Origin According to tradition, Thomas the Apostle came to
Muziris on the Kerala coast in 52 AD However, the visit of St. Thomas is still a matter of dispute among historians. The
Cochin Jews are known to have existed in Kerala in the 1st century AD, The earliest known source connecting the Apostle to Northwest India, specifically the
Indo-Parthian Kingdom, is the
Acts of Thomas, likely written in the early 3rd century, perhaps in
Edessa. A number of 3rd and 4th century Roman writers also mention Thomas' trip to India, including
Ambrose of Milan,
Gregory of Nazianzus,
Jerome, and
Ephrem the Syrian, while
Eusebius of Caesarea records that St. Clement of Alexandria's teacher
Pantaenus from
Alexandria visited a Christian community in India using the
Gospel of Matthew in
Hebrew in the 2nd century. The tradition of origin of the Christians in Kerala is found in a version of the Songs of Thomas or
Thomma Parvam, written in 1601 and believed to be a summary of a larger and older work. Thomas is described as arriving in or around
Maliankara and founding
Ēḻarappaḷḷikaḷ (Seven great churches):
Kodungallur,
Kottakavu,
Palayoor,
Kokkamangalam,
Nilackal,
Niranam and
Kollam. Some other churches, namely
Thiruvithamcode Arappally (a "half church"),
Malayattoor and
Aruvithura are often called
Arappallikal. The
Thomma Parvam also narrates the conversion of Jews, natives, and the local King at Kodungallur by St Thomas. It is possible that the
Jews who became Christians at that time were absorbed by what became the Nasrani Community in Kerala. The
Thomma Parvam further narrates St Thomas's mission in the rest of South India and his martyrdom at
Mylapore in present-day
Chennai, Tamil Nadu. According to legend, the community began with Thomas's conversion of 32
Brahmin families, namely
Pakalomattom, Sankarapuri, Kalli, Kaliyankal, Koikara, Madapoor, Muttodal, Kottakara, Nedumpilly, Palackal, Panakkamattom, Kunnappilly, Vazhappilly, Payyappilly, Maliakkal, Pattamukku, Thaiyil, etc. While there is much doubt on the cultural background of early Christians, there is evidence that some members of the St Thomas Christian community observed Brahmin customs in the Middle Ages, such as the wearing of the
Upanayana (sacred thread) and having a
kudumi. The medieval historian
Pius Malekandathil believes these were customs adopted and privileges won during the beginning of the Brahmin dominance of medieval Kerala. He argues that the Syrian Christians in Kerala, integrated with Persian Christian migrant merchants, in the 9th century to become a powerful trading community and were granted the privileges by the local rulers to promote revenue generation and to undermine Buddhist and Jain traders who rivaled the Brahmins for religious and political hegemony in Kerala at the time. An organized Christian presence in India dates to the arrival of
East Syriac settlers and missionaries from
Persia, members of what would become the Church of the East, in around the 3rd century. Saint Thomas Christians trace the further growth of their community to the arrival of Jewish-Christians (early East Syriac Christians) from the region of Mesopotamia led by
Knāi Thoma (
anglicized as Thomas of Cana), which is said to have occurred either in the 4th or 8th century. The subgroup of the Saint Thomas Christians known as the
Knanaya or Southists trace their lineage to Thomas of Cana, while the group known as the
Northists claim descent from the early Christians evangelized by Thomas the Apostle. The traditional histories of the Thomas Christians note that the immigration of the Knanites reinvigorated the church of India, which was at the moment of their arrival deprived of ecclesial leadership. The arrival of the migrants is also associated with connecting the native Church of St. Thomas with the Syriac Christian tradition of the
Church of the East. During this time period Thomas of Cana received copper plates of socio-economic and religious rights for his relations, his party, and all people of his religion. The granting of these plates is noted to have enhanced the social position of all the ancient Christians of India and secured for them royal protection from the Chera dynasty. The
Thomas of Cana copper plates were extant in Kerala until the 17th century after which point they were lost.
