Mar Thoma Syrian Church Diocese of North America & Europe

Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. Diocese of North America & Europe.
Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. Diocese of North America & Europe.
Classification	Oriental Protestant
Theology	Reformed
Primate	Theodosius Mar Thoma Metropolitan
Language	Malayalam, English, Syriac
Headquarters	2320 South Merrick Avenue, Merrick, New York.
Territory	North America, South America and Europe
Founder	Saint Thomas the Apostle
Official website	www.marthomanae.org

Last updated April 06, 2024

The Diocese of North America & Europe is a diocese of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church that includes all the parishes in the North American and European continents. Its headquarters is at Sinai Mar Thoma Centre, Merrick, New York.The present Diocesan bishop is Abraham MarPaulos Episcopa. As of 2020 there are 71 parishes and 7 congregations under this diocese.

Mar Thoma Church

The Mar Thoma Church defines itself as "apostolic in origin, catholic in nature, biblical in faith, evangelical in principle, ecumenical in outlook, oriental in worship, democratic in function, episcopal in character, and is a theologically Reformed church.^[3]^[4]

Beginning of parishes in England

During this period the community was supported by the following clergy - Rev. V V Alexander; Rt Rev. Joseph Mar Thoma; Very Rev. P M George; Rt Rev. Easow Mar Timotheus and Rev. Dr Philip Varghese. Rev. Dr Abrham Philip, the first vicar was appointed in 1982. 1.^[5]^[6]

Early history of the Diocese

Philipose Mar Chrysostom then took charge as diocesan bishop.^{[ when? ]}

Mar Thoma Centre

In the 1990s the Diocesan Assembly decided to permanently house the Diocese. In 1994 the Assembly initially purchased property at Richboro, Pennsylvania, for their headquarters, but subsequently moved to their current location at 2320 South Merrick Avenue, Merrick, New York. In the October of 2018, the Diocese of North America and Europe had purchased the Mount Carmel Christian Church in Tucker, Georgia which hosts the Mission activities of the Diocese. The name "Carmel Mar Thoma Center" was given at the current location at 6015 Old Stone Mountain Road, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

Diocesan bishops

The Late Rt. Rev. Dr. Zacharias Mar Theophilus (October 1993 – October 2001)
Rt. Rev. Dr. Euyakim Mar Coorilos (October 2001 – December 2008)
Rt. Rev. Dr. Geevarghese Mar Theodosius Episcopa (January 2009 – March 2016)
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Isaac Mar Philoxenos Episcopa.( Incumbent from April 2016 – )

Related Research Articles

The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (MOSC) also known as the Indian Orthodox Church (IOC) or simply as the Malankara Church, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church headquartered in Devalokam, near Kottayam, India. It serves India's Saint Thomas Christian population. According to tradition, these communities originated in the missions of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. It employs the Malankara Rite, an Indian form of the West Syriac liturgical rite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mar Thoma Syrian Church</span> Church based in the Indian state of Kerala.

The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, often shortened to Mar Thoma Church, and known also as the Reformed Syrian Church and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, is an autonomous Oriental Protestant Christian church based in Kerala, India. While continuing many of the Syriac high church practices, the church is Protestant in its theology and doctrines. It employs a reformed variant of the West Syriac Rite Divine Liturgy of Saint James, translated to Malayalam.

The Malankara Metropolitan or the Metropolitan of Malabar is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of the Malankara Syrian Church. It evolved from the title of the sixteenth century East Syriac metropolitans of India who were also styled the Metropolitan of Malabar. Since the division among the Saint Thomas Christians following the Synod of Diamper, the title has been mostly employed in association with the West Syriac branch of the community, usually known as the Malankara Church, among whom the office of the Malankara Metropolitan became the continuation of the local dynastic Archdeaconate.

Mathews Mar Athanasius (Mar Thoma XIII) (25 April 1818 – 16 July 1877) was the Malankara Metropolitan of the Malankara Church from 1852 until 1865. As a reformer, he spent most of his reign attempting to reform and heal rifts within the church. However in 1865, he was deposed by the traditionalist faction of the Malankara Church and Pulikkottil Joseph Dionysius became their leader.

The Malabar Independent Syrian Church (MISC) also known as the Thozhiyur Church, is a Christian church centred in Kerala, India. It is one of the churches of the Saint Thomas Christian community, which traces its origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.

