SYRO-MALANKARA CATHOLIC CHURCH

A large sections of the Christian community in Kerala claims to be the descendents of those who were converted to the Christian Faith by Thomas one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus who came to India in 52 A.D. for gospel work. However, they were never in the fold of the Roman Catholic Church while they were having direct connections with the Patriarch of Antioch or others in the Oriental Church. The St. Thomas Christians of Kerala were for the first time brought under the Roman hegemony only in 1599 as a result of the Synod of Diamper which the Latin Archbishop Menesez of Goa convened and made the representatives of the St. Thomas Christians sign.  But in1653, a division took place among them and a section of the Thomas Christians under the famous Oath of the Coonan Kurisu, became Jacobites under the Patriarch of Antioch once again. Since then, attempts for reunion with the Roman Church were continued for several years, and in 1926 the Episcopal Synod held at Parumala empowered Metropolitan Mar Ivanios to negotiate with Rome for the reunion, and finally on September 20, 1930 the Re-union took shape under two eminent Jacobite Prelates, Archbishop Mar Ivanios and Bishop Mar Theophilus  and their followers consisting of two rambans, priests and laymen, made their profession of Faith under Bishop Benziger of Quilon and joined the Catholic Church. One of the major expressed conditions of the reunion was that the ancient and venerable traditions of the Malankara church should be retained and kept intact.  This resulted in the erection of the Syro- Malankara Catholic Church of Kerala on 11 June 1932 with its own hierarchy comprising of the Archdiocese of Trivandrum and the Diocese of Tiruvalla. This Church was raised by Pope of Rome to the status of a Major Arch Episcopal Church on 10 February 2005. The Major Archbishop of Trivandrum is the head of this Church. This Church has now 2 Archdioceses and 5 Dioceses.