Classical period (9th century) – One of the reliable documentary evidences of the privileges and influence that Saint Thomas Christians enjoyed in early Malabar. The document contains signatures of the witnesses in
Pahlavi,
Kufic and
Hebrew scripts. It is the oldest documentary evidence from India that attest the presence of a Persian Christian community in South India. As the community grew and immigration by
East Syriac Christians increased, the connection with the Church of the East, centred in the Persian capital of
Seleucia-Ctesiphon, strengthened. From the early 4th century the
Patriarch of the Church of the East provided India with clergy, holy texts, and ecclesiastical infrastructure, and around 650 Patriarch
Ishoyahb III solidified the Church of the East's jurisdiction over the Saint Thomas Christian community. In the 8th century Patriarch
Timothy I organised the community as the
Ecclesiastical Province of India, one of the church's Provinces of the Exterior. In 883 the English king
Alfred the Great reportedly sent a mission and gifts to Saint Thomas' tomb in India. During the
Crusades, distorted accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians and the Nestorian Church gave rise to the European legend of
Prester John. , flags: , identified as Christian due to the Christian presence there) in the contemporary
Catalan Atlas of 1375. The caption above the king of
Kollam reads:
Here rules the king of Colombo, a Christian. The black flags () on the coast belong to the
Delhi Sultanate. The port at
Kollam, then known as Quilon, was founded in 825 by Maruvān Sapir Iso, a Persian Christian merchant, with sanction from Ayyanadikal Thiruvadikal, the king of the independent
Venad or the State of Quilon, a feudatory under
Sthanu Ravi Varma Perumal of the
Chera kingdom. Sapir Iso is usually identified either as the East Syriac Christian merchant who led the East Syriac bishops
Mar Sabor and Mar Proth to the Christians of Malabar or as the first of those two bishops. This accompanied the second Assyrian migration into the Malabar coast other than the
Knanaya migration. The two bishops were instrumental in founding many Christian churches with Syrian liturgy along the Malabar coast and were venerated as
Qandishangal (saints) since then by the Thomas Christians. It is believed that Sapir Iso also proposed that the Chera king create a new seaport near Kollam in lieu of his request that he rebuild the almost vanished inland seaport at Kollam (kore-ke-ni) near Backare (Thevalakara), also known as Nelcynda and Tyndis to the Romans and Greeks and as Thondi to the Tamils, which had been without trade for several centuries because the Cheras were overrun by the
Pallavas in the 6th century, ending the spice trade from the Malabar coast. The Tharisapalli plates presented to Maruvan Sapor Iso by Ayyanadikal Thiruvadikal granted the Christians the privilege of overseeing foreign trade in the city as well as control over its weights and measures in a move designed to increase Quilon's trade and wealth. Thus began the Malayalam Era, known as
Kollavarsham after the city, indicating the importance of Kollam in the 9th century. and its
dioceses and missions throughout
Asia, including
India The great distances involved and the geopolitical turmoil of the period caused India to be cut off from the church's heartland in Mesopotamia at several points. In the 11th century the province was suppressed by the church entirely, as it had become impossible to reach, but effective relations were restored by 1301. However, following the collapse of the Church of the East's hierarchy in most of Asia later in the 14th century, India was effectively cut off from the church, and formal contact was severed. By the late 15th century India had had no metropolitan for several generations, and the authority traditionally associated with him had been vested in the archdeacon. MS Vatican Syriac 22 is the oldest known Syriac manuscript copied in India. It is a lectionary of
Pauline Epistles copied on 1301 AD (1612
AG) in
Kodungallūr (Cranganore, ) at the Church dedicated to
Mar Quriaqos. The scribe refers Catholicos-Patriarch of the East
Yahballaha III as Yahaballaha
the fifth.
