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OCEAN SCIENCE DATA
COLLECTION,
MANAGEMENT,
NETWORKING
AND SERVICES
Edited by
GIUSEPPE MANZELLA
OceanHis SrL, Torino, Italy
ANTONIO NOVELLINO
ETT SpA - Gruppo SCAI, Genova, Italy
Elsevier
Radarweg 29, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, United Kingdom
50 Hampshire Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek
permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our
arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright
Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions.
This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the
Publisher (other than as may be noted herein).
Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and
experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or
medical treatment may become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in
evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein.
In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety
of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.
To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors,
assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products
liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products,
instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.
ISBN: 978-0-12-823427-3
369 j
370 List of acronyms
SD Sustainable Development
SDG Sustainable Development Goals
SDN SeaDataNet
SeaDataCloud Advanced SeaDataNet services
SeaDataNet Pan-European Infrastructure for Ocean and Marine Data
Management
sensorML Standard models and an XML encoding for describing any process
SI Systeme Internationale or International System
SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System
SLS IOC Sea Level Station Monitoring (SLS)
SLSTR Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer
SMM System Maturity Matrix
SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol
SOCAT Surface Ocean CO2 ATlas
SONEL Systeme d’Observation du Niveau des Eaux Litorales
SOOP Ship of Opportunity Program
SOOS Southern Oceans Observing System
SOP Standard Operating Procedures
SOS Sensor Observation Service
SPARQL Sparql Protocol And Rdf Query Language
SST Sea Surface Temperature
SWE Sensor Web Enablement
SYNTHESIS Synthesis of Systematic Resources
TAC Thematic Assembling Center
TAO Tropical Atmosphere Ocean
Tb Brightness Temperature
TDS THREDDS Data Server
TDWG Biodiversity information standards (formally Taxonomic Databases
Working Group)
TG-ML MSFD Technical Group on Marine Litter
THREDDS Thematic Real-time Environmental Distributed Data Services
TKIP Traditional Knowledge Information Portal
TRITON TRIangle Trans-Ocean buoy Network
TRUST Transparency - Responsibility - User community - Sustainability e
Technology
TXT TeXT
UD Upstream Data(set)
UHSLC University of Hawaii Sea Level Center
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Program
UNEP United Nations Environment Program
UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
UNSD United Nations Sustainable Development
URI Universal Resource Identifier
URMO UNESCO-IOC Register of Marine Organisms
US United States
VLIZ Flanders Marine Institute
List of acronyms 377
A. Barth
University of Liege, Liege, Belgium
Joana Beja
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Oostende, Belgium
Abigail Benson
U.S. Geological Survey, Lakewood, CO, United States
T. Boyer
National Centers for Environmental Information, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Asheville, NC, United States
Jan-Bart Calewaert
Seascape Belgium bvba, Brussels, Belgium; European Marine Observation and Data
Network (EMODnet) Secretariat, Ostend, Belgium
C. Coatanoan
Ifremer Centre de Bretagne, Plouzané, Brest, France
Tim Collart
Seascape Belgium bvba, Brussels, Belgium; European Marine Observation and Data
Network (EMODnet) Secretariat, Ostend, Belgium
Conor Delaney
Seascape Belgium bvba, Brussels, Belgium; European Marine Observation and Data
Network (EMODnet) Secretariat, Ostend, Belgium
Daphnis De Pooter
Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, (CCAMLR),
Hobart, TAS, Australia
Federico De Strobel
The Historical Oceanography Society, La Spezia, Italy
S. Diggs
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA,
United States
William Emery
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States
Michele Fichaut
IFREMER/SISMER, Brest, France
Vasilis Gerovasileiou
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Institute of Marine Biology,
Biotechnology and Aquaculture (IMBBC), Heraklion, Greece
ix j
x Contributors
Kate E. Larkin
Seascape Belgium bvba, Brussels, Belgium; European Marine Observation and Data
Network (EMODnet) Secretariat, Ostend, Belgium
Dan Lear
Marine Biological Association, Plymouth, United Kingdom
Helen Lillis
Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Peterborough, United Kingdom
M. Lipizer
Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale e OGS, Trieste, Italy
Eleonora Manca
Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Peterborough, United Kingdom
Giuseppe M.R. Manzella
The Historical Oceanography Society, La Spezia, Italy; OceanHis SrL, Torino, Italy
Andrée-Anne Marsan
Seascape Belgium bvba, Brussels, Belgium; European Marine Observation and Data
Network (EMODnet) Secretariat, Ostend, Belgium
Patricia Miloslavich
Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), University of Delaware, College of
Earth, Ocean and Environment, Newark, DE, United States; Departamento de Estudios
Ambientales, Universidad Sim
on Bolívar, Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela
Gwenaëlle Moncoiffé
British Oceanographic Data Centre, National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool, United
Kingdom
V. Myroshnychenko
Middle East Technical University, Institute of Marine Sciences, Erdemli-Mersin, Turkey
John Nicholls
Norfish Project, Centre for Environmental Humanities, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin,
Ireland
Antonio Novellino
ETT SpA, Genova, Italy
Nadia Pinardi
The Historical Oceanography Society, La Spezia, Italy; Department of Physics and
Astronomy, Universita di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
A. Pisano
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto di Scienze Marine (CNR-ISMAR), Rome,
Italy
A. Pititto
COGEA, Rome, Italy
Contributors xi
Subuddhi.—A title, meaning one having good sense, among several Oriya
castes.
Sudarmān.—See Udaiyān.
Suddho.—Two distinct castes go by this name, viz., the Savaras who have
settled in the plains, and a small class of agriculturists and paiks (servants)
in the low country of Ganjam. The Suddhos who live in the hills eat fowls
and drink liquor, which those in the plains abstain from. The caste name
Suddho means pure, and is said to have its origin in the fact that Suddho
paiks used to tie the turbans of the kings of Gumsūr. Like other Oriya
castes, the Suddhos have Podhāno, Bissōyi, Bēhara, etc., as titles. The caste
has apparently come into existence in recent times.
Sugamanchi Balija.—A name said to mean the best of Balijas, and used as
a synonym for Gāzula Balija.
Sundi.—See Sondi.
As already said, there are those who attribute the introduction of the Gospel
to a certain Thomas, a disciple of Manes, who is supposed to have come to
India in 277 A.D., finding in this an explanation of the origin of the
Manigrāmakars (inhabitants of the village of Manes) of Kayenkulam near
Quilon. Coming to the middle of the fourth century, we read of a Thomas
Cana, an Aramæan or Syrian merchant, or a divine, as some would have it,
who, having in his travels seen the neglected conditions of the flock of
Christ on the Malabar coast, returned to his native land, sought the
assistance of the Catholics of Bagdad, came back with a train of clergymen
and a pretty large number of Syrians, and worked vigorously to better their
spiritual condition. He is said to have married two Indian ladies, the
disputes of succession between whose children appear, according to some
writers, to have given rise to the two names of Northerners
(Vadakkumbagar) and Southerners (Thekkumbagar)—a distinction which is
still jealously kept up. The authorities are, however, divided as to the date
of his arrival, for, while some assign 345 A.D., others give 745 A.D. It is
just possible that this legend but records the advent of two waves of
colonists from Syria at different times, and their settlement in different
stations; and Thomas Cana was perhaps the leader of the first migration.
The Syrian tradition explains the origin of the names in a different way, for,
according to it, the foreigners or colonists from Syria lived in the southern
street of Cranganūr or Kodungallūr, and the native converts in the northern
street. After their dispersion from Cranganūr, the Southerners kept up their
pride and prestige by refusing to intermarry, while the name of Northerners
came to be applied to all Native Christians other than the Southerners. At
their wedding feasts, the Southerners sing songs commemorating their
colonization at Kodungallūr, their dispersion from there, and settlement in
different places. They still retain some foreign tribe names, to which the
original colony is said to have belonged. A few of these names are Baji,
Kojah, Kujalik, and Majamuth. Their leader Thomas Cana is said to have
visited the last of the Perumāls and to have obtained several privileges for
the benefit of the Christians. He is supposed to have built a church at
Mahādēvarpattanam, or more correctly Mahodayapūram, near Kodungallūr
in the Cochin State, the capital of the Perumāls or Viceroys of Kērala, and,
in their documents, the Syrian Christians now and again designate
themselves as being inhabitants of Mahādēvarpattanam.
Translation.
While (we were) pleased to reside in the great palace, we conferred the title
of Manigrāmam on Iravikorttan, alias Sēramānlōka-pperun-jetti of
Magōdaiyarpattinam.
We (also) gave (him the right of) festive clothing, house pillars, the income
that accrues, the export trade (?), monopoly of trade, (the right of)
proclamation, forerunners, the five musical instruments, a conch, a lamp in
day-time, a cloth spread (in front to walk on), a palanquin, the royal parasol,
the Telugu (?) drum, a gateway with an ornamental arch, and monopoly of
trade in the four quarters.
We (also) gave the oilmongers and the five (classes of) artisans as (his)
slaves.
We (also) gave, with a libation of water—having (caused it to be) written on
a copper-plate—to Iravikorttan, who is the lord of the city, the brokerage on
(articles) that may be measured with the para, weighed by the balance or
measured with the tape, that may be counted or weighed, and on all other
(articles) that are intermediate—including salt, sugar, musk (and) lamp oil
—and also the customs levied on these (articles) between the river mouth of
Kodungallūr and the gate (gōpura)—chiefly between the four temples (tali)
and the village adjacent to (each) temple.
(The witnesses) who know this (are):—We gave (it) with the knowledge of
the villagers of Panniyûr and the villagers of Sôgiram. We gave (it) with the
knowledge (of the authorities) of Vênâdu and Odunâdu. We gave (it) with
the knowledge (of the authorities) of Ēranâdu and Valluvanâdu. We gave
(it) for the time that the moon and the sun shall exist.
Mr. Venkayya adds that “it was supposed by Dr. Burnell76 that the plate of
Vîra-Râghava created the principality of Manigrāmam, and the Cochin
plates that of Anjuvannam.77 The Cochin plates did not create Anjuvannam,
but conferred the honours and privileges connected therewith to a Jew
named Rabbân. Similarly, the rights and honours associated with the other
corporation, Manigrâmam, were bestowed at a later period on Ravikkorran.
It is just possible that Ravikkorran was a Christian by religion. But his
name and title give no clue in this direction, and there is nothing Christian
in the document, except its possession by the present owners. On this name,
Dr. Gundert first said78 ‘Iravi Corttan must be a Nasrani name, though none
of the Syrian priests whom I saw could explain it, or had ever heard of it.’
Subsequently he added: ‘I had indeed been startled by the Iravi Corttan,
which does not look at all like the appellation of a Syrian Christian; still I
thought myself justified in calling Manigrâmam a Christian principality—
whatever their Christianity may have consisted in—on the ground that,
from Menezes’ time, these grants had been regarded as given to the Syrian
colonists.’ Mr. Kookel Keloo Nair considered Iravikkorran a mere title, in
which no shadow of a Syrian name is to be traced.”
We know but little of the history of the Malabar Church for nearly six
centuries prior to the arrival of the Portuguese in India. We have, however,
the story of the pilgrimage of the Bishop of Sherborne to the shrine of St.
Thomas in India about 883 A.D., in the reign of Alfred the Great; and the
reference made to the prevalence of Nestorianism among the St. Thomas’
Christians of Malabar by Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller.
The Christian community seem to have been in the zenith of their glory and
prosperity between the 9th and 14th centuries, as, according to their
tradition, they were then permitted to have a king of their own, with
Villiarvattam near Udayamperūr (Diamper) as his capital. According to
another version, the king of Villiarvattam was a convert to Christianity. The
dynasty seems to have become extinct about the 14th century, and it is said
that, on the arrival of the Portuguese, the crown and sceptre of the last
Christian king were presented to Vasco da Gama in 1502. We have already
referred to the high position occupied by the Christians under the early
kings, as is seen from the rare privileges granted to them, most probably in
return for military services rendered by them. The king seems to have
enjoyed, among other things, the right of punishing offences committed by
the Christian community, who practically followed his lead. A more
reasonable view of the story of a Christian king appears to be that a
Christian chief of Udayamperūr enjoyed a sort of socio-territorial
jurisdiction over his followers, which, in later times, seems to have been so
magnified as to invest him with territorial sovereignty. We see, in the
copper-plate charters of the Jews, that their chief was also invested with
some such powers.
Mention is made of two Latin Missions in the 14th century, with Quilon as
head-quarters, but their labours were ineffectual, and their triumphs but
short-lived. Towards the end of the 15th, and throughout the whole of the
16th century, the Nestorian Patriarch of Mesopotamia seems to have
exercised some authority over the Malabar Christians, as is borne out by the
occasional references to the arrival of Nestorian Bishops to preside over the
churches.
