The Saint Thomas Christian denominations are Christian denominations from Kerala, India, which traditionally trace their ultimate origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.The Jews of India: A Story of Three Communities by Orpa Slapak. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. 2003. p. 27. . They are also known as "Nasranis" as well. The Syriac term "Nasrani" is still used by St. Thomas Christians in Kerala. It is part of the Eastern Christianity institution.
Historically, this community formed a part of the Church of the East, served by metropolitan bishops and a local archdeacon. By the 15th century, the Church of the East had declined drastically. The 16th century brought Portuguese colonial overtures to bring St Thomas Christians into the Latin Catholic Church, administered by their Padroado, leading to the first of several rifts (schisms) in the community."Christians of Saint Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 9 February 2010. These attempts by the Portuguese culminated in the Synod of Diamper in 1599, and were resisted by local Christians through the Coonan Cross Oath protest in 1653. This led to the permanent schism among the Thomas' Christians of India, leading to the formation of (new allegiance, pronounced ) and (old allegiance, pronounced ) factions. The comprise the present day Syro-Malabar Church and Chaldean Syrian Church which continue to employ the original East Syriac Rite liturgy and continued under catholic church.For the Acts and Decrees of the Synod cf. Michael Geddes, "A Short History of the Church of Malabar Together with the Synod of Diamper &c." London, 1694; Repr. in George Menachery (ed.), Indian Church History Classics, Vol.1, Ollur 1998, pp. 33–112. The Puthankoor group, who resisted the Portuguese, organized themselves as the independent Malankara Church, entered into a new communion with the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, and they inherited the West Syriac Rite from the Syriac Orthodox Church, which employs the Liturgy of Saint James, an ancient rite of the Church of Antioch, replacing the old East Syriac Rite liturgy.
List of churches
Assyrian Church of the East Chaldean Syrian Church (East Syriac Rite) Eastern Catholic Syro-Malabar Church (East Syriac Rite) Syro-Malankara Catholic Church (West Syriac Rite) Oriental Orthodox Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (West Syriac Rite, claim autocephality) Jacobite Syrian Christian Church (West Syriac Rite, autonomous, under the Syriac Orthodox Church) Malabar Independent Syrian Church (West Syriac Rite, independent) Oriental Protestant Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church (West Syriac Rite – Oriental Protestant, independent) Apart from the above churches which claim Thomas as their founder, Nasranis can also be found in Protestant churches. They are, Saint Thomas Anglicans of the Church of South India (United Protestant denomination that holds membership in the Anglican Communion, World Methodist Council and World Communion of Reformed Churches) St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India (Evangelical, independent) Pentecostal Saint Thomas Christians (Charismatic), groups tracing their history back to the Malankara Church include the Kerala Brethren and Indian Pentecostal Church of God.
Overview
The Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala belong to a unique Eastern Christian tradition blended in the changing socio-cultural environment of their homeland in Southern Indian subcontinent. Thus, the community is often defined as Hindu or Indian in culture, Christian in religion, and Syriac-Oriental in terms of liturgy and worship.
Their traditions date to first-century Christian thought, and the seven "and a half" churches established by Thomas the Apostle during his mission in Malabar. These are located at Kodungalloor (Muziris), Paravur, Palayoor, Kokkamangalam, Niranam, Nilackal, Kollam, and the Thiruvithamcode Arappally in Kanyakumari district.
Saint Thomas Christian families who claim their descent from ancestors who were baptized by Apostle Thomas are found throughout Kerala.; ; ; ; . St. Thomas Christians were classified into the social status system according to their professions with special privileges for trade granted by the benevolent kings who ruled the area. After the 8th century when Hindu kingdoms came to sway, Christians were expected to strictly abide by stringent rules pertaining to caste and religion. This became a matter of survival. This is why St. Thomas Christians had such a strong sense of caste and tradition, being the oldest order of Christianity in India. The Archdeacon was the head of the Church, and Palliyogams (Parish Councils) were in charge of temporal affairs. They had a liturgy-centered life with days of fasting and abstinence. Their devotion to the Mar Thoma tradition was absolute. Their churches were modelled after Jewish synagogues. "The church is neat and they keep it sweetly. There are mats but no seats. Instead of images, they have some useful writing from the holy book."
The Nasranis constitute two distinct ethnic groups, namely the and , which share a common cultural history. As a community with common cultural heritage and cultural tradition, they refer to themselves as Nasranis. However, as a religious group, they refer to themselves as (or in English as 'Saint Thomas Christians'), based on their religious tradition of Syriac Christianity.
However, from a religious angle, the Saint Thomas Christians of today belong to various denominations as a result of a series of developments including Portuguese persecution; ; ; ; . (a landmark split leading to a public Oath known as Coonen Cross Oath), reformative activities during the time of the British (6,000—12,000 Jacobites joined the C.M.S. in 1836, after the Synod of Mavelikara; who are now within the Church of South India), doctrines and missionary zeal influence (Malankara Church and Orthodox-Jacobite dispute (division of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and Malankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church (1912)).
