he Gnostic heresy, and no Orthodox church regards them as being Canonical; additionally, they are almost universally considered to be pseudepigraphical, even among non-Orthodox Bible scholars. Cyril of Jerusalem attributed the Gospel of Thomas to the Manichees, saying of it "Let none read the Gospel according to Thomas: for it is the work not of one of the twelve Apostles, but of one of the three wicked disciples of Manes." Likewise, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas is generally considered to have been written no earlier than the second century (Irenaeus of Lyons may have referred to it in his seminal work Against Heresies). Thus, it is important that the Orthodox faithful reject any attribution of either of these heretical works to the Holy Apostle Thomas.
The Apostle Thomas should therefore be considered not merely as "Doubting Thomas", but rather, as someone whose faith did waver at one crucial moment, yet through the divine grace of Christ, this wavering was reversed into an opportunity for the demonstration of the actual bodily resurrection of the Lord, and for the concomitant scriptural refutation of Docetism and the Gnostic heresy. The false association of Thomas with Gnostic heretical works is all the more extraordinary in light of the fact that his personal experience, as recorded in the Orthodox, canonical, Gospel of John, discredits the Gnostic heresy that lies at the heart of the works allegedly authored by Thomas. In addition to having been the instrument by which the Lord disproved that pernicious heresy, through a remarkable application of grace reversing a sin into a moment of divine revelation, the Apostle Thomas should also be remembered as a great evangelist; just as Peter and Paul made their way to Rome to evangelize the gentiles therein, and Andrew proceeded to the Northwest, Thomas ventured East in order to spread the same Gospel of peace.
- You were a disciple of Christ
- And a member of the divine college of Apostles.
- Having been weak in faith you doubted the Resurrection of Christ.
- But by feeling the wounds you believed in His all-pure passion:
- Pray now to Him, O all-praised Thomas to grant us peace and great mercy.
Kontakion (Tone 4)
- Thomas, the faithful servant and disciple of Christ,
- Filled with divine grace, cried out from the depth of his love:
- You are my Lord and my God!