Abraham Metropolitan and Gate of All India | |
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Rabba d Kolhon Apeskope u Metropolite (Superior of all the Bishops and Metropolitans) [1] | |
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Church | Church of the East (till 1565), Chaldean Catholic Church (since 1565) |
Diocese | India |
See | Angamaly |
Installed | 31 January 1565 |
Term ended | 1597 |
Predecessor | Jacob Abuna (Church of the East) Mar Joseph Sulaqa (Chaldean Catholic) |
Successor | Shemon (Church of the East) Francisco Ros (as bishop of Angamaly of the Latin Church) |
Opposed to | Portuguese Padroado and Metropolitan Shemon of the Church of the East |
Orders | |
Consecration | by Shemon VII Barmama (in Church of the East), Abdisho IV Maron, Giovanni Trevisan (in 1565) |
Personal details | |
Died | 1597 Angamaly |
Buried | Mar Hormiz Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Angamaly [2] [3] |
Mar Abraham (Syriac : ܐܒܪܗܡ ܡܛܪܢ, died 1597), also known as Abraham of Angamaly or Abraham of Gazira, was the last East Syrian bishop of the See of Angamaly, who entered into communion with Rome in 1565 and who was the last link in Angamaly from the long line of the bishops from the East Syriac [4] [5] [6] bishops sent from the Church of the East to the Saint Thomas Christians. He first came to India in 1556 from the traditionalist (often referred as "Nestorian") patriarchate. Deposed from his position in 1558, he was taken to Lisbon by the Portuguese, escaped at Mozambique and left for his mother church in Mesopotamia, entered into communion with the Chaldean patriarchate and Rome in 1565, received his episcopal ordination from the Latin patriarch of Venice as arranged by Pope Pius IV (1559–65) in Rome. Subsequently, Abraham was appointed by Pope as Archbishop of Angamaly. [7]
In 1552, a schism occurred within the Church of the East and a faction (modern-day Chaldean Catholic Church) led by Yohannan Sulaqa came in communion with the Holy See of Rome. Thus, parallel to the "traditionalist" (often referred as Nestorian) Patriarchate of the East, a "Chaldean" Patriarchate in communion with Rome came into existence. Following the schism, both factions began sending their own bishops to Saint Thomas Christians in Malabar in India. Apparently the first bishop who came to Malabar was Mar Abraham sent by the traditionalist Nestorian patriarch. It is not known exactly when Abraham reached Malabar, but he must have been there already in 1556. Approximately at the same time, the Chaldean Patriarch Abdisho IV also sent out a bishop Joseph Sulaqa, the brother of the first Chaldean patriarch Yohannan Sulaqa, to Malabar.
Mar Joseph was sent to India with letters of introduction from the Pope to the Portuguese authorities; he was besides accompanied by Bishop Ambrose, a Dominican and papal commissary to the first patriarch, by his socius Father Anthony, and by Mar Elias Hormaz, Archbishop of Diarbekir. They arrived at Goa in November 1556, [8] and were detained at Goa for eighteen months before being allowed to enter the diocese. [9] when the Portuguese were finally alerted by the presence of Mar Abraham and allowed Mar Joseph to occupy his see. [10] Proceeding to Cochin they lost Bishop Ambrose; the others travelled through Malabar for two and a half years on foot, visiting every church and detached settlement. [11] Mar Elias returned to his own archbishopric of Diarbekir in Mesopotamia. In this way, nominally there were two rival East Syrian bishops in Malabar until 1558,
Faced with a schism, Mar Joseph turned to the Portuguese for help. The Portuguese arrested Mar Abraham and shipped him to Europe. But on the way he succeeded in escaping at Mozambique, found his way back to Mesopotamia, and went straight to Mar Abdisho IV the Chaldean Patriarch, having realized from the Indian experience that unless he secured a nomination from him it would be difficult to establish himself in Malabar. [12] Patriarch Abdisho IV, who re-consecrated Mar Abraham as bishop of Chaldean Catholic Church and sent him to Rome. In Rome Pope Pius IV welcomed Mar Abraham and on 23 February 1565 wrote a letter to Mar Abdisho IV asking him to appoint Mar Abraham as Archbishop of Angamaly. [13] [7] The Pope wanted Mar Abraham to reign jointly with Mar Joseph and he requested patriarch Abdisho to divide the diocese between Mar Joseph and Mar Abraham. Both the Patriarch and the Pope, having joined together in sending Mar Abraham to India, gave him authority to divide the sphere of Thomas Christians between himself and Mar Joseph. [14] (But this arrangement was never carried into effect, since Mar Joseph having already again been arrested and exiled for a third time, died in Rome in 1569.) [14] All the holy orders which Mar Abraham had received had been conferred in the independent Eastern church, and were therefore from the strict Roman point of view invalid or doubt. [15] In order to set all doubts at rest, Pope Pius IV arranged for all the orders up to and including the episcopate to be quietly conferred on Mar Abraham. John Baptist bishop of Holy Savior had ordered Mar Abraham at Venice, from tonsure to priesthood. Mar Abraham was then again consecrated bishop in the Chapel of San Giusto of the Patriarchal Palace of Castello on 17 June 1565 by the Patriarch of Venice Giovanni Trevisan. [16]
Mar Abraham reached Goa in 1568. In spite of the express approbation by Pope Pius IV (1565), he was not welcomed by the Portuguese viceroy in India and was arrested a second time. [2] [17] Mar Abraham was detained in a convent, but escaped and entered Malabar. His arrival was a surprise and a joy to the people. He kept out of the reach of the Portuguese, living among the churches in the hilly parts of the country. In time he was left in peaceful occupation. As is usual in such cases the old tendencies assumed once more their ascendency, and he returned to his teaching and practices, Complaints were made by Jesuits; Rome sent warnings to Abraham to allow Catholic doctrine to be preached and taught to his people. At one time he took the warning seriously to his heart. In 1583 Father Valignano, then Superior of the Jesuit Missions, devised a means of forcing a reform. He persuaded Mar Abraham to assemble a synod, convening the clergy and the chiefs of the laity. He also prepared a profession of faith which was to be made publicly by the bishop and all present. Moreover, urgent reforms were sanctioned and agreed to. A letter was sent by Pope Gregory XIII on 28 November 1578, laying down what Abraham had to do for the improvement of his diocese; after the synod, Abraham sent a long letter to the pope in reply, specifying all that he had been able to do by the aid of the Fathers. This is called the first attempts latinize the Syrians of the Church. It was formal and public, but the liturgical books were not changed nor attempts to latinize the Syrian Church was much successful. [11] [18]
In 1570, Mar Abraham established his cathedral church dedicated to Rabban Hormizd, a seventh century Abbot of the East Syriac Church, as its patron. In 1578, as a response to the requests made by Jesuit missionaries who had been working in Angamaly and in the other centres of the Saint Thomas Christians, the pope granted plenary indulgences to the Church of Rabban Hormizd, which the faithful could obtain four times a year for 25 years from the year of the election of Metropolitan Mar Abraham. The indulgences covered two feasts of the Patron Rabban Hormizd that fell on the fifteenth day after Easter (Monday) and on the first of September. On 15 August 1579, as requested by Mar Abraham, the Jesuits laid the foundation stone of a new cathedral namely "Rabban Hormizd" in the same place chosen by the Metropolitan. [19] The Synod of Diamper of the year 1599, prohibited the Christians from commemorating the feast of Rabban Hormizd, since Rabban Hormizd was considered a Nestorian heretic by the Latin missionaries. Session 3, Canon 14 of the Synod severely condemned Rabban Hormizd. According to the new regulations, the Synod commanded as planned by Archbishop Menezes that the Christians celebrate the feast of Saint Hormizd, the Martyr (according to the Roman Martyrology published from Rome in 1583), a Persian Catholic saint who lived in the fifth century, [20] suppressing the memory of Rabban Hormizd. The Feast was fixed on 8 August according to the Canon 10 of the Session 2 of the Synod of Diamper. [21] [22] [23]
The efforts of Archbishop Menezes and the Portuguese missionaries to replace Rabban Hormizd as patron of St. Hormizd church with St. Hormizd the martyr is an instance of sixteenth-century attempts at forced Latinization. It is doubtful whether the Christians immediately accepted this change of patronage. Bishop Francis Ros, the first Latin bishop of the Saint Thomas Christians, attempted to resolve the conflicts created by the coercive Synod of Diamper and convoked the Second Synod of Angamaly in December 1603.
In 1595, Mar Abraham fell dangerously ill but recovered. [24] In 1597 he again became dangerously ill. He would not even avail himself of the exhortations of the Fathers who surrounded his bed, nor did he receive the last sacraments. Thus he died in January 1597. [25] The viceroy made known his death to Archbishop Menezes, then absent on a visitation tour, by letter of 6 Feb. 1597. [11] The Archdeacon during the first part of the reign of Mar Abraham was George of Cross, who was on friendly terms with the Latin missionaries and was to be appointed the successor of Mar Abraham as Metropolitan of India. Thus, he should have become, according to the plans of Mar Abraham, supported by the Jesuits, the first indigenous Chaldaean Metropolitan of the St Thomas Christians. However, the last letter of Mar Abraham, in which he requests the Pope to confirm George's ordination as Bishop of Palur and his successor, is dated 13 January 1584, while from another letter of the same Mar Abraham we learn that the consecration of George failed because of the latter's death. [26]
The tomb of Mar Abraham was discovered in September 2015, in the sanctuary of St. Hormizd Church in Angamaly on the occasion of the renovation of the church. This church has witnessed many of the revolutions of the Christians of St. Thomas in the past against the new Latin hierarchy imposed upon them after the Synod of Diamper. The Christians used to assemble around the tomb in order to discuss important matters and to adopt resolutions concerning their future proceedings. One of the resolutions at the tomb of Mar Abraham was made by all the Christians, immediately after his death in 1597. The second resolution was made in 1601, by about 200 Christians who withdrew their obedience to Francisco Ros, S.J, the first Latin bishop of Angamaly. [27] [28]
....and Abraham succeeded also in obtaining his nomination and creation as Archbishop Angamale from the pope, with letters to the Archbishop of Goa, and to the Bishop Cochin dated 27 Feb 1565.
The ecclesiastical authorities in Goa had already reached a firm determination to bring the Thomas Christians under the sole jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome; the civil authorities were one with them in this intention, and took the view that no Chaldaean bishops were in any circumstances to be admitted, especially as such bishops, whatever their professions, might be suspected of being crypto-Nestorians.
although consecrated in 1555 or 1556, Mar Joseph could not reach India before the end of 1556, nor Malabar before 1558, when the Portuguese were finally alerted by the presence of Mar Abraham and allowed Mar Joseph, accompanied by another Chaldaean bishop, Mar Eliah, to - very briefly - occupy his see, before the Inquisition also sent him to Lisbon in 1562.
Later the Portuguese captured him and sent him to Portugal, but en route he escaped at Mozambique, found his way back to Mesopotamia, and went straight to Mar Abed Jesu the Chaldean Patriarch, having realized from the Indian experience that unless he secured a nomination from him it would be difficult to establish himself in Malabar.
Both the Patriarch and the Pope, having joined together in sendingMar Abraham to India, gave him authority to divide the sphere of Thomas Christians—the foothills and uplands of the Eastern Ghats known as the Serra—between himself and Mar Joseph. But Mar Joseph, having already again been arrested and exiled for a third time, died in Rome (1569).
The Syro-Malabar Church, also known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic church based in Kerala, India. It is a sui iuris (autonomous) particular church in full communion with the Holy See and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO). The major archbishop presides over the entire church. The incumbent Major Archbishop is Raphael Thattil, serving since January 2024. It is the largest Syriac Christian church and the largest Eastern Catholic church. Syro-Malabar is a prefix reflecting the church's use of the East Syriac liturgy and origins in Malabar. The name has been in usage in official Vatican documents since the nineteenth century.