Johannes P. M. van der Ploeg comments that this may indicate that the patriarch was not well known among the Indian Christians. in 1329–1338 in
Mirabilia Descripta In 1490, a delegation from the Saint Thomas Christians visited the
Patriarch of the East,
Shemon IV, to bring a bishop for India. One among them was Joseph the Indian, who later became famous for his visit to Rome and the account of Malabar in Book VI of
Paesi novamente retrovati (1507) by Fracanzano da Montalboddo. The patriarch responded positively to the request of Saint Thomas Christians, and appointed two bishops, Mar Thoma and Mar
Yohannan, dispatching them to India. These bishops, and three more (Mar Yahballaha, Mar Dinkha and Mar
Yaqov) who followed them in 1503–1504, reaffirmed and strengthened traditional ties between
India and the Patriarchate. They were later followed by another bishop, Mar
Abraham, who died in 1597. By that time, Christians of the
Malabar Coast were facing new challenges, caused by the establishment of
Portuguese presence in India.
Portuguese contact The Saint Thomas Christians first encountered the
Portuguese in 1498, during the expedition of
Vasco da Gama. At the time the community was in a tenuous position: though thriving in the
spice trade and protected by their own militia, the local political sphere was volatile and the Saint Thomas Christians found themselves under pressure from the
rajas of
Calicut and
Cochin and other small kingdoms in the area. The Saint Thomas Christians and the Portuguese newcomers quickly formed an alliance. The Portuguese had a keen interest in implanting themselves in the spice trade and in spreading their version of Christianity, which had been forged during several centuries of warfare in the
Reconquista. Facilitating their goals was the
Padroado Real, a series of treaties and decrees in which the Pope conferred upon the Portuguese government certain authority in ecclesiastical matters in the foreign territories they conquered. They set up in
Goa, forming a
colonial government and a
Latin church hierarchy under the
Archbishop of Goa, and quickly set to bringing the Saint Thomas Christians under his authority. The Portuguese subjection of the Saint Thomas Christians was relatively measured at first, but they became more aggressive after 1552, the year of the death of Metropolitan Mar Jacob and of a
schism in the Church of the East, which resulted in there being two rival Patriarchs—one of whom entered communion with the Catholic Church. Both patriarchs sent bishops to India, but the Portuguese consistently managed to outmaneuver them, and effectively cut off the Saint Thomas Christians from their hierarchy in 1575, when the Padroado legislated that neither patriarch could send representatives to India without Portuguese approval. By 1599 the last Metropolitan,
Abraham, had died, and the Archbishop of Goa,
Aleixo de Menezes, had secured the submission of the young
Archdeacon Givargis, the highest remaining representative of the native church hierarchy. The Archbishop convened the
Synod of Diamper, which implemented various liturgical and structural reforms in the Indian church. The Synod brought the parishes directly under the Archbishop's purview; anathematised certain "superstitious" social customs characteristic of their Hindu neighbors, including
untouchability and a
caste hierarchy; and purged the liturgy, the
East Syriac Rite, of elements deemed unacceptable according to the Latin protocol. A number of Syriac texts were condemned and ordered burnt, including the
Peshitta, the Syriac version of the Bible. Some of the reforms, especially the elimination of caste status, reduced the Saint Thomas Christians' standing with their socially stratified Hindu neighbors. The Synod formally brought the Saint Thomas Christians into the Catholic Church but the actions of the Portuguese over the ensuing years fueled resentment in segments of the community, and ultimately led to open resistance to their power.
