Church of the East in India

For Historical East Syriac ecclesiastical province of the Church of the East in India, see India (East Syriac ecclesiastical province).

The history of the Church of the East in India is dated to 52 AD by apocryphal sources and to the 9th century by the Quilon Syrian copper plates, the latter of which is considered the earliest reputable dating for Christians in the Indian subcontinent.

According to apocryphal records, Christianity in India and in Pakistan (included prior to the Partition) commenced in 52 AD,[1] with the arrival of Thomas the Apostle in Cranganore (Kodungaloor). Subsequently, the Christians of the Malabar region, known as St Thomas Christians established close ties with the Levantine Christians of the Near East. They eventually coalesced into the Church of the East led by the Catholicos-Patriarch of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.

Persian Cross

The Church of the East was often separated from the other ancient churches due to its location in the Parthian Empire, an ancient rival of the (Byzantine) Greek and (Latin) Roman Empires. When Archbishop Nestorius of Constantinople was declared a heretic by the Council of Ephesus, the Church of the East refused to acknowledge his deposition because he held the same christological position. Later, the "Anaphora of Mar Nestorius" came to be used by Church of the East, which for this reason has been pejoratively labelled the "Nestorian Church" by its theological opponents.

When the Portuguese Inquisition in Goa and Bombay-Bassein was established in the 16th century, they opposed the East Syriac rite of Christian worship in what was Portuguese Cochin. After the schism of 1552, a section of the Church of the East became Catholic (modern-day Chaldean Catholic Church), both the traditional (Nestorian) and Chaldean patriarchates intermittently attempted to regain their following in the Indian subcontinent by sending their prelate to the Malabarese Christians. Occasionally the Vatican supported the claim of the bishop from the Chaldean Church of Ctesiphon. But the Synod of Diamper in 1599, overseen by Aleixo de Menezes, the Portugal-backed-Archbishop of Goa, replaced the East Syriac bishop of St Thomas Christians and placed them under the Portuguese Padroado backed bishop.[2] After that any attempts of Thomas Christians to contact bishops—even Chaldian Catholic ones—in the Middle East were foiled.[3]

  1. ^ Curtin, D. P.; Nath, Nithul. (May 2017). The Ramban Pattu. Dalcassian Publishing Company. ISBN 9781087913766.
  2. ^ "Synod of Diamper". britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 July 2022. The local patriarch—representing the Assyrian Church of the East, to which ancient Christians in India had looked for ecclesiastical authority—was then removed from jurisdiction in India and replaced by a Portuguese bishop; the East Syrian liturgy of Addai and Mari was "purified from error"; and Latin vestments, rituals, and customs were introduced to replace the ancient traditions.
  3. ^ Brock, Sebastian P. (2011). "Thomas Christians". In Sebastian P. Brock; Aaron M. Butts; George A. Kiraz; Lucas Van Rompay (eds.). Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Gorgias Press. Retrieved 14 June 2021. The destruction of all Syriac books considered heretical at the Synod of Diamper (1599) and the Romanization of the rite (though Syriac was still allowed) witness to the domineering character of the European hierarchy in India. Any attempts to contact bishops — even Chald. Catholic ones — in the Middle East were foiled.