User:Pakalomattam/Saint Thomas Christians


 * This article deals with Saint Thomas Christians and the various churches and denominations that form the Nasrani people

The Saint Thomas Christians are a group of Christians from the Malabar coast (now Kerala) in South India, who follow Syriac Christianity. The different groups and denominations within the St Thomas Christians together form the Nasrani people. Their tradition goes back to the very beginnings of first century Christian thought, and the seven churches that are believed to have been established by St. Thomas the Apostle.

Nasrani and Saint Thomas Christian tradition
The Nasranis are an ethnic people and in that sense a single community. However the Nasranis have various denominations as a result of Portuguese persecution. As an ethnic community they refer to themselves as Nasranis referring to the common cultural heritage and cultural tradition. However as a religious group they refer to themselves as the Mar Thoma Khristianis or in English as Saint Thomas Christians referring to their religious tradition, despite a common ancestry of being the descendants of the early Mar Thoma church or Saint Thomas tradition of Christianity.

These first century churches, according to tradition, were, from north to south: Palayoor near Guruvayoor/Kunnankulam, Kodungalloor (believed to be the ancient Muziris of Pliny, and the Periplus, on the north bank of Periyar River today), Paravur on the south side of Periyar, Gokkamangalam or Kokkamangalam, Niranam, Chayal or Nilakkal (the only inland church) and the Lakes or Kaayals, and finally Kollam. The visit of the Apostle Thomas to these places and to Mylapore on the East coast of India can be read in the Ramban Song of Thomas Ramban, set into 'moc', 1500.

Place in Indian culture
Throughout Kerala, one can find Christian families that claim their descent from Brahmin ancestors who were baptized by Apostle Thomas. St. Thomas Christians were classified into the caste system according to their professions, in accordance with the Hindu tradition, with special privileges for trade granted by the benevolent kings who ruled the area. After the eighth 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 Cross was absolute. Their churches were modelled after Jewish synagogues.

In short, the St. Thomas Christians of Kerala had blended well with the ecclesiastical world of the Eastern Churches and with the changing socio-cultural environment of their homeland. Thus, the Malabar Church was Hindu in culture, Christian in religion, and Judeo-Syro-Oriental in worship.

History of the Saint Thomas Christian tradition
Modern developments in archaeology, anthropology, numismatics, toponymy, geography and trade route investigations have revealed evidence of the trading which forms the background to the St. Thomas tradition of Kerala.

The lure of spices attracted traders from the Middle East and Europe to the many trading ports — Calicut, Cranganore, Cochin, Alleppey and Quilon — long before the time of Christ. According to tradition, it was on a trading vessel plying between Alexandria and the Malabar coast that St. Thomas the Apostle arrived in Cranganore in AD 52.

According to the first century annals of Pliny the Elder and the author of Periplus of the Erythraean sea, Muziris in Kerala could be reached in 40 days' time from the Egyptian coast purely depending on the South West Monsoon winds. The Sangam works Puranaooru and Akananooru have many lines which speak of the Roman vessels and the Roman gold that used to come to the Kerala ports of the great Chera kings in search of pepper and other spices, which had enormous demand in the West.

There Saint Thomas the Apostle is said to have begun preaching the gospel to the already existing Jewish settlers in the Malabar coast and other local people.

The Apostle St.Thomas arrived in Kerala in the 1st century, established contact with some Jews in Varapuzha and Brahmins in Palayur and converted them to the Christian faith.The jewish families which got converted include Thaliath, Petta, Vithayathial etc.The Brahmin families that converted include Kalli, Kallarakal, Kalliyankal,Plavunkal, Pattamukkil or "Bhattathiri Mukhyan", Manavasri, Pakalomattam/Pakalomattom (പകലൊമററം in Malayalam), Sankarapuri, Thayyil, Maliekkal (മാളിയേക്കല്‍ in Malayalam), etc. Then later he also went to what is now named Tamil Nadu and evangelised many families there, among whom some came to Kundara and established the Pallivakkathil family among others.

St. Thomas established seven Christian communities or churches in Kerala. They are in Cranganore, Paravur (Kottakavu), Palayoor, Kokkamangalam, Niranam, Chayal (Nilackal) and Kollam (Quilon).

Malabar Christians and the East Syrian Church
Church of the East traces its origins to the See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, said to be founded by Saint Thomas the Apostle in the Malabar coast. Other founding figures are Saint Mari and Saint Addai as evidenced in the Doctrine of Addai and the Holy Qurbana of Addai and Mari. This is the original Christian church in what was once Parthia: eastern Iraq and Iran. Geographically it stretched in the medieval period to China and India. The Church of the East developing within the Persian Empire, at the east of the Christian world, rapidly took a different course from other Eastern Christians. Prior to the Portuguese arrival in India in 1498, it provided “East Syrian” bishops to the Saint Thomas Christians in India.

When the Portuguese arrived on the Malabar Coast, the Christian communities that they found there had had longstanding traditional links with the East Syrian Christians in Mesopotamia.

