Mar Sabor and Mar Proth
Mar Sabor and Mar Proth, according to Syrian Malabar Christian tradition, were two Chaldean Assyrian bishops who landed in the port of Kollam (in present-day Kerala) by the help of a Nestorian merchant, Sabr Iso in 823 AD. The mission is said to have received permission from the then king of Kerala to build a church in Kollam.
Sabor and Proth Qandisangal | |
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Venerated in | |
Feast | April 29 |
Influenced | Saint Thomas Christians |
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Christianity in India |
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That the historicity of this mission cannot be verified does not dispute the epigraphical evidence that Christians were on the Malabar Coast in 9th century AD. Kollam Syrian copper plates, a 9th-century royal grant from Kerala, mentions that certain Maruvan Sapir Iso built a church at Kollam with the blessing of the then Emperor of Kerala. It is likely that Mar Sapir had a companion named Mar Prot. A stone cross, one of the five Persian Crosses, with Sassanid Pahlavi inscription recovered also mentions certain "Afras the Syrian" as "the son of Chaharabukht".
The two bishops are said to have died in Kerala and have been considered as saints by the Syro Malabar Church, Jacobite Syrian Church and Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.