'Knai Thomman or in English, Bishop Thomas Cana, was a prominent Knanaya merchant or a Bishop from Edessa (Or Urfa), now known as Şanlıurfa, Turkey. According to tradition recorded in eighteenth century document, with the instructions from the Patriarch of Antioch, Mor Yusthedius, he came with 72 families to the Malabar Coast (present-day Kerala, India) in 345 AD.[1]
The details about this merchant or bishop are shrouded in mystery and there is no agreement on the year/period of his arrival, or from where he arrived, or on what grounds.[1]