During the subsequent period, in 1552, a split occurred within the Church of the East. Part of it joined Rome, so that besides the Catholicosate of the East another, “Chaldaean,” Patriarchate was founded, headed by the Patriarch Mar John Sulaqa (1553-1555). Both claim to be the rightful heir to the East Syrian tradition. It is very difficult to see the precise influence of this schism on the Church of Malabar as there was always overtones to Rome in earlier centuries. Apparently, both parties sent bishops to India.

The last East Syrian Metropolitan before the schism, Mar Jacob (1504-1552), died in 1552. Catholicos, Simeon VII Denkha sent a prelate to India, in the person of Mar Abraham, who was later to be the last Syrian Metropolitan of Malabar, after having gone over to the Chaldaean side. It is not known when he arrived in Malabar, but he must have been there already by 1556. Approximately at the same time, “Chaldaean” Patriarch Abdisho IV (1555-1567), the successor of John Sulaqa (murdered in 1555), sent the brother of John, Mar Joseph, to Malabar as a Chaldaean bishop; although consecrated in 1555 or 1556, Mar Joseph could not reach India before the end of 1556, nor Malabar before 1558. He was accompanied by another Chaldaean bishop, Mar Eliah.

This development in the history of St. Thomas Christians happened at the advent of the Portuguese colonization of the Malabar Coast.

Colonialism and St Thomas Christians
The Portuguese started a Latin diocese in Goa (1534) and another at Cochin (1558) in the hope of bringing the Thomas Christians under their jurisdiction. In a Goan Synod held in 1585 it was decided to introduce the Latin liturgy and practices among the Thomas Christians.

Alexis de Menezes, Archbishop of Goa from 1595 until his death in 1617 decided to bring the Kerala Christians to obedience after the death of Bishop Mar Abraham (the last Syrian Metropolitan of Malabar, laid to rest at St. Hormis church, Angamaly), an obedience that they conceived as complete conformity to the Roman or ‘Latin’ customs. This meant separating the Nazranies not only from the Catholicosate of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, but also from the Chaldaean Patriarchate of Babylon, and subjecting them directly to the Latin Archbishopric of Goa.

The Portuguese refused to accept the legitimate authority of the Indian hierarchy and its relation with the East Syrians, and in 1599 at the so calledSynod of Diamper (held in Udayamperur), the Portuguese Archbishop of Goa imposed a large number of Latinizations. The Portuguese succeeded in appointing a Latin bishop to govern the Thomas Christians, and the local Christians’ customs were officially anathematised as heretical and their manuscripts were condemned to be either corrected or burnt. The Portuguese padroado (’patronage’) was extended over them. From 1599 up to 1860 these Christians were under the Latin ArchBishops who were appointed either by the Portuguese Padroado or by the Roman Congregation of Propaganda Fide. Every attempt to resist the latinization process was branded heretical by them. Under the indigenous leader, archdeacon, the Thomas Christians resisted, but the result was disastrous.

The oppressive rule of the Portuguese padroado provoked a violent reaction on the part of the indigenous Christian community. The first solemn protest took place in 1653, known as the Kunan Kurishu Satyam (Bent Cross Oath). Under the leadership of archdeacon Thoma a section of the Thomas Christians publicly took an oath in Matancherry, Cochin, that they would not obey the Portuguese bishops and the Jesuit missionaries. In the same year, in Alangad, Archdeacon Thomas was ordained, by the laying on of hands of twelve priests, as the first indigenous Metropolitan of Kerala, under the name Mar Thoma I.

Later, in 1665, an Antiochean Syriac Orthodox bishop called Mar Gregorios Abdul Jaleel arrived in India and the dissident group under the leadership of the archdeacon Mar Thoma welcomed him. The Bishop Mar Gregorios was sent by the Antiochian Syrian Orthodox Patriarch in a Dutch ship, this movement resulted in the Mar Thoma party joining the Antiochian Patriarchate and in the gradual introduction of the West Syrian liturgy, customs and script on the Malabar Coast.

This was the starting point of division among the Syrian Christians in Kerala who till then were one Church. Though most of the Thomas Christians gradually relented in their strong opposition to the Western control, the arrival of Mar Gregorios in 1665 marked the beginning of a formal schism among the Thomas Christians. Those who accepted the West Syrian theological and liturgical tradition of Mar Gregorios became known as "Jacobites", and form the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church within the Syriac Orthodox Church. Those who continued with East Syrian theological and liturgical tradition are known as the Catholic East Syrians(Syro-Malabar Catholic Church) in communion with the Catholic Church.

St. Thomas Christians by this process got divided in to East Syrians and West Syrians.

Further divisions


In 1772 the West Syrians under the leadership of Kattumangattu Abraham Mar Koorilose, Metropolitan of Malankara, formed the Malabar Independent Syrian Church (Thozhiyur Sabha).

In 1814 a section of St Thomas Christians from Thrissur came in to communion with Catholicos Patriarch of the Church of the East in Qochanis. They follow the East Syrian tradition and are known as Chaldean Syrian Church.

