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Tracking St. Thomas - The Apostle of the East

Is it possible that Thomas, the apostle most known for his doubt, established a church in India in the first century?

The Norwegian bestselling author and pastor Jostein Ørum travels to India to check out if an old and well-preserved tradition might be true.

There he meets some of the millions of Christians who believe that Thomas traveled to India after the resurrection of Jesus, baptized their ancestors and planted several churches with a unique spirituality. He discovers a strong Christian community quite different from his own.

This is the fascinating and inspiring story of the missionary journeys of Thomas the apostle of India, as the Indians tell it themselves. His name itself evokes sentiments of pride and devotion in the minds of the faithful of Kerala who belong to the Churches of Thomas tradition. Though there might not be empirical proof, Thomas remains and will remain in the hearts of the Christians of India as their Apostle.

And in the Eastern traditions, Thomas is not first and foremost the doubter, but the apostle who traveled the most to preach the Gospel of Christ, thus fulfilling the missionary command of Jesus to go to the ends of the world.

  • Thea Elisabeth Haavet
    Director
  • Jostein Ørum
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    På sporet av Tomas - Østens apostel
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    49 minutes 19 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 3, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    Norway
  • Country of Filming:
    India, Norway
  • Language:
    English, Norwegian
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Thea Elisabeth Haavet

Thea Elisabeth Haavet has been working in national TV in Norway off and on from 1995 as a researcher, concept developer, reporter, director and editor for documentaries, docu-series, infotainment and other TV programs. She also worked on her own documentary projects from around the world. In 2014 she started working for Stefanus Alliance International, a Christian missions and human rights organisation, with a special focus on Freedom of Religion and Belief for all. As a film- and development producer, she traveled the world with a camera, as a one-person-crew, filming in places like Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Korea. In 2019, she started her own company, Soulspace Film, and has been working as an independent filmmaker, developing her own projects.

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Director Statement

I first heard the fascinating stories about the apostle Thomas from a Syriac-Orthodox deacon when traveling in Turkey in 2014. “Our tradition tells us that St. Thomas traveled all the way to India,” he told me. “In the beginning he did not want to go, so Jesus had to appear to him in a dream and convince him that he would be with him... Then he went”.

Not long after, I was visiting Iraq after ISIS had invaded Mosul. ”It was the apostle Thomas who brought Christianity here in the first century,” the Syriac-Orthodox archbishop of Mosul Nicodemus Daoud Sharaf, told me. “I just managed to save the shrine with his relics from the Mar Thoma church before we all had to flee from Mosul. We believe that the church was constructed on the site where the apostle resided - before he went to India…”

New stories about the apostle Thomas kept popping up. I felt compelled to explore these stories further: Did the apostle, most known for his doubt, take the gospel all the way to India? If so, why had I heard so little about this before?

The same questions had Jostein Ørum, a Norwegian pastor and bestselling author, who was writing a book about what happened to the twelve apostles after what is told in the Bible.

I decided to follow him when he traveled to India, possibly in the footsteps of the apostle himself…

I found out that traditions abound among the Christians of Kerala regarding the mission journeys of the apostle Thomas and the establishment of Christian communities in seven places, before his death as a martyr after twenty years as a missionary in India. The stories were not only fascinating, but the vibrant faith and unique spirituality of the around nine million “Thomas Christians” made a deep impression on me.

My motivation for making this documentary, is to share a glimpse of this unique and living faith tradition with the viewers.