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Syro-Malabar Church

"Syro-Malabar" redirects here. For other uses, see Syro-Malabar (disambiguation).
This article is about the church. For the people, see Syrian Catholics of Malabar.
Not to be confused with Syro-Malankara Catholic Church or Syriac Catholic Church.

Syro-Malabar Church
Syriac: ܥܸܕܬܵܐ ܕܡܲܠܲܒܵܪ ܣܘܼܪܝܵܝܵܐ
Malayalam: സീറോ മലബാർ സഭ
Seal of the Syro-Malabar Church
AbbreviationSMC
TypeSelf-governing Church (sui iuris)
ClassificationEastern Catholic
Orientation
Scripture
Theology
  • East Syriac theology
  • Catholic theology[2]
PolityEpiscopal polity
GovernanceHoly Episcopal Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church
PopeFrancis
Major ArchbishopRaphael Thattil
AdministrationMajor Archiepiscopal Curia[3]
Parishes3,224
RegionIndia and Nasrani Malayali diaspora[4]
Language
LiturgyEast Syriac Rite – Liturgy of Mar Addai and Mar Mari, Qudasha of Mar Theodore and Qudasha of Mar Nestorius[5]
HeadquartersMount Saint Thomas, Kakkanad, Kochi, India
Territory
  • India,
  • with diaspora in the U.S., Australia and Oceania, Europe, UK, Canada, and the Middle East
FounderSaint Thomas the Apostle by tradition[6]
Origin
  • c. 50 AD (Saint Thomas Christianity, by tradition),
  • 1552 (origin of Eastern Catholicism in the Church of the East),[7]
  • 1887 (modern foundation)[8]

Malabar, India
Separated fromChurch of the East[9]
Branched fromSaint Thomas Christians[10][11][12][13]
Members
Clergy
Official websitesyromalabarchurch.in
Official News Portalsyromalabarvision.com
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The Syro-Malabar Church, also known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church,[a] is an Eastern Catholic Church based in Kerala, India. It is a sui iuris (autonomous) particular church in full communion with the Holy See and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO).[16][17][18] The major archbishop presides over the entire church. The incumbent Major Archbishop is Raphael Thattil, serving since January 2024.[19] The Syro-Malabar Synod of Bishops canonically convoked and presided over by the major archbishop constitutes the supreme authority of the church. The Major Archiepiscopal Curia of the church is based in Kakkanad, Kochi.[20] Syro-Malabar is a prefix reflecting the church's use of the East Syriac Rite liturgy and origins in Malabar (modern Kerala). The name has been in usage in official Vatican documents since the nineteenth century.[21]

The Syro-Malabar Church is primarily based in India; with five metropolitan archeparchies and ten suffragan eparchies in Kerala, there are 17 eparchies in other parts of India, and four eparchies outside India. It is the largest of the Saint Thomas Christians communities, with a population of 2.35 million in Kerala as per the 2011 Kerala state census[15] and 4.25 million worldwide as estimated in the 2016 Annuario Pontificio.[14] It is the third largest sui juris church within the communion of the Catholic Church and the second largest Eastern Catholic Church after the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.[22]

The Syro-Malabar Church traces its origins to Thomas the Apostle's evangelization efforts in 1st-century AD India.[23][24][25][26] The earliest recorded organised Christian presence in India dates to the 4th century, when Persian missionaries of the East Syriac Rite tradition, members of what later became the Church of the East, established themselves in modern-day Kerala and Sri Lanka.[27][28][29][30] The Church of the East shared communion with the Roman Imperial Church, within Nicene Christianity, until the Council of Ephesus in the 5th century, separating primarily over differences in Christology and for political reasons. The Syro-Malabar Church uses a variant of the East Syriac Rite, which dates back to 3rd century Edessa, Upper Mesopotamia.[31] As such it is a part of Syriac Christianity by liturgy and heritage.[32]

After the schism of 1552, a portion of the Church of the East entered communion with the Holy See of Rome, forming what became the modern-day Chaldean Catholic Church. Throughout the later half of the 16th century, the Malabar Church was under Chaldean Catholic jurisdiction. Through the Synod of Diamper of 1599, the Chaldean jurisdiction was abolished and the Malabar Church was made subject to the Padroado Latin Catholic Primatal Archbishopric of Goa. In 1653, after a half-century of administration of the Padroado missionaries, the local Christians held the Coonan Cross Oath as a revolt. In response, Pope Alexander VII, with the help of Carmelite missionaries, was by 1662 able to reunite the majority of the dissidents with the Catholic Church. The Syro-Malabar Church descends from the Saint Thomas Christians who first aligned with the Catholic Church at Synod of Diamper[33] and those who reunited with the Holy See under the leadership of Parambil Chandy during the period between 1655 and 1663.[34][35] During the 17th and 18th centuries the Archdiocese of Cranganore was under the Syro-Malabar, but it was later suppressed and integrated into the modern day Latin Archdiocese of Verapoly.