The Synod of Diamper (Udayamperoor Synod) (Malayalam: ഉദയംപേരൂർ സൂനഹദോസ്, romanized: Udayampērūṟ Sūnahadōs), held at Udayamperoor (known as Diamper in non-vernacular sources) in June 1599, was a diocesan synod, or council, that created rules and regulations for the ancient Saint Thomas Christians (also known as Mar Thoma Nasranis) of the Malabar Coast, a part of modern-day Kerala state, India, formally subjugating them and downgrading their whole Metropolitanate of India as the Diocese of Angamale, a suffragan see to the Archdiocese of Goa administered by Latin Church Padroado missionaries. This synod also introduced forced Liturgical Latinisation and the eschewal of local practices and beliefs, leading to a significant ecclesial protest by Saint Thomas Christians known as Coonan Cross Oath and a subsequent schism in the mid-17th century.
The Chaldean Syrian Church of India is an Eastern Christian denomination, based in Thrissur, in India. It is organized as a metropolitan province of the Assyrian Church of the East, and represents traditional Christian communities of the East Syriac Rite along the Malabar Coast of India. It is headed by Mar Awgin Kuriakose.
According to apocryphal records, Christianity in India and in Pakistan commenced in 52 AD, with the arrival of Thomas the Apostle in Cranganore (Kodungaloor). Subsequently, the Christians of the Malabar region, known as St Thomas Christians established close ties with the Levantine Christians of the Near East. They eventually coalesced into the Church of the East led by the Catholicos-Patriarch of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.
This is a timeline of the history of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India.
Joseph VI Audo (1790–1878) was the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1847 to 1878.
Dioceses of the Church of the East after 1552 were dioceses of the Church of the East and its subsequent branches, both traditionalist and pro-Catholic.
Aqra, properly ʿAqra, was a diocese of the Chaldean Catholic Church founded in the mid-19th century. It was united with the Archeparchy of Mossul to create the Archeparchy of Mossul-Aqra on December 22, 2018.
Metropolitanate of India was an East Syriac ecclesiastical province of the Church of the East, at least nominally, from the seventh to the sixteenth century. The Malabar region (Kerala) of India had long been home to a thriving Eastern Christian community, known as the Saint Thomas Christians. The community traces its origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. The Christian communities in India used the East Syriac Rite, the traditional liturgical rite of the Church of the East. They also adopted some aspects of Dyophysitism of Theodore of Mopsuestia, often inaccurately referred as Nestorianism, in accordance with theology of the Church of the East. It is unclear when the relation between Saint Thomas Christian and the Church of the East was established. Initially, they belonged to the metropolitan province of Fars, but were detached from that province in the 7th century, and again in the 8th, and given their own metropolitan bishop.
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. 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.
Mar Joseph Sulaqa, also known as Yousep d'Bēth Bello, was one of the last East Syriac bishops to Malabar. He was shortly followed by Mar Abraham; both reached in Malabar after the arrival of the Portuguese. Patriarch Abdisho IV Maron (1555–1570), the successor of Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa, sent the brother of Shimun VIII, Mar Joseph, to Malabar as a Chaldaean bishop; although consecrated in 1555 or 1556, Mar Joseph could not reach India before the end of 1556, nor Malabar before 1558, when the Portuguese were finally alerted by the presence of Mar Abraham and allowed Mar Joseph, accompanied by another Chaldaean bishop, Mar Eliah, to occupy his see, before the Inquisition also sent him to Lisbon in 1562.
Gīwargīs of the Cross, also spelled Geevarghese of Cross and George of Cross, was an archdeacon (arkkadyakon) and leader of the Saint Thomas Christian community of India. He was the son of the elder brother of Giwargis of Christ. By the last year of Bishop Mar Abraham, he became the Archdeacon. After the Bishop's death in 1597, he led the Indian Church. He led the church amidst Portuguese intervention. The Synod of Diamper (1599) was held during his time. In 1601, Francis Ros became Bishop, appointed by the Archbishop of Goa, Aleixo de Menezes. In the beginning there was cordiality, but the deliberate downgrading of Angamaly and the inertia of Bishop Ros frustrated him. When the Archdeacon protested, Ros excommunicated him. In 1615, the Bishop and Archdeacon reconciled each other, but again fell out later. The next Bishop, Etienne de Brito, also did not recognize the Archdeacon's ecclesiastical status. He led the church in a period of severe stress and turmoil, and held it together. After his time and his brother's time the root family of Pakalomattam became heirless. The only son shifted residence to Alappatt house. He is believed to have been buried in the forefront of Pakalomattam Thravadu (Kuravilangadu).
