they have been so reported unto me by divers sure tokens, and I trust they may be found Bishops indeed. Salute the Rabban Isaac, thy fellow traveller and mine, whom I met at Bombay. Salute the Malpans and Catanars. The priests, Thomas Robinson and John Doran, (concerning whom I wrote unto thee,) salute you. Verily John was sick at Madras, wherefore my letter was not hastened on. Nevertheless, he is now restored, by God's blessing, and is with me on my journey.

The Abuna Mar Simeon, the Armenian, who was with us at Bombay, and who has been now again with me at Madras, salutes you. Grace and peace be with you all, from God and our Lord

Jesus!

If thou hast any thing to write, let thy letter be sent unto me, in the city of Palamcottah.

Written in the land of Coromandel, nigh unto the city of Alumbura.

(Signed)

REGINALD, BISHOP.

LETTER TO MAR PHILOXENUS.

Sent March 27, 1826.

of

To the honoured among Bishops, Philoxenus, raised up God to be a guide and shepherd to the Churches of India which hold the Syrian confession, Reginald, by divine permission, Bishop of Calcutta, wisheth health, grace, and much prosperity from God and our Lord Jesus.

I have heard from many witnesses, my brother beloved in the Lord, of the works which thou hast wrought, and thy deep tribulation, and thy labour of love which hath been shewn towards the Church of Christ among the Malayalims, at a time when no tidings

came from the Church which is at Antioch, and there were many dangers and much sorrow without and within, on the right hand and on the left, from the idolatrous people and the false brethren. Likewise how thou hast made choice of a wise and holy man, even the brother Dionysius, to judge the people in thy room, and to teach them the pure and certain doctrine of the Lord, and that thou hast sealed him to the work by the laying on of hands, to the intent that the grace which was given thee might not perish, but that after thy decease, a witness of the truth might not be wanting in Israel, until the time that the Lord of the vineyard shall return to reckon with his servants.

Which thing also was made known to the blessed Father in God, Thomas Middleton, who, before my weakness came hither, was Bishop of Calcutta and the Churches of the English in India, who beheld also your order and the grace of God which was among you, and was glad, and spake thereof unto all the chief of our nation. Insomuch that in the land of Feringistan, which is Chittim, and Ashkenaz, and Gomer, the glory of the Lord was made known, not there only, but in Britain also, which is our own land; where the blessed Apostle Paul, after he had been in Spain, in times past preached the Gospel, even as the Apostle Thomas did with you, whose memory is at this day blessed among the Churches of India.

For which cause also, the holy Father in Christ, the Patriarch of Antioch, having heard of your love and the truth and patience of your brethren, sent our brother Athanasius to carry his letters to you, and to testify unto you all the things which were in his heart as a faithful Bishop and Evangelist; at whose coming, when I heard the same in Bombay, my heart greatly rejoiced, hoping that, by communication with him, yourself and your flock might be the more established in faith, and that love might increase more exceedingly with all knowledge. Whence then is it, my brethren, that there are wars and envyings among you? God is a God of peace, not of division; a God of order, not of disorder;

and by all these things the name of Christ is blasphemed among the Gentile, and the souls of many shall be turned into perilous heresies; such as are taught by the priests of the Bishop of Rome, which are in Cranganore and Verapoli, from whom, in time past, great sorrow hath arisen to this people. Let me entreat you then my brethren, on Christ's behalf, that you be reconciled one to another, in honour preferring one another, and each desirous to take the lowest room, to the end that ye may reap an exceeding weight of glory hereafter. And forasmuch as the people are divided, and this man is of Philoxenus, and that followeth after Athanasius, my counsel is that the multitude must needs come together, and that the priests of the order of Aaron and the holy Levites, which are the deacons, be called into one place to declare openly, according to the knowledge given unto them, what hath been the custom of your fathers, and whom they will obey as their Bishop and faithful Shepherd. Like as it is written, “if thou hast any thing against thy brother, tell it unto the Church, and he that will not hear the Church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." At which time, I also, if it seemeth good unto your discretion, will be present with you in Cotym, not as a ruler, for I am a stranger among you, nor as a judge, for who am I that I should judge any but mine own people? but as a brother in Christ, and a faithful witness of that which shall be determined, and who may plead the cause of your nation with the Queen of Travancore, and with the most excellent Governor whom the King of England hath set over his cities in India. And forasmuch as it is slanderously reported of thee that thou art no Bishop indeed, let this thing be also enquired into at the mouth of two or three witnesses, and let not thy heart be troubled in that I have known our brother Athanasius in Bombay; for I have purposed, by God's grace, to know no man after the flesh, but to walk in these things according to the will of God, and the tradition of the Churches, and to speak peace, if it may be so, to both of you, (are ye not both brothers?) and to acknowledge him, if difference must be

