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The Mar Thoma Church traces its origin to Thomas the Apostle β known as Mar Thoma in Syriac β who is traditionally believed to have arrived on the Malabar Coast of India around AD 52. He landed at Muziris (now estimated as Pattanam, near Kochi), after his first mission in the Parthian empire during the era of King Gondophares. He is believed to have itinerated for 30 years in Kerala before proceeding to the East coast of India, where he died a martyr's death at Mylapore-Chinnamalai in Tamil Nadu.
The early Christian communities he established became known as St Thomas Christians, or Nasranis β followers of "Nazraani Margam" (The Way of the Nazarene). Kerala was known in those times as Malankara, giving the church its name. The St Thomas Christians lived in a region bounded by the mountains and the Erythraean Sea (now the Arabian Sea), stretching from Kannur to Kanyakumari β a land of ancient maritime trade with Israel, Egypt, Persia, and Rome.
According to Scripture, the Malabar Coast traded with Israel as far back as the time of Moses and Solomon (1 Kings 9:26β28, 10:11, 22). Archaeological excavations at Pattanam from 2005 provided evidence that maritime trade between Kerala and Mediterranean ports existed before 500 BC.
The presence of Christians in India is attested by multiple ancient sources:
The community was administered by a hereditary local chief called the Archdeacon (Arkadiyokon) β "Jathikku Karthavyan" (Leader of The Community) β while foreign bishops visited periodically from the Middle East.
The rulers of Kerala gave three royal grants (Cheppeds) to the Malankara Nasranis in recognition of their service. Five copper plate sheets are now in the custody of the Mar Thoma Church headquarters at Thiruvalla:
The St Thomas Christians were organised as a Church by the 8th century, maintaining fraternal relationships with the Church of the East, the Church of Antioch, and the Church of Alexandria. Their original liturgical language was Aramaic, which was later replaced by Syriac β a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. The Bible used was the Peshitta in Estrangelo Syriac.
During the reign of King Shapur II of Persia (310β379 AD), approximately 400 Persian Christian immigrants (72 families) arrived in Malabar under the merchant Knai Thomman β these became the Knanaya people, who remained a partially endogamous group within the Nasrani community. A further immigration from Persia occurred around 825 AD under merchant Marwan Sabriso, accompanied by two Bishops, Sapro and Prodh. These contacts deepened the Syriac character of the Malankara Church.
By 1500 AD, the Malankara Church had spread from Kannur in the North to Kollam in the South. It was governed by Parish elders and an Archdeacon, with no knowledge of Latin β the language of Rome.
The Portuguese arrived in India with Vasco da Gama in 1498 and took control of sea routes along the western Indian coast. For the next 200 years, they sought to bring the Malankara Church under Latin/Roman Catholic authority. Initial contact was made with the St Thomas Christians, but tension escalated as Portugal demanded submission to Rome.
Archbishop Aleixo de Menezes arrived in Goa in 1595 and convened the Synod of Diamper at Udayamperoor (south of Ernakulam) from 20 to 26 June 1599. Parish representatives were forced to accept decrees submitted by the Archbishop. The Synod condemned the ancient Syriac practices of the Malankara Church, imposed Latin doctrine and liturgy, burned ancient manuscripts, and severed the historic connection with the East Syriac Church. This period is remembered as one of coercion and deep trauma for the St Thomas Christian community.
A historic act of resistance took place on Friday, 24 January 1653 (M.E. 828 Makaram 3). Under the leadership of Archdeacon Thomas, Nasranis from across the region gathered at Mattancherry church near Cochin. They collectively swore an oath, holding ropes tied to a large stone cross:
"We will not obey the Franks [Portuguese], nor become Franks. We renounce them, and do not want either their love or their favour. The present Francis, bishop, shall not be our governor. We are not his children or followers. We will not again acknowledge Portuguese bishops."
Those unable to reach the ropes held them in their hands. Tradition holds that under the weight of the people, the cross bent β hence "Coonan Kurisu" (Bent Cross). Four months after the oath, twelve church elders consecrated Archdeacon Thomas as their bishop with the title Mar Thoma I β the first in a line of twenty-two Metropolitans to the present day.
Between 1661 and 1662, of 116 churches, the Carmelites reclaimed 84, leaving Mar Thoma I with 32. These 32 churches and their congregations form the nucleus from which the Syriac Orthodox (Jacobite & Orthodox), Thozhiyur, Mar Thoma, and Syro-Malankara Catholic churches all descended. In 1665, Bishop Gregorios Abdul Jaleel arrived from the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch β his arrival marked the beginning of a formal shift to the West Syriac Rite, which the Mar Thoma Church uses to this day.
