| The Mar Thoma Church is
one of the historic Churches of Christendom. It is an independent Church with
head-quarters in Tiruvalla, Kerala, South India and it belongs to the Eastern family of
Churches. The Church is established in A.D. 52 by St. Thomas, one of the Apostles of Jesus
Christ. The early Church was known as Malankara Church. In the early centuries the Church
had ecclesiastical leadership from the Church of Syria and due to this association with
the Syrian Church the name of the Malankara Church has been changed to the Malankara
Syrian Church. The foreign domination in
India in quick succession by the Portuguese , the French and the British paved the way for
the spread of Christianity in India. The 16th and 17th centuries which saw the heyday of
Portuguese rule in India was a period of great missionary activity and the rapid spread of
the Roman Church. The missionary efforts of the Roman Church in Malabar were mainly
directed towards winning the Syrians over to the obedience of the Pope of Rome. The
decrees passed by the Synod of Diampher were all calculated to bring the faith and
practices of the Syrian Church into conformity with those of the Church of Rome. To
counter this move the leaders of the Syrian Church made frantic efforts to get a Bishop
from one of the Eastern Churches. In 1653 the Patriarch of Babylon sent a Bishop named
Ayatollah to Malabar , but the Portuguese seized him on his arrival and deported him to
GAO, where he was tried by the inquisition and eventually burnt at the stake. The Syrians
became furious when they heard about this dastardly act and they assembled in their
thousands in front of the Church at Mattancherry and took an oath to have nothing to do
with the Portuguese any more. This is known as the famous "oath of the Coonen
Cross" because the granite cross around which the people assembled was inclined to
one side. This event was a mile stone and a turning point in the history of the Syrian
Church. Thus the ancient Malabar Syrian Church was divided into two branches, one group
with the Roman Catholic Church and the other group as an independent Church under the
leadership of the Arch Deacon.
The arrival of Mar Gregarious, in 1665, a prelate of
the Jacobite Patriarchate of Antioch was indeed a very significant mile stone in the
growth of an independent Church in Malabar. He consecrated Arch Deacon Thomas as Bishop
under the title of Mar Thoma I.. This resulted into a new relationship with the Jacobite
Church of Antioch.
Although there were Christians in India long before
the spread of Christianity in Portugal, England and Spain, unscriptural customs,
superstitious belief and practices had crept into the Syrian Church over the centuries.
But there was a nucleus of people who longed for the removal of such unscriptural faith
and practices. There were two outstanding leaders in this group, Palakunnathu Abraham
Malpan and Kaithayil Gee Varghese Malpan of Puthupally. They had occasions to come into
personal contact with the C.M.S. Missionaries and to imbibe their spiritual insights
regarding Christian life and nature and functions of the Church as depicted in the New
Testament. There was stiff opposition from the conservative sections in the Church. But
the movement gathered momentum as time passed.
| Rapid progress
have been made in the wake of the Reformation movement pioneered by the Martin Luther of
the East- Abraham Malpan. He translated the Liturgy of the Holy Communion in Malayalam and
he had the courage to celebrate the Holy Communion in his own parish in Maramon in 1837.
This in fact had marked the resurgence of the ancient Church in Kerala and has given new
life and inspiration to the total renewal of the Church. Abraham Malpan soon realized that
unless he had the support of a Bishop who was sympathetic towards his reforms, there was
little prospect of the reform movement gaining ground. So his nephew Deacon Mathew was
sent to Patriarch at Mardin in Syria. Impressed with the character and ability of the
Deacon, he was consecrated as Bishop with the title Mathews Mar Athnasius. The inevitable
separation took place in 1869. Cases were filed by the conservatives in 1879 regarding
Church property, Seminary and parishes. The
Mar Thoma Church having lost their claim to property had to begin from scratch, building
churches, organizing themselves as an independent body. The earnestness and spiritual
fervor of the leaders, lay and clerical had borne fruit and there was a phenomenal
expansion of the Church all along these centuries |
Abraham |
. The Church awoke to its social responsibilities and
provided leadership to spread its faith and service activities from Tibetan Border in the
North to Cape Cimmerian in the south and the Mar Thomas Church has been singularly
fortunate in having a galaxy of 19 Metropolitans who where faithful to the legacy of the
Church and building up the social cultural and spiritual atmosphere in Karalla and the
world at large. The present Metropolitan Dr.Philipose Mar Chrysostom is the eighth I line
since the Reformation. There has been a phenomenal expansion of the Church all along these
centuries widening its frontiers to the various countries of West Asia, Africa, North
America and Western Europe.
The Mar Thoma Syrian Church today maintain healthy
and cordial ecumenical relations with Churches the world over and is a member of the World
Council of Churches right from its very inception. Dr. Yuhanon Mar Thoma was elected
President of the World Council of Churches in 1955 in Evanston. And Dr..M. M. Thomas, a
member of the Mar Thoma Church, as President of the Executive Committee of the W. C. C.
and Moderator of the 7th Assembly at Nairobi who rendered yeoman service to the cause of
world peace unity and understanding |