Until the arrival of the Portuguese, the Malabar church was following
unmolested, in its ritual, practice and communion, a creed of the Syro-
Chaldæan church of the East. When they set out on their voyages, conquest
and conversion were no less dear to the heart of Portuguese than enterprise
and commerce. Though, in the first moments, the Syrians, in their neglected
spiritual condition, were gratified at the advent of their co-religionists, the
Romanist Portuguese, and the Portuguese in their turn expected the most
beneficial results from an alliance with their Christian brethren on this
coast, “the conformity of the Syrians to the faith and practice of the 5th
century soon disappointed the prejudices of the Papist apologists. It was the
first care of the Portuguese to intercept all correspondence with the Eastern
Patriarchs, and several of their Bishops expired in the prisons of their Holy
Office.” The Franciscan and Dominican Friars, and the Jesuit Fathers,
worked vigorously to win the Malabar Christians over to the Roman
Communion. Towards the beginning of the last quarter of the 16th century,
the Jesuits built a church at Vaippacotta near Cranganūr, and founded a
college for the education of Christian youths. In 1584, a seminary was
established for the purpose of instructing the Syrians in theology, and
teaching them the Latin, Portuguese and Syriac languages. The dignitaries
who presided over the churches, however, refused to ordain the students
trained in the seminary. This, and other causes of quarrel between the
Jesuits and the native clergy, culminated in an open rupture, which was
proclaimed by Archdeacon George in a Synod at Angamāli. When Alexes
de Menezes, Archbishop of Goa, heard of this, he himself undertook a
visitation of the Syrian churches. The bold and energetic Menezes carried
all before him. Nor is his success to be wondered at. He was invested with
the spiritual authority of the Pope, and armed with the terrors of the
Inquisition. He was encouraged in his efforts by the Portuguese King,
whose Governors on this coast ably backed him up. Though the ruling
chiefs at first discountenanced the exercise of coercive measures over their
subjects, they were soon won over by the stratagems of the subtle
Archbishop. Thus supported, he commenced his visitation of the churches,
and reduced them in A.D. 1599 by the decrees of the Synod of Diamper
(Udayamperūr), a village about ten miles to the south-east of the town of
Cochin. The decrees passed by the Synod were reluctantly subscribed to by
Archdeacon George and a large number of Kathanars, as the native priests
are called; and this practically converted the Malabar Church into a branch
of the Roman Church. Literature sustained a very great loss at the hands of
Menezes, “for this blind and enthusiastic inquisitor destroyed, like a second
Omar, all the books written in the Syrian or Chaldæan language, which
could be collected, not only at the Synod of Diamper, but especially during
his subsequent circuit; for, as soon as he had entered into a Syrian Church,
he ordered all their books and records to be laid before him, which, a few
indifferent ones excepted, he committed to the flames, so that at present
neither books nor manuscripts are any more to be found amongst the St.
Thomé Christians.”80
When the Portuguese first came to India, the Indian trade was chiefly in the
hands of the Moors, who had no particular liking for the Hindus or
Christians, and the arrival of the Portuguese was therefore welcome alike to
the Hindus and Christians, who eagerly sought their assistance. The
Portuguese likewise accepted their offers of friendship very gladly, as an
alliance, especially with the former, gave them splendid opportunities for
advancing their religious mission, while, from a friendly intercourse with
the latter, they expected not only to further their religious interests, but also
their commercial prosperity. In the work of conversion they were
successful, more especially among the lower orders, the Illuvans,
Mukkuvans, Pulayans, etc. The labours of Miguel Vaz, afterwards Vicar-
General of Goa, and of Father Vincent, in this direction were continued with
admirable success by St. Francis Xavier.
We have seen how the strict and rigid discipline of the Jesuit Archbishops,
their pride and exclusiveness, and the capture and murder of Ahattala
brought about the outburst at the Coonen Cross. Seeing that the Jesuits had
failed, Pope Alexander VII had recourse to the Carmelite Fathers, who were
specially instructed to do their best to remove the schism, and to bring
about a reconciliation; but, because the Portuguese claimed absolute
possession of the Indian Missions, and as the Pope had despatched the
Carmelite Fathers without the approval of the King of Portugal, the first
batch of these missionaries could not reach the destined field of their
labours. Another body of Carmelites, who had taken a different route,
however, succeeded in reaching Malabar in 1656, and they met Archdeacon
Thomas who had succeeded Archdeacon George. While expressing their
willingness to submit to Rome, the Syrians declined to place themselves
under Archbishop Garcia, S.J., who had succeeded Archbishop Roz, S.J.
