Syro-Malabar Catholic

lat, Ecclesia Syrorum-Malabarensium
mal, മലബാറിലെ സുറിയാനി സഭ
, native_name_lang=, image = St. Thomas' Cross (Chennai, St. Thomas Mount).jpg
, caption = The Mar Thoma Nasrani Sliva or Saint Thomas christian cross, the symbol of the Syro-Malabar Church.
, abbreviation=SMC, type = Self-governing church ('' sui iuris'')
, main_classification = Eastern Catholic
, orientation = Eastern Christianity
( Syriac Christianity)
, scripture =
, polity = Episcopal polity
, governance=Holy Episcopal Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church, theology = East Syriac theology
, leader_title = Pope
, leader_name = Francis
, leader_title1 = Major Archbishop
, leader_name1 = George Alencherry
, leader_title3 = Administration
, leader_name3 = Major Archiepiscopal Curia
, area = India and Nasrani Malayali diaspora
, founded_date = c. 50 AD (Saint Thomas Christianity, by tradition),
1662 (reunification with Catholic Church)
, branched_from = Saint Thomas Christians
, founder = Saint Thomas the Apostle by tradition
, founded_place = Malabar Coast, South India
, liturgy = East Syriac Rite – Liturgy of Mar Addai and Mar Mari
, language = Liturgical Syriac, Malayalam, Syro-Malabarica, English, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and most other Indian languages
, members = 4.25 million worldwide, per 2016 ''Annuario Pontificio''
2.35 million in Kerala, per 2011 ''Kerala state census''
, ministers_type = Clergy
, ministers =
, division_type = Parishes
, division = 3,224
, separated_from = Church of the East''Encyclopaedia of sects & religious doctrines'', Volume 4 By Charles George Herbermann page 1180,1181
, headquarters = Mount Saint Thomas,
Kakkanad, Kochi, India
, territory = India,
with diaspora in the U.S., Australia and Oceania, Europe, UK, Canada, and the Middle East
, separations = Chaldean Syrian Church (1870s)
, other_names = Syrian Catholic (SC),
''Malankare Kaldaya Suriyani Sabha''
''Pazhayakoor'' (colloquial name for members)
, website
syromalabarchurch.in
, website_title1=Official News Portal, website
syromalabarvision.com
footnotes =

The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church ( syr, ܥܸܕܬܵܐ ܩܵܬܘܿܠܝܼܩܝܼ ܕܡܲܠܲܒܵܪ ܣܘܼܪܝܵܝܵܐ) is an Eastern Catholic church based in Kerala, India. The Syro-Malabar Church is an autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, including the Latin Church and the 22 other Eastern Catholic churches, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO). The Church is headed by the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar, currently George Alencherry. 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. ''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.

The Syro-Malabar Church is primarily based in India; with 5 metropolitan archeparchies and 10 suffragan eparchies in Kerala, there are 17 eparchies in other parts of India, and 4 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 and 4.25 million worldwide as estimated in the 2016 ''Annuario Pontificio''. It is the third largest ''sui juris'' church in the Catholic Church communion and the second largest Eastern Catholic church after the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The church traces its origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. George Menachery (1973) The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, Ed. George Menachery, B.N.K. Press, vol. 2, , 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).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.)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. 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. The Church of the East shared communion within the Great Church until the Council of Ephesus in the 5th century, separating primarily over differences in Christology and due to political reasons. The Syro-Malabar Church employs a variant of the East Syriac Rite, which dates back to 3rd century Edessa, Upper Mesopotamia.''Addai and Mari, Liturgy of''. Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. 2005 As such it is a part of Syriac Christianity by liturgy and heritage.

After the schism of 1552, a faction of the Church of the East came in communion with the Holy See of Rome (modern-day Chaldean Catholic Church) and the Church of the East collapsed due to internal struggles. Throughout the later half of the 16th century, the Malabar Church was under Chaldean Catholic jurisdiction. Through the Synod of Diamper of 1599, the Malabar Church was subjected directly under the authority of the Latin Catholic ''Padroado'' Archbishopric of Goa and the Jesuits. After a half-century administration under the Goa Archdiocese, dissidents held the Coonan Cross Oath in 1653 as a protest. In response, Pope Alexander VII, with the help of Carmelite missionaries, by 1662, was 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 in 1599 and those who reunited with the Holy See under the leadership of Mar Palliveettil Chandy during the period between 1655 and 1663. 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 over two centuries under the Latin Church's hegemony, in 1887, Pope Leo XIII fully separated the Syro-Malabar from the Latin Church (the Archdiocese of Verapoly remained as the jurisdiction for Latin Catholics). Leo XIII established two Apostolic Vicariates for Syro-Malabar, Thrissur and Changanassery (originally named Kottayam), and in 1896, the Vicariate of Ernakulam was erected as well, under the guidance of indigenous Syro-Malabar bishops. In 1923, the Syro-Malabar hierarchy was organized and unified with Ernakulam as the Metropolitan See and Mar Augustine Kandathil as the first head and Archbishop of the Church. The Syro-Malabar Church in effect became an autonomous ''sui iuris'' Eastern church within the Catholic communion.

