Kottayam is one of fourteen districts in the state of Kerala, India. Kottayam district comprises six municipal towns: Kottayam, Changanassery, Pala, Erattupetta, Ettumanoor, and Vaikom. It is the only district in Kerala that neither border the Arabian Sea nor any other states.
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (MOSC) also known as the Indian Orthodox Church, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in Kerala, India. The church serves India's Saint Thomas Christian population. According to tradition, the church originated in the missions of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.
Pathanamthitta District is a district in the southern part of Kerala, India. The district headquarters is in the town of Pathanamthitta. There are four municipalities in Pathanamthitta: Tiruvalla, Adoor, Pathanamthitta and Pandalam.
Pampady is a fast-growing town in Kottayam district of Kerala, Southern India. It lies midway between the backwaters of Western Kerala and the mountains of the Western Ghats.
Mallappally is a taluk in Kerala state in India. It is one of the five taluks that make up the Pathanamthitta district. Historically a part of the kingdom of Travancore and Cochin. It is called "Land of the BA graduates" due to English education imparted by attendants of CMS College Kottayam in the 19th century, Mallappally is the original home of many Non-resident Indians, and has one of the lowest population growth and highest literacy rates in India.
Kangazha is a panchayath and village in the Changanacherry Taluk of the Kottayam District of Kerala State in India. It is located 21 kilometers east of Kottayam and 10 kilometers north of Karukachal. It lies midway between the backwaters of Western Kerala and the misty mountains of the Western Ghats.
Punnavely is a village situated on the border of Pathanamthitta and Kottayam districts of Kerala, India. Punnavely is a typical Central Tranvancore village with rubber tree plantations, paddy fields, pepper and other spices and lot of NRIs.
Omallur is a small town, about 3.5 km south of Pathanamthitta District headquarters, in Kerala. Omallur is famous for Vayal Vanibham which is an annual farming fair held in the month of Meenam (October). People from both within and outside the town participate in the fair.
The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church (JSCC) also known as the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, or the Jacobite Syrian Church, or the Syriac Orthodox Church in India, is an autonomous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Indian state of Kerala, and is an integral branch of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. It recognizes the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East as Supreme Head of the church. It functions as a largely autonomous unit within the church, under the authority of the Catholicos of India, Thomas I. Currently, this is the only church in Malankara that has a direct relationship with the Syriac Christians of Antioch, which has continued from after the schism and it continues to employ the West Syriac Rite Liturgy of Saint James.
Mor Themotheos Thomas is the Metropolitan of Kottayam Diocese and Secretary to the Holy Episcopal Synod of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church. Mor Themotheos Thomas was ordained as the Metropolitan of the Outside Kerala Diocese on 3 January 1991 by Mor Baselios Paulose II Catholicos of the East .
Vakathanam is a Panchayat in Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It is 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from Kottayam on the way to Changanassery via Puthupally. Vakathanam panchayat consists of two villages: Vakathanam and Thottakkad.
Christianity is the third-most practised religion in Kerala, accounting for 18% of the population according to the Indian census. Although a minority, the Christian population of Kerala is proportionally much larger than that of India as a whole. A significant portion of the Indian Christian population resides in the state.
Mylapra is a village in Pathanamthitta district in the Indian state of Kerala. It comes under the Mylapra Panchayath. It is on the way to the famous Hindu pilgrim center of Sabarimala. The Main Eastern Highway passes through Mylapra.
V. C. Samuel; Malayalam: വി.സി. ശമുവേൽ; Hebrew :שְׁמוּאֵל ; Greek: Σαμουήλ; Arabic: صموئيل; Latin:Samūēl; Amharic: ሳሙኤል
Chungathara is a village panchayat in Nilambur Taluk in Malappuram district, Kerala, India. It is one of the smallest gramapnachayat in Kerala. It is surrounded by Western Ghats.
The Holy Girdle, also known as the Girdle of Thomas, Holy Girdle of Mary, Holy Soonoro, (or) Zunoro, and Holy Belt of Saint Mary the mother of Jesus, is a relic of the Blessed Virgin Mary which is one of the important relics of Syriac Orthodox Church and venerated by Oriental Orthodox Communion. The word "soonoro" is also translated as "belt", "sash" or "girdle". It is the Oriental Orthodox equivalent of the Girdle of Thomas in the Western church, and the Cincture of the Theotokos in the Eastern Orthodox Church, now located at Mount Athos.
Reflecting the religious constitution of the population, a large number of Hindu temples and Christian churches dot the townscape of Kottayam district. Some of them are the Thirunakkara Mahadeva temple, Kumaranalloor Devi temple, Thiruvarrpu Sri Krishna Temple, Thaliyil Mahadeva Temple, Pallippurathukavu Bhagavathi Temple, Elia Cathedral, Kottayam Valiya Pally, Manarcad Cathedral, Cheriya Palli, CSI Holy Trinity cathedral, Puthuppally St. George Church and Thazhathangadi Juma Masjid. All the temples of Kottayam were also built under royal patronage of Hinduism during the 2nd millennium.
Kottayam Diocese is one of the 30 dioceses of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. The diocese was created in Mulanthuruthy Synod in 1876.
Malankara Syriac Knanaya Community are part of the larger Knanaya community who are descendants of an endogamous ethnic migrant group of Syriac-Jewish Christians who arrived and settled in Kerala in the 4th or 8th century.
India 