After they had spent over two centuries under the hegemony of the Latin Church, in 1887 Pope Leo XIII fully separated the Syro-Malabars from the Latin Church (the Archdiocese of Verapoly remained as the jurisdiction for Latin Catholics). He established two Apostolic Vicariates for Syro-Malabar, Thrissur and Changanassery (originally named Kottayam), and in 1896, the Vicariate of Ernakulam was erected as well, governed by indigenous Syro-Malabar bishops. In 1923, the Syro-Malabar hierarchy was organized and unified under Ernakulam as the Metropolitan See, with Augustine Kandathil as the first head and Archbishop of the Church.[36] With this, Syro-Malabar Church became an autonomous sui iuris church within the Catholic Church.[37]

The Syro-Malabars are unique among Catholics in their inculturation with traditional Hindu customs through Saint Thomas Christian heritage. Scholar and theologian Placid Podipara describes the Saint Thomas Christian community as "Hindu in culture, Christian in religion, and Oriental in worship."[38] The Church is predominantly of the Malayali ethnic group who speak Malayalam, although there are a minority of Tamils, Telugus, and North Indians from the various eparchies outside Kerala. Following emigration of the Church's members, eparchies have been established in other parts of India and in other countries to serve especially the diaspora living in the Western world. There are four eparchies outside of India, located in English-speaking countries: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and United States. Saint Alphonsa is the Church's first canonized saint, followed by Saint Kuriakose Chavara, Saint Euphrasia, and Saint Mariam Thresia. The Syro-Malabar Church is one of the two Eastern Catholic Churches in India, the other being the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church which represents the faction of the Puthenkoor that returned to full communion with the Holy See of Rome in 1930.[39]

