Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church ܪܒܝ ܡܝܛܪܵܦܘܿܠܝܼܛܵܐܹ ܕܥܸܕܬܵܐ ܕܣܘܼܕܝܵܝܹܐ ܡܲܠܲܒܵܪܵܝܹܐ | |
---|---|
Bishopric | |
Incumbent: Raphael Thattil 11 January 2024 | |
Style | Mar |
Location | |
Country | India |
Headquarters | Mount Saint Thomas, Kakkanad |
Information | |
Denomination | Catholic Church |
Sui iuris church | Syro-Malabar Church |
Rite | East Syriac |
Archdiocese | Ernakulam-Angamaly |
Cathedral | St. Mary's Syro-Malabar Cathedral Basilica, Ernakulam |
Co-cathedral | Mar Hormizd Syro-Malabar Cathedral, Angamaly |
Website | |
syromalabarchurch.in |
The Syro-Malabar Church, an Eastern Catholic Church within the Catholic Church, is led by a major archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly in Kerala, India.
No. | Term | Name | Date and Place of Birth | Age at start/end of Term | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 16 December 1992 – 11 November 1996 | 11 February 1921 Manimala, Travancore | 64 / 75 (†79) | First Major Archbishop of the Syro Malabar Church. Established the Syro Malabar Synod of Bishops. | |
2 | 6 January 1997 – 1 April 2011 | 29 May 1927 North Parur, Travancore | 70 / 83 (†83) | Appointed by Pope John Paul II as the Apostolic Administrator before becoming the Full Time Major Archbishop in 1999. Helped Established the Eparchy of St. Thomas of Chicago along with other dioceses. | |
3 | 24 May 2011 _ 7 December 2023 | 19 April 1945 Thuruthy, Travancore | 67 / 78 | First Major Archbishop elected by the Synod of Bishops. Established All India Jurisdiction by the establishment of Eparchy of Shamshabad and Eparchy of Hosur. Also established the Eparchy of Mississauga,Eparchy of Melbourne, Eparchy of Great Britain, along with the Apostolic Visitation to Europe. | |
4 | 9 January 2024 _ Present | 21 April 1956 Trichur, Kerala | 67 | Thattil had previously served as the apostolic visitor of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church for Syro-Malabar resident "outside their proper territory" in India and as bishop of the Eparchy of Shamshabad since 2017. [1] |
The Vicariate was established in 1896, when the first archbishop was appointed. The Syro-Malabar's current hierarchical structure was established in 1923, and Ernakulam elevated as an archdiocese. In 1993, when Syro-Malabar Catholic Church was raised to major archiepiscopal church, Ernakulam became the seat of the major archbishop.
Through the Synod of Diamper, the Latin Catholic Padroado missionaries abolished the All India jurisdiction and erected the Diocese of Angamaly, suffragan to the Padroado Primatal See of Goa, in place of the Metropolitanate of All India. [3]
Following the schism, the pope having abandoned the latinisation policy, separated St. Thomas Christians in 1887 from the Vicariate of Verapoly, the local Latin Catholic hierarchy. [5] Initially they were organized under two vicariates, Thrissur and Kottayam. Later in 1896, Ernakulam vicariate was formed by bifurcating southern parts of Thrissur and northern parts of Changanacherry. During the same time native prelates were also appointed for all three vicariates. In 1911 a fourth vicariate was established in Kottayam for southists exclusively.
Kottayam (Changanacherry)
| Thrissur
|
|
|
Archbishops of Ernakulam Angamaly
| Archbishops of Changanacherry
| Archbishops of Trichur
| Archbishops of Tellicherry
| Archbishops of Kottayam
|
Kothamangalam
| Idukki
| Faridabad
| Hosur
| Shamshabad
|
Palai
| Kanjirappally
| Thuckalay
|
The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, also known as the Malankara Syrian Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular church in full communion with the worldwide Catholic Church possessing self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. It is one of the major archiepiscopal churches of the Catholic Church. It is headed by Major Archbishop Baselios Cardinal Cleemis Catholicos of the Major Archdiocese of Trivandrum based in Kerala, India. With more than 1096 parishes, it is one of India's biggest church evangelical establishments.
