July 3 is observed as Indian Christian Day while the 2000th anniversary of Christ’s earthly ministry is also being celebrated during 2021-2030
A theatrical presentation being held on the occasion of the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle observed as the Indian Christian Day, at Constitution Club in New Delhi on July 3. (Photo supplied)
Indian Christians cutting across denominational lines have joined to observe the feast of St. Thomas as a day of Christian celebration in the country, where a tradition says the apostle brought the gospel to the subcontinent in the first century.
Christian groups jointly began to observe July 3 as Yeshu Bhakti Divas or Indian Christian Day in 2021. Organizers have declared 2021-2030 as a decade of celebration marking the 2000th anniversary of Christ’s earthly ministry.
“It is an annual day to celebrate the person and message of Jesus Christ which was brought to India in 52 AD by one of his Apostle,” said cardinal-elect Archbishop Anthony Poola of Hyderabad in southern India said in his message.
“It is for us to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ,” he said.
According to a tradition followed by most Christian groups in India, St. Thomas arrived on the south-western coast of India in AD 52 and was martyred in the present-day Tamil Nadu on the southeastern coast. July 3 is traditionally observed as the apostle’s martyrdom day.
The July 3 Indian Christian day began amid Christians facing a hostile atmosphere in the country after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a second term in 2019.
Christian leaders complain that Hindu groups look at them as vestiges of British colonialism ignoring the historical fact that Christianity existed in the country for almost two centuries, even before it arrived on the coast of Europe and England.
Hindu groups also oppose conversion and project missionary activities in the field of education and health care as facades for converting gullible tribal and lower caste people. Several states have also enacted laws to criminalize religious conversion.
Bishop Chacko Thottumarickal of Indore told the media that this year marks the “1950th death anniversary of St. Thomas the Apostle, who first brought the gospel to the subcontinent.”
The Indian Christian Day aims to celebrate “the togetherness and Indian-ness” of Christians in the country and their right to practice and profess their faith and religion, Christian leaders said.
Indian Christians form a tiny minority of 2.3 percent of India’s 1.3 billion people and they live scattered across India, making them socially and politically a negligible community.
The observance of the day is meant to become “a people’s movement to celebrate the person and message of Lord Jesus Christ in India,” says a note on the official website.
“A founding principle of the movement is that it does not create (and it does not encourage, accept, or endorse) any legal entity or any formal mechanism for control, administration and fund-raising.”
Christian groups, churches and parishes organize their own celebrations.
A Global Steering Group and India Working Group were set up by volunteers to help launch the day in 2021. “Having successfully achieved their primary goal, these groups no longer exist, having come to the end of their agreed mandate,” the website said.
Church groups observed the day with meetings, cultural programs, and academic discussions.
In the southern Telangana state, a federation of Churches organized a prayer service seeking God’s protection for all Christians across the country in Secunderabad city.
They sought prayers “so that we can continue the good works and be true witnesses of our Faith,” said a press release.
In the national capital New Delhi, a Christian theatre group based in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh state, highlighted the persecution of Christians in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It also mirrored the missionary work in north western and southern India.
Christians in Indore, a city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, organized an inter-denominational prayer service. The Catholic Church held a High Mass commemorating the Feast of Saint Thomas.
United Christian Forum, an association of various Christian denominations in Indore, organized a cultural program in the evening.
Conrad Sangma, Catholic and chief minister of northeastern Meghalaya state tweeted: “Today, we also honor the 2000th anniversary of the earthly ministry of Lord Jesus, whose teachings and principles have helped shape and transform India and the world.”
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