The Syrians insisted on their being given a non-Jesuit Bishop, and, in 1659,
Father Joseph was appointed Vicar Apostolic of the “Sierra of Malabar”
without the knowledge of the King of Portugal. He came out to India in
1661, and worked vigorously for two years in reconciling the Syrian
Christians to the Church of Rome. But he was not allowed to continue his
work unmolested, because, when the Dutch, who were competing with the
Portuguese for supremacy in the Eastern seas, took the port of Cochin in
1663, Bishop Joseph was ordered to leave the coast forthwith. When he left
Cochin, he consecrated Chandy Parambil, otherwise known as Alexander de
Campo.
Salvador, S.J., Archbishop of Cranganūr, died in 1777. Five years after this,
the King of Portugal appointed Joseph Cariatil and Thomas Paramakal, two
native Christians, who had been educated at the Propaganda College at
Rome, as Archbishop and Vicar-General, respectively, of the diocese of
Cranganūr.
The native clergy at the time were mostly ignorant, and the discipline
amongst them was rather lax. The Propaganda attempted reforms in this
direction, which led to a rupture between the Latin and the native clergy.
The Carmelite Fathers, like the Jesuits, had grown overbearing and haughty,
and an attempt at innovation made by the Pope through them became
altogether distasteful to the natives. Serious charges against the Carmelites
were, therefore, formally laid before the Pope and the Rāja of Travancore
by the Syrians. They also insisted that Thomas should be consecrated
Bishop. At this time, the Dutch were all-powerful at the courts of native
rulers, and, though the Carmelite missionaries who had ingratiated
themselves into the good graces of the Dutch tried their best to thwart the
Syrians in their endeavours, Thomas was permitted to be consecrated
Bishop, and the Syrians were allowed the enjoyment of certain rare
privileges. It is remarkable that, at this time and even in much earlier times,
the disputes between the foreign and the native clergy, or between the
various factions following the lead of the native clergy, were often decided
by the Hindu kings, and the Christians accepted and abided by the decisions
of their temporal heads.
In 1838, Pope Gregory XVI issued a Bull abolishing the Sees of Cranganūr
and Cochin, and transferring the jurisdiction to the Vicar Apostolic of
Varapuzha. But the King of Portugal questioned the right of the Pope, and
this led to serious disputes. The abolition of the smaller seminaries by
Archbishop Bernardin of Varapuzha, and his refusal to ordain candidates for
Holy Orders trained in these seminaries by the Malpans or teacher-priests,
caused much discontent among the Syrian Christians, and, in 1856, a large
section of the Syrians applied to the Catholic Chaldæan Patriarch of
Babylon for a Chaldæan Bishop. This was readily responded to by the
Patriarch, who, though under the Pope, thought that he had a prescriptive
right to supremacy over the Malabar Christians. Bishop Roccos was sent
out to Malabar in 1861, and though, owing to the charm of novelty, a large
section of the Christians at once joined him, a strong minority questioned
his authority, and referred the matter to the Pope. Bishop Roccos was
recalled, and the Patriarch was warned by the Pope against further
interference.
The monopoly of the Indian missions claimed by the Portuguese, and the
frequent disputes which disturbed the peace of the Malabar church, were
ended in 1886 by the Concordat entered into between Pope Leo XIII and
the King of Portugal. The Archbishop of Goa was by this recognised as the
Patriarch of the East Indies with the Bishop of Cochin as a suffragan, whose
diocese in the Cochin State is confined to the seaboard tāluk of Cochin. The
rest of the Latin Catholics of this State, except a small section in the Chittūr
tāluk under the Bishop of Coimbatore, are under the Archbishop of
Varapuzha.
Since the revolt of the Syrians at the Coonen Cross in 1653, the Jacobite
Syrians have been governed by native Bishops consecrated by Bishops sent
by the Patriarch of Antioch, or at least always received and recognised as
such. In exigent circumstances, the native Bishops themselves, before their
death, consecrated their successors by the imposition of hands. Immediately
after the defection, they chose Archdeacon Thomas as their spiritual leader.