The Eastern Catholic faction is in full communion with the Holy See in Rome. This includes the aforementioned Syro-Malabar Church as well as the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, the latter arising from an Oriental Orthodox faction that entered into communion with Rome in 1930 under Bishop Geevarghese Ivanios (d. 1953). As such the Malankara Catholic Church employs the West Syriac liturgy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, while the Syro-Malabar Church employs the East Syriac liturgy of the historic Church of the East.
The Oriental Orthodox faction includes the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, resulting from a split within the Malankara Church in 1912 over whether the church should be autocephalous or rather under the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch. As such, the Malankara Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox Church independent of the Patriarch of Antioch, whereas the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church is an integral part of the Syriac Orthodox Church and is headed by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch.
The Iraq-based Assyrian Church of the East's archdiocese includes the Chaldean Syrian Church based in Thrissur. They were a minority faction within the Syro-Malabar Church, which split off and joined with the Church of the East Bishop during the 1870s. The Assyrian Church is one of the descendant churches of the Church of the East. Thus it forms the continuation of the traditional church of Saint Thomas Christians in India.
Oriental Protestant denominations include the Mar Thoma Syrian Church and the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India. The Marthoma Syrian Church were a part of the Malankara Church that went through a reformation movement under Abraham Malpan due to influence of British Anglican missionaries in the 1800s. The Mar Thoma Church employs a reformed variant of the liturgical West Syriac Rite. The St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India is an evangelical faction that split off from the Marthoma Church in 1961.
CSI Syrian Christians are a minority faction of Malankara Syrian Christians, who joined the Anglican Church in 1836, and eventually became part of the Church of South India in 1947, after Indian independence. The C.S.I. is in full communion with the Mar Thoma Syrian Church. By the 20th century, various Syrian Christians joined Pentecostal and other evangelical denominations like the Kerala Brethren, Indian Pentecostal Church of God, Assemblies of God, among others. They are known as Pentecostal Saint Thomas Christians.
History 16th century Christians in India were part of the Church of the East up until the late 16th century.
Following the schism of 1552 in the Church of the East and the formation of the Chaldean Catholic Church, both the traditional and the Chaldean Catholic factions sent bishops to India. The first of the Chaldean Catholic bishops in India was Yawsep Sulaqa, the brother of the first Chaldean Patriarch Yohannan Sulaqa. Another bishop, Abraham, arrived in India as a traditionalist bishop but later joined the Catholic faction.
Synod of Diamper and Coonan Cross Oath Abraham was to become the last Chaldean bishop to govern the undivided Saint Thomas Christian community. Following his death in 1597, the Portuguese missionaries started a vigorous and comprehensive process of Latinisation in liturgy among the local Christians and started preventing other East Syriac bishops from reaching Malabar. These efforts culminated in the so-called Synod of Diamper (1599), the local clergy was forced to reject the Chaldean Catholic patriarch of Babylon, who in fact was in full communion with Rome at that time, as a Nestorian heretic and schismatic. The Portuguese occupied the diocesan administration of the Saint Thomas Christians and deprived the archdeacon of his traditional rights. This provoked a strong reaction from the local Christians, led by their archdeacon Thoma Parambil, in the form of the Coonan Cross Oath. Although the exact wording of the oath is disputed, its effect was the severing of the relationship between the local Christians and the Portuguese and the proclamation of the archdeacon as their new metropolitan with the title 'Mar Thoma'.
Reunion with Rome and resulting schism In 1656, Pope sent an Italian 'Disclaced' Carmelite priest named Giuseppe Maria Sebastiani to reunite the Saint Thomas Christians who had separated themselves from the jurisdiction of the existing Catholic bishop through the Coonan Cross Oath. In 1663, he consecrated Chandy Parambil as the local bishop, after the Dutch, having defeated the Portuguese, banned other Europeans from operating in Malabar.
Meanwhile, Thoma I wrote letters seeking help from other Eastern churches. In response, a Syriac Orthodox bishop named Gregorios Abdal Jalīl arrived in Malabar in 1665 and regularised Thoma's episcopacy. Succeeding Thoma, senior priests in his Pakalōmaṯṯam dynastic line took over as the leaders of the faction that had remained aligned to him. They continued to maintain strong relations with the Syriac Orthodox Church. Over time, they adopted the West Syriac Rite instead of the old East Syriac Rite. Thus the split in the Saint Thomas Christian community solidified and those who descend from Thoma's faction came to be called ( or 'those of the new allegiance') and those of Chandy came to be called ( or 'those of the old allegiance').
Pazhayakoottukar Under the Latin hierarchy After the death of Chandy, Carmelite missionaries regained the leadership of the and were reluctant to consecrate native bishops any further.
Early attempts at reunion with the Chaldean Patriarchate