The Syro-Malabar 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." 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 its members, eparchies have opened in other parts of India and in other countries to serve the diaspora living in the Western world. There are four eparchies outside of India, concentrated in English-speaking countries such as 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. It is one of the two Eastern Catholic churches in India, the other one 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.

History

Pre-Coonan Cross Oath

It is believed that the Saint Thomas Christians in Malabar came into contact with the Persian Church of the East in the middle of the 4th century. Saint Thomas Christians looked to Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East for ecclesiastical authority. Although the bishops from the Middle East were the spiritual rulers of the Church, the general administration of the Church of Kerala was governed by the indigenous Archdeacon. The Archdeacon was the head of Saint Thomas Christians. Even when there were more than one foreign bishop, there was only one Archdeacon for the entire community.

The Church of the East Patriarch Shemon VII Ishoyahb's unpopularity led to the schism of 1552, due to the patriarchal succession being hereditary, normally from uncle to nephew. Opponents appointed the monk Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa as a rival patriarch. Sulaqa's subsequent consecration by Pope Julius III (1550–55) saw a permanent split in the Church of the East; and the reunion with Catholic Church resulted in the formation of the modern-day Chaldean Catholic Church of Iraq.
Thus, parallel to the "traditionalist" (often referred as Nestorian) Patriarchate of the East, the "Chaldean" Patriarchate in communion with Rome came into existence. Following the schism, both traditionalist and Chaldean factions began sending their bishops to Malabar. Abraham of Angamaly was one among them. He first came to India in 1556 from the traditionalist patriarchate. Deposed from his position in 1558, he was taken to Lisbon by the Portuguese, escaped at Mozambique and left for his mother church in Mesopotamia, entered into communion with the Chaldean patriarchate and Rome in 1565, received his episcopal ordination again from the Latin patriarch of Venice as arranged by the Pope Pius IV (1559–65) in Rome. Subsequently, Abraham was appointed by Pope as Archbishop of Angamaly, with letters to the Archbishop of Goa and the Bishop of Cochin.

In 1597, Abraham of Angamaly died. The Catholic Portuguese padroado Archbishop of Goa, Aleixo de Menezes, downgraded the Angamaly Archdiocese into a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Goa and appointed the Jesuit Francisco Ros as Bishop of Angamaly. Menezes held the Synod of Diamper in 1599 to bring the Saint Thomas Christians under the complete authority of the Latin Church.

Coonan Cross Oath

The oppressive rule of the Portuguese padroado eventually led to a revolt in 1653, known as the Coonan Cross Oath. The Thomas Christians including their native priests assembled in the church of Our Lady at Mattancherry near Cochin, formally stood before a crucifix and lighted candles and solemnly swore an oath upon the Gospel that they never again accept another European prelate.Eugene Cardinal Tisserant, "Eastern Christianity in India" The exact wording used in Coonan Cross Oath is disputed. There are various versions about the wording of oath, one version being that the oath was directed against the Portuguese, another that it was directed against Jesuits, yet another version that it was directed against the authority of Latin Catholics.

Post-Coonan Cross Oath

After the Coonan Cross Oath, the leaders of Saint Thomas Christians assembled at Edappally, where four senior priests Anjilimoottil Itty Thommen Kathanar of Kallisseri, Palliveettil Chandy Kathanar of Kuravilangad, Kadavil Chandy Kathanar of Kaduthuruthy and Vengoor Geevarghese Kathanar of Angamaly were appointed as advisors of the Archdeacon and on 22 May 1653 Archdeacon Thoma was proclaimed as bishop by the laying on of hands of twelve priests. After the consecration of Thoma I, The information about this consecration was then communicated to all the churches. The vast majority of churches accepted Thoma I as their bishop. At this point of time, Portuguese authorities requested direct intervention of Rome and hence Pope sent Carmelite Missionaries in two groups from the Propagation of the Faith to Malabar headed by Fr. Sebastiani and Fr. Hyacinth. Fr. Sebastiani arrived first in 1655 and began to speak directly with the Thoma I. Fr. Sebastiani, with the help of Portuguese, gained the support of many, especially with the support of Palliveettil Chandy, Kadavil Chandy Kathanar and Vengoor Geevarghese Kathanar. These were the three of the four counselors of Thoma I, who had defected with Francisco Garcia Mendes, Archbishop of Cranganore, before the arrival of Sebastaini, according to Jesuit reports.

