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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2011
After the suppression of the Jesuits, the followers of Alexander, who had assumed the designation of Syro-Roman Catholics, or old Christians, did not continue many years a united church. Alexander died a.d. 1676, and was succeeded by a Portuguese priest, Don Diego De Annunciacio, who was nominated by the King of Portugal, Don Pedro the Second, archbishop of Kranganór.
1 The English missionaries attached to the church have conducted themselves with great prudence, and they are respected and beloved by the people. The fur. ther resort of respectable and well-educated clergymen of the church of England will be productive of the greatest advantage, for the Syrians themselves are lamentably deficient in knowledge, energy, and ability; and the assistance of intermediate agents is therefore rendered essentially necessary to the success of the measures adopted for the amelioration of the community.
The missionaries at present manage for them the temporal as well as the spiritual concerns of their church, under the direction of the metropolitan. They form also the medium of communication between the people and government, and all their privileges are to a certain degree committed to their care.
The establishment of the college, in which the metropolitan resides as its head, consists of two malpans, or Syrian doctors, who lecture in Syriac, a learned Jew teacher of Hebrew, two native teachers of Sanskrit, and an English tutor and his assistant. The number of students is at present fifty-one, eighteen of whom have received the initiatory ordinations.
The objects which the missionaries have in view are: —
1. The circulation of the Holy Scriptures in the Syriac and vernacular tongues, with other works of religious and general information.
2. The general instruction of youth.
3. The special instruction of the clergy.
4. The erection and enlargement of churches.
5. The expurgation of the ancient doctrines and rituals from the Popish ceremonies, and the restoration of the primitive discipline and government of the church.