  1. ^ "Peshitta | Syriac Bible". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 9 September 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  2. ^ East Syriac theology : an introduction. Satna, M.P., India : Ephrem's Publications. 3 September 2007. ISBN 9788188065042 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ "Major Archbishop's Curia::Syro Malabar Church". www.syromalabarchurch.in. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  4. ^ "Eparchial Sees in the Syro-Malabar Church". Archived from the original on 14 July 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  5. ^ "Circular – New Liturgical Texts of the Syro-Malabar Church::Syro Malabar News Updates". Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Un esercizio di comunione". L'Osservatore Romano. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Malabar Catholic Church". Gorgias Encyclopaedia of Syriac Heritage. Gorgias Press.
  8. ^ Perczel, István (2013). "Some New Documents on the Struggle of the Saint Thomas Christians to Maintain the Chaldaean Rite and Jurisdiction". In Peter Bruns; Heinz Otto Luthe (eds.). Festschrift for Hubert Kaufhold on his 70th Birthday. Orientalia Christiana. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 435. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  9. ^ Encyclopaedia of sects & religious doctrines, Volume 4 By Charles George Herbermann page 1180,1181
  10. ^ Frykenberg, Robert Eric (2008). Christianity in India From Beginnings to the Present. Oxford University Press. p. 369. ISBN 978-0-19-826377-7. Once Mar Thoma I had been consecrated and joined to the Patriarchate of Antioch, Mar Gregorios himself stayed on in Malabar as joint ruler over the newly formed Jacoba Malankara Church. This joint rule, lasting twenty years (when they both died), made permanent the 'vertical' split between Malabar Christians linked to Rome and Malankara Christians linked to Antioch (in Mardin). Those of the 'new allegiance', known as Puthankuttukar, were led by metrans who looked to the Jacoba Patriarch of Antioch in Mardin. Those of the 'old allegiance', known as Pazhayakuttukar, looked to Rome.
  11. ^ Fernando, Leonard; Gispert-Sauch, G. (2004). Christianity in India: Two Thousand Years of Faith. Penguin Books India. p. 79. ISBN 9780670057696. The community of the St Thomas Christians was now divided into two: one group known as the 'old party' joined in communion with the Western Church and in obedience to the Pope whose authority they recognized in the archbishop of Goa. The 'new party' (Puttankuttukar) stayed with Mar Thoma and eventually came under the influence of and entered into communion with the West Syrian Church of Antioch
  12. ^ Robert Eric Frykenberg (2008). Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present. OUP Oxford. p. 361. ISBN 9780198263777. His followers became known as the 'new party' (Puthankuttukar), as distinct from the 'old party' (Pazhayakuttukar), the name by which the Catholic party became known.
  13. ^ Hillerbrand, Hans J. (2004). Encyclopedia of Protestantism: 4-volume Set. Routledge. ISBN 9781135960285. those who rejected the Latin rite were known as the New Party, which later became the Jacobite Church
  14. ^ a b Roberson, Ronald G. "The Eastern Catholic Churches 2016" (PDF). Eastern Catholic Churches Statistics. Catholic Near East Welfare Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  15. ^ a b Zachariah, K.C. (April 2016). "Religious denominations of Kerala" (PDF). Kerala: Centre for Development Studies (CDS). Working paper 468. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2022.
  16. ^ "Letter signed by the Holy Father to the major archbishop and bishops of the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church (3 July 2021) | Francis". www.vatican.va. Archived from the original on 12 April 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  17. ^ Catholic-Hierarchy.org Archived 11 June 2023 at the Wayback Machine - Syro-Malabar Catholic Church of the Chaldean Tradition
  18. ^ GCatholic.org Archived 11 June 2023 at the Wayback Machine - Syro-Malabar Church (Eastern-Rite sui juris Catholic Church)
  19. ^ "Pope Francis confirms election of head of Syro-Malabar Church". Vatican News. 10 January 2024. Archived from the original on 10 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  20. ^ "Syro Malabar Church ::Cardinal George Alencherry::Major Archbishop". www.syromalabarchurch.in. Archived from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  21. ^ St. Raphael Syro Malabar Catholic Mission of Cleveland (2014)[1] Archived 30 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ "Склад і територія". ugcc.ua. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  23. ^ "The Syro-Malabar Church Today: An Overview::The St. Thomas Christians::East Syrian (Chaldean)::Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church". www.syromalabarchurch.in. Archived from the original on 11 August 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  24. ^ George Menachery (1973) The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, Ed. George Menachery, B.N.K. Press, vol. 2, ISBN 81-87132-06-X, Lib. Cong. Cat. Card. No. 73-905568; B.N.K. Press – (has some 70 lengthy articles by different experts on the origins, development, history, culture... of these Christians, with some 300 odd photographs).
  25. ^ Leslie Brown, (1956) The Indian Christians of St. Thomas. An Account of the Ancient Syrian Church of Malabar, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1956, 1982 (repr.)
  26. ^ Thomas Puthiakunnel, (1973) "Jewish colonies of India paved the way for St. Thomas", The Saint Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, ed. George Menachery, Vol. II., Trichur.
  27. ^ Frykenberg, pp. 102–107; 115.
  28. ^ Mihindukulasuriya, Prabo. "Persian Christians in the Anuradhapura Period". Academia.edu. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  29. ^ "St. Gregorios Malankara (Indian) Orthodox Church of Washington, DC : Indian Orthodox Calendar". Stgregorioschurchdc.org. Archived from the original on 21 January 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  30. ^ "Mar Aprem Metropolitan Visits Ancient Anuradhapura Cross in Official Trip to Sri Lanka". Assyrian Church News. 6 August 2013. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  31. ^ Addai and Mari, Liturgy of. Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. 2005
  32. ^ P. Malekandathil (2003). St. Thomas Christians: A Historical Analysis of their Origin and Development up to 9th Century AD, from St.Thomas Christians and Nambudiris Jews and Sangam Literature: A Historical Appraisal. Kochi, India: Bosco Puthur (ed.) LRC Publications).
  33. ^ Hunter, William Wilson (1886). The Indian Empire: Its People, History, and Products. Trübner & Co, London. p. 243. "The Pazheia Kuttukar, or old Church, owed its foundation to Archbishop Menezes and the Synod of Diamper in 1599, and its reconciliation, after the revolt, to the Carmelite Bishop of St. Mary, in 1656. It retains in its services Syrian language and in part the syrian ritual. But it acknowledges the supremacy of Pope and its Vicars Apostolic. Its members are now known as Catholics of the Syrian Rite
  34. ^ Menon (1965).
  35. ^ Stephen Neill, A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707, pp. 326–27, Cambridge University Press, 1984
  36. ^ "CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE SYROMALABAR CHURCH". Syro-Malabar Church Official website. Archived from the original on 4 October 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  37. ^ George Joseph Nedumparambil (2013). "A Search of the Roots of the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala" (PDF). University of Würzburg. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  38. ^ Wilfred, Felix (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Christianity in Asia. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-932906-9.
  39. ^ Roberson, Ronald. "The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church". E Catholic Near East Welfare Association. Archived from the original on 3 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.


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