St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India (STECI) is an Oriental Protestant episcopal denomination based in Kerala, India.

Philipose Mar Chrysostom Mar Thoma XX Valiya Metropolitan, was an Indian prelate who served as Metropolitan of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church from 1999-2007 and Valiya Thirumeni from 2007 until his death. He was the world's longest serving bishop, serving for −67 years, 11 months and 12 days. He was addressed and referred to as Chrysostom Thirumeni or Valiya Thirumeni after his retirement. He was also a known humorist. He was awarded India's third highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan, in 2018.

Alexander Mar Thoma XIX Metropolitan was the Metropolitan of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church with its center in Kerala state in south-western India.

Juhanon Mar Thoma XVIII Metropolitan was the Metropolitan of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church from 1949–1976, who gave leadership to the church and at the same time actively participated in social and political arenas. He was respected by people from all walks of life, from all religions and from all age groups. He is remembered for providing the church with its famous motto "Lighted to Lighten". His humanistic and socially-engaged approach to the Christian faith was embodied in his personal credo: "The Church must be interested where human life is interested."

Palakunnathu Abraham Malpan, was an Indian cleric and theologian known for the Reformation movement within the Malankara Church during the 19th century. He was born in the ancient Syrian Christian Palakunnathu family which practiced West Syriac Rite Oriental Orthodoxy after the Coonan Cross Oath of 1653.

The term Eastern Protestant Christianity encompasses a range of heterogeneous Protestant Christian denominations that developed outside of the Occident, from the latter half of the nineteenth century, and yet retain certain elements of Eastern Christianity. Some of these denominations came into existence when active Protestant churches adopted reformational variants of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox liturgy and worship, while others are the result of reformations of Orthodox beliefs and practices, inspired by the teachings of Western Protestant missionaries.

Titus II Mar Thoma Metropolitan (Mar Thoma XVI) (6 May 1866 – 6 July 1944) was the head of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church with its center in Kerala state in south-western India. He was known as Thithoos Dwitheeyan Mar Thoma Metropolitan among his people. (Thithoos is Aramaic and Malayalam)

Titus I Mar Thoma Metropolitan (Mar Thoma XV) (20 February 1843 – 20 October 1909) was known as Thithoos Mar Thoma Metropolitan (Thithoos is Aramaic and Malayalam) was the second Mar Thoma Metropolitan (1893–1909) after the Malankara Church split as the Orthodox and reformist factions.

Mar Thoma VI, also known as Mar Dionysius I, was the 6th Metropolitan of the Malankara Syrian Church, serving from 1765 until his demise on 8 April 1808. His original name was Iype, and he was born as the only son of Mathew (Mathan) Tharakan, the elder brother of Mar Thoma V, in the Pallippuram branch of the Pakalomattom Family(Andoor, Marangattupilly).

Mar Thoma VIII was the 8th Metropolitan of the Malankara Church in Kerala, India from 1809 to 1816. He was a man of vision. It was during his time Malankara church opened the first formal educational institution, in Kerala. With the opening of Kottayam Suryani Seminary, modern education dawned in Kerala.

Mathews Mar Athenasius Episcopa was the first missionary bishop of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. As a diocesan Episcopa he did remarkable pioneering work in organising parishes and new mission fields. His evangelical ardour and concern for the unreached area, made him forge ahead expansion programmes and colonisation schemes besides establishing of several institutions.

The Mar Thoma Syrian Church in Malaysia is the Malaysian zone of the Diocese of Malaysia, Singapore & Australia in the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. It currently consists of a total of 16 parishes with 2,500 members nationwide.

The Malankara Church, also known as Puthenkur, is the historic unified body of West Syriac Saint Thomas Christian denominations which claim ultimate origins from the missions of Thomas the Apostle. This community, under the leadership of Thoma I, opposed the Padroado Jesuits as well as the Propaganda Carmelites of the Latin Church, following the historical Coonan Cross Oath of 1653. The Malankara Church's divisions and branchings have resulted in present-day Churches that include the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, the Malabar Independent Syrian Church, the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, the Saint Thomas Anglicans of the Church of South India and the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India.