Division and defiance Over the next several decades, tensions seethed between the Portuguese and the remaining native hierarchy, and after 1641 Archdeacon
Thomas, the nephew and successor to Archdeacon George of Cross, was often at odds with the Latin prelates. In 1652, the escalating situation was further complicated by the appearance in
Mylapore of a mysterious figure named
Ahatallah, who claimed to have been sent by the
Pope, from the
Church of Antioch to serve as "Patriarch of the Whole of India and of China". Ahatallah made a strong impression on the native clergy, but the Portuguese quickly decided he was an impostor, and put him on a ship bound for Europe by way of Goa. Archdeacon Thomas, desperate for a new ecclesiastical leader to free his people from the Padroado, travelled to Cochin and demanded to meet Ahatallah and examine his credentials. The Portuguese refused, stating the ship had already left for Goa. Ahatallah was never heard from in India again, inspiring false rumours that the Portuguese had murdered him and inflaming anti-Portuguese sentiments even more. This was the last straw for the Saint Thomas Christians; in 1653, Thomas and community representatives met at the Church of Our Lady in
Mattancherry to take bold action. In a great ceremony before a crucifix and lighted candles, they swore a solemn oath that they would never obey Padroado Archbishop Francisco Garcia or the Portuguese again, and that they accepted only the Archdeacon as their shepherd. 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 Catholic
Latin Church. The independent
Malankara Church regards the
Coonan Cross Oath as the moment their Church regained its independence from the Catholic Church, which they lost during the
Synod of Diamper. After the events of Coonan Cross Oath three letters were circulated claiming that they had been sent by
Ahathalla. One such letter was read at a meeting at Edappally on 5 February 1653. This letter granted to the archdeacon some powers of the archbishop. On hearing it, a vast crowd enthusiastically welcomed Archdeacon Thomas as the governor of their Church and four senior priests were appointed as his counsilors, namely,
Anjilimoottil Itty Thommen of Kallisseri, Kuravilangad Parambil
Palliveettil Chandy, Kaduthuruthi
Kadavil Chandy, Angamali Vengur Giwargis Kathanar. At a further meeting held at Alangat, on 23 May 1653, another letter was read stating that it was from Ahathalla. It instructed the Saint Thomas Christians in the absence of a bishop, twelve of the cattanars (priests) might lay their hands on Thomas, and that this would be adequate as episcopal consecration. The authenticity of these letters is not clear. Some are of the opinion that these letters might be forged by
Anjilimoottil Itty Thommen Kathanar who was a skilled Syriac writer. The letters were read with enthusiasm in the churches of the Thomas Christians and Archdeacon Thomas was later proclaimed bishop in a ceremony in which twelve priests
laid hands on him, elevating him as Metropolitan with the title
Thoma I and he added such ancient titles as 'Metran of All India', 'Gate of India'. At this point, the Portuguese missionaries attempted reconciliation with Saint Thomas Christians but were not successful. Later, in 1657,
Pope Alexander VII sent the Italian priest Joseph Sebastiani as the head of a
Carmelite mission of the
Propaganda Fide to regain the trust of the dissident St. Thomas Christians. Sebastiani and other Carmelites pressed that the ordination of the archdeacon as metropolitan by the priests in the absence of another bishop was not in accordance with Church laws. They succeeded in convincing a large group of Saint Thomas Christians, including
Kadavil Chandy,
Palliveettil Chandy and Vengur Giwargis, and Thoma I began to lose his followers. In the meantime, Sebastiani returned to Rome and was consecrated as bishop on 15 December 1659. He reached Kerala again in 1661, being appointed as the Vicar Apostolic of Malabar by the pope. Within a short time period he restored majority of the churches that had been with Thoma I to Catholic Church. 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 European missionaries had to leave Kerala. Before leaving Kerala, on 1 February 1663, Sebastiani consecrated Palliveettil Chandy was consecrated as the bishop of the Thomas Christians who adhered to Catholic Church. He soon also designated himself as 'Metran of All India' and 'Gate of India'. 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 Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius ʿAbdulmasīḥ I, arrived in India and the faction under the leadership of Thoma I welcomed him. The bishop was sent in correspondence to the letter sent by Thoma I to the
Oriental Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch. Bishop Abdul 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
Paḻayakūṟ (or "Old Allegiance"), and the branch affiliated with
Thoma I came to be known as
Puthenkur (or "New Allegiance"). These appellations have been somewhat controversial, though, as both parties considered themselves the true heirs to the Saint Thomas tradition, and saw the other party as schismatic. The