Several historical evidences shed light on a significant Malankara–Persian ecclesiastical relationship that spanned centuries. While an ecclesiastical relationship existed between the Saint Thomas Christians of India and the Church in Sassanid Empire in the earlier centuries, closer ecclesiastical ties developed as early as seventh century, when India became an ecclesiastical province of the Church of the East, albeit restricted to matters of purely ecclesiastical nature such as ordination of priests, and not involved in matters of temporal administration. This relationship endured until the Portuguese protectorate of Cochin of Malabar came to be in 16th century, and the Portuguese discovery of a sea route to India. The Christians who came under the two ancient yet distinct lineages of Malankara and Persia had one factor in common: their Saint Thomas heritage. The Church of the East shared communion with the Great Church until the Council of Ephesus in the 5th century, separating primarily over differences in Christology.
Mar Hormizd Cathedral, locally known as the Eastern Church of Angamaly or the Cathedral Church, is a Syro-Malabar church in Angamaly, India. It was created cathedral in 1577 by Mar Abraham, the last East Syriac Metropolitan to reach Malabar Coast. It is one of the oldest and is historically the most important of the three ancient Syrian churches in Angamaly. It is dedicated to Mar Hormizd, a seventh-century East Syriac saint.
Hormizd, the Persian Martyr is a Catholic saint of the fifth century. Theodoret, in his Historia Ecclesiastica presents the history of the life and the martyrdom of Hormizd, the Persian. The 1583 version of the Roman Martyrology included the name of St. Hormizd, the martyr, fixing his feast on the 8th of August. Since then he has been revered as a saint in the Catholic Church. An English version of the Roman Martyrology was published in 1907, entering the name of the saint as "In Persia, St. Hormisdas, a martyr," under 8 August. Whether, the Christians of St. Thomas accepted it or not, the Synod of Diamper strategically substituted the Rabban Hormizd with the name of Hormizd, the martyr in 1599 in order to assure that the Christians "are saved" from every Nestorian influence. However, as a turn of history, Rabban Hormizd himself is presently a saint of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
St. Mary's Jacobite Syrian Soonoro Cathedral, or Angamaly Cheriyapally, is an ancient Jacobite Syrian church located in Angamaly. Founded in 1564 by Archdeacon Giwargis of Christ, it is one of the most prominent and ancient Syriac Orthodox churches in Kerala. In the seventeenth century it was the residence of Archdeacon Thomas Parambil, who eventually got consecrated as bishop Mar Thoma I following the Coonan Cross Oath in 1653. It was initially the seat of the Archdeacon and later the Marthoma methrans, the local heads of the Malankara Church and hence held an important position in the church for several centuries.
Angamāly Padiyōla is a historic declaration of the Syrian Catholic/ Syro Malabar (Paḻayakūṟ) Saint Thomas Christians proclaimed in 1787 at the Great Church of Saint George in Angamāly. This document made a strong appeal to the pope for the consecration of a native bishop for the community and demanded autonomy for their Church which was forcibly brought under the Latin Church's jurisdiction.
The Paḻayakūṟ, also known as Romo-Syrians or Syrian Catholics of Malabar, are the Saint Thomas Christians who use the East Syriac Rite and claim apostolic origin from the Indian mission of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century AD.
Jacob Pakalomattam was an Archdeacon of the Saint Thomas Christian community in India in the years preceding the Synod of Diamper in 1599. He was a native of Muttuchira and belonged to the Pakalomattam dynastic family. His activities were based in the Church of Ruha d'Qudisha in Muttuchira. He owed his staunch allegiance to the traditionalist Eliah Patriarchate of the Church of the East and Metropolitan Mar Shemon, who was sent to India by Patriarch Eliya VI Barmama. He protested against the Latinising attempts of the Portuguese Padroado and resisted the Chaldean Catholic attempts of reconciliation led by Joseph Sulaqa and Abraham of Angamaly. Throughout his archdeaconate, he is known to have rebelled against the Chaldean Catholic archdeacons including Givargis of Cross.