De acuerdo con los relatos tradicionales de los Cristianos de Santo Tomás de la actual Kerala, en India, Tomás viajó fuera del Imperio Romano para predicar el Evangelio, llegando incluso hasta el Tamilakam, localizado en el sur de la India,2345 en el año 52 d. C.62 En 1258, algunas de sus reliquias fueron llevadas a Ortona, en Abruzos, Italia, donde han sido mantenidas en la Iglesia de Santo Tomás Apóstol. Es venerado como santo tanto por la Iglesia católica como por la Iglesia ortodoxa, y es considerado el santo patrón de la India entre sus fieles cristianos,7 siendo su fiesta litúrgica en el rito romano, el 3 de julio, celebrada como el Día de los Cristianos de la India.89
En tres pasajes del Evangelio de Juan (Juan 11:16; Juan 20:24 y Juan 21:2), se lo nombra como: «Tomás, llamado el Dídimo». Tanto la palabra griega «Dídimo» como la aramea «Tau'ma», significan ‘gemelo’ o ‘mellizo’. Por lo tanto, la expresión «Tomás, llamado el Dídimo» es una tautología que elude mencionar el nombre real del personaje. En la versión siria de la Biblia conocida como Peshitta, esta tautología se resuelve en Juan 11:16, donde se lee: ܐܳܡܰܪ ܐܳܡܰܪ ܬ݁ܳܐܘܡܰܐ ܕ݁ܡܶܬ݂ܶܐܡܰܪ ܬ݁ܳܐܡܳܐ ܠܬ݂ܰܠܡܺܝܕ݂ܶܐ ܚܰܒ݂ܪܰܘܗ݈ܝ ܢܺܐܙܰܠ ܐܳܦ݂ ܚܢܰܢ ܢܡܽܘܬ݂ ܥܰܡܶܗ (ʔomar Thoʔwma dmetheʔmar thoʔmo lthalmide khabrawi nʔizal af khnan nmuth ʔame), «Thoma, llamado el Gemelo, dice a sus condiscípulos: Vayamos también nosotros, para que muramos con él». Así, en arameo se distingue entre Tomás, el nombre del apóstol, su sobrenombre tho'mo que significa mellizo.10
El Evangelio de Tomás, hallado en Nag Hammadi, comienza así: «Estas son las palabras secretas que pronunció Jesús el Viviente y que Dídimo Judas Tomás consignó por escrito». La tradición siria informa también de que el nombre completo del apóstol era Judas Tomás, y en el apócrifo conocido como Hechos de Tomás, escrito en la Siria oriental a comienzos del siglo iii, es identificado con Judas, uno de los cuatro hermanos de Jesús mencionados en Marcos 6:3.11 Según la tradición era primo en segundo grado de Jesús.
El apóstol Tomás aparece en varios pasajes del Evangelio de Juan:
Juan 11:16: Lázaro acaba de morir, y los discípulos se resisten a la decisión de Jesús de volver a Judea, donde los judíos lo esperan para apedrearlo. Jesús está decidido, pero es Tomás quien dice la última palabra: «Vamos también nosotros, para que muramos por él».
Juan 14:5: Durante la Última Cena, Jesús asegura a sus discípulos que conocen el camino al lugar a donde él va a ir. Tomás, sin embargo, pregunta: «Señor, no sabemos a dónde vas; ¿cómo, pues, podemos saber el camino?» Jesús responde que él es el camino, la verdad y la vida, y que solamente a través de él conocerán al Padre.
Juan 20:24-29: Aunque a Tomás se le anuncia la Resurrección de Jesús, se niega a admitirla: «Si no veo en sus manos la señal de los clavos y meto mi dedo en el lugar de los clavos, y meto mi mano en su costado, no creeré». Ocho días después, Jesús resucitado le ofrece a Tomás tocar con sus propias manos sus heridas, y le recrimina haber necesitado ver para creer. Es el más conocido de todos los episodios evangélicos relacionados con el apóstol Tomás.
Juan 21:2: Tras haber estado ausente de la comunidad en la primera aparición del Resucitado a ellos, es mencionado en el último capítulo del Evangelio como uno más de los que acompañan a Pedro.