Paḻayakūṟ faction was also known as Romo-Syrians and organized as the Syrian Catholic Church whereas the
Puthenkur faction was also known as
Jacobite Syrians Between 1661 and 1665, the Paḻayakūṟ faction (Syrian Catholics) claimed 72 of the 116 churches, while Archdeacon
Thoma I and the Puthenkur faction (Malankara Syrians) claimed 32. The remaining 12 churches were shared between the two factions until the late nineteenth century. The Paḻayakūṟ faction is the body from which the modern
Syro-Malabar Church and
Chaldean Syrian Church descend. The Puthenkur faction is the body from which the
Jacobite,
Orthodox,
CSI Syrian Christians,
Marthoma,
St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India,
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and
Malabar Independent Syrian Church originate. This visit of Gregorios Abdal Jaleel gradually introduced the
West Syriac liturgy, customs and script to the Malabar Coast. 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 Malankara Church affiliated to the
Miaphysite Christology of the
Oriental Orthodox Communion. Furthermore, ʿAbdulmasīḥ I sent
Maphrian Baselios Yaldo in 1685, along with Bishop Ivanios Hidayattullah who vehemently propagated the West Syriac Rite and solidified the association of the Malankara Church with the Syriac Orthodox Church. The main body of the Paḻayakūṟ faction (Syrian Catholics) came to be known as the
Syro-Malabar Church. They continued with their
East Syriac traditions and stayed within the Catholic Church with
Diophysite creed. They had to remain under the foreign Latin bishops, with the only exception of Palliveettil Chandy and
Kariattil Ousep. Their Indian
East Syriac Catholic hierarchy was restored on 21 December 1923, with
Augustine Kandathil as the first
Metropolitan and
head.
Failed attempts for reunification and solidification of the schism A minority within the community of Saint Thomas Christians tried to preserve the use of the
East Syriac Rite and re-establishing ties with
Patriarchs of the Church of the East, who occasionally sent envoys to India. At the beginning of the 18th century, Bishop
Shemʿon of ʿAda (d. ) and in (), Bishop
Gabriel of Ardishai (d. ) arrived to India, sent by the Chaldean Patriarch. Bishop Gabriel temporarily succeeded in reviving the traditionalist community, but was faced with prolonged rivalry, both from West Syriac (Jacobite) and Latin Catholic (
Propaganda Fide and
Padroado) leadership. In 1751, Jacobite Maphrian
Baselios Shakrallah Qasabgi came to Kerala. He was highly instrumental in replacing the East Syriac Rite with West Syriac Rite among the
Puthenkur faction. He was accompanied by Gregorios Hanna Bakhudaidi, the Jacobite Archbishop of Jerusalem, and Yukhannon (Ivanios) Christophoros of Mosul, whom the Maphrian consecrated as a bishop during his tenure in Kerala. The delegation was sent from the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate to firmly establish West Syriac Rite among the
Puthenkur and regularise the orders of their leader,
Thoma V. However,
Thoma V died without having reconsecrated, but having himself consecrated his successor as Thoma VI.
Thoma VI strongly resisted the efforts of the delegation. Very often the Syriac Orthodox delegates selected their own candidates and ordained them as priests, without consulting Thoma VI. Meanwhile, the
Paḻayakūṟ were being increasingly subjugated by their colonial Latin ecclesiastical administrators. Thoma VI, therefore, initiated efforts to reunify both the factions. However, the Carmelite missionaries working among the
Paḻayakūṟ were reluctant to reciprocate to his efforts fearing that the indigenous bishop would take away their authority and influence over the faction after the proposed reunification of the Saint Thomas Christians was fulfilled. On the other hand, the Syriac Orthodox delegates were extending their influence upon the
Puthenkur, insisting the faction to shift to the West Syriac Rite. Shakrallah, immediately prior to his death, consecrated Kurian Kattumangat as Bishop Abraham Koorilose in 1764. By 1770, Gregorios and Ivanios had Thoma VI reconsecrated as 'Dionysios I'. Thoma VI had to receive all orders of priesthood from the tonsure to the episcopal consecration. Thoma VI received support from
Paḻayakūṟ leaders, who informed him of the ill-treatment and discrimination that they faced from the missionaries. Consequently, two priestly leaders among them:
Kariattil Iousep Malpan and
Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar decided to meet the Pope to convey the message of Thoma VI. The Jacobite delegates were soon at odds with Thoma VI and hence in 1772 they raised Abraham Koorilose to the Metropolitan rank at the new Mattancherry Church in Cochin, constructed by Shakrallah. Abraham Koorilose received recognition from the Rajah of
Cochin. Kariyattil Iousep, accompanied by Paremmakkal Thoma and two other deacons, made the trip from Kerala in 1778 and he was consecrated as the
Archbishop of Cranganore in 1782. However, the efforts drastically failed because of the unexpected death of Iousep while in Goa.