In 1845, exposure to the doctrines of the Church of England inspired a reform movement led by Abraham Malpan in the West Syrian community. This led to the formation of the Mar Thoma Church.

However, in 1912 there was another split in the West Syrian community when a section declared itself an autocephalous church and announced the re-establishment of the ancient Catholicosate of the East in India. This was not accepted by those who remained loyal to the Syrian Patriarch. The two sides were reconciled in 1958 but again differences developed in 1975. Today the West Syrian community is divided into Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (in Oriental Orthodox Communion), Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church (in Oriental Orthodox Communion).

In 1926 a section of West Syrians under the leadership of Mar Ivanios came into communion with the Catholic Church, retaining all of the Church’s rites, Liturgy, and autonomy. They are known as Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.

Today the community is divided into Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (in Oriental Orthodox Communion), Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church (in Oriental Orthodox Communion), and Mar Thoma sect [Mar Thoma Church].

Nasrani religious jurisdictions
(in alphabetical order by Communion)

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 * Catholic
 * Syro-Malabar Church
 * Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
 * Oriental Orthodox Communion
 * Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church
 * Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church or the Indian Orthodox Church (Autocephalous Church)
 * Oriental Orthodox tradition but autonomous
 * Malabar Independent Syrian Church (In communion with the Mar Thoma Church)
 * Assyrian Church of the East
 * Chaldean Syrian Church in India
 * Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church or the Mar Thoma Church (in full communion with Anglican member churches but independently administered). This church practices reformation theology, while maintaining some vestiges of Syro-Indian tradition.

References and bibliography

 * Menachery G (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).


 * Mundadan, A. Mathias. (1984) History of Christianity in India, vol.1, Bangalore, India: Church History Association of India.


 * 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.)


 * Podipara, Placid J. (1970) The Thomas Christians. London: Darton, Longman and Tidd, 1970. (is a readable and exhaustive study of the St. Thomas Christians.)


 * Menachery G (ed); (1998) "The Indian Church History Classics", Vol.I, The Nazranies, Ollur, 1998. [ISBN 81-87133-05-8].


 * Medlycott, A E. (1905) India and the Apostle Thomas; Gorgias Press LLC; ISBN 1-59333-180-0
 * Menachery, George (2005) ''Glimpses of Nazraney Heritage", Ollur, [ISBN 81-87133-08-2].


 * David de Beth Hillel (1832) Travels; Madras publication;


 * Menachery G (ed) (1982) The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, B.N.K. Press, vol. 1;


 * Lord, James Henry (1977) The Jews in India and the Far East; Greenwood Press Reprint; ISBN 0-8371-2615-0).


 * Acts of St. Thomas (Syriac) MA. Bevan, London, 1897


 * Poomangalam C.A (1998) The Antiquities of the Knanaya Syrian Christians; Kottayam, Kerala.


 * Tisserant, E. (1957) Eastern Christianity in India: A History of the Syro-Malabar Church from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Trans. and ed. by E. R. Hambye. Westminster, MD: Newman Press.


 * James Hough (1893) The History of Christianity in India.


 * Michael Geddes, (1694) A Short History of the Church of Malabar together with the Synod of Diamper, London, 1694(fully reproduced in ICHC I"The Nazranies" ed. George Menachery, Ollur,1998.


 * K.V. Krishna Iyer (1971) "Kerala’s Relations with the Outside World", pp. 70, 71 in The Cochin Synagogue Quatercentenary Celebrations Commemoration Volume, Kerala History Association, Cochin.


 * Periplus Maris Erythraei The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, (trans). Wilfred Schoff (1912), reprinted South Asia Books 1995 ISBN 81-215-0699-9


 * Miller, J. Innes. (1969). The Spice Trade of The Roman Empire: 29 B.C. to A.D. 641. Oxford University Press. Special edition for Sandpiper Books. 1998. ISBN 0-19-814264-1.


 * 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.


 * Koder S. "History of the Jews of Kerala". The St.Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, Ed. G. Menachery,1973.


 * Vellian Jacob (2001) "Knanite community: History and culture"; Syrian church series; vol.XVII; Jyothi Book House, Kottayam


 * Weil,S. (1982) "Symmetry between Christians and Jews in India: The Cananite Christians and Cochin Jews in Kerala". In Contributions to Indian Sociology, 16.


 * Claudius Buchanan, (1811) Christian Researches in Asia (With Notices of the Translation of the Scriptures into the Oriental Languages). 2nd ed. Boston: Armstron, Cornhill


 * Bjorn Landstrom (1964) The Quest for India, Doubleday English Edition, Stockholm.
 * Menachery G (1987) (Chs. I & II) Kodungallur City of St. Thomas, Mar Thoma Shrine Azhikode. Reprinted 2000 as "Kodungallur Cradle of Christianity in India".
 * T.K Velu Pillai, (1940) The Travancore State Manual; 4 volumes; Trivandrum