Fr Mark Woodruff, vice-chairman, writes
It was a great pleasure to make contact with a recent new member of the Society, Dr Martin Anthony from Chester. He is an active member of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, and we are delighted to link to his interesting blog on the Saint Thomas Christians, with roots from the earliest times in the ancient Churches of Persia and Iraq-Syria.
Dr Anthony presented me with the newly published “The Legacy of the Apostle Thomas in India” by the Revd Dr Andrews Mekkattukunnel, of the Oriental Institute of Religious Studies India, in Vadavathoor, Kottayam (Kerala) and the DVD by the distinguished priest-musicologist Dr Joseph Palackal, “Kerala, the Cradle of Christianity in South Asia”, issued by the Christian Musicological Society of India.
Dr Anthony pointed out that, in view of ongoing Malaysian court decisions to forbid Christians to address God as “Allah”, in the classic Syriac version of his Church’s liturgy which predates the emergence of Islam, in the Thrice-Holy Hymn God is addressed as Holy God – “Qamdish Allaha”.