Varthamanappusthakam, written by Thoma Kathanar in 1785, provides the detail of this journey until the death of the archbishop. Following this, in 1787, representatives from eighty-four
Paḻayakūṟ churches assembled at Angamaly and drew up the
Angamāly Padiyōla against the colonial Latin hegemony, declaring their allegiance to the Paremmakkal Thoma and urged for the reinstatement of their native East Syriac hierarchy. Meanwhile, Dionysios I (Thoma VI) managed to imprison his rival, Abraham Koorilose who finally escaped from the states of
Travancore and Cochin where the majority of Saint Thomas Christians lived to Anjoor in the territory of the
Samuthiri (Zamorin of Calicut). There Koorilose spent his days in prayer and meditation in a hut. A few relatives and friends joined him there. This group, originally known as the
Thozhiyur Church, was later confirmed as an independent Syrian Church in Malabar by the
Madras High Court, through a verdict in 1862. Subsequently, they took the name
Malabar Independent Syrian Church.
British period In 1795, the kings of Travancore and Cochin entered into
tributary alliance with the
British East Indian Company to repel the attacks from
Tipu Sultan. The states soon became client regimes of the company: both were forced to disband their military. The political order of the states also began to collapse. Saint Thomas Christians were hit hard by the loss of their privileged military role, their
kalari network was dissolved and many families lost their livelihood. The trading class, as well as the office bearers, also suffered the setback and many Europeans who visited the states between 1801 and 1820 noted the poor and depressed condition of Saint Thomas Christians of the
Puthenkur. Some partisan fund allocation for the churches by the British officials triggered a breakdown in the relationship between Saint Thomas Christians and prominent Hindu castes, at least temporarily. In 1815, the British Resident, Colonel
John Munro, founded a
seminary in
Kottayam, for the theological education of Jacobite Christian priests and invited the
Anglican missionaries to teach there. This could be regarded as the beginning of the relationship between the
CMS (Church Mission Society) and the Saint Thomas Christians of the
Puthenkur.
Further divisions from the nineteenth century As a protest against the interference of the Anglican Church in the affairs of the
Puthenkur faction of the Saint Thomas Christians, the Metropolitan,
Cheppad Dionysios, convened a Synod at
Mavelikara on 16 January 1836. There it was declared that
Malankara Church would be subject to the Syrian traditions and
Patriarch of Antioch. The declaration resulted in the separation of the
CMS missionaries from the communion with the
Malankara Church. Cheppad Dionysios, abdicated during the tenure of an Antiochian prelate named Yuyakim Koorilose (arrived , d. ). During his stay in among the
Puthenkur, Koorilose completed the transition to West Syriac ritual practices. However, a minority from the
Malankara Church, who were in favour of the
Reformed ideologies of the missionaries, stood along with them and joined the
Anglican Church. These
Saint Thomas Anglicans, were the first Reformed group to emerge from the Saint Thomas Christian community and they worked along with the missionaries in their evangelical, educational and reformative activities. By 1879, the
Diocese of Travancore and Cochin of the
Church of England was established in
Kottayam. On 27 September 1947, the Anglican dioceses in
South India, merged with other
Protestant churches in the region and formed the
Church of South India (CSI); an independent
United Church in full communion with all its predecessor denominations. and dispatched him to visit the alienated Malabar Christian flock in 1861. However, the mission failed due to the protests of the apostolic delegate at Mosul, Henri Amanton, and the vicar apostolic of
Verapoly. As a result, the Pope forced the Patriarch to call back the bishop. There was yet another incident on 5 June 1864. Patriarch Joseph VI consecrated
Elias Mellus, bishop of Aqra, and sent him to India. But this effort too was met with the same fate as before and Mellus was called back in 1882. Meanwhile, in 1862, an attempt was made to reestablish direct ties between traditionalist Christian communities in India and the
Assyrian Patriarch Shimun XVIII consecrated the aforementioned Thondanatt as Abdisho, the Metropolitan of India, but his task proved to be very difficult and challenging. He intensified his activity after 1882, fulfilling the aspirations of local Christians of the
East Syriac Rite for the full re-establishment of traditional ecclesiastical structure. Until his death in 1900, he partially succeeded in organizing the local church, that was named the
Chaldean Syrian Church. After his death, local Christians appealed to
Shimun XIX, Patriarch of the
Assyrian Church of the East in
Qochanis who was forthcoming, and in December 1907 consecrated
Abimalek Timotheus as
metropolitan bishop for India. He reached his diocese in February 1908, and took over the administration. He organized ecclesiastical structures, and continued with revitalisation of the
East Syriac Rite. By June 1875, there were two factions among the
Malankara Church:
Conservative Party and
Reform Party.