He was thus the first Metran or native Bishop, having been formally
ordained after twelve years of independent rule by Mar Gregory from
Antioch, with whose name the revival of Jacobitism in Malabar is
associated. The Metran assumed the title of Mar Thomas I. He belonged to
the family that traced its descent from the Pakalomattom family, held in
high respect and great veneration as one of the Brāhman families, the
members of which are supposed to have been converted and ordained as
priests by the apostle himself. Members of the same family continued to
hold the Metranship till about the year 1815, when the family is supposed to
have become extinct. This hereditary succession is supposed by some to be
a relic of the Nestorian practice. It may, however, be explained in another
way. The earliest converts were high-caste Hindus, amongst whom an
Anandravan (brother or nephew) succeeded to the family estates and titles
in pursuance of the joint family system as current in Malabar. The
succession of a brother or a nephew might, therefore, be quite as much a
relic of the Hindu custom. The Metrans possessed properties. They were,
therefore, interested in securing the succession of their Anandravans, so that
their properties might not pass to a different family. Mar Thomas I was
succeeded by his brother Mar Thomas II, on whose death his nephew
became Metran under the title of Mar Thomas III. He held office only for
ten days. Mar Thomas IV, who succeeded him, presided over the church till
1728. Thomas III and IV are said to have been consecrated by Bishop John,
a scholar of great repute, who, with one Bishop Basil, came from Antioch in
1685. During the régime of Mar Thomas IV, and of his nephew Thomas V,
Mar Gabriel, a Nestorian Bishop, appeared on the scene in 1708. He seems
to have been a man without any definite creed, as he proclaimed himself a
Nestorian, a Jacobite, or a Romanist, according as one or the other best
suited his interests. He had his own friends and admirers among the
Syrians, with whose support he ruled over a few churches in the north till
1731. The consecration of Mar Thomas V by Mar Thomas IV was felt to be
invalid, and, to remedy the defect, the assistance of the Dutch was sought;
but, being disappointed, the Christians had recourse to a Jewish merchant
named Ezekiel, who undertook to convey their message to the Patriarch of
Antioch. He brought from Bassorah one Mar Ivanius, who was a man of
fiery temper. He interfered with the images in the churches. This led to
quarrels with the Metran, and he had forthwith to quit the State. Through
the Dutch authorities at Cochin, a fresh requisition was sent to the Patriarch
of Antioch, who sent out three Bishops named Basil, John, and Gregory.
Their arrival caused fresh troubles, owing to the difficulty of paying the
large sum claimed by them as passage money. In 1761, Mar Thomas V,
supposed to have died in 1765, consecrated his nephew Mar Thomas VI.
About this time, Gregory consecrated one Kurilos, the leader of a faction
that resisted the rule of Thomas VI. The disputes and quarrels which
followed were ended with the flight of Kurilos, who founded the See of
Anjoor in the north of Cochin and became the first Bishop of Tholiyur.
Through the kind intercession of the Maharāja of Travancore, Thomas VI
underwent formal consecration at the hands of the Bishops from Antioch,
and took the title of Dionysius I, known also as Dionysius the Great. In
1775, the great Carmelite father Paoli visited Mar Dionysius, and tried to
persuade him to submit to Rome. It is said that he agreed to the proposal, on
condition of his being recognised as Metropolitan of all the Syrians in
Malabar, but nothing came of it. A few years after this, the struggle for
supremacy between the Dutch and the English had ended in the triumph of
the latter, who evinced a good deal of interest in the Syrian Christians, and,
in 1805, the Madras Government deputed Dr. Kerr to study the history of
the Malabar Church. In 1809, Dr. Buchanan visited Mar Dionysius, and
broached the question of a union of the Syrian Church with the Church of
England. The proposal, however, did not find favour with the Metropolitan,
or his congregation. Mar Dionysius died in 1808. Before his death, he had
consecrated Thomas Kathanar as Thomas VIII. He died in 1816. His
successor, Thomas IX, was weak and old, and he was displaced by Ittoop
Ramban, known as Pulikōt Dionysius or Dionysius II. He enjoyed the
confidence and good-will of Colonel Munro, the British Resident, through
whose good offices a seminary had been built at Kottayam in 1813 for the
education of Syrian youths. He died in 1818. Philixenos, who had
succeeded Kurilos as Bishop of Tholiyur, now consecrated Punnathara
Dionysius, or Dionysius III.
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