Talk:Apostle Thomas

This is really sparse. I work with Christians from Kerala who identify him as the founder of their church. There is a Church in Tblisi which is the repository for his skull. He is said to have returned to be at the funeral of The Theotokos etc. Are there so few sources for the Apostle Thomas? He must be one of the most interesting. Thomas Simmons 10:32 EPT, 26/03/11 (EPT)

The St. Thomas Christians of India are not Eastern Orthodox, but they are connected with Oriental Orthodoxy and the heterodox Church of the East, and furthermore, their tradition of having been founded by St. Thomas corroborates the Eastern Orthodox tradition that St. Thomas was martyred in India, thus, I have added mention of him. I agree with you that Thomas is a very interesting Apostle; I personally prefer not to have in my mind a hierarchy of the Apostles beyond the primacy of St. Peter and the theological importance of John, the Beloved Disciple, however, of the other apostles, Thomas is definitely one whose story is exciting and profound in Christian theology. The image of "Doubting Thomas", that smears the apostle as a fearful man of wavering faith, which has proliferated among many Protestants where the lives of the Apostles are not given sufficient attention, must be vigorously dispelled. Additionally, I have added a clear statement to the effect that the Eastern Orthodox Church (and for that matter our Oriental Orthodox brethren) emphatically reject the attribution of the heretical Gnostic Gospels bearing the name of Thomas to the Holy Apostle. I feel like much work needs to be done to clear the name of a saint and martyr whose bravery and orthodoxy are beyond question. Wgw 11:33, October 18, 2013 (HST)

I should add that in my initial expansion of this article I feel I de-emphasized the doubting nature of Thomas a bit too much, to the extent of inadvertantly paving over the manner in which Thomas's momentary doubt was reversed by the Lord in order to show the truth of the bodily resurrection. Thus, Thomas should be remembered not just as Doubting Thomas, but rather, as Thomas who doubted, yet whose doubts were spectacularly quashed, and who otherwise in most respects before and after this remarkable Christological moment demonstrated a level of extraordinary courage. Thus in no way should Thomas be regarded as a sort of black sheep among the Apostles (indeed all of the Apostles were of great importance to Christ), on account of his doubt, but rather, in reflecting on Thomas, we should reflect on how the firmness of conviction that occurred after the moment of his doubt led him to cross all the way to India to proclaim the gospel, ultimately leading to his glorious martyrdom. We can go further in reflecting on how this disproves the Gnostic heresy (and this perhaps is why the Gnostics opted to associate the name of Thomas with their blasphemous false gospels), and beyond that, there is great benefit in reflecting upon the statement of Christ that "Blessed are they who believe and have not seen", that, in other words, if Thomas, who uniquely benefited from a confirmation of his beliefs beyond that of anyone else, accomplished everything that he accomplished, those who accept the gospel on unproven faith are in an equally great position to serve, as is shown by the later remarkable lives of fathers who lived well after the Apostolic Age, such as the Three Holy Hierarchs.

Wgw 11:31, October 24, 2013 (HST)