Mathews Athanasius was the Malankara Metropolitan approved by the Governments of Travancore and of Cochin and he was supportive to the reforming of the Jacobite church with evangelistic ideologies. Hence the group with Mathews Athanasius was known as "Reform Party" In June 1876, at the synod of
Mulanthuruthy, presided over by the Patriarch, the Syrian faction formally came under the Antiochene Patriarchate. The synod condemned Mathews Athanasius for abstaining from it, but his followers stayed firm with him. His successor
Thomas Athanasius and the bishop's faction lost the lawsuit to the Patriarchal faction in the Royal Court of Travancore on 12 July 1889. Nonetheless, the Reform Party continued as an independent Church and thereafter a series of suits arose on the rights over churches and associated properties. Later they chose the name
Mar Thoma Syrian Church. Previously ʿAbdulmasīḥ II himself had declined the request for the installation of a Maphrianate for India in 1902 during his patriarchate. The independent group under Metropolitan Dionysios VI, known as the 'Metropolitan's Party', started endorsing the claims for
autocephaly. The other group, known as the 'Patriarch's Party', remained loyal to the Patriarch and was led by
Coorilos Paulose, succeeded by
Athanasius Paulose. The two sides filed a series of lawsuits in the civil courts and some parallel attempts to reconcile both the parties also took place. In 1958, bishops of both the parties sealed their reconciliation and signed a treaty which in turn recognised the autonomy of reunited factions, with its own synod of bishops under the presidency of the Catholicos. The verdict of the Supreme Court of India in 1958, legitimizing the autonomy of Kerala church, was instrumental in this formal reconciliation between the two sides. In 1964, Patriarch
Ignatius Yaʿqub III consecrated
Baselios Augen I (d. ) as the Catholicos. Nonetheless, in 1975, both the parties split again with the decision of the
Universal Syrian Synod, held in Damascus, to depose the Catholicos in Kerala and
Baselios Paulose II was consecrated as the Catholicos for the 'Patriarch faction'. Today the West Syriac Oriental Orthodox community in India is divided between the
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church) and the
Jacobite Syrian Christian Church (an autonomous church under the Antiochene Patriarchate). In 1930, a section of the
Malankara Church under the leadership of Archbishop
Geevarghese Ivanios and
Jacob Theophilos left the
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and came into communion with the Catholic Church. They are known as
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. On 11 June 1932,
Trivandrum was recognised as a
Metropolitan See sui juris, with
Thiruvalla as its suffragan. On 10 February 2005, the church was raised to the status of a
Major archiepiscopal church. The canonical installation of
Cyril Baselios as the first
Major Archbishop took place on 14 May 2005 and simultaneously the title 'Catholicos' was legitimized. The
St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute (SEERI), inaugurated on 14 September 1985, comes under the Syro-Malankara Catholic Archbishop of Thiruvalla. In 1961, there was a split in the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church which resulted in the formation of
St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India.
