The timeline of Theophilus (1895–1946), though short lived, can almost be put in the same line of Juhanon Mar Thoma (1893–1976), the Mar ThomaPatriarch who happened to study at the seminary in Bangalore around the period[5] when Theophilus was undergoing spiritual studies at Serampore between 1919 and 1924.
Theophilus was one of the chief architects of the Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars. His leadership was well recognised both at the state and national level. His interest in other Churches and his contacts with other denominational leaders enriched and moulded his thinking and though he was an ardent Baptist, he fought for a Church Union. He could not bear nor did he believe in denominational differences. He strongly recommended for Church Union and published his articles in Ravi.[8] But his death in 1946 put an end to the move towards union on the part of the CBCNC.[6]
In 1948, G. R. Lorne of Kakinada wrote a well-researched biography replete with footnotes on M. Theophilus. In one of the chapters, Lorne highlights the personal prayer and devotional life of Theophilus who seemed to take much interest in reading titles on St. Francis of Assisi, St. Francis de Sales, Sadhu Sundar Singh and other devotional reading material.[1] Lorne wrote that Theophilus had much concern for the clergy seeing them as servants of Christ.[1]
1941, Pioneers of the Canadian Baptist Mission[11]
Studies
Scholastic and collegiate
Theophilus hailed from Krishna District and schooled at Gunnanapudy, a mission station of the Canadian Baptist Ministries and during the course of his scholastic studies, he was transferred from one place to the other, first to Akiveedu in 1907, Samalkot in 1908 and finally to Kakinada in 1912 to the CBM-McLaurin High School.[1] For collegiate studies, Theophilus enrolled at the local Pitapuram Rajah College in Kakinada in 1915 and also taught as a Teacher in 1917 at his alma mater, the CBM-McLaurin High School.[1]
Theologiate
In 1919,[12] the Canadian Baptist Ministries sent Theophilus to the Serampore College, Serampore to pursue spiritual studies leading to Bachelor of Divinity.[1] Theophilus lived in the old Danish town studying at the theological faculty at Serampore College which also had students studying for arts, science and commerce under George Howells, then principal of the historical college. The study companions of Theophilus included P. K. Abraham, V. T. Chacko, M. I. Daniel, A. Hyder Ali, J. S. Choudhary, G. M. Kanagaratnam, D. Naik and P. Premanandan.[12] After nearly three years of spiritual formation studies, Theophilus took ill in 1922[12] and was sent to the TuberculosisSanatorium, Madanapalle where he spent nearly a year between 1922 and 1923 recuperating from his illness. In October 1923, Theophilus returned to Serampore in 1924[12] to complete his graduate studies.[1] A year later, the university awarded the degree of B.D. to Theophilus in the ensuing convocation during the Registrarship of The Rev. John Drake.
In July 1924, Theophilus moved to Ramayapatnam, a mission station of the American Baptists in southern Andhra Pradesh. Incidentally, the Canadian Baptists initiated their mission together with the American Baptists during the 19th century. Though the Canadian Baptists moved to Kakinada and started a stand-alone mission in 1874 on the invitation of Thomas Gabriel, and also started a seminary in 1882, it was shut down in 1920 and the existing students and faculty were transferred to Ramayapatnam. Theophilus, who joined the faculty of the Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary in 1924, stayed on in Ramayapatnam teaching seminarians until 1926.[1]
Theophilus taught at the seminary for nearly twenty years until he died suddenly in 1946 while being on duty within the portals of the seminary[1] leading to untold grief and sadness that engulfed the seminary and the CBCNC which the Indian Church History Review puts it as,[4]
A great blow and great sadness came to the Seminary in 1946 in the death of Theophilus.[4]
In 1939, Theophilus was elected President[4] of the Christian Endeavour Societies' Union of India, Burma and Ceylon and had been instrumental in organizing Christian Endeavour meetings in East Godavari district since 1932.[1]
In 1947, when the Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars was formed, the Clergy led[17] the Society in line with the wishes of Theophilus. At one point of time, A. B. Masilamani who happened to be a student of Theophilus also became President of the CBCNC in 1959.[17] After nearly 25 years of the formation of the CBCNC, successive leaderships disregarded the clergy with the Laity in the lead, leading to obvious conflict of interest on the part of the Laity who showed scant regard to the Christian mission leading to a plethora of lawsuits[18] and legal recourse[18] leading to chaotic disruptions in the Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars resulting in an irrevocable crisis that brewed in 1972 that caught the attention of Research Scholars, especially M. B. Diwakar who undertook a study titled, An Investigation into the historical antecedents of the crisis in the CBCNC during 1972 to 1974.[19]
The period 1942–1946 when Theophilus was Senator of the university was a crucial one and managing a university during that period required great amounts of courage, patience and persistence on part of the Senators as the Second World War was already underway and India unwittingly became a participant in the World War II fighting the advance of the Japanese who launched the 'Operation U-Go' assisted by Netaji Subash Chandra Bose of the Azad Hind Fauj in the South-East Asian Theatre and as a consequence, it led to the Bengal famine of 1943 during which lakhs died[21] as the Government sought a major portion of the harvest to help sustain the food supplies of the British Indian Army.
In spite of the difficulties, the academics and administration of the university went on and in 1942 Serampore College, the constituent college of the university, became a co-education institution where women students were admitted in the Arts-Science-Commerce Department, a new venture undertaken by the Senators of the university which also experimented with oral tests as paper became a scarce commodity,[22] an initiative which grew out of dire need but became successful.[20]
As for the library of the constituent college of the university, all the books on its stacks were moved in riverboats upstream to Chandernagore and students also assisted in efforts to relocate the library in its entirety.[20] However, when the French sought the building where the university was housed, the library had to be moved back to Serampore in 1945 and was housed in the CNI-St. Olave's Church.[20]
The end of World War II and rebuilding of the university in 1946
Though the Second World War ended in September 1945, it was not until 1946[20] that the Serampore College premises was handed back to the university authorities and gargantuan efforts[20] were made by the Senators to restore the college back to its old glory as the premises was in an unkempt shape.[20] Prof. K. R. Chatterjee records that by July 1946,[20]Serampore College was able to open its academic year in its usual manner. Meanwhile, the British Empire as a prelude to the Independence of India sent a Cabinet Mission to India in 1946 and the same year, the city of Calcutta witnessed the worst ever communal riots and during the succeeding year in August 1947, Bengal was partitioned.
Theophilus was a member of the Student Christian Movement and became President of the Andhra Pradesh Unit of the SCMI in 1939 and led many college students to active membership.[1]
Sunset View at Dowleswaram Godavari. Theophilus was admitted at the AELC-Sanatorium during 1936.
Andhra Baptist Church, Kakinada
In 1931,[24] Theophilus became Honorary President[24] of the Andhra Baptist Church in the neighbourhood of the Seminary in Kakinada and held the position for four years until 1934 coinciding with the Pastorships of The Rev. C. Prakasam and Pastor P. Premanandam.[24]
Vengurla, the serene locale where Theophilus recuperated in 1937.