The Carmelite missionaries succeeded in convincing a group of St.Thomas Christians that the consecration of Archdeacon as bishop was not legitimate and Thoma I started losing his followers. In the meantime, Sebastiani returned to Rome and was ordained as bishop by Pope on 15 December 1659. Between 1661 and 1662, out of the 116 churches, the Carmelites claimed eighty-four churches, leaving the native archdeacon Thoma I with thirty-two churches. The eighty-four churches and their congregations were the body from which the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church has descended. The other thirty-two churches and their congregations represented the nucleus from which the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church (Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church), the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Malabar Independent Syrian Church, the Marthoma Syrian Church, and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church have originated. However, in 1663, with the conquest of Cochin by the Dutch, the control of the Portuguese on the Malabar coast was lost. The Dutch declared that all the Portuguese missionaries had to leave Kerala. Before leaving Kerala, on 1 February 1663 Sebastiani consecrated Palliveettil Chandy as the Metran of the Thomas Christians who adhered to the Church of Rome.

Thoma I, meanwhile sent requests to various Oriental Churches to receive canonical consecration as bishop. In 1665 Gregorios Abdal Jaleel, a bishop sent by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, arrived in India. The independent group under the leadership of Thoma I which resisted the authority of the Portuguese padroado welcomed him.Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India" Abdal Jaleel consecrated Thoma I canonically as a bishop and regularised his episcopal succession. This led to the first lasting formal schism in the Saint Thomas Christian community. Thereafter, the faction affiliated with the Catholic Church under Bishop Palliveettil Chandy came to be known as ''Pazhayakuttukar'' (or "Old Allegiance"), and the branch affiliated with Thoma I came to be known as ''Puthenkūttukār'' (or "New Allegiance"). They were also known as ''Jacobite Syrians'' and they organized themselves as independent ''Malankara Church''. The visits of prelates from the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch continued since then and this led to gradual replacement of the East Syriac Rite liturgy with the West Syriac Rite and the Puthenkūttukār affiliated to the Miaphysite Christology of the Oriental Orthodox Communion.

The '' Pazhayakuttukar'' faction continued with the Catholic Communion and preserved the traditional East Syriac (Persian) liturgy and Dyophysite Christology. They were also known as ''Romo-Syrians'' or ''Syrian Catholics''. They also used the title ''Malankara Church'' initially. Following the death of Palliveettil Chandy in 1687, the Syrian Catholics of the Malabar coast came under the parallel double jurisdiction of Vicariate Apostolic of Malabar under Roman Catholic Carmelites and Archdiocese of Cranganore under the Padroado. Thus many priests and laymen attempted to persuade the Pope to restore their Chaldean Catholic rite and hierarchy of the local church, and for the appointment of bishops from local priests. To represent their position, Kerala's Syrian Catholics Joseph Kariattil and Paremmakkal Thomma Kathanar went to Rome in 1778. While they were in Europe, Kariatty Joseph Kathanar was installed in Portugal as the Archbishop of Kodungalloor Archdiocese. While journeying home, they stayed in Goa where Kariattil died before he could formally take charge. Before he died, Kariattil appointed Kathanar as the Administrator of Kodungalloor Archdiocese after him. The new administrator ran the affairs of the church, establishing his headquarters at Angamaly. In 1790, the headquarters of the Archdiocese was shifted to Vadayar, dodging the invasion of Tippu Sultan. In the last four years of his life, Thomma Kathanar managed church administration from his own parish, Ramapuram.

'' Angamaly Padiyola'', a declaration of the '' Pazhayakūr'' gave the history of Saint Thomas Christians up to 1787 and advocated for the appointment of a native bishop that adhered to the local traditions.

Latin Catholic Carmelite clergy from Europe served as bishops, and the Church along with the Latin Catholics was under the Apostolic Vicariate of Malabar (modern-day Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Verapoly). In 1887, the Holy See established two Apostolic Vicariates, Thrissur and Kottayam (later Changanassery) under the guidance of indigenous Syro-Malabar bishops, and named the Church as "The Syro-Malabar Church" to distinguish them from the Latins. The Holy See re-organized the Apostolic Vicariates in 1896 into three Apostolic Vicariates (Thrissur, Ernakulam, and Changanassery). A fourth Apostolic Vicariate (Kottayam) was established in 1911 for Knanaya Catholics.

Restoration of the Syro-Malabar hierarchy

In 1923, Pope Pius XI (1922–39) set up a full-fledged Syro-Malabar hierarchy with Ernakulam-Angamaly as the Metropolitan See and Augustine Kandathil