Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
TENNY THOMAS
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, also known as the Indian Orthodox Church, is one of the oldest churches in India. The church is believed to have been founded by the Apostle St. Thomas in 52 ce. In ancient times, and up to the Islamic invasions of the 7th century, there were strong Christian and Jewish communities on the Malabar coast, and traders from Persia were active there. Today, the Malankara Church is an autocephalous community and a member of the family of Oriental Orthodox Churches.
Sources for the history of Christianity in India during the early centuries are very limited. Some confusion is also caused because many of the references to “India” in ancient Christian writings refer primarily to Ethiopia. St. Ephrem the Syrian states that the relics of the Apostle Thomas in Edessa had been brought there from India where he first evangelized and was martyred. St. John Chrysostom attests that the tomb of St. Thomas in India is as much venerated, in his day, as that of St. Peter in Rome. The Portuguese writer Antonio de Gouvea wrote down, in around 1600, the Indian version of the Thomas tradition which gives details of St. Thomas’s journey through the Persian Empire and his taking ship from Arabia to India. He landed in Kodungallur, which was a large port and seat of the great King Kelaputra. From there, he traveled south as far as Quilon and established seven churches, afterwards heading for Mylapore and thence to China. On his return to Mylapore Thomas is said to have been martyred around 72 CE.
By the 7th century, specific references to the Indian Christian Church began to appear in Persian records. The metropolitans of India and China are first mentioned in some of the consecration records of patriarchs of the East. In the 8th century the primate of the Indian Church was referred to as “The Metropolitan and the Gate of All India,” a title that shows Islamic resonances. Vatican Codex 22, written in Cranganore in 1301, gives the title as “The Metropolitan of the Throne of St. Thomas and of the whole Church of the Christians in India.” The minority status of the Christians in India led to many influences from the wider community on church practices, parts of the Hindu caste system being one example that led to a highly refined system in the church of degrees of relationship, and an anxiety at times about the origins of new potential converts.
The coming of the Portuguese marked a distinct change in the history of Christianity in India. When the Portuguese penetrated into the interiors of Kerala and came across the churches of the St. Thomas Christians, they realized that these indigenous faithful did not recognize ecclesiastical allegiance to Rome, and were very different from them in terms of church traditions.
After learning more about their theology they found that the Indian Christians were East Syrian in origin and thus “Nestorian,” according to their reckoning. The Portuguese missionaries were eager to bring the Indian Church into communion with Rome. In 1599 at the Synod of Diamper the assembly of representatives from the churches was compelled to give up its connection with the Oriental Orthodox Churches and brought under the authority of Rome. Until 1653 three Jesuit bishops effectively ruled over the church in India, executing the decrees of the Diamper Synod and thus forcing the church to become Eastern Rite Catholic.
The majority of Thomas Christians soon reacted antagonistically to this situation, though a large minority remained in communion with Rome. They took a collective oath at the Coonen Cross in Mattancherry in 1653, resolving to preserve the faith and autonomy of their church and to elect its head themselves. The leaders of the Indian Church assembled at Edapally, where four councilors (Parambil Chandy, Kadavil Chandy, Vengoor Gheevarghese, and Anjilimoottil Itty Thoman) were appointed senior agents for church administration. This was followed by a general meeting at Allangad on May 22, 1653 where Archdeacon Thomas was elevated as a bishop with the title “Mar Thoma” by the laying on of hands by twelve senior priests of the Church of St. Thomas. After the Dutch captured Cochin, ending Portuguese rule in 1663, at the request of the Thomas Christians the Syrian Orthodox bishop, Mar Gregorios of Jerusalem, came to India in 1664 to confirm the episcopal consecration of Mar Thoma I as the head of the Orthodox Church in India. Thus began the formal relationship of the Malankara Church in India with the Syrian Orthodox Church which continues to the present.
