Malankara Church
Encyclopedia
The Malankara Church is the church of the Saint Thomas Christians
of Kerala
, India
, with particular emphasis on the part of the community that joined Archdeacon
Mar Thoma
in swearing to resist the authority of the Portuguese
Padroado
in 1653. This faction soon entered into a relationship with the Syriac Orthodox Church
of Antioch
, and was thereafter often known as the Malankara Syrian Church (Malayam: Malankara Suriyani Sabha).
As part of the Saint Thomas Christian community, the church traced its origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle
in the 1st century. As an independent faction, it originated in the first major split within the Saint Thomas Christian community. Historically, the Thomas Christians had been united in leadership and liturgy, and were part of the Church of the East
, based in Persia. However, the collapse of the Church of the East's hierarchy in Asia left the province of India
effectively isolated, and through the 16th century, the Portuguese
, recently established in Goa
, forcefully drew the Thomas Christians into Latin Rite Catholicism. Resentment of these measures led the majority of the community to join the archdeacon, Thoma
, in swearing never to submit to the Portuguese in the Coonan Cross Oath
. Several months later Thoma was ordained as the first indigenous Metropolitan of Malankara.
Following the Oath, in 1661 Pope Alexander VII
established a new East Syrian Rite
hierarchy in communion with Rome for the Saint Thomas Christians; by the next year 84 of the 116 communities had joined, forming what is now the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
. The remaining 32 communities stayed independent, and formed a relationship with the Syriac Orthodox Church
. Over the next centuries this relationship strengthened, and the Malankara Church adopted a variant of the West Syrian Rite
known as the Malankara Rite
(as opposed to the previous East Syrian usage) and entered into full communion with the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch. However, through this time the church experienced a series of splits, resulting in large numbers of followers breaking away. In the 20th century a dispute over authority between supporters of the Metropolitan and supporters of the Patriarch finally divided the church, with the former group becoming the essentially independent Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the latter maintaining ties with the Patriarch as the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
. Motions by church leaders and two Supreme Court
decisions in the 20th century failed to heal the rift. Other groups to split from the main body are the Malabar Independent Syrian Church
, which broke away in 1772; the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, (also known as Mar Thoma Church) which entered into communion with the Anglican Communion
; and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
, which entered into communion with the Catholic Church as an Eastern Catholic Church with its own liturgy.
near Muziris
, which according to tradition was the first place Thomas the Apostle
landed in India. Initially the terms 'Malankara Christians' or 'Malankara Nasranis' were applied to all Saint Thomas Christians, but following the split the term was generally restricted to the faction loyal to Mar Thoma I
, distinguishing them from the Catholic faction. Later, many of the churches that subsequently branched off have maintained the word in their names.
At the time of the split, the branch affiliated with Mar Thoma was called the Puttankuttukar, or "New Party", while the branch that entered into Catholic obedience was designated the Pazhayakuttukar, or "Old Party". This latter group evolved into the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
. These appellations have been somewhat controversial, as both groups considered themselves the true heirs to the Saint Thomas tradition, and saw the other as heretical.
Following the association with the Syriac Orthodox Church
, the church was often known as the Malankara Syrian Church (Malayam: മലങ്കര സുറിയാനി സഭ ) in reference to their connection to the West Syrian tradition
. As such they were often known as 'Jacobites', 'Syrian Jacobites', or 'Jacobite Syrians', a reference to the Syriac Orthodox Church's connection to Jacob Baradaeus
. After the split between Metropolitan- and the Patriarch-supporting factions, the Jacobite designation has been chiefly associated with the latter group, who emphasize their connection with Antioch.
, said to have proselytized in India in the 1st century. Different strains of the tradition have him arriving either by sea or by land. There is no direct contemporary evidence for Thomas coming to India, but such a trip would certainly have been possible for a Roman
Jew
to have made; communities such as the Cochin Jews
and the Bene Israel
are known to have existed in India around that time. The earliest text connecting Thomas to India is the Acts of Thomas
, written in Edessa
perhaps in the 2nd century. Some early Indian sources, such as the "Thomas Parvam" or "Song of Thomas", further expand on the tradition of the apostle's arrival and activities in India and beyond. Generally he is described as arriving in the neighbourhood of Maliankara and establishing Seven Churches, the Ezharapallikal: Cranganore (ml:കൊടുങ്ങല്ലൂര്), Paravur
(Kottakavu)(ml:കോട്ടക്കാവ്), Palayoor
(ml:പാലയൂര്), Kokkamangalam
(ml:കൊക്കമംഗലം), Niranam
(ml:നിരണം ), Chayal (Nilackal) (ml:നിലക്കല്) and Kollam
(Quilon) (ml:കൊല്ലം ). Eusebius of Caesarea
mentions that his mentor Pantaenus
found a Christian community in India in the 2nd century, while references to Thomas' Indian mission appear in the works of 3rd- and 4th-century writers of the Roman Empire, including Ambrose of Milan, Gregory of Nazianzus
, Jerome
, and Ephrem the Syrian
, showing that the Thomas tradition was well established across the Christian world by that time.
Whatever the historicity of the Thomas tradition, the earliest organised Christian presence in India dates to around the 3rd century, when East Syrian
settlers and missionaries from Persia, members of the Church of the East
or Nestorian Church, established themselves in Kerala. The Thomas Christians trace the further growth of their community to the mission of Thomas of Cana, a Nestorian from the Middle East said to have relocated to Kerala some time between the 4th and 8th century. The subgroup of the Saint Thomas Christians known as the Southists trace their lineage to the high-born Thomas of Cana, while the group known as the Northists claim descent from Thomas the Apostle's indigenous converts who intermarried with Thomas of Cana's children by his concubine or second wife.
