bower.

Behold then, in the same night came the apostle

to Migdonia, and said: ' Even as thou shalt come through me

to the eternal life, so likewise I shall come

through thee to Christ with the crown of martyrdom.

Be now very steadfast.' She answered with fear,

' Oh master! I pray thee to enlighten my soul

that I may behold the right way,

so that I fall not into the foul pit.'

Thomas said to her: ' Take heed that thou fast

for seven days earnestly, and afterward I will come again to thee,

and I will baptize thee from former sins,

and each one who believeth on the living God.'

After this came her husband to the king Mazdai,

and earnestly prayed the king that the queen might

speak to her sister, and try if she could

incline her mind that she might be his consort:

' I cannot entice her nor by fear compel her

to eat with me, or even to look upon me.'

Then the king permitted the queen to go thither,

and she spake straightway to her sister thus:

'Oh, thou Migdonia! my beloved sister,

why despisest thou thy husband and dishonourest thyself?

The king himself bemoaneth it, and all his men,

that thou so suddenly hast lost thy wits.'

Migdonia answered her: 'Oh! thou my sister,

knewest thou what I know, thou wouldest not have said these words;

the apostle worketh many wonders among men,

and saith to us for a truth, that there is another life,

immortal and eternal, freed from every evil.

Even to-night the prince went to visit him

because his son had suddenly died,

and led the apostle to the lifeless boy,

and he immediately raised his son from death:

now he sitteth and teacheth the faith in that house,

and healeth the sick, all who come to him.'

Triptia the queen said to her in answer:

'If it is so as thou sayest, I will see the man:

it would be foolish to despise that eternal life,

and stubborn is the man who cannot believe this.'

Then they both went to hear his preaching,

and they found the apostle greatly busied

over the sick men whom he all day healed

through the touch of his hands in the Saviour's name.

When the queen saw such wonders done by him,

then said she, being astonished: — 'Cursed are the men

who will not believe such works as these.'

There stood there a leper with decayed body,

horrible in appearance, and Thomas healed him,

and baptized him in the queen's presence.

Then fell she at his feet praying for baptism,

and with faith desired the eternal life,

and said that she believed on the living God.

Then Thomas blithely blessed the queen,

and diligently taught her the faith, and said:

'My Lord hath called me to come to Him,

and my time is now come to depart out of the world;

receive now therefore baptism of me quickly.'

Then he baptized her and many others with her,

men and women, and innocent children,

and taught them earnestly that they should love their church,

and reverence priests; and so they went home.

Then came the queen at evening home to the king,

and he forthwith said to her: ' Thou hast been very long.'

She said to him again: ' Ye said that my sister —

and I myself likewise thought so — was witless;

but she hath verily come to true wisdom

in that she hath made me partaker of the eternal life.

Verily I saw the apostle himself,

who giveth saving counsel unto every man.

Now thou, king, mayest make thyself immortal

if thou wilt hear the holy apostle;

thou wilt not die eternally if thou truly believest.'

Then feared the king, and bade men fetch to him

the aforesaid thane who had her sister to wife,

and cried vociferously, and said to him immediately:

'While I was thinking how to help thy wife,

I lost mine thereby, and she is much worse to me

than Migdonia is to thee.' And they consulted long.

Then the king commanded men to bring to him Thomas in bonds,

and asked with anger: ' What is He, your God,

who thus turneth, through thee, our wives from us?'

Thomas said to him: ' Thou, king, wilt have

cleanly attendance and fit servants;

thinkest thou that God will not, He who ruleth all things,

have fit servants and cleanly attendance?'

Then said Mazdai the king: ' Cause by thy words again

that the women return to us of their own will.'

Thomas answered him: ' I have built a steeple,

and thou sayest that I should myself overthow it;

but I say verily to them God's word rather,

that he who loveth on earth his earthly father,

mother, or bairns, or wife above God,

he is not worthy of God.' And he said again to him:

'Thou, king, canst not slay the soul with weapons,

although thou lay low the body in death.

God the righteous King can send alike

both soul and body to everlasting fire.

The wife should therefore leave her husband,

because he was a heathen and a hateful persecutor;

but the canons nevertheless say and command that no woman

shall leave her husband on the 'plea of religion

unless it so please them both.' Then the king immediately ordered

to lay hot irons under his naked feet,

that he might long thus suffer torture, but anon there ran water

wondrously up, and cooled the irons.

Then said Thomas to him: 'God did not this for me, but for thee rather,

that thou so at least mightest believe on the living God.

Verily he can give me the power

that I, without water, may not dread thy torture.'

Then Mazdai the king bade men put the man of God

in boiling water; then it became cool;

and no brand would burn beneath the water.

Then he was led to the lifeless gods,

that he might lay his gift before them in offering,

and bow his knees to the shameful images.

Then Thomas boldly commended himself to his Lord,

and bade the devil who dwelt in the magic work

that he should come out of the image to him,

and commanded him in God's name to overthrow the images,

and the devil's temple, so that it should hurt no one.

Then came the devil out of the image,

and destroyed it instantly, even as wax melteth away,

so that not one limb of it remained whole.

Then cried the idolaters and furiously roared,

and one of them immediately slew the apostle

with a drawn sword, saying that he would

avenge the insult to his god; and the king went thence,

because his people desired to avenge the apostle.

Then they carried his body faithfully to church,

and reverently buried it, to the glory of the Almighty.

There miracles were frequently performed;

madmen were there restored to their senses,

and all manner of infirmities from time to time were healed there

by help of God; and God's apostle

was afterwards carried to the Syrian land

with great honour, to the praise of the Almighty,

who reigneth in eternity, gloriously mighty. Amen.