made, whom your people shall freely choose to rule over them; and within forty days I trust to be strengthened to come unto you.

Brethren, pray for me! Salute our brother, Bishop Dionysius, in my name, salute the brethren which are with you, the Malpans, Catanars, and Deacons, with all others of the Church. Salute our brother Athanasius. God grant that ye may be at unity with each other. The brethren which are with me, even Thomas Robinson (which was in time past known unto the Bishop Dionysius) and John Doran, salute you.

Grace, mercy, and peace, be with you and in the Israel of God! Amen.

COPY OF A LETTER FROM THE REV. THOMAS ROBINSON TO MAR IGNATIUS GEORGIUS, PATRIARCH OF ANTIOCH.

1826.

The presbyter, Thomas Robinson, Ramban to the blessed Mar Reginald, bishop of the English churches in India, sendeth greeting and reverence.

I am not worthy to write unto thy Eminence, forasmuch as thy order in the Church of our Lord Jesus is the highest, and mine the most humble, yet since God hath thought me worthy to serve his honoured and blessed servant, Mar Reginald, the Bishop of our Church in India, I pray thee to receive my words as the words of him who was my master and my brother. The rather is it my duty to write to thee, because there were many things which were in his heart to say unto thee, and he was meditating a letter of peace to thee at the very time when the Great Master of all, the Chief Shepherd, called him to his eternal reward. With thy permission, therefore, I will relate to thy

wisdom what things he had already done towards thy churches in India, and what was farther in his mind to do. It is not unknown to thee, most reverend Father, from the information of the reverend Legate and Metropolitan of thy churches in Malabar, Mar Athanasius, that he met our blessed father, Mar Reginald, at Bombay soon after Pentecost, in the last year (1825,) and, as one bishop with another, partook of the holy mysteries with him at the altar of the English Church dedicated to St. Thomas in that city. Mar Reginald shewed great affection to Mar Athanasius in return for his love to him, and gave him letters to several persons of distinction among the English in this country, commending him to them as Metropolitan and Supreme Bishop of the Syrian Churches in India. After that time he saw his face no more, but he always remembered the brotherly intercourse that was between them; and when he wrote an account of his diocese to the Most Reverend and Excellent Mar Carolus, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Metropolitan of all the churches of the English nation, he made mention therein of Mar Athanasius, and his mission from your Eminence, and how, by his means, an end would be put to the irregularities that had heretofore prevailed in the church of the Apostle Thomas at Malabar. Also, when an English priest, Johannes Doran by name, came to him at Calcutta five months after, desiring to proceed to Malabar, our blessed Father gave him a letter to Mar Athanasius, requesting him to allow him permission to reside among his people, and to receive him as a son for his own sake. This letter I have now at length the satisfaction of sending to the care of your Eminency, and I will now relate from what cause, and in what manner, it was most unfortunately detained so long from the hands of Mar Athanasius, for our blessed Father most earnestly desired it should be delivered without delay, since it would, in all probability, have prevented his departure from the country, and healed the disorders and schisms that now so wretchedly divide your Church in India.

When the priest, Johannes Doran, had gone from Calcutta to