As the community grew and immigration by East Syrians increased, the connection with the Church of the East, centred in the Persian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, strengthened. From the early 4th century the Patriarch of the Church of the East provided India with clergy, holy texts, and ecclesiastical infrastructure, and around 650 Patriarch Ishoyahb III solidified the Church of the East's jurisdiction over the Saint Thomas Christian community. In the 8th century Patriarch Timothy I organised the community as the Ecclesiastical Province of India
, one of the church's illustrious Provinces of the Exterior. After this point the Province of India was headed by a metropolitan bishop
, provided from Persia, the "Metropolitan-Bishop of the Seat of Saint Thomas and the Whole Christian Church of India". His metropolitan see was probably in Cranganore, or (perhaps nominally) in Mylapore
, where the shrine of Thomas was located. Under him were a varying number of bishops, as well as a native Archdeacon
, who had authority over the clergy and who wielded a great amount of secular power.
, in appreciation for their assistance, gave to the Malankara Nazranis, three deeds on copper plates. They gave the Nasranis various rights and privileges which were written on copper plates. These are known as Cheppeds, Royal Grants, Sasanam etc. Five sheets of them are now in the custody of St. Thomas Christians.
The languages used are old Tamil letters with some Grantha letters intermingled, Pahlavi, Kufic
and Hebrew.
These plates detail privileges awarded to the community by the then rulers. These influenced the development of the social structure in Kerala and privileges, rules for the communities . These are considered as one of the most important legal documents in the history of Kerala
.
– the highest clergyman not of the rank of bishop
– had great importance in the church of India in the centuries leading up to the formation of an independent Malankara Church. Though technically subordinate to the Metropolitan, the Archdeacon wielded great ecclesiastical and secular power, to the extent that he was considered the secular leader of the community and served as effective head of the Indian Church in times when the province was absent a bishop. Unlike the Metropolitan, who was evidently always an East Syrian sent by the Patriarch, the Archdeacon was a native Saint Thomas Christian. In the documented period the position was evidently hereditary, belonging to the Pakalomattam family, who claimed a privileged connection to Thomas the Apostle.
Details on the archidiaconate prior to the arrival of the Portuguese are elusive, but Patriarch Timothy I (780 – 823) called the Archdeacon of India the "head of the faithful in India", implying an elevated status by at least that time. In the recorded period of its history, the office of archdeacon was substantially different in India than in the rest of the Church of the East or other Christian churches. In the broader Church of the East, each bishop was attended by an archdeacon, but in India, there was only ever one archdeacon, even when the province had multiple bishops serving it.
Following the collapse of the Church of the East's hierarchy in most of Asia in the 14th century, India was effectively cut off from the Church's heartland in Mesopotamia and formal contact was severed. By the late 15th century India had had no metropolitan for several generations, and the authority traditionally associated with him had been vested in the archdeacon. In 1491 the archdeacon sent envoys to the Patriarch of the Church of the East, as well as to the Coptic Pope of Alexandria and to the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, requesting a new bishop for India. The Patriarch of the Church of the East Shemʿon IV Basidi responded by consecrating two bishops, Thoma and Yuhanon, and dispatching them to India. These bishops helped rebuild the ecclesiastical infrastructure and reestablish fraternal ties with the patriarchate, but the years of separation had greatly affected the structure of the Indian church. Though receiving utmost respect, the metropolitan was treated as a guest in his own diocese; the Archdeacon was firmly established as the real power in the Malankara community.
arrived in India in 1498, the Saint Thomas Christians were in a difficult position. Though prosperous owing to their large stake in the spice trade
and protected by a formidable militia, the tumultuous political climate of the time had placed the small community under pressure from the forces of the powerful raja
s of Calicut, Cochin
, and the various smaller kingdoms in the area. When the Portuguese under Vasco da Gama
arrived on the South Indian coast, the leaders of the Saint Thomas community greeted them and proffered a formal alliance to their fellow Christians. The Portuguese, who had keen interest in implanting themselves in the spice trade and in expanding the domain of their bellicose form of Christianity, jumped at this opportunity.
The Portuguese brought to India a particularly militant brand of Christianity, the product of several centuries of struggle during the Reconquista
, which they hoped to spread across the world. Facilitating this objective was the Padroado Real, a series of treaties and decrees in which the Pope
conferred upon the Portuguese government certain authority in ecclesiastical matters in the foreign territories they conquered. Upon reaching India the Portuguese quickly ensconced themselves in Goa
and established a church hierarchy; soon they set themselves to bringing the native Christians under their dominion. Towards this goal, the colonial establishment felt it necessary to conduct the Saint Thomas Christians fully into the Latin Rite, both in bringing them into conformity with Latin church customs and in subjecting them to the authority of the Archbishop of Goa.
Following the death of Metropolitan Mar Jacob in 1552, the Portuguese became more aggressive in their efforts to subjugate the Saint Thomas Christians. Protests on the part of the natives were frustrated by events back in the Church of the East's Mesopotamian heartland, which left them devoid of consistent leadership. In 1552, the year of Jacob's death, a schism in the Church of the East
resulted in there being two rival patriarchates, one of which entered into communion with the Catholic Church, and the other of which remained independent. At different times both patriarchs sent bishops to India, but the Portuguese were consistently able to outmaneuver the newcomers or else convert them to Latin Rite Catholicism outright. In 1575 the Padroado declared that neither patriarch could appoint prelates to the community without Portuguese consent, thereby cutting the Thomas Christians off from their hierarchy.
By 1599 the last Metropolitan, Abraham, had died, and the Archbishop of Goa, Aleixo de Menezes
, had secured the submission of the young Archdeacon George, the highest remaining representative of the native church hierarchy. That year Menezes convened the Synod of Diamper
, which instituted a number of structural and liturgical reforms to the Indian church. At the synod, the parishes were brought directly under the Archbishop's authority, certain "superstitious" customs were anathematized, and the indigenous liturgy, the Malabar Rite, was purged of elements unacceptable by the Latin standards. Though the Saint Thomas Christians were now formally part of the Catholic Church, the conduct of the Portuguese over the next decades fueled resentment in parts of the community, ultimately leading to open resistance.