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 Coonan Cross Oath, also known as the Great Oath of Bent Cross or Leaning Cross Oath, was taken on 3 January 1653, in Mattancherry, by a significant portion of the Saint Thomas Christian community in the Malabar region of India. This public declaration marked their refusal to submit to the authority of the Jesuits and the Latin Catholic hierarchy, as well as their rejection of Portuguese dominance in both ecclesiastical and secular matters.
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Changanacherry (Syriac: ܐܦܪܟܝܐ ܪܒܬܐ ܕܫܢܓܢܐܣܐܪܐ, romanized: Afarkaya Rabbta d-Shanganasara; Malayalam: ചങ്ങനാശ്ശേരി അതിരൂപത, romanized: Changanassery Atirūpata) is a Catholic East-Syriac Rite archeparchy with an area of 24,595 km2 comprising the districts of Kottayam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, and also Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the largest Catholic dioceses in India in terms of area. Thomas Tharayil is the current Metropolitan Archbishop, serving from 2024.Suffragan eparchies of the Changanassery archeparchy includes Palai, Kanjirappally-Nilackal, and Thuckalay-Thiruvithancode.
The Archeparchy of Ernakulam–Angamaly is the major archeparchy and the see of the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. It has been the major archeparchy since 1992 when the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church was elevated to the status of a major archiepiscopal church with Ernakulam-Angamaly as the primatal see. The major archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly is the main bishop of the jurisdiction, at the same time the head of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. The eparchies of Kothamangalam and Idukki are the two suffragan eparchies of the major archeparchy.
The Archeparchy of Kottayam is a Syro-Malabar Church metropolitan archeparchy of the Catholic Church in India. The archeparchy is exclusively for Knanaya faithful who claim to be the descendants of Syriac Judeo-Christians who migrated from South Mesopotamia to Kodungallur (Muziris) in South India in 4th century A.D.
This is a timeline of the history of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India.
The Archdiocese of Verapoly is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church, composed of Latin Catholics of Malabar and headquartered at the city of Cochin, in the south Indian state of Kerala. The archdiocese has administrative control over the suffragan dioceses of Calicut, Cochin, Kannur, Kottapuram, Sultanpet and Vijayapuram. The headquarters is located in Kochi along the Malabar Coast in India. It was originally formed as the Vicariate Apostolic of Malabar in 1657 and became a metropolitan see in 1886. Verapoly is the anglicised name of Varapuzha.
Parambil Chandy was an Indian Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Cranganore from 1663 to 1687. He was the first known native Indian bishop.
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.
St. Thomas Cathedral is the Syro Malabar Catholic cathedral of the eparchy of Irinjalakuda in India. It presently exists under the nomenclature and the Canonical Status as Cathedral in the Wake of the Origin of the New Eparchy, effected by the amalgamation of the two independent and important parishes of the locality, namely, St. George’s Forane Church and St. Mary’s church, which were amicably situated side by side for about a century.
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 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.
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.
The Archdiocese of Cranganore or Cranganor and Angamaly was a latinised Syriac Padroado Archdiocese in Kodungallur, Kerala, India. This diocese is a product of so-called Synod of Diamper held in Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Angamaly and All India. Its headquarters was first at St. Thomas church, Cranganore Fort until 1662 and then at Puthenchira church for more than a century. Mar Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar, Administrator of the diocese moved its headquarters to Vadayar due to invasion of Tipu Sultan. Mar Poulose Pandari, a Chaldean Bishop belongs to Puthenchira parish of this diocese.
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.
Bishop Sebastaini, then consecrated Alexander Parampil as the Bishop.