Theologians down the line have also had upsets either in their seminary days or during their latter part of their career. S. J. Samartha who became Principal of Serampore College, Serampore during the 1960s endured typhoid during his seminary days in Bangalore which put him out of the seminary for nearly a year and was cared for by his parents. Similarly, G. D. Melanchthon[25] of the United Theological College, Bangalore was stricken with paralysis during the latter part of his teaching career but the Council of the United Theological College, Bangalore through the efforts of E. C. John then Principal, D. S. Satyaranjan then Registrar of the university and G. Babu Rao a former student of E. C. John, ensured that Melanchton remained in the College Faculty Quarters in spite of his illness. As for Theophilus, given the condition that he was in, the Canadian Baptist Ministries took Theophilus under its care right from the time of his education in the mission schools, the sudden death of his parents one after the other within a span of ten days,[1] and the time when he was stricken with tuberculosis.[1]
The Rev.T. Gnananandam writing in the Silver Jubilee Souvenir of the CBCNC in 1972[29] brings to light the fact that Theophilus was involved with the administration of not only the CBCNC which worked with the Telugu people but also with the other[29] three vernacular associations in Odisha,
Theophilus was considered a very important member of the Telugu-Odiya Council. He was responsible for drafting the whole constitution of the same body. He also did a good job on the constitution of the present convention.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwG. R. Lorne, He Walked with God: A Life-story of M. Theophilus of the Canadian Baptist Mission, India, Baptist Book Room, Kakinada, 1948. [1]
^Sankar Ray, The Hindu (Business Line), 11 April 2008 Almost a century later, the charter was endorsed officially under the Bengal Govt Act IV of 1918. [3]
^ abcdefghK. M. Hiwale (Compiled), Directory of the United Theological College 1910–1997, Bangalore, 1997. pp.14, 20–22.
^ abcdeD. J. Jeremiah, The Relationship of the Baptist Churches in Andhra Pradesh to the Church Union Movement in South India since 1919 in Reflections on Theology Today: Papers Presented by the ACTC Faculty during the Academic Year 1988–89 on Theology and the Mission and Ministry of the Church, Andhra Christian Theological College, Hyderabad, 1990, pp.54–73. [5]
^M. Theophilus, Life history of William Carey, Baptist Book Room, Kakinada, 1935. [8]
^M. Theophilus, Pioneers of the Canadian Baptist Mission, George Press, Kakinada, 1941. Cited by James Elisha Taneti in History of the Telugu Christians: A Bibliography, Scarecrow, Lanham, 2011, p.90. [9]
^ abcdS. J. Samartha, M. P. John (Compiled), Directory of students 1910–1967, Serampore College (Theology Department), Serampore, 1967, p.3.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrThe Story of Serampore and its College, Published by the Council of Serampore College, Serampore, 2005 (fourth edition), pp.51–54, 80–81, 174, 184. [20]
^Amartya Sen, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1981.
^ abcdefA. Daniel, K. Venkata Ratnam (Edited), Andhra Baptist Church, Kakinada (1906–2006) – 100 Years Souvenir, Kakinada, 2006. From section on Office bearers of the Church (1906–2006).
^G. D. Melanchthon, Hindu Impact on the Christian Attitude to Scripture in Gnana Robinson (Edited), Influence of Hinduism on Christianity: papers presented at the Seminar on Hindu Influence on Christianity, held at the Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary, Arasaradi, Madurai, October 20–22, 1978, Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary, Madurai, 1980.[22]
Devasahayam, G. R., ed. (1972). CBCNC Silver Jubilee 1947-1972 Souvenir. CBCNC.
Diwakar, M. B. (1978). An Investigation into the historical antecedents of the crisis in the CBCNC during 1972 to 1974. Senate of Serampore College (University).
Jeremiah, D. J. (1990). The Relationship of the Baptist Churches in Andhra Pradesh to the Church Union Movement in South India since 1919. Reflections on Theology Today: Papers Presented by the ACTC Faculty during the Academic Year 1988–89 on Theology and the Mission and Ministry of the Church. Hyderabad: Andhra Christian Theological College. OCLC46565446.
Daniel, A. (2006). Ratnam, K. Venkata (ed.). Andhra Baptist Church, Kakinada (1906–2006) – 100 Years Souvenir.
Sunanda, G. Beulah Pearl (2012). The missionary enterprise of the Canadian Baptist Church in Andhra Pradesh: An appraisal. Nagarjunanagar: Acharya Nagarjuna University. hdl:10603/124140.