, the nephew and successor to Archdeacon George. In 1652, the escalating situation was further complicated by the arrival in India of a mysterious figure named Ahatallah
.
Ahatallah arrived in Mylapore
in 1652, claiming to be the rightful Patriarch of Antioch
who had been sent by the pope to serve as "Patriarch of the Whole of India and of China". Ahatallah's true biography is obscure, but some details have been established. He appears to have been a Syriac Orthodox Bishop of Damascus who converted to Catholicism and went to Rome in 1632. He then returned to Syria in order to bring the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Hidayat Allah into communion with Rome. He had not accomplished this by the time Hidayat Allah died in 1639, after which point Ahatallah began claiming he was Hidayat Allah's rightful successor. In 1646 he was in Egypt
at the court of the Coptic Pope Mark VI
, who dispatched him to India in 1652, evidently in response to a request for aid from Archdeacon Thomas. Reckoning him an impostor, the Portuguese arrested him, but allowed him to meet with members of the Saint Thomas Christian clergy, whom he impressed greatly. The Portuguese put him on a ship bound for Cochin and Goa, and Archdeacon Thomas led his militia to Cochin demanding to meet with the "Patriarch". The Portuguese refused, asserting that he was a dangerous invader and that the ship had already sailed on to Goa.
Ahatallah was never heard from again in India, and rumours soon spread that Archbishop Garcia had disposed of him before he ever reached Goa. Contemporary accounts allege that he was drowned in Cochin harbour, or even that the Portuguese burned him at the stake. In reality, it appears that Ahatallah did in fact reach Goa, from whence he was sent on to Europe, but he evidently died in Paris
before reaching Rome where his case was to be heard. In any event, Garcia's dismissiveness towards the Saint Thomas Christians' appeals only embittered the community further.
This was the last straw for the Saint Thomas Christians, and in 1653 Thomas and representatives of the community met at the Church of Our Lady in Mattancherry
to take bold action. In a great ceremony before a crucifix and lighted candles, they swore a solemn oath that they would never obey Garcia or the Portuguese again, and that they accepted only the Archdeacon as their shepherd. The Malankara Church and all its successor churches regard this declaration, known as the Coonan Cross Oath
(Malayam: Koonan Kurishu Satyam), after the outdoor cross in the churchyard, as the moment when their church regained its independence.
). Under the leadership of Archdeacon Thomas, the St. Thomas Christians publicly took an oath in Matancherry, Cochin, that they would not obey the Portuguese bishops and the Jesuit missionaries. In the same year, in Alangad, Archdeacon Thomas was ordained, by the laying on of hands of twelve priests, as the first known indigenous Metropolitan of Kerala, under the name Mar Thoma I
.
After the Coonan Cross Oath
, between 1661 and 1662, out of the 116 churches, the Catholics claimed eighty-four churches, and the Archdeacon Mar Thoma I
with thirty-two churches. The eighty-four churches and their congregations were the body from which the Syro Malabar Catholic Church have descended. The other thirty-two churches and their congregations were the body from which the Syriac Orthodox (Jacobites & Orthodox), Thozhiyur (1772), Mar Thoma (Reformed Syrians) (1874), Syro Malankra Catholic Church have originated. In 1665, Mar Gregorios Abdul Jaleel
, a Bishop send by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch arrived in India and the Saint Thomas Christians under the leadership of the Archdeacon welcomed him. This visit resulted in the Mar Thoma party claiming spiritual authority of the Antiochean Patriarchate and gradually introduced the West Syrian liturgy, customs and script to the Malabar Coast.
The arrival of Mar Gregorios in 1665, marked the introduction of the association with the West Syrian Church. Those who accepted the West Syrian theological and liturgical tradition of Mar Gregorios became known as Malankara Syrians. Those who adopted East Syrian theological and liturgical tradition and stayed faithful to the Synod of Diamper are known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
in communion with the Roman Church. They got their own Syro-Malabar Hierarchy on 21 December 1923 with the Metropolitan Mar Augustine Kandathil as the Head of their Church.
St. Thomas Christians by this process got divided in to East Syrians and West Syrians.
The churches that share the Malankara Church Tradition are:
Malankara Church >
Orientation
Church Name
Population
Catholic
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
430,000
Oriental Orthodox
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
2,000,000
Oriental Orthodox
Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church
2,000,000
Reformed
Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church
1,061,940
Independent
Malabar Independent Syrian Church
10,000
Saint Thomas Christians
The Saint Thomas Christians are an ancient body of Christians from Kerala, India, who trace their origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. They are also known as "Nasranis" because they are followers of "Jesus of Nazareth". The term "Nasrani" is still used by St...
of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, with particular emphasis on the part of the community that joined Archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
Mar Thoma
Mar Thoma I
-See also:*Indian Orthodox Church*Jacobite Syrian Church*Mar Thoma Church*Malankara Church*Dutch East India Company*Syrian Malabar Nasrani-Further reading:...
in swearing to resist the authority of the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
Padroado
Padroado
The Padroado , was an arrangement between the Holy See and the kingdom of Portugal, affirmed by a series of treaties, by which the Vatican delegated to the kings of Spain and Portugal the administration of the local Churches...
in 1653. This faction soon entered into a relationship with the Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....
of Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
, and was thereafter often known as the Malankara Syrian Church (Malayam: Malankara Suriyani Sabha).
As part of the Saint Thomas Christian community, the church traced its origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
in the 1st century. As an independent faction, it originated in the first major split within the Saint Thomas Christian community. Historically, the Thomas Christians had been united in leadership and liturgy, and were part of the Church of the East
Church of the East
The Church of the East tāʾ d-Maḏnḥāʾ), also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church, part of the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. Originally the church of the Persian Sassanid Empire, it quickly spread widely through Asia...
