The Architecture of Faith

This article of mine was published in the online edition of The Malankara Sabha English Quarterly between October - December 2024.

On the Wednesday of July 3rd, I attended the consecration of the newly built St. Thomas Chapel within the Hindustan University at Chennai. The Chapel, with its lofty triple-storeyed height and stepped roofs bringing in rays of warm sunlight, rendered a scene of grandeur within its simplistic interior. A solemn Qurbana followed by a formal inaugural ceremony, had made the day very memorable. Amongst this, there was a particular auspicious detail that drew my attention. The esteemed leaders of the institution who addressed the gathering, mentioned that this chapel that is named after St. Thomas, was consecrated on the day of the feast of St.Thomas. I was delighted to hear this and pulled out my phone for a quick Google search to learn more about this day, when I was struck by a much more interesting fact. I learned that St. Thomas is regarded as ‘The Patron Saint of Architects and Builders’. As an architect myself, I was fascinated by this piece of information and learned that St. Thomas is regarded this way in commendation of his work of building the churches in India to spread the Christian faith. Once I returned home after the consecration ceremony, I was invested into learning more about the history of St. Thomas in India and his missionary work in the region.

I came across the history of the journey made by St. Thomas, to reach India and his life as a Christian missionary, particularly in establishing the well known ‘Ezhara Pallikal’ or the ’Seven and a half churches’. These churches are the foundation of Christianity in India and are of great importance in its history. The historical accounts of St. Thomas travelling around various regions of Kerala and turning people towards the Christian faith by preaching and thereby establishing the church in these regions are very insightful. The folklore of the miracles that took place, turning people into believers, were also fascinating to read about. The Seven churches are found in Kodungallur, Kollam, Palayoor, Kottakkavu, Kokkamangalam, Niranam and Nilackal. The church in Thiruvithamcode is considered a ‘half church’. I was fascinated by the stories of these churches such as Kodungallur which marks the inception of St.Thomas’ missionary work in India, the Palayoor church which is the oldest church in India, The Kollam church with remnants of the ancient church that are still seen in the sea during low tide and the Nilackal Church which stands within a dense forest that was once a populated region.

But the most notable observation I made from my study is that despite the elaborate historical accounts of St. Thomas spreading Christianity in Kerala, there is no strong piece of evidence proving that Thomas himself had built a church building in these regions. All of the Seven and a Half churches that stand today were built later, to recognise the establishment of a church by St. Thomas in the region. Although some of the churches date back to very ancient periods and some contain evidence of a previously existing ancient church having been destroyed by natural and man-made causes, there are no accounts that explicitly reveal Thomas building a structure to establish a church. This is also supported by the theory that in the cultural context of Kerala in the first century AD, building a structure for a church was not possible as the Dravidian religions did not have a building for worship. They simply had kavukals with deities where they carried out the poojas. It was possible that Thomas simply turned these kavukals into places for Christian worship by erecting crosses.

This observation had left me with more questions than answers. So none of the buildings that represented the church were built by him? Then why is he called the Patron Saint of Architects? Shouldn’t he have built the church to be considered an architect? Well, the last question is interesting as the answer that I was looking for was right within it. I realised that I had to re-evaluate what ‘building a church’ meant to me. I was reminded of an important lesson in architecture where they say that anybody can easily build a house, but the bigger challenge lies in building a home. As architects, we are taught from the beginning that architecture at its very foundation, is the science of understanding people and their relationship with each other and the environment. This simply means that what we build is merely a ‘shell’ or an ‘envelope’ designed to complement the people in everything they do. And to my astonishment, St. Thomas understood this 2000 years ago. The ‘church’ is more than just the building that represents it. The church is the people and their unwavering faith in God. Therefore, he did indeed build the church: not with blocks of stone, but with faith as firm as a rock that stands strong among the Christians of India even today. Building a church was to build a ‘people’ in Christ and therefore, his legacy was not buildings but the people in Christ that we are today. I was left impressed at this as unlike me, Thomas did not need a degree in architecture to understand this. I guess we now know why he is the ‘Patron Saint of Architects’ after all!

In this context, I was elated to know that my father, who is also an architect, had designed the Marthomangiri Pilgrim Centre at the foot of St. Thomas Mount. This building represents the Malankara Orthodox Church at St. Thomas Mount and serves the community as a pilgrim centre. I was proud to know that my father contributed to the legacy of the ‘Patron Saint of Architects’ and I wish that one day, I can carry on this legacy and build churches that can truly bring people together through Christ!