The English defeated the Dutch in 1795 and took control of Cochin. In 1806, Rev. Dr. Claudius Buchanan, an Anglican missionary, visited the Malankara Church and met Mar Thoma VI. With his provision, a Malayalam Bible β translated from Syriac by two Malpans (Syriac scholars) β was printed. A copy was presented to Buchanan and is now kept at Cambridge University Library.
In 1808, British Resident General Colin Macaulay arranged a bond of 3,000 Star Pagoda (Rs 10,500) to be paid as annual interest (Vattipanam) to the Metropolitan of the Syrian Church of Malabar. Colonel Munro's patronage led to the completion of the Mar Thoma Seminary in 1815, and the Anglican Church Mission Society (CMS) sent missionaries on a "Mission of Help" to educate seminarians.
The missionaries found practices in the Malankara Church that they considered problematic β including prayers for the dead, veneration of images, and invocation of saints β and pressed for reform. A committee formed in December 1818 drafted a reformation scheme. However, the Malankara Metropolitan Dionysius IV convened a synod at Mavelikkara on 16 January 1836, resolving to remain faithful to Oriental Orthodox faith and tradition, effectively ending the official missionary partnership.
Abraham Malpan (1796β1845) β a priest-theologian from Maramon β became the central figure of reform. On 5 September 1836, a group of 12 clergymen under his leadership issued an encyclical describing wrong teachings, listing twenty-four practices they believed were unscriptural, and petitioned the British Resident. Regardless of official opposition, Abraham Malpan produced a reformed revision of the West Syriac liturgy and used it in his parishes. He was subsequently excommunicated.
On 27 August 1837, the then-suspended Abraham Malpan conducted the Holy Communion service in the mother tongue Malayalam at his home parish at Maramon β a landmark moment in Christian worship in India. Clergy who supported him did the same at other parishes on the same day. He also removed a statue of a saint from his church, declaring: "Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?" (Isaiah 8:19).
The key reforms carried out included:
Abraham Malpan died in 1845. To secure episcopal leadership for the reformists, he had sent his nephew Deacon Matthews to Antioch; the Patriarch β unaware of the reformation leanings β ordained him as Bishop Mathews Athanasius in 1842. He returned in 1843 and ultimately became Malankara Metropolitan in 1852.
In 1875, Patriarch Ignatius Peter IV excommunicated Mathews Athanasius, Thomas Athanasius, and all Reformist followers from the Malankara Syrian Church. The Synod of Mulanthuruthy (1876) and the Royal Court Verdict of 12 July 1889 were turning points: the court upheld the conservative (Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate) position. The reformist Metran Kakshi decided to remain as an independent church, giving primary authority to the Holy Bible and continuing as successors of the St Thomas throne.
Following the 1889 court verdict and the death of Thomas Athanasius Metropolitan (1893), the Metropolitan of the Malabar Independent Syrian Church stepped in and consecrated Titus I Mar Thoma as the new bishop. It was during the reign of Titus I Mar Thoma that the church formally accepted its name: Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church (also: Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar), in 1898.
The St Thomas Evangelical Church of India later separated from the Mar Thoma Church in 1961.
The Mar Thoma Church's identity is deliberately distinct: it is classified as Oriental Protestant β Eastern in its Apostolic heritage, Syriac liturgy, and episcopal governance; Protestant in its theology and doctrines. It employs a reformed variant of the West Syriac Rite Divine Liturgy of Saint James, translated into Malayalam. The church is neither Nestorian nor Monophysite, neither Roman Catholic nor a typical Protestant denomination β it occupies a unique ecumenical position, maintaining full communion with Anglican churches and the Church of South India.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, Mar Thoma Christians lived in a few districts of Central Travancore (Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram) and Kunnamkulam (Thrissur) in Kerala. The 20th-century Indian diaspora carried the church to North America, Europe, the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
The Mar Thoma Church played an active role in India's independence movement. Primates Abraham Thoma, Yuhanon Mar Thoma, and Alexander Mar Thoma were strong advocates of Gandhian methods and wore ecclesiastical robes stitched from Khadi. Thevarthundiyil Titus (Titusji) was the only Christian among the 78 members selected by Gandhiji for the famous Salt March to Dandi in 1930. In 1937, Mar Thoma Seminary School opened its doors to Mahatma Gandhi during his Kottayam tour. In 1975, Metropolitan Yuhanon Mar Thoma wrote directly to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi criticising the Emergency and calling for constitutional democracy.
Today the church is led by Most Rev. Dr. Theodosius Mar Thoma Metropolitan β the 22nd Malankara Metropolitan β assisted by 11 other bishops across 14 dioceses, served by 1,184 clergy to approximately 1.6 million people worldwide. The church operates 12 hospitals, 13 nursing homes, and approximately 700 missionaries. Its slogan: "Lighted to Lighten."
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