, based in Persia. However, the collapse of the Church of the East's hierarchy in Asia left the province of India
India (East Syrian Ecclesiastical Province)
India was an ecclesiastical province of the Church of the East, at least nominally, from the seventh to the sixteenth century. The Malabar Coast of India had long been home to a thriving East Syrian Christian community, known as the St. Thomas Christians...
effectively isolated, and through the 16th century, the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, recently established in Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, forcefully drew the Thomas Christians into Latin Rite Catholicism. Resentment of these measures led the majority of the community to join the archdeacon, Thoma
Mar Thoma I
-See also:*Indian Orthodox Church*Jacobite Syrian Church*Mar Thoma Church*Malankara Church*Dutch East India Company*Syrian Malabar Nasrani-Further reading:...
, in swearing never to submit to the Portuguese in the Coonan Cross Oath
Coonan Cross Oath
The Coonan Cross Oath , taken on January 3, 1653, was a public avowal by members of the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, India that they would not submit to Portuguese dominance in ecclesiastical and secular life...
. Several months later Thoma was ordained as the first indigenous Metropolitan of Malankara.
Following the Oath, in 1661 Pope Alexander VII
Pope Alexander VII
Pope Alexander VII , born Fabio Chigi, was Pope from 7 April 1655, until his death.- Early life :Born in Siena, a member of the illustrious banking family of Chigi and a great-nephew of Pope Paul V , he was privately tutored and eventually received doctorates of philosophy, law, and theology from...
established a new East Syrian Rite
East Syrian Rite
The East Syrian Rite is a Christian liturgy, also known as the Assyro-Chaldean Rite, Assyrian or Chaldean Rite, and the Persian Rite although it originated in Edessa, Mesopotamia...
hierarchy in communion with Rome for the Saint Thomas Christians; by the next year 84 of the 116 communities had joined, forming what is now the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India is an East Syrian Rite, Major Archiepiscopal Church in full communion with the Catholic Church. It is one of the 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic Church. It is the largest of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations with more than 3.6...
. The remaining 32 communities stayed independent, and formed a relationship with the Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....
. Over the next centuries this relationship strengthened, and the Malankara Church adopted a variant of the West Syrian Rite
West Syrian Rite
The West Syrian Rite, also known as the Syrian Rite or the Syro-Antiochene Rite, is a Christian liturgical rite chiefly practiced in the Syriac Orthodox Church and churches related to or descended from it. It is part of the liturgical family known as the Antiochene Rite, which originated in the...
known as the Malankara Rite
Malankara Rite
The Malankara Rite or Syro-Malankara Rite is the form of the West Syrian liturgical rite practiced by several churches of the Saint Thomas Christian tradition in southern India...
(as opposed to the previous East Syrian usage) and entered into full communion with the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch. However, through this time the church experienced a series of splits, resulting in large numbers of followers breaking away. In the 20th century a dispute over authority between supporters of the Metropolitan and supporters of the Patriarch finally divided the church, with the former group becoming the essentially independent Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the latter maintaining ties with the Patriarch as the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church is part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, located in Kerala, India. It recognizes the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, currently Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, as its supreme head. It functions as a largely autonomous archdiocese within the church, under the authority...
. Motions by church leaders and two Supreme Court
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial forum and final court of appeal as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India...
decisions in the 20th century failed to heal the rift. Other groups to split from the main body are the Malabar Independent Syrian Church
Malabar Independent Syrian Church
The Malabar Independent Syrian Church, also known as the Thozhiyur Sabah , is a Christian church centred in Kerala, India. It is one of the churches of the Saint Thomas Christian community, which traces its origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.Considered part...
, which broke away in 1772; the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, (also known as Mar Thoma Church) which entered into communion with the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
; and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See...
, which entered into communion with the Catholic Church as an Eastern Catholic Church with its own liturgy.
Terminology
The word Malankara derives from the name of the island of MaliankaraMaliankara
Maliankara is a village in Paravur Taluk, Ernakulam district of Kerala. It is located near Moothakunnam. It is also a boat ride away from Munambam and accessible by bridge to Pallipuram of Vypin island. Along with Munambam it forms the north-west corner of Ernakulam district where the Periyar river...
near Muziris
Muziris
Muziris is an ancient sea-port in Southwestern India on the Periyar River 3.2 km from its mouth. The derivation of the name Muziris is said to be from "Mucciripattanam," "mucciri" means "cleft palate" and "pattanam" means "city". Near Muziris, Periyar River was branched into two like a...
, which according to tradition was the first place Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
landed in India. Initially the terms 'Malankara Christians' or 'Malankara Nasranis' were applied to all Saint Thomas Christians, but following the split the term was generally restricted to the faction loyal to Mar Thoma I
Mar Thoma I
-See also:*Indian Orthodox Church*Jacobite Syrian Church*Mar Thoma Church*Malankara Church*Dutch East India Company*Syrian Malabar Nasrani-Further reading:...
, distinguishing them from the Catholic faction. Later, many of the churches that subsequently branched off have maintained the word in their names.
At the time of the split, the branch affiliated with Mar Thoma was called the Puttankuttukar, or "New Party", while the branch that entered into Catholic obedience was designated the Pazhayakuttukar, or "Old Party". This latter group evolved into the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India is an East Syrian Rite, Major Archiepiscopal Church in full communion with the Catholic Church. It is one of the 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic Church. It is the largest of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations with more than 3.6...
. These appellations have been somewhat controversial, as both groups considered themselves the true heirs to the Saint Thomas tradition, and saw the other as heretical.
Following the association with the Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....
, the church was often known as the Malankara Syrian Church (Malayam: മലങ്കര സുറിയാനി സഭ ) in reference to their connection to the West Syrian tradition
West Syrian Rite
The West Syrian Rite, also known as the Syrian Rite or the Syro-Antiochene Rite, is a Christian liturgical rite chiefly practiced in the Syriac Orthodox Church and churches related to or descended from it. It is part of the liturgical family known as the Antiochene Rite, which originated in the...