Immanuel Mar Thoma Church, Virginia is the first parish in the state of Virginia in the United States, under Diocese of North America and Europe of Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar in India. Immanuel Mar Thoma Church, VA currently conducts its Holy Communion Service at the Community Lutheran Church located at Sterling, Virginia. The Parish is currently led by Vicar Rev. Renny Varghese.

Thomas Mar Athanasius (Mar Thoma XIV), or Thomas Thirumeni (7 October 1836 – 10 August 1893), was the Malankara Metropolitan of the Malankara Syrian Church faction of Malankara, from 1877 to 1893. The first son of prominent Syrian Church reformist Abraham Malpan (the "Martin Luther of the East"), he was born into the Palakunnathu family of Maramon. He ascended to the throne of the Malankara Metropolitan at a time of turmoil in the Malankara Church, being removed from office by the majority pro-Patriarchate faction of the church following the Royal court verdict of 1889, and evicted from the Pazhaya seminary (the seat of Malankara Metropolitan).

References

↑ Leustean, Lucian N. (30 May 2014). Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century. Routledge. p. 568. ISBN 978-1-317-81866-3. The Syrian Orthodox also became the target of Anglican missionary activity, as a result of which the Mar Thoma Church separated from the Orthodox in 1874, adopting the Anglican confession of faith and a reformed Syrian liturgy conforming to Protestant principles.
↑ Pallikunnil, Jameson K. (2017). The Eucharistic Liturgy: A Liturgical Foundation for Mission in the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-5246-7652-0. Metropolitan Juhanon Mar Thoma called it "a Protestant Church in an oriental grab."...As a reformed Oriental Church, it agrees with the reformed doctrines of the Western Churches. Therefore, there is much in common in faith and doctrine between the MTC and the reformed Churches of the West. As the Church now sees it, just as the Anglican Church is a Western Reformed Church, the MTC is an Eastern Reformed Church. At the same time as it continues in the apostolic episcopal tradition and ancient oriental practices, it has much in common with the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Thus, it is regarded as a "bridging Church".
1 2 Kurian, George Thomas; Day, Sarah Claudine (14 March 2017). "Thomist". The Essential Handbook of Denominations and Ministries. Baker Books. ISBN 978-1-4934-0640-1.
↑ Reformation in the Malankara Church- Living the Gospel. Pub. Mar Thoma Sabha Council. February 2011. Page 7.
↑ Zac Varghese Dr. & Mathew A. Kallumpram. ‘’Glimpses of Mar Thoma Church History". London, England. 2003. ISBN 8190085441.
↑ Mathew, N.M. Malankara Marthoma Sabha Charitram, (History of the Marthoma Church), Volume III.(2008). p. 234–35.

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[Leustean-1] Leustean, Lucian N. (30 May 2014). Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century. Routledge. p. 568. ISBN 978-1-317-81866-3. The Syrian Orthodox also became the target of Anglican missionary activity, as a result of which the Mar Thoma Church separated from the Orthodox in 1874, adopting the Anglican confession of faith and a reformed Syrian liturgy conforming to Protestant principles.

[JamesonP-2] Pallikunnil, Jameson K. (2017). The Eucharistic Liturgy: A Liturgical Foundation for Mission in the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-5246-7652-0. Metropolitan Juhanon Mar Thoma called it "a Protestant Church in an oriental grab."...As a reformed Oriental Church, it agrees with the reformed doctrines of the Western Churches. Therefore, there is much in common in faith and doctrine between the MTC and the reformed Churches of the West. As the Church now sees it, just as the Anglican Church is a Western Reformed Church, the MTC is an Eastern Reformed Church. At the same time as it continues in the apostolic episcopal tradition and ancient oriental practices, it has much in common with the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Thus, it is regarded as a "bridging Church".

[Kurian&Day-3] 1 2 Kurian, George Thomas; Day, Sarah Claudine (14 March 2017). "Thomist". The Essential Handbook of Denominations and Ministries. Baker Books. ISBN 978-1-4934-0640-1.

[4] Reformation in the Malankara Church- Living the Gospel. Pub. Mar Thoma Sabha Council. February 2011. Page 7.

[5] Zac Varghese Dr. & Mathew A. Kallumpram. ‘’Glimpses of Mar Thoma Church History". London, England. 2003. ISBN 8190085441.

[6] Mathew, N.M. Malankara Marthoma Sabha Charitram, (History of the Marthoma Church), Volume III.(2008). p. 234–35.

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