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There are small number of Orthodox Christians in India, organized in different denominations. The Malankara Orthodox Church is an ancient Church of India tracing its roots to the earliest spread of Christianity. It was founded by St. Thomas when he came to India (52 AD). He established Christanity along the southwestern or Arabian Sea coast of India. He is believed to have been executed by Gondophares, the king of Bactria. The Saint Thomas Christians were united in leadership and liturgy, and were part of the Church of the East centred in Persia. When the Portuguese arrived the Jesuits attempted to Latinize the churches they found, often with considerable brutality (16th century). The St. Thomas Christians or the Syrian Christians exist at present in different churches and denominations. Indian Christians so resented the Portuguese actions that most joined the archdeacon, Thomas, in swearing never to submit to Portuguese and Jesuit domination. This is called the Coonan Cross Oath (1653). The Christians that followed Thomas founded the Malankara Church. Soon after, Bishop Gregorios Abdul Jaleel of Jerusalem reached India. He and Archdeacon Thomas reached an understanding with the Syriac Orthodox Church and gradually adopted the West Syrian liturgy and religiousd practices. This relationship continued for some time. The relationship between Syriac Orthodox patriarchs and the local hierarchy soured (19th century). The church split over patriarchal authority. In the British Raj, there was no civil authority to compel church authority. A major section of the parent body of St. Thomas Christians now maintain an independent status and constitute the Orthodox Church under the Catholicate of the East with Headquarters at Devalokam, Kottayam.
Malankara is a term based on the island/village of Maliankara in Kerala along the Arabian Seaa (Southwestern) coast of India. Tradition indicates that Maliankara is where Thomas the Apostle landed in India (1st century AD).
India is one of the few Asian countries outside of the Middlke East where Christianity has ancient roots. It ws not brought by Europeans as a result of the European maritime outreach. Christianity in India traces its roots to the earliest spread of Christianity in ancient times. It was founded by St. Thomas when he came to India (52 AD). There is no historican evidence that St. Thomas reached India, but the Indian church traditionis strong evidence, He is bk=lieved to have established Christanity along the southwestern or Arabian Sea coast of India. He is believed to have been executed by Gondophares, the king of Bactria. The Saint Thomas Christians were united in leadership and liturgy, and were part of the Church of the East centred in Persia.
Malankara doe not have theological significance. There are several Malankara churches, both Orthodix and Catholic as well as Jacobian offshoots. Initially before the Europeans began introducing a variety of Chritian rites and denominations, all Indian (Saint Thomas) Christians were called 'Malankara Christians or Malankara Nasranis. There was no theologica difference, Nasranis simply refers to Jesus of Nazarine. Malankaran does not begin to have any theological meaning until the arrival of the Portuguese (16th century). They began to insist that the St. Thomas Christabns they found which as an Eastern rites search Latinize. Many resisted and became called Malalankarans. Since that time the story has become more comlicated as many divisions occurred among St. Thomas /Malankaran Christians. The Malankara Church experienced a series of splits over the centuries, resulting in the formation of several autocephalous and autonomous churches bearing the name Malankara.
Geography dictated that the St. Thomas Christians primarily had connections with Eastern churches. The Indian church was small in comparison to the churches in the Roman Empire, including the Levant. Cristianity also grew in Persia. Thus the Indian Church turned to Syrians and Persians, both influenced by Byzantium. There were also connections with the Coptic Church in Egypt. The Patriarch of the Church of the East came to provide India with clergy, holy texts, and ecclesiastical infrastructure (early 4th century). The Indian Church was too small to have a sophisticated infrastructure of its on. Patriarch Ishoyahb III firmly established the Church of the East's jurisdiction over the Saint Thomas Christian community (about 650). After the Arab explosion and the rise of Islam (7th century), India becamne cut iff fron the west, including Western Christendom. The Arabs, however, tolerated Christianity to an extent which in Syria and Peria ws primarily the Orthodox Church. Patriarch Timothy I organised the St. Thomas community as the Ecclesiastical Province of India, one of the church's so-called Provinces of the Exterior (8th century). After this point the Province of India was headed by a metropolitan bishop, sent from from Persia, the "Metropolitan-Bishop of the Seat of Saint Thomas and the Whole Christian Church of India". This metropolitan see is believed to have been in Cranganore or perhaps Mylapore, where the shrine dedicated to St. Thomas was located. He administered a number of Syrian/Persian bishop, as well as a native Indian Archdeacon who had authority over the clergy as well as considerable secular power. Details on the early Indian Church are limited, especually the archidiaconate which became more imoportant than in other Eastern churches or the Western church. This probably reflects India's destintness and religious diversity and the fact that the archdeacon was a native Indian which meant that he might not have the church training, but did have local connctions. Patriarch Timothy I (780–823) called the Archdeacon of India the 'head of the faithful in India'. There was nothing like this in any other church. Bishops in the wuder church had an archdeacon, but the Indian church had only one arch deacon.
Information on he Indian church is limited, especially the history of the archidiaconate. This changed with the arrival of the Portuguese. The collapse of the Church of the East (14th century) had a major impact on the Indian church. India was cut off from other churches, especially Church's heartland in Mesopotamia which had played such an important role. This cut off the provision of trained clerics. This mean most imoortantly that for several generations there was no metropolitan, meaning ahead of the church. During this period, the authority of the archdeacon undoubtedly grew in importance.
Just before the arrival of the Portuguese, the archdeacon attempted to respablish contact with other Christian churches (1491). He sent envoys to the Patriarch of the Church of the East, as well as to the Coptic Pope of Alexandria and to the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, requesting thatvthey send a new bishop for India. The Patriarch of the Church of the East Shemʿon IV Basidi consecrating two bishops, Thoma and Yuhanon.
These new bishops helped rebuild the Indian church's ecclesiastical infrastructure and reestablish links with the patriarchate. The Indian church had, however, changed during the period of isolatuon. The the metropolitan while well treated was seen as foreign and with ideas that were different that the Indian church. The Archdeacon was firmly established as the real power in the Indian or Malankara community.
At about the same time that the Indian Church resestablished contact with the Churchb of the East, Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope (1488). , Vasco de Gama completed the Portuguese effort to open a sea route to the East. He rounded the Cape and fter landing at points along the Aftrican coast reached southwestern India (1498). For a short time in 1524 he was the Governor of Portuguese India, under the title of Viceroy. When the Portuguese arrived the Jesuits attempted to Latinize the churches they found, often by force and on occassion with considerable brutality (16th century). The Portuguese Church was a Latin rights church recognizing the pope as the head of the Church. Like the Spanish Church it was forged in the Reconquista and concerned with stamping out heresy and comoeting religions (Jews and Muslims). Thus the Jesuits backed by Portuguese cokonial authorities were not disposed to religious diversity. They sought to bring the Christians they found under the authority of the pope and convert to Latin rites. The existing St. Thomas church they found had destinct features, but was an Eastern rites church.
Tensions seethed over time betweem the Portuguese Latin prelates and what remained of the native St. Thomas Church hierarchy. Finally the tension resulted in a formal split (1641). Francis Garcia, the new Archbishop of Kodungalloor, and Archdeacon Thomas, the nephew and successor to Archdeacon George quareled. A further complication was of a mysterious person named Ahatallah who claimed to be a prelate, rightful Patriarch of Antioch who had been sent by the popethe (1652).
The handling of Ahatallah appears to have alienated the St. Thomas Christians.
Archdeacon Thomas and representatives of the community met at the Church of Our Lady in Mattancherry. In a great ceremony before a crucifix and lighted candles, they swore an oath that they would never obey Garcia or the Portuguese. Indian Christians so resented the Portuguese actions that most joined the archdeacon, Thomas, in swearing never to submit to Portuguese and Jesuit domination. They would from this point only accepted only the Archdeacon as their spiritual shepherd. The Malankara Church as a destinct, independent body dates from this oath--Coonan Cross Oath.
Soon after the Coonan Cross Oath, Bishop Gregorios Abdul Jaleel of Jerusalem reached India. The Malankara Church was now independent. Bishop Jaleel and Archdeacon Thomas reached an understanding with the Syriac Orthodox Church and gradually adopted the West Syrian liturgy and religiousd practices. This relationship continued for some time. The relationship between Syriac Orthodox patriarchs and the local hierarchy soured (19th century). The church split over patriarchal authority. In the British Raj, there was no civil authority to compel church authority. A major section of the parent body of St. Thomas Christians now maintain an independent status and constitute the Orthodox Church under the Catholicate of the East with Headquarters at Devalokam, Kottayam. The term Malankarans was used for all Saint Thomas Christians, but following the split with the Portugue -controlled Catholics was generally restricted to the faction loyal to Mar Thoma I, distinguishing them from the Catholic faction. Later, many of the churches that subsequently branched off have maintained the word in their names, complicating an effort to understand the church structure.
The Eastern Rites church today is known as the Syrian Orthodox Malankara Church. Subsequently a group called Jacobians broke off from the church. We are unsure why this term ws chosen, it is a term used to describe a radical faction, usually a political faction. (The Jacobites oversaw the reign if Terror during the French Revolution.) Why this term was chosen we do not know. It seems a strange term for a Chistian church because the Jacobites persecuted the clergy. Perhaps our Indian readers will understand the use of the term. There is also a Malankara Catholic Church. There are today about eight such denomintions, all quite small. The Jacobite church for a time reunited with the Syrian Orthodox Malankara Church (also called the Malankara Orrthodox Syrian Church), but then split off afain. The two each have only about 1,000-2,000 adherents. The split began with a dispute over the regitration of property and were heightened by diffeences between the patriarch and local hierarchy. They are the only Orthodox churches in India, although there is a Assyrian Church pf the East, an Eastern rites church. India is notable for the ability of small religious communities to thrive today, this is in sharp contrast to the persecution prevalent in many majority Muslim countries.
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