. As such they were often known as 'Jacobites', 'Syrian Jacobites', or 'Jacobite Syrians', a reference to the Syriac Orthodox Church's connection to Jacob Baradaeus
Jacob Baradaeus
Jacob Baradaeus was Bishop of Edessa from 543 until his death. One of the most important figures in the history of the Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Oriental Orthodox churches generally, he was a defender of the Monophysite movement in a time when its strength was declining...
. After the split between Metropolitan- and the Patriarch-supporting factions, the Jacobite designation has been chiefly associated with the latter group, who emphasize their connection with Antioch.
Early history of Christianity in India
As a Saint Thomas Christian group, the Malankara Church traced its origins to Thomas the ApostleThomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
, said to have proselytized in India in the 1st century. Different strains of the tradition have him arriving either by sea or by land. There is no direct contemporary evidence for Thomas coming to India, but such a trip would certainly have been possible for a Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
Jew
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
to have made; communities such as the Cochin Jews
Cochin Jews
Cochin Jews, also called Malabar Jews , are the oldest group of Jews in India, with roots claimed to date to the time of King Solomon, though historically attested migration dates from the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Historically, they lived in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India, now part of the...
and the Bene Israel
Bene Israel
The Bene Israel are a group of Jews who migrated in the 19th century from villages in the Konkan area to the nearby Indian cities, primarily Mumbai, but also to Pune, and Ahmedabad. Prior to these waves of emigrations and to this day, the Bene Israel formed the largest sector of the subcontinent's...
are known to have existed in India around that time. The earliest text connecting Thomas to India is the Acts of Thomas
Acts of Thomas
The early 3rd century text called Acts of Thomas is one of the New Testament apocrypha, portraying Christ as the "Heavenly Redeemer", independent of and beyond creation, who can free souls from the darkness of the world. References to the work by Epiphanius of Salamis show that it was in...
, written in Edessa
Edessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa is the Greek name of an Aramaic town in northern Mesopotamia, as refounded by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa.-Names:...
perhaps in the 2nd century. Some early Indian sources, such as the "Thomas Parvam" or "Song of Thomas", further expand on the tradition of the apostle's arrival and activities in India and beyond. Generally he is described as arriving in the neighbourhood of Maliankara and establishing Seven Churches, the Ezharapallikal: Cranganore (ml:കൊടുങ്ങല്ലൂര്), Paravur
Paravur
Paravur may refer to:* North Paravur, a municipality and town in Ernakulam district* Paravur Taluk, in Ernakulam district* South Paravur, a village near to Udayamperoor in Kanayannur taluk of Ernakulam district...
(Kottakavu)(ml:കോട്ടക്കാവ്), Palayoor
Palayoor
Palayoor or is a part of Thrissur district and is located on the west coast of Kerala, in India. By road it is 28 km from Thrissur on the Thrissur – Chavakad route via Pavaratty. It is very near to Guruvayoor, which is only 2 km away....
(ml:പാലയൂര്), Kokkamangalam
Kokkamangalam
Kokkamangalam is a village in Alappuzha district of Kerala state, south India. Tradition holds it to be one of the seven Christian communities in Kerala founded by the Apostle Thomas.Kokkamangalam is situated midway between Cochin and Kumarakom...
(ml:കൊക്കമംഗലം), Niranam
Niranam
Niranam is a village in central Travancore region in Kerala, India. It was a port in ancient Kerala, on the confluence of the Manimala and Achankovil River. It is almost from Tiruvalla in Pathanamthitta District of Kerala...
(ml:നിരണം ), Chayal (Nilackal) (ml:നിലക്കല്) and Kollam
Kollam
Kollam , often anglicized as ', is a city in the Indian state of Kerala. The city lies on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake on the Arabian sea coast and is situated about north of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram...
(Quilon) (ml:കൊല്ലം ). Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea also called Eusebius Pamphili, was a Roman historian, exegete and Christian polemicist. He became the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine about the year 314. Together with Pamphilus, he was a scholar of the Biblical canon...
mentions that his mentor Pantaenus
Pantaenus
Saint Pantaenus was a Christian theologian who founded the Catechetical School of Alexandria about AD 190. This school was the earliest catechetical school, and became influential in the development of Christian theology....
found a Christian community in India in the 2nd century, while references to Thomas' Indian mission appear in the works of 3rd- and 4th-century writers of the Roman Empire, including Ambrose of Milan, Gregory of Nazianzus
Gregory of Nazianzus
Gregory of Nazianzus was a 4th-century Archbishop of Constantinople. He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age...
, Jerome
Jerome
Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...
, and Ephrem the Syrian
Ephrem the Syrian
Ephrem the Syrian was a Syriac and a prolific Syriac-language hymnographer and theologian of the 4th century. He is venerated by Christians throughout the world, and especially in the Syriac Orthodox Church, as a saint.Ephrem wrote a wide variety of hymns, poems, and sermons in verse, as well as...
, showing that the Thomas tradition was well established across the Christian world by that time.
Whatever the historicity of the Thomas tradition, the earliest organised Christian presence in India dates to around the 3rd century, when East Syrian
East Syrian Rite
The East Syrian Rite is a Christian liturgy, also known as the Assyro-Chaldean Rite, Assyrian or Chaldean Rite, and the Persian Rite although it originated in Edessa, Mesopotamia...
settlers and missionaries from Persia, members of the Church of the East
Church of the East
The Church of the East tāʾ d-Maḏnḥāʾ), also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church, part of the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. Originally the church of the Persian Sassanid Empire, it quickly spread widely through Asia...
or Nestorian Church, established themselves in Kerala. The Thomas Christians trace the further growth of their community to the mission of Thomas of Cana, a Nestorian from the Middle East said to have relocated to Kerala some time between the 4th and 8th century. The subgroup of the Saint Thomas Christians known as the Southists trace their lineage to the high-born Thomas of Cana, while the group known as the Northists claim descent from Thomas the Apostle's indigenous converts who intermarried with Thomas of Cana's children by his concubine or second wife.
As the community grew and immigration by East Syrians increased, the connection with the Church of the East, centred in the Persian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, strengthened. From the early 4th century the Patriarch of the Church of the East provided India with clergy, holy texts, and ecclesiastical infrastructure, and around 650 Patriarch Ishoyahb III solidified the Church of the East's jurisdiction over the Saint Thomas Christian community. In the 8th century Patriarch Timothy I organised the community as the Ecclesiastical Province of India
India (East Syrian Ecclesiastical Province)
India was an ecclesiastical province of the Church of the East, at least nominally, from the seventh to the sixteenth century. The Malabar Coast of India had long been home to a thriving East Syrian Christian community, known as the St. Thomas Christians...
, one of the church's illustrious Provinces of the Exterior. After this point the Province of India was headed by a metropolitan bishop
Metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
, provided from Persia, the "Metropolitan-Bishop of the Seat of Saint Thomas and the Whole Christian Church of India". His metropolitan see was probably in Cranganore, or (perhaps nominally) in Mylapore
Mylapore
Mylapore is a cultural hub and neighborhood in the southern part of the city of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, India. Earlier, Mylapore used to be called Vedapuri....
, where the shrine of Thomas was located. Under him were a varying number of bishops, as well as a native Archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
, who had authority over the clergy and who wielded a great amount of secular power.
Cheppeds: Collection of deeds on copper plates
The Rulers of KeralaKerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, in appreciation for their assistance, gave to the Malankara Nazranis, three deeds on copper plates. They gave the Nasranis various rights and privileges which were written on copper plates. These are known as Cheppeds, Royal Grants, Sasanam etc. Five sheets of them are now in the custody of St. Thomas Christians.
- Iravi Corttan Deed: In the year 1225 AD. Sri Vira Raghava Chakravarti, gave a deed to Iravi Corttan ( Eravi Karthan) of Mahadevarpattanam in 774 . Two BrahminBrahminBrahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
families are witness to this deed showing that Brahmins were in Kerala by the 8th century. - Tharissa palli Deed I: Perumal Sthanu Ravi Gupta (844-885) gave a deed in 849 AD, to Isodatta Virai for Tharissa Palli (church) at Curakkeni Kollam. According to historians, this is the first deed in Kerala that gives the exact date.
- Tharissa palli Deed II: Continuation of the above, given after 849 AD.
The languages used are old Tamil letters with some Grantha letters intermingled, Pahlavi, Kufic
Kufic
Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts and consists of a modified form of the old Nabataean script. Its name is derived from the city of Kufa, Iraq, although it was known in Mesopotamia at least 100 years before the foundation of Kufa. At the time of the emergence of...
and Hebrew.
These plates detail privileges awarded to the community by the then rulers. These influenced the development of the social structure in Kerala and privileges, rules for the communities . These are considered as one of the most important legal documents in the history of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
.
Archdeacons
The position of ArchdeaconArchdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
– the highest clergyman not of the rank of bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
– had great importance in the church of India in the centuries leading up to the formation of an independent Malankara Church. Though technically subordinate to the Metropolitan, the Archdeacon wielded great ecclesiastical and secular power, to the extent that he was considered the secular leader of the community and served as effective head of the Indian Church in times when the province was absent a bishop. Unlike the Metropolitan, who was evidently always an East Syrian sent by the Patriarch, the Archdeacon was a native Saint Thomas Christian. In the documented period the position was evidently hereditary, belonging to the Pakalomattam family, who claimed a privileged connection to Thomas the Apostle.
Details on the archidiaconate prior to the arrival of the Portuguese are elusive, but Patriarch Timothy I (780 – 823) called the Archdeacon of India the "head of the faithful in India", implying an elevated status by at least that time. In the recorded period of its history, the office of archdeacon was substantially different in India than in the rest of the Church of the East or other Christian churches. In the broader Church of the East, each bishop was attended by an archdeacon, but in India, there was only ever one archdeacon, even when the province had multiple bishops serving it.
Following the collapse of the Church of the East's hierarchy in most of Asia in the 14th century, India was effectively cut off from the Church's heartland in Mesopotamia and formal contact was severed. By the late 15th century India had had no metropolitan for several generations, and the authority traditionally associated with him had been vested in the archdeacon. In 1491 the archdeacon sent envoys to the Patriarch of the Church of the East, as well as to the Coptic Pope of Alexandria and to the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, requesting a new bishop for India. The Patriarch of the Church of the East Shemʿon IV Basidi responded by consecrating two bishops, Thoma and Yuhanon, and dispatching them to India. These bishops helped rebuild the ecclesiastical infrastructure and reestablish fraternal ties with the patriarchate, but the years of separation had greatly affected the structure of the Indian church. Though receiving utmost respect, the metropolitan was treated as a guest in his own diocese; the Archdeacon was firmly established as the real power in the Malankara community.
Arrival of the Portuguese
At the time the PortuguesePortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
arrived in India in 1498, the Saint Thomas Christians were in a difficult position. Though prosperous owing to their large stake in the spice trade
Spice trade
Civilizations of Asia were involved in spice trade from the ancient times, and the Greco-Roman world soon followed by trading along the Incense route and the Roman-India routes...
and protected by a formidable militia, the tumultuous political climate of the time had placed the small community under pressure from the forces of the powerful raja
Raja
Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...
s of Calicut, Cochin
Kingdom of Cochin
Kingdom of Cochin was a late medieval Hindu kingdom and later Princely State on the Malabar Coast, South India...
, and the various smaller kingdoms in the area. When the Portuguese under Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
arrived on the South Indian coast, the leaders of the Saint Thomas community greeted them and proffered a formal alliance to their fellow Christians. The Portuguese, who had keen interest in implanting themselves in the spice trade and in expanding the domain of their bellicose form of Christianity, jumped at this opportunity.
The Portuguese brought to India a particularly militant brand of Christianity, the product of several centuries of struggle during the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
, which they hoped to spread across the world. Facilitating this objective was the Padroado Real, a series of treaties and decrees in which the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
conferred upon the Portuguese government certain authority in ecclesiastical matters in the foreign territories they conquered. Upon reaching India the Portuguese quickly ensconced themselves in Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
and established a church hierarchy; soon they set themselves to bringing the native Christians under their dominion. Towards this goal, the colonial establishment felt it necessary to conduct the Saint Thomas Christians fully into the Latin Rite, both in bringing them into conformity with Latin church customs and in subjecting them to the authority of the Archbishop of Goa.
Following the death of Metropolitan Mar Jacob in 1552, the Portuguese became more aggressive in their efforts to subjugate the Saint Thomas Christians. Protests on the part of the natives were frustrated by events back in the Church of the East's Mesopotamian heartland, which left them devoid of consistent leadership. In 1552, the year of Jacob's death, a schism in the Church of the East
Schism of 1552
The Schism of 1552 was an important event in the history of the Church of the East. It divided the church into two factions, of which one entered into communion with Rome and the other remained independent. The modern Chaldean Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, both of which...
resulted in there being two rival patriarchates, one of which entered into communion with the Catholic Church, and the other of which remained independent. At different times both patriarchs sent bishops to India, but the Portuguese were consistently able to outmaneuver the newcomers or else convert them to Latin Rite Catholicism outright. In 1575 the Padroado declared that neither patriarch could appoint prelates to the community without Portuguese consent, thereby cutting the Thomas Christians off from their hierarchy.
By 1599 the last Metropolitan, Abraham, had died, and the Archbishop of Goa, Aleixo de Menezes
Aleixo de Menezes
Aleixo de Menezes was Archbishop of Goa, Archbishop of Braga, Portugal, and Viceroy of Portugal during the Iberian Union.-Biographical sketch:Aleixo was born in 1559. It is known that he joined the Augustinians...
, had secured the submission of the young Archdeacon George, the highest remaining representative of the native church hierarchy. That year Menezes convened the Synod of Diamper
Synod of Diamper
The Synod of Diamper, held at Udayamperoor/Diamper, is a diocesan synod by which Latin usages were formally adopted by the Christians of Saint Thomas. It was convened on June 20, 1599, under the leadership of Aleixo de Menezes, Archbishop of Goa. Archdeacon George was forced to comply with the...
, which instituted a number of structural and liturgical reforms to the Indian church. At the synod, the parishes were brought directly under the Archbishop's authority, certain "superstitious" customs were anathematized, and the indigenous liturgy, the Malabar Rite, was purged of elements unacceptable by the Latin standards. Though the Saint Thomas Christians were now formally part of the Catholic Church, the conduct of the Portuguese over the next decades fueled resentment in parts of the community, ultimately leading to open resistance.
Coonan Cross and an independent church
Over the next several decades, tensions seethed between the Latin prelates and what remained of the native hierarchy. This came to a head in 1641 with the ascension of two new protagonists on either side of the contention: Francis Garcia, the new Archbishop of Kodungalloor, and Archdeacon ThomasMar Thoma I
-See also:*Indian Orthodox Church*Jacobite Syrian Church*Mar Thoma Church*Malankara Church*Dutch East India Company*Syrian Malabar Nasrani-Further reading:...
, the nephew and successor to Archdeacon George. In 1652, the escalating situation was further complicated by the arrival in India of a mysterious figure named Ahatallah
Ahatallah
Ahatallah was a Syrian clergyman chiefly known for his trip to India in 1652, on which he claimed to be the designated "Patriarch of the Whole of India and of China"...
.
Ahatallah arrived in Mylapore
Mylapore
Mylapore is a cultural hub and neighborhood in the southern part of the city of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, India. Earlier, Mylapore used to be called Vedapuri....
in 1652, claiming to be the rightful Patriarch of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the Bishop of Antioch. As the traditional "overseer" of the first gentile Christian community, the position has been of prime importance in the church from its earliest period...
who had been sent by the pope to serve as "Patriarch of the Whole of India and of China". Ahatallah's true biography is obscure, but some details have been established. He appears to have been a Syriac Orthodox Bishop of Damascus who converted to Catholicism and went to Rome in 1632. He then returned to Syria in order to bring the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Hidayat Allah into communion with Rome. He had not accomplished this by the time Hidayat Allah died in 1639, after which point Ahatallah began claiming he was Hidayat Allah's rightful successor. In 1646 he was in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
at the court of the Coptic Pope Mark VI
Pope Mark VI of Alexandria
Pope Mark VI of Alexandria was the Coptic Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark from 1645–1660.The seat of the Pope during his papacy remained in the Church of the Virgin Mary in Cairo....
, who dispatched him to India in 1652, evidently in response to a request for aid from Archdeacon Thomas. Reckoning him an impostor, the Portuguese arrested him, but allowed him to meet with members of the Saint Thomas Christian clergy, whom he impressed greatly. The Portuguese put him on a ship bound for Cochin and Goa, and Archdeacon Thomas led his militia to Cochin demanding to meet with the "Patriarch". The Portuguese refused, asserting that he was a dangerous invader and that the ship had already sailed on to Goa.
Ahatallah was never heard from again in India, and rumours soon spread that Archbishop Garcia had disposed of him before he ever reached Goa. Contemporary accounts allege that he was drowned in Cochin harbour, or even that the Portuguese burned him at the stake. In reality, it appears that Ahatallah did in fact reach Goa, from whence he was sent on to Europe, but he evidently died in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
before reaching Rome where his case was to be heard. In any event, Garcia's dismissiveness towards the Saint Thomas Christians' appeals only embittered the community further.
This was the last straw for the Saint Thomas Christians, and in 1653 Thomas and representatives of the community met at the Church of Our Lady in Mattancherry
Mattancherry
Mattancherry is the western part of city of Kochi, India. It is said that the name Mattancherry is drawn from "Ancherry Mattam", a Namboodiri illam which then the foreign traders pronounced it as Matt-Ancherry, gradually became Mattancherry. It is about 9 km from Ernakulam town. There are...
to take bold action. In a great ceremony before a crucifix and lighted candles, they swore a solemn oath that they would never obey Garcia or the Portuguese again, and that they accepted only the Archdeacon as their shepherd. The Malankara Church and all its successor churches regard this declaration, known as the Coonan Cross Oath
Coonan Cross Oath
The Coonan Cross Oath , taken on January 3, 1653, was a public avowal by members of the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, India that they would not submit to Portuguese dominance in ecclesiastical and secular life...
(Malayam: Koonan Kurishu Satyam), after the outdoor cross in the churchyard, as the moment when their church regained its independence.
Later development
The oppressive rule of the Portuguese padroado provoked a violent reaction on the part of the indigenous Christian community. The first solemn protest took place in 1653, known as the Koonan Kurishu Satyam (Coonan Cross OathCoonan Cross Oath
The Coonan Cross Oath , taken on January 3, 1653, was a public avowal by members of the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, India that they would not submit to Portuguese dominance in ecclesiastical and secular life...
). Under the leadership of Archdeacon Thomas, the St. Thomas Christians publicly took an oath in Matancherry, Cochin, that they would not obey the Portuguese bishops and the Jesuit missionaries. In the same year, in Alangad, Archdeacon Thomas was ordained, by the laying on of hands of twelve priests, as the first known indigenous Metropolitan of Kerala, under the name Mar Thoma I
Mar Thoma I
-See also:*Indian Orthodox Church*Jacobite Syrian Church*Mar Thoma Church*Malankara Church*Dutch East India Company*Syrian Malabar Nasrani-Further reading:...
.
After the Coonan Cross Oath
Coonan Cross Oath
The Coonan Cross Oath , taken on January 3, 1653, was a public avowal by members of the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, India that they would not submit to Portuguese dominance in ecclesiastical and secular life...
, between 1661 and 1662, out of the 116 churches, the Catholics claimed eighty-four churches, and the Archdeacon Mar Thoma I
Mar Thoma I
-See also:*Indian Orthodox Church*Jacobite Syrian Church*Mar Thoma Church*Malankara Church*Dutch East India Company*Syrian Malabar Nasrani-Further reading:...
with thirty-two churches. The eighty-four churches and their congregations were the body from which the Syro Malabar Catholic Church have descended. The other thirty-two churches and their congregations were the body from which the Syriac Orthodox (Jacobites & Orthodox), Thozhiyur (1772), Mar Thoma (Reformed Syrians) (1874), Syro Malankra Catholic Church have originated. In 1665, Mar Gregorios Abdul Jaleel
Mar Gregorios Abdul Jaleel
Mor Gregorios Abdul Jaleel Bawa was an ethnic Assyrian Syriac Orthodox Bishop of Jerusalem from 1664 until his death. He is chiefly remembered for his 1665 mission to India, in which he established ties between the newly-independent Malankara Church and the Syriac Orthodox church. He is venerated...
, a Bishop send by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch arrived in India and the Saint Thomas Christians under the leadership of the Archdeacon welcomed him. This visit resulted in the Mar Thoma party claiming spiritual authority of the Antiochean Patriarchate and gradually introduced the West Syrian liturgy, customs and script to the Malabar Coast.
The arrival of Mar Gregorios in 1665, marked the introduction of the association with the West Syrian Church. Those who accepted the West Syrian theological and liturgical tradition of Mar Gregorios became known as Malankara Syrians. Those who adopted East Syrian theological and liturgical tradition and stayed faithful to the Synod of Diamper are known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India is an East Syrian Rite, Major Archiepiscopal Church in full communion with the Catholic Church. It is one of the 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic Church. It is the largest of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations with more than 3.6...
in communion with the Roman Church. They got their own Syro-Malabar Hierarchy on 21 December 1923 with the Metropolitan Mar Augustine Kandathil as the Head of their Church.
St. Thomas Christians by this process got divided in to East Syrians and West Syrians.
Malankara Church today
The Malankara Church experienced a series of splits over the centuries, resulting in the formation of several autocephalous and autonomous churches.The churches that share the Malankara Church Tradition are:
- Malabar Independent Syrian ChurchMalabar Independent Syrian ChurchThe Malabar Independent Syrian Church, also known as the Thozhiyur Sabah , is a Christian church centred in Kerala, India. It is one of the churches of the Saint Thomas Christian community, which traces its origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.Considered part...
- Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
- Jacobite Syrian Christian ChurchJacobite Syrian Christian ChurchThe Jacobite Syrian Christian Church is part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, located in Kerala, India. It recognizes the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, currently Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, as its supreme head. It functions as a largely autonomous archdiocese within the church, under the authority...
- Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church
- Syro-Malankara Catholic ChurchSyro-Malankara Catholic ChurchThe Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See...
- St. Thomas Evangelical ChurchSt. Thomas Evangelical ChurchSt. Thomas Evangelical Church of India is an Evangelical, Episcopal denomination based in Kerala, India. It derives from a schism in the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church in 1961, and traces its ancestry before then back almost 2,000 years. STECI holds that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant...
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See...
Malabar Independent Syrian Church
The Malabar Independent Syrian Church, also known as the Thozhiyur Sabah , is a Christian church centred in Kerala, India. It is one of the churches of the Saint Thomas Christian community, which traces its origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.Considered part...