Talk:Kotahena
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St Thomas' Church, Ginthupitiya
[edit]The Church at Gintupitiya has a long and interesting history. The present church was built in 1815 and is the first church built for Anglican worship. It was built on the site of an earlier Portuguese Roman Catholic Church, which is believed to have been constructed on the foundations of an even earlier church of the Persian Nestorian Christians that lived in Sri Lanka around the 6th century much before the advent of the Portuguese.
The church is also closely connected with the name of St. Thomas one of Jesus’ 12 apostles. It is an accepted fact that St. Thomas the Apostle came to India and was the founder of the Syrian Christian church in that country. Some scholars are of the opinion that he also visited Sri Lanka and preached on the hillock or plain of St. Thomas or Santhumpitiya on which St. Thomas Church, Gintupitiya now stands.
The history of the pre-colonial era is aptly described by Archbishop Emeritus Dr Oswald Gomis (2004), in his book, ‘Some Christian Contributions in Sri Lanka’. During the pre-colonial era, two groups of Christians, St. Thomas Christians and Nestorian Christians lived in Sri Lanka, and later they established union with the Catholic Church. Historia Ecclesiastica of Nikephoros Xanthopulos written from Constantinople (present Turkey) states that St. Thomas the Apostle of Jesus preached to Brahamins on a hill at Ginthupitiya in the island of Taprobane. In the 5th century during the Sigiriya period, 75 ships carrying Murundi Christian soldiers from Mangalore (India) landed in Chilaw at the request of queen Sangha to protect her son King Dhatusena, after he defeated the Pandyans. Migara, King Dhatusena’s nephew and the commander of army was a Christian. His wife, the sister of Mogalan and Kashyapa was also a Christian. The discovery of coins of King Dhatusena with Christian symbols, statues of ‘Abissheka Buddha’ (Paranavithana 1972) and a carved cross on a granite column in Anurhadapura testifies for the presence of Christians in the 5th century. This was the 3rd such cross to be discovered, as De Queyroz (1688), the Jesuit Portuguese historian referred to a cross discovered by the Portuguese in the ruins of St. Thomas Church at the Mouth of Kelani River, Mutwal. When the Anurhadapura cross was discovered in 1912, the Archaeological Commissioner R. Ayrton thought that it was a Portuguese Cross, as it resembled the 2nd cross, found at Kotte, and Kotte was associated with the Portuguese. Later W. Cordrington confirmed that Anuradhapura cross was indeed the cross of St. Thomas Christians found in Mylapore, Chennai and not a Portuguese or Nestorian cross as previously thought — Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.134.0.157 (talk) 08:12, 26 March 2015 (UTC)