The Saint Thomas Christians, also called Syrian Christians of India, Marthoma Suriyani Nasrani, Malankara Nasrani, or Nasrani Mappila, are an ethno-religious community of Indian Christians in the state of Kerala, who, for the most part, employ the Eastern and Western liturgical rites of Syriac Christianity. They trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. The Saint Thomas Christians had been historically a part of the hierarchy of the Church of the East but are now divided into several different Eastern Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant, and independent bodies, each with their own liturgies and traditions. They are Malayalis and speak Malayalam. Nasrani or Nazarene is a Syriac term for Christians, who were among the first converts to Christianity in the Near East.
The Church of South India (CSI) is a united Protestant Church in India. It is the result of union of a number of Protestant denominations in South India that occurred after the independence of India.
The Church of North India (CNI) is the dominant united Protestant church in northern India. It was established on 29 November 1970 by bringing together the Protestant churches working in northern India. It is a province of the worldwide Anglican Communion and a member of the World Methodist Council and the World Communion of Reformed Churches. The merger, which had been in discussions since 1929, came eventually between the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon (Anglican), the United Church of Northern India,, the Methodist Church, Disciples of Christ denominations.
Christianity is India's third-largest religion with about 26 million adherents, making up 2.3 percent of the population as of the 2011 census. The written records of the Saint Thomas Christians state that Christianity was introduced in the Indian subcontinent by Thomas the Apostle, who sailed to the Malabar region in the present-day Kerala state in 52 AD.
The Indian Pentecostal Church of God (IPC) is one of the largest Pentecostal Christian Denomination in India, with over 10,000 congregations worldwide. Its organisational headquarters located in Kumbanad, Kerala, India. IPC has similarities with the Kerala Brethren denomination in terms of its beliefs on orthodoxy and eschatology, as a large portion of IPC's founders and early members were from the Kerala Brethren. IPC shares its beliefs with similar churches such as Assemblies of God and Sharon Fellowship Church. However, it distances itself from legalistic denominations such as The Pentecostal Mission. IPC tends to shy away from ecumenism, and some of its leaders reject high church liturgy as a method of worship, instead opