Frumentius and Edesius Bring the Faith to India

We have heard that about this time some of the most distant of the nations we call Indians, to whom the preaching of Bartholomew had never come, came to share in our teaching through Frumentius, who became a priest and teacher of the sacred learning among them. But so that we may know, even from the marvel of what happened in India, that the teaching of the Christians ought to be received as something not of human origin, though to some it seems a web of wonders, it is necessary to tell how Frumentius came to be ordained. It happened as follows. [a]

The most famous philosophers among the Greeks explored unknown cities and regions. Plato, the friend of Socrates, lived for a time among the Egyptians to become acquainted with their manners and customs. He also sailed to Sicily to see its craters. From these, as from a spring, streams of fire poured out of their own accord; they often overflowed, rushed down like a river, and consumed the country around, so that even now many fields look burned and cannot be sown or planted with trees, just as people tell of the land of Sodom. These craters were also explored by Empedocles, a man greatly celebrated for philosophy among the Greeks, who set out his knowledge in epic verse. He went to investigate this fiery eruption, and then, either because he thought such a death better than any other, or, to speak more truly, perhaps not knowing why he should seek to end his life in this way, he leaped into the fire and perished. Democritus of Cos explored many cities, lands and nations, and he says of himself that eighty years of his life were spent traveling through foreign countries. Besides these philosophers, thousands of wise men among the Greeks, ancient and modern, gave themselves to such travel.

In rivalry with them, Meropius, a philosopher of Tyre in Phoenicia, traveled as far as India. They say that two youths named Frumentius and Edesius went with him. They were his relatives; he directed their training in rhetoric and gave them a liberal education. After exploring India as far as he could, he set out for home and boarded a ship that was about to sail for Egypt. It happened that, for want of water or some other necessity, the ship had to put in at a certain port, and the Indians rushed on it and murdered everyone, Meropius included. These Indians had just broken off their alliance with the Romans. They took the boys alive as captives, because they pitied their youth, and brought them to their king. The king made the younger one his cupbearer. The older, Frumentius, he put over his household and made the manager of his treasures, for he saw that he was intelligent and very capable in business. These youths served the king usefully and faithfully for many years. When he felt his end approaching, leaving a son and a wife behind him, he rewarded the goodwill of his servants with their freedom and allowed them to go wherever they pleased. They were eager to return to Tyre, where their relatives lived. But since the king’s son was still a minor, his mother begged them to stay a little while and take charge of public affairs until her son came of age. They gave in to her pleas and directed the affairs of the kingdom and the government of the Indies. Frumentius, by some divine impulse, perhaps because God moved him to it unprompted, asked whether there were any Christians in India, or Romans among the merchants who had sailed there. When he had found the people he was looking for, he called them to him, treated them with love and friendliness, and gathered them for prayer; and the assembly was conducted after the Roman custom. When he had built houses of prayer, he encouraged them to honor God continually.

When the king’s son came of age, Frumentius and Edesius pleaded with him and with the queen, and with difficulty persuaded the rulers to let them go. They parted as friends and went back as Roman subjects. Edesius went to Tyre to see his relatives, and soon afterward he was raised to the rank of presbyter. But Frumentius, instead of returning to Phoenicia, went to Alexandria, for with him love of country and duty to family came second to zeal for religion. He conferred with Athanasius, the head of the Alexandrian church, described to him the state of affairs in India, and explained the need to appoint a bishop over the Christians living in that country. Athanasius gathered the priests of the place and consulted with them on the matter, and he ordained Frumentius bishop of India. For Frumentius was especially fit and ready to do much service among the people to whom he had been the first to make known the name of Christian, and among whom the seed of sharing in the teaching had been sown. So Frumentius returned to India, and it is said that he carried out his priestly duties so admirably that he was admired by all and revered as no less than an apostle. God greatly honored him, enabling him to perform many wonderful cures and to work signs and wonders. Such was the origin of the priesthood in India. [e]