Syro-Malabar Church
The Syro-Malabar Church, also known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church,[a] is an Eastern Catholic Church based in Kerala, India. It is a sui iuris (autonomous) particular church in full communion with the Holy See and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO).[16][17][18] The major archbishop presides over the entire church. The incumbent Major Archbishop is Raphael Thattil, serving since January 2024.[19] 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.[20] 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.[21]
"Syro-Malabar" redirects here. For other uses, see Syro-Malabar (disambiguation).Syro-Malabar Church
SMC
- Peshitta (Syriac)[1]
- Malayalam POC Bible (Malayalam)
- East Syriac theology
- Catholic theology[2]
Holy Episcopal Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church
Major Archiepiscopal Curia[3]
3,224
- Liturgical Syriac
- Malayalam
- Syro-Malabarica
- English
- Tamil
- Kannada
- Hindi and most other Indian languages
- India,
- with diaspora in the U.S., Australia and Oceania, Europe, UK, Canada, and the Middle East
Saint Thomas the Apostle by tradition[6]
- 4.53 million worldwide, per 2023 Annuario Pontificio[14]
- 2.35 million in Kerala, per 2011 Kerala state census[15]
The Syro-Malabar Church is primarily based in India; with five metropolitan archeparchies and ten suffragan eparchies in Kerala, there are 17 eparchies in other parts of India, and four eparchies outside India. It is the largest of all the churches belonging to Syriac Christianity in terms of population[22] and is also the largest among Saint Thomas Christians communities, with a population of 2.35 million in Kerala as per the 2011 Kerala state census[15] and 4.53 million worldwide as estimated in the 2023 Annuario Pontificio. It is the second largest sui juris church within the communion of the Catholic Church after the Latin Church and is the largest among the Eastern Catholic Churches.[23]
The Syro-Malabar Church traces its origins to Thomas the Apostle's evangelization efforts in 1st-century AD India.[24][25][26][27] 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.[28][29][30][31] The Church of the East shared communion with the Roman Imperial Church, within Nicene Christianity, until the Council of Ephesus in the 5th century, separating primarily over differences in Christology and for political reasons. The Syro-Malabar Church uses a variant of the East Syriac Rite, which dates back to 3rd century Edessa, Upper Mesopotamia.[32] As such it is a part of Syriac Christianity by liturgy and heritage.[33]
After the schism of 1552, a portion of the Church of the East entered communion with the Holy See of Rome, forming what became the modern-day Chaldean Catholic Church. Throughout the later half of the 16th century, the Malabar Church was under Chaldean Catholic jurisdiction. Through the Synod of Diamper of 1599, the Chaldean jurisdiction was abolished and the Malabar Church was made subject to the Padroado Latin Catholic Primatal Archbishopric of Goa. In 1653, after a half-century of administration of the Padroado missionaries, the local Christians held the Coonan Cross Oath as a revolt. In response, Pope Alexander VII, with the help of Carmelite missionaries, was by 1662 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[34] and those who reunited with the Holy See under the leadership of Parambil Chandy during the period between 1655 and 1663.[35][36] 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 they had spent over two centuries under the hegemony of the Latin Church, in 1887 Pope Leo XIII fully separated the Syro-Malabars from the Latin Church (the Archdiocese of Verapoly remained as the jurisdiction for Latin Catholics). He established two Apostolic Vicariates for Syro-Malabar, Thrissur and Changanassery (originally named Kottayam), and in 1896, the Vicariate of Ernakulam was erected as well, governed by indigenous Syro-Malabar bishops. In 1923, the Syro-Malabar hierarchy was organized and unified under Ernakulam as the Metropolitan See, with Augustine Kandathil as the first head and Archbishop of the Church.[37] With this, Syro-Malabar Church became an autonomous sui iuris church within the Catholic Church.[38]
The Syro-Malabars 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."[39] 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 the Church's members, eparchies have been established in other parts of India and in other countries to serve especially the diaspora living in the Western world. There are four eparchies outside of India, located in English-speaking countries: 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. The Syro-Malabar Church is one of the two Eastern Catholic Churches in India, the other 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.[40]
The Religious Congregations are divided in the Eastern Catholic Church Law (Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches – CCEO) as Monasteries, Hermitages, Orders, Congregations, Societies of Common Life in the Manner of Religious, Secular Institutes, and Societies of Apostolic Life.
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