Pentecostalism began to spread among Saint Thomas Christians from 1911, due to
American missionary work. As the movement gained momentum, groups of people from all traditional St. Thomas Christian denominations became part of various emerging Pentecostal and
evangelical fellowships. Pentecostals from Syrian Christian background spearheaded the movement in Kerala and to a lesser extent in India, by providing the necessary leadership for establishing denominations like
Indian Pentecostal Church of God,
Assemblies of God in India,
Church of God (Full Gospel) in India,
The Pentecostal Mission and many other
Neo-charismatic churches. The
Syro-Malabar Church too has a very active
Charismatic ministry, operated through establishments such as the
Divine Retreat Centre, Muringoor.
Involvement in politics Participation based on caste and community divisions and sympathies has been a feature of politics in the present day state of Kerala and its predecessor entities. Until the mid-20th century the primary cause of the divisions between the various communities was competition for rights and resources. Like other communities, Saint Thomas Christians have been involved in regional politics on a community basis. In 1888, Travancore became the first
princely state in India to establish a Legislative Council, which was reformed as the
Sree Moolam Popular Assembly in 1904. A few Saint Thomas Christian leaders were elected to the Legislative Council but there was resentment that their share of the available seats was proportionately less than that of other prominent castes. This resentment led to a series of campaigns for equal representation both in the legislature and in government positions.
Jatiaikya Sangham, an organization formed with an objective of reuniting the
Paḻayakūṟ and
Puthenkur communities, came up with the idea of a newspaper that resulted in the establishment of
Nasrani Deepika by
Nidhirikkal Manikkathanar in 1887. Newspapers such as the
Nasrani Deepika and
Malayala Manorama disseminated their grievances. In 1918, Saint Thomas Christians formed the League for Equal Civic Rights, which sought the opening of all branches of government service to Christians, Muslims and
avarna Hindus, as well as an end to the practice of untouchability. Their demands were partially met in 1922 when the Revenue Department was separated from the
Devaswom, a semi-government organization that managed the Hindu temples, thus removing the restriction on non-Hindus and avarnas in the executive service. In the 1920s, Saint Thomas Christian leaders such as
George Joseph were advised by
Mahatma Gandhi to detach from
Vaikom Satyagraha, an agitation for the
temple entry rights of avarna Hindus, as he considered the issue to be one of concern to Hindus alone.
Titus Theverthundiyil was one of the 78 marchers selected by Gandhi to take part in the 1930
Dandi March, to break the
British salt monopoly. With the institution in 1932 of a
bicameral legislature in Travancore, four Saint Thomas Christians found a place in among the 24 seats of the
lower house, but not comparable with other forward castes. In 1937, general elections were held and Joint Political Congress played a significant role to attain much better representation for allied communities.
T.M. Varghese was elected as the Deputy President of the Assembly where
C. P. Ramaswami Iyer was the ex officio President. On the collapse of Joint Political Congress due to internal conflicts, Saint Thomas Christian leaders allied with
Nairs in a common platform-
Travancore State Congress where they fought together for responsible government and also to oust Iyer. In the three-member Cabinet of Travancore formed after the first general elections in 1948, Varghese was a Cabinet Minister. However the first Saint Thomas Christian to become a minister in the central government of India was
Padma Vibhushan John Mathai, who served as India's first
Railway Minister and subsequently as India's
Finance Minister, taking office shortly after the presentation of India's first Budget, in 1948. On 1 November 1956,
the state of Kerala was formed and the
Communist Party of India formed the first government of the state in 1957 on
winning the assembly elections. Though the government initiated the legislation process for reforming the land and the education sectors, these were considered as infringements over the rights by the school managements and landowners, who were predominantly Saint Thomas Christians and
Nairs. The disagreements of the Saint Thomas Christians further widened and they allied with
Nair Service Society to mobilize against the government, which culminated in a violent struggle, called the
Liberation Struggle, in 1958. The Communist government was dismissed on 31 July 1959 and the
President's rule was imposed in the state under
Article 356 of the
Constitution of India. == Socio-cultural and religious identity ==