Saint Thomas Christian denominations

This article is about the denominations with adherence among the Saint Thomas Christians. For the people, see Saint Thomas Christians.

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The Saint Thomas Christian denominations are Christian denominations from Kerala, India, which traditionally trace their ultimate origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.[1][2][3][4] They are also known as "Nasranis" as well. The Syriac term "Nasrani" is still used by St. Thomas Christians in Kerala. It is part of the Eastern Christianity institution.

Historically, this community formed a part of the Church of the East, served by metropolitan bishops and a local archdeacon.[5][6][7] By the 15th century, the Church of the East had declined drastically,[8][9] and the 16th century witnessed the Portuguese colonial overtures to bring St Thomas Christians into the Latin Catholic Church, administered by their Padroado, leading to the first of several rifts (schisms) in the community.[10][11][12] The attempts of the Portuguese culminated in the Synod of Diamper in 1599 and was resisted by local Christians through 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.[13] The Pazhayakūr comprise the present day Syro-Malabar Church and Chaldean Syrian Church which continue to employ the original East Syriac Rite liturgy.[5][14][15][16] The Puthenkūr group, who resisted the Portuguese, organized themselves as the independent Malankara Church,[17] 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.[18][5][19]

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,[20] while the Syro-Malabar Church employs the East Syriac liturgy of the historic Church of the East.[5]

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.[21] As such, the Malankara Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox Church independent of the Patriarch of Antioch,[21] whereas the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church is an integral part of the Syriac Orthodox Church and is headed by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch.[18]

The Iraq-based Assyrian Church of the East's archdiocese includes the Chaldean Syrian Church based in Thrissur.[22] 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.[23] Thus it forms the continuation of the traditional church of Saint Thomas Christians in India.[24]

Oriental Protestant denominations include the Mar Thoma Syrian Church and the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India.[25] 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.[26][27] The St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India is an evangelical faction that split off from the Marthoma Church in 1961.[28]

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.[29][30][31][32] 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.[33][34]

  1. ^ Medlycott (2005).
  2. ^ Fahlbusch (2008), p. 285.
  3. ^ The Jews of India: A Story of Three Communities by Orpa Slapak. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. 2003. p. 27. ISBN 965-278-179-7.
  4. ^ Puthiakunnel, Thomas. "Jewish colonies of India paved the way for St. Thomas". In Menachery (1973).
  5. ^ a b c d Brock (2011a).
  6. ^ Baum & Winkler (2003), p. 52.
  7. ^ Bundy, David D. (2011). "Timotheos I". 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 22 September 2016.
  8. ^ "How did Timur change the history of the world?". DailyHistory.org.
  9. ^ "10 Terrors of the Tyrant Tamerlane". Listverse. 15 January 2018.
  10. ^ Frykenberg (2008), p. 111.
  11. ^ "Christians of Saint Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  12. ^ Frykenberg (2008), pp. 134–136.
  13. ^ Perczel, István (September 2014). "Garshuni Malayalam: A Witness to an Early Stage of Indian Christian Literature". Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies. 17 (2): 291.
  14. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica (2011). Synod of Diamper. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
  15. ^ For the Acts and Decrees of the Synod cf. Michael Geddes, "A Short History of the Church of Malabar Together with the Synod of Diamper &c." London, 1694; Repr. in George Menachery (ed.), Indian Church History Classics, Vol.1, Ollur 1998, pp. 33–112.
  16. ^ F. L. Cross; E. A. Livingstone, eds. (2009) [2005]. "Addai and Mari, Liturgy of". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd rev. ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192802903.
  17. ^ Neill, Stephen (1970). The Story of the Christian Church in India and Pakistan. Christian Literature Society. p. 36. At the end of a period of twenty years, it was found that about two – thirds of the people had remained within the Roman allegiance; one – third stood by the archdeacon and had organized themselves as the independent Malankara Church, faithful to the old Eastern traditions and hostile to all the Roman claims.
  18. ^ a b Joseph (2011).
  19. ^ "Kerala Syrian Christian, Apostle in India, The tomb of the Apostle, Persian Church, Syond of Diamper – Coonan Cross Oath, Subsequent divisions and the Nasrani People". Nasranis. 13 February 2007.
  20. ^ Brock (2011b).
  21. ^ a b Varghese (2011).
  22. ^ George, V. C. The Church in India Before and After the Synod of Diamper. Prakasam Publications. He wished to propagate Nestorianism within the community. Misunderstanding arose between him and the Assyrian Patriarch, and from the year 1962 onwards the Chaldean Syrian Church in Malabar has had two sections within it, one known as the Patriarch party and the other as the Bishop's party.
  23. ^ "Church of the East in India". Archived from the original on 15 May 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  24. ^ Brock (2011c).
  25. ^ South Asia. Missions Advanced Research and Communication Center. 1980. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-912552-33-0. The Mar Thoma Syrian Church, which represents the Protestant Reform movement, broke away from the Syrian Orthodox Church in the 19th century.
  26. ^ Fenwick (2011b).
  27. ^ "Ecumenical Relations". marthomanae.org. 9 May 2016. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  28. ^ "Mission & Vision". St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India (steci) is an episcopal Church. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  29. ^ Dalal, Roshen (18 April 2014). The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-81-8475-396-7.
  30. ^ Neill (2002), pp. 247–251.
  31. ^ Fahlbusch, Erwin; Lochman, Jan Milic; Bromiley, Geoffrey William; Mbiti, John; Pelikan, Jaroslav; Vischer, Lukas (1999). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 687–688. ISBN 978-90-04-11695-5.
  32. ^ Melton, J. Gordon; Baumann, Martin (21 September 2010). Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, 2nd Edition [6 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 707. ISBN 978-1-59884-204-3.
  33. ^ Anderson, Allan; Tang, Edmond (2005). Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia. OCMS. pp. 192–193, 195–196, 203–204. ISBN 978-1-870345-43-9.
  34. ^ Bergunder (2008), pp. 15–16, 26–30, 37–57.