Mar Sabor and Mar Proth

Saints

Sabor and Proth

Qandisangal
Venerated in
FeastApril 29
InfluencedSaint Thomas Christians
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Saint Thomas Christian denominations

Syro-Malabar Catholic, Syro-Malankara Catholic, Latin Catholic

Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

Independent Oriential Orthodox

Malabar Independent Syrian Church

Chaldean Syrian

Mar Thoma Syrian, St. Thomas Evangelical

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Andhra Evangelical Lutheran, Assemblies Jehovah Shammah, Christian Revival Church, Church of North India, Church of South India, Garo Baptist, Indian Brethren, Indian Pentecostal Church of God, Church of God (Full Gospel), North Bank Baptist Christian, Northern Evangelical Lutheran, Methodist Church, Presbyterian, The Pentecostal Mission, Seventh-day Adventist, United Evangelical Lutheran

Organisations

Mar Sabor and Mar Proth, according to Syrian Christians of Kerala, were two Church of the East Bishops believed to have arrived in 825 AD alongside a group of Christian settlers led by a merchant from Persia. Together, they established ecclesiastical institutions in several regions. Revered for their devoutness, they were posthumously recognized as saints by the local ecclesiastical body. [1] [2] The mission is said to have received permission from the then king of Kerala to build a church in Kollam.[3][4][5]

That the historicity of this mission cannot be verified does not dispute the epigraphical evidence that Christians were on the Malabar Coast in 9th century AD. Kollam Syrian copper plates, a 9th-century royal grant from Kerala, mentions that certain Maruvan Sapir Iso built a church at Kollam with the blessing of the then Emperor of Kerala. It is likely that Mar Sapir had a companion named Mar Prot.[6] A stone cross, one of the five Persian Crosses, with Sassanid Pahlavi inscription recovered also mentions certain "Afras the Syrian" as "the son of Chaharabukht".[7]

The two bishops are said to have died in Kerala and have been considered as saints by the Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and Syro Malabar Church.[8][2]

  1. ^ Sprague, Sean. "Twin Saints, Twin Churches". CNEWA. Catholic Near East Welfare Association. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b Pius Malekandathil (2010). Maritime India: Trade, Religion and Polity in the Indian Ocean. Primus Books. p. 43. ISBN 978-93-80607-01-6.
  3. ^ Land, 'Brief History of the Syrians of Malabar'. Anedocta Syriaca, I, pp. 27.
  4. ^ Menon, K. P. P. Kerala. I. pp. 273.
  5. ^ Joseph, T. K., 'Mar Sapir and Mar Prodh', I. A., 1928, III, p. 311.
  6. ^ Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 343-45.
  7. ^ C. P . T. Winckworth, 'A New Interpretation of the Pahlavi Cross Inscriptions', Kerala Society Papers, no. 3. p. 159-163.
  8. ^ Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 358.