Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

elios Mar Thoma Paulose II became Catholicos of the East and the Malankara Metropolitan on 1 November 2010. Saint Thomas Christians were under the single dynastic leadership of Arkadyaqon (East Syrian term for an ecclesiastical head with extensive administrative powers) and liturgically it was a part of the Church of the East centered in Persia.[3][4] It was not necessary for the Malankara Church to oppose or adhere to Nestorianism as they were outside Roman and Persian empires and the native Dravidian kings never interfered in matters of their faith. The indigenous Eastern Church of Malabar/Kerala followed the faith and traditions handed over by Apostle St. Thomas and most of the early churches were named after St. Mary. During the period of Colonialism i.e. from 16th century, the Portuguese Jesuits began deliberate attempts to annex the community into the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, and in CE 1599 they succeeded in their attempt through the infamous Synod of Diamper. Resentment against these forceful measures led the majority of the community under their Arkadyaqon Thomas to swear an oath never to submit to the Portuguese, known as the Coonan Cross Oath in 1653. It prompted the Portuguese to call the native Malankara Nazranis consolidated under the Arkadyaqon as ‘Puthenkootukar’ (new traditionlists) and the Roman supporters as ‘Pazhyakootukar’ (old traditionalists) to hide the new Latin hierarchy introduced in Malabar. In fact, Latin rites introduced in Malankara by Aleixo de Menezes, the Catholic Archbishop of Goa, was much more strange and embarrassing than West Syrian rites for Malabar Christians who were genetically accustomed with Syrianism of Asiatic Christianity. The Dutch East India Company defeated Portuguese for the supremacy of spice trade in Malabar in the year CE 1663. Malankara Nazranis used this opportunity to escape from Latin persecution with the help of Dutch East India Company. The Dutch brought Bishop Gregorios Abdul Jaleel of Jerusalem of West Syrian Antiochean Church in their trading vessel in CE 1665. Thomas Arkadyaqon who was consecrated as Mar Thoma I forged a relationship with the West Syriac Orthodox Church and gradually adopted West Syrian liturgy and practices. Over time, however, relations soured between the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs and the local hierarchy, particularly after Patriarch Ignatius Peter III (reigned 1872—1894) began demanding registered deeds for the transfer of properties. In 1912 a Synod in Malankara led by Canonical Patriarch Ignatius Abdul Masih II, (who had been controversially deposed by the Ottoman government),[5][6] consecrated Mar Ivanios as Catholicos of the East, under the name Baselios Paulose I. The Catholicate of the East, relocated at Malankara in CE 1912, actually united the Baselios Mapriyanate of Tigris defunct in CE 1860 and the St. Thomas Catholicate of Selucia in erstwhile Persian empire. The very fact was declared in unambiguous words by farsighted H.H. Patriarch Ignatius Abdul Masih II after the blessed occasion of the installation of Catholicate in Malankara at Niranam Church. “The Catholicose, who has now been consecrated with the title Moron Mar Baselios is successor to the Catholicose on the throne of St.Thomas, which existed in ancient times at Selucia”. The Antiochen group supported the supremacy of Patriarch, briefly accepted the Catholicose between 1958 and 1975 after their defeat in the long litigation in the Supreme Court of India, but again parted away and attempts by Church leaders and two Supreme Court decisions were unable to resolve the matter. The church is theologically and traditionally a part of the Oriental Orthodox communion of churches. The Indian Orthodox Church accepts the Miaphysite Christology of St Cyril of Alexandria and uses the Malankara Rite, a local variant of the West Syrian Rite. The members of the Church are known as Malankara Nazaranis or Marthoma Suriyanis