Saint Thomas Christians
The Saint Thomas Christians, also called Syrian Christians of India, Marthoma Suriyani Nasrani, Malankara Nasrani, or Nasrani Mappila, are an ethno-religious community of Indian Christians in the state of Kerala (Malabar region),[8] who, for the most part, employ the Eastern and Western liturgical rites of Syriac Christianity.[9] They trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.[10][11] The Saint Thomas Christians had been historically a part of the hierarchy of the Church of the East but are now divided into several different Eastern Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant, and independent bodies, each with their own liturgies and traditions.[10] They are Malayalis and their mother tongue is Malayalam, which is a Dravidian language.[5][6] Nasrani or Nazarene is a Syriac term for Christians, who were among the first converts to Christianity in the Near East.
This article is about the people. For their denominations, see Saint Thomas Christian denominations.
Historically, this community was organised as the Province of India of the Church of the East by Patriarch Timothy I (780–823 AD) in the eighth century, served by bishops and a local dynastic archdeacon.[9][12][13] In the 14th century, the Church of the East declined due to persecution by Tamerlane,[14][15] and Portuguese colonial overtures to bring St Thomas Christians into the Latin Catholic Church, administered by their Padroado system in the 16th century, led to the first of several rifts (schisms) in the community.[16][17][18] The attempts of the Portuguese culminated in the Synod of Diamper, formally subjugating them and their whole Archdiocese of Angamaly as a suffragan see to the Archdiocese of Goa, which was under the Portuguese Padroado and celebrated the Roman Rite form of worship. Portuguese oppression provoked a violent resistance among the Thomasine Christians, that took expression in the Coonan Cross Oath protest in 1653. This led to the permanent schism among the Thomas' Christians of India, leading to the formation of Puthenkūr (New allegiance, pronounced Pùttènkūṟ) and Pazhayakūr (Old allegiance, pronounced Paḻayakūṟ) factions.[19] The Pazhayakūr comprise the present day Syro-Malabar Church and Chaldean Syrian Church which continue to employ the original East Syriac Rite (Babylonian Rite /Persian Rite) liturgy.[9][20][21][22] The Puthenkūr group, who resisted the Portuguese, under the leadership of archdeacon Thoma I, organized themselves as the independent Malankara Church,[23] 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.[24][25][9]
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,[26] while the Syro-Malabar Church employs the East Syriac liturgy of the historic Church of the East.[9]
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.[27] As such, the Malankara Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox Church independent of the Patriarch of Antioch,[27] whereas the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church is an integral part of the Syriac Orthodox Church and is headed by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch.[24]
The Iraq-based Assyrian Church of the East's archdiocese includes the Chaldean Syrian Church based in Thrissur.[28] 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.[29] Thus it forms the continuation of the traditional church of Saint Thomas Christians in India.[30]
Oriental Protestant denominations include the Mar Thoma Syrian Church and the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India.[31] 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.[32][33] The St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India is an evangelical faction that split off from the Marthoma Church in 1961.[34]
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.[35][36][37][38] 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.[39][40]
Terminology
The Saint Thomas Christians have also been nicknamed such due to their reverence for Saint Thomas the Apostle, who is said to have brought Christianity to India. The name dates back to the period of Portuguese colonisation. They are also known, especially locally, as Nasrani or Nasrani Mappila. The former means Christian; it appears to have been derived from the Hebrew word Netzer or the Aramaic Nasraya from Isaiah 11:1. Nasrani is evolved from the Syriac term for "Christian" that emerges from the Greek word Nazōraioi, Nazarene in English. Mappila is an honorific applied to members of non-Indian faiths and descendants of immigrants from the middle east who had intermarried with the local population, including Muslims (Jonaka Mappila) and Jews (Yuda Mappila).[41][42] Some Syrian Christians of Travancore continue to attach this honorific title to their names.[43] The Government of India designates members of the community as Syrian Christians, a term originating with the Dutch colonial authority that distinguishes the Saint Thomas Christians, who used Syriac (within East Syriac Rite or West Syriac Rite) as their liturgical language, from newly evangelised Christians who followed the Roman Rite.[44] The terms Syrian or Syriac relate not to their ethnicity but to their historical, religious and liturgical connection to the Church of the East, or East Syriac Church.[41]
Syrian Christian caste status
Despite the sectarian differences, Saint Thomas Syrian Christians share a common social status within the Caste system of Kerala and is considered as an Upper caste community.[268]
In historic kingdoms of Kerala such as those of Cochin and Travancore, Saint Thomas Christians were granted caste privileges that put them on the same level as Upper caste Hindus.[249] Anthropologist, L.K. Ananthakrishna Iyer recorded that they were given privileges in addition to those granted to groups such as Nairs, such as the right to have enclosures in front of their houses, which was otherwise only granted to the Brahmins, and were placed "almost on par with the Sovereigns".[269] They followed the same rules of caste and pollution as did Hindus, and sometimes they were considered to be pollution neutralisers.[226] Decree II of Action IX of the Synod of Diamper enforced by the Portuguese Inquisition in 1599 prohibited the practice of untouchability by the Saint Thomas Christians except in practical circumstances when required by law and when it was necessary to ensure social contact with the Varna Hindus.[270]
They tend to be endogamous, and tend not to intermarry even with other Christian groupings. Internal division of Saint Thomas Christians into Northists and Southists and also into a number of sects based on the ecclesiastical orientation makes the pattern of segmentation an exceedingly complex. Forrester suggests that the Northist-Southist division forms two groups within the Saint Thomas Christian community which are closely analogous to sub-castes.[268]
Christian conventions
The Maramon Convention is one of the largest annual Christian gatherings in Asia.[271] It takes place in Maramon, near Kozhencherry, during February on the vast sand-bed of the Pamba River next to the Kozhencherry Bridge. The first convention was held in March 1895 for 10 days.
Another major convention in Kerala is the annual Central Travancore Convention held at Saint Stephen's Cathedral, Makamkunnu of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.[272][273] The first convention was held in 1915.
One of the biggest conventions of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church is the Kallooppara Orthodox Convention.[274] It takes place on the Koithottu sand banks of the Manimala river with over 5,000 annual participants.[275] This convention was started in 1943 lasting 8 days.
Ranni Orthodox Convention is an annual convention of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.[276] The convention is now held in Ranni town at Mar Gregorios Catholicate Centre and began in 1967.
Mallapally Orthodox Syrian Convention of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church is an annual convention in Mallapally, Pathanamthitta.[277] The first convention took place in 1989 at Mallapally Valiyapally (St. John's Bethany Orthodox Valiyapally).
Trivandrum Orthodox Convention is an annual convention organized by Trivandrum Orthodox Diocese.[278] The convention takes place at Holy Trinity Aramana, Ulloor and was started in 1988.[279]