Thomas the Apostle (Greek: Θωμᾶς, romanized: Thōms; Aramaic ܬܐܘܡܐ, romanized: Tʾōmā, meaning "the twin"),[a] also known as Didymus (Greek: Δίδυμος, romanized: Dídymos, meaning "twin"), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Thomas is commonly known as "Doubting Thomas" because he initially doubted the resurrection of Jesus Christ when he was told of it (as is related in the Gospel of John); he later confessed his faith ("My lord and my God") on seeing the places where the wounds appeared still fresh on the holy body of Jesus after the Crucifixion of Jesus. While it is often assumed he touched the wounds in art and poetry, the scriptures do not say that he touched the wounds, merely that Jesus invited him to do so, with it being unclear if he actually felt them.
According to traditional accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians of modern-day state of Kerala in India, Saint Thomas travelled outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel, travelling as far as Kerala in South India,[1][4][5][6] and reached Muziris (modern-day North Paravur and Kodungalloor in Kerala State) in AD 52.[1][7][8] In 1258, some of the relics were brought to Ortona, in Abruzzo, Italy, where they have been held in the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle.[9] He is regarded as the patron saint of India among its Christian adherents,[10][11] and the Feast of Saint Thomas on July 3 is celebrated as Indian Christians' Day.[12][13] The name Thomas remains quite popular among the Saint Thomas Christians of the Indian subcontinent.
Many churches in the Middle East and southern Asia, besides India, also mention Apostle Thomas in their historical traditions as being the first evangelist to establish those churches, the Assyrian Church of the East,[14] the early church of Sri Lanka.[15]
Thomas first speaks in the Gospel of John. In John 11:16,[16] when Lazarus has recently died, and the apostles do not wish to go back to Judea, Thomas says: "Let us also go, that we may die with him."[b]
Thomas speaks again in John 14:5. There, Jesus had just explained that he was going away to prepare a heavenly home for his followers, and that one day they would join him there. Thomas reacted by saying, "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?"[18]
John 20:24–29[19] tells how doubting Thomas was skeptical at first when he heard that Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to the other apostles, saying, "Except I shall see on his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe."[20] But when Jesus appeared later and invited Thomas to touch his wounds and behold him, Thomas showed his belief by saying, "My Lord and my God".[21] Jesus then said, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."[22]
The name Thomas (Greek: Θωμᾶς) given for the apostle in the New Testament is derived from the Aramaic תְּאוֹמָא Tʾōmā[23] (Syriac ܬܐܘܿܡܵܐ/ܬ݁ܳܐܘܡܰܐ Tʾōmā/Tāʾwma), meaning "the twin" and cognate to Hebrew תְּאוֹם tʾóm. The equivalent term for twin in Greek, which is also used in the New Testament, is Δίδυμος Didymos.
Ancient oral tradition retained by the Guaraní tribes of Paraguay claims that the Apostle Thomas was in Paraguay and preached to them under the name of Pa'í Sumé or Avaré Sumé (while in Peru he was known as Tumé).[59]
in the estate of our college, called Paraguay, and twenty leagues distant from Asumpcion. This place stretches out on one side into a pleasant plain, affording pasture to a vast quantity of cattle; on the other, where it looks towards the south, it is surrounded by hills and rocks; in one of which a cross piled up of three large stones is visited, and held in great veneration by the natives for the sake of St. Thomas; for they believe, and firmly maintain, that the Apostle, seated on these stones as on a chair, formerly preached to the assembled Indians.
Almost 150 years prior to Dobrizhoffer's arrival in Paraguay, another Jesuit Missionary, F. J. Antonio Ruiz de Montoya recollected the same oral traditions from the Paraguayan tribes. He wrote:
...The paraguayan tribes they have this very curious tradition. They claim that a very holy man (Thomas the Apostle himself), whom they call "Paí Thome", lived amongst them and preached to them the Holy Truth, wandering and carrying a wooden cross on his back.
The sole recorded research done about the subject was during José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia's reign after the Independence of Paraguay. This is mentioned by Franz Wisner von Morgenstern, an Austro-Hungarian engineer who served in the Paraguayan armies prior and during the Paraguayan War. According to Wisner, some Paraguayan miners while working nearby some hills at the Caaguazú Department found some stones with ancient letters carved in them. Dictator Francia sent his finest experts to inspect those stones, and they concluded that the letters carved in those stones were Hebrew-like symbols, but they couldn't translate them nor figure out the exact date when those letters were carved.[60] No further recorded investigations exists, and according to Wisner, people believed that the letters were made by Thomas the Apostle, following the tradition.
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