By 1795 the British established themselves in South India and Kerala came under their jurisdiction. During the time of the British Resident, Colonel Munroe, Pulikottill Ittoop Ramban expressed his interest in founding a seminary for the training of the church’s clergy. The Resident supported him and the seminary was founded in 1815. At the request of the Resident, Joseph Ramban was appointed bishop in 1816 with the name Mar Dionysius II and as metropolitan of Malankara. Cooperation between the Malankara Church and the Anglican Christian Missionary Society continued from 1816 until 1836, when the connection was severed at the Synod of Mavelikkara. This incident led to several divisions in the community and a reformation in the liturgy and practices ofthe church as a whole, leading to the formation of what became known as the Anglican Syrian Church in 1840, and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church in 1889, dividing from what was then commonly known as the “Orthodox Jacobite” (Non-Chalcedonian Orthodox). This split in the church organization caused the leaders of the Malankara Church to appeal for help from the Syrian Orthodox patriarch. In 1875 Patriarch Peter III came to Kerala and held a synod of representatives of the churches at Mulanthuruthy in 1876. Following the Synod of Mulanthuruthy litigations in court ensued between the Mar Thomas and the Malankara Church for legitimate control of church property. It came to an end in 1889 with a judgment in favor of the Malankara Church by the highest court of Kerala, the Royal Court of Appeal.
Patriarch Peter III tried to establish the full canonical jurisdiction of the Syrian Church over the Malankaran. When this was resisted he ordered the suspension of the Malankara Metropolitan Pulikottil Joseph Mar Dionysius. Peter III’s successor, Mar Gregorios Abdullah, was determined to follow up the matter, and thus cames to Kerala in 1909 demanding that Mar Dionysius VI pledge complete obedience to the Syrian patriarch. Mar Dionysius refused on the grounds that the church in India had always been autonomous and he was thereby excommunicated by Mar Abdullah. Mar Dionysius refused to comply, given that there was a division at the time over the rightful incumbent to the Syrian patriarchal office (Mar Abdel-Messih claimed legitimacy and supported Mar Dionysius, also transferring on his authority the Catholicate of Persia to India), and so he continued on as metropolitan. This action resulted in a further division within the Malankara Church from 1912 onwards, with one group, who are now called the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, siding with Metropolitan Mar Dionysius, and the other group affirming their loyalty to the Syrian Orthodox patriarchate in the line of the officially instituted Mar Abdallah, and who are called Malankara Syrian Orthodox. Both Orthodox Churches share the same faith, and together constitute about 2 million members, seeing themselves as the continuators of the original St. Thomas communities.
Today, the catholicos is the supreme head of the Orthodox Church in India, and he also holds the office of metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. The metropolitan is elected by the Malankara Association, a larger association representing clergy and laity, and this election is formally approved by the episcopal synod. The catholicos presides over the Holy Episcopal Synod, which is the supreme authority for the church in all matters concerning faith, order, and discipline. The church follows the West Syrian liturgical tradition, is part of the family of the other Oriental Orthodox Churches, and fosters ecumenical relationships with the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant Churches.
SEE ALSO: Antioch, Patriarchate of; Syrian Orthodox Churches
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Brown, L. W. (1956) The Indian Christians of St. Thomas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cheriyan, C. V. (2003) Orthodox Christianity in India: A History of the Malankara Orthodox Church ad 52–2002. Kottayam: Academic Publishers.
Firth, C. B. (1961) An Introduction to Indian Church History. Madras: Christian Literature Society. Gregorios, M. P. (1982) The Orthodox Church in India: An Overview. Kottayam: Sophia Publications.
Jonas, T. (1958) The Synod of Diamper. Rome: Orientalia Christiana Analecta 152.
Keay, F. E. (1951) A History of the Syrian Church in India, 2nd edn. Kanpur: SPCK.
Mundalan, A. M. (1984) History of Christianity in India, Vol. 1: From the Beginning up to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century (to 1542). Bangalore: Church History Association of India.
Neill, S. C. (1984) A History of Christianity in India, Vol. 1: The Beginning to ad 1707. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Podipara, P. J. (1970) The Thomas Christians.
London: Darton, Longman and Todd.
Pothan, S. G. (1968) The Syrian Christians inKerala, 4th edn. Madras: K. M. Cherian.
Van der Ploeg, J. P. M. (1983) The Christians of St. Thomas in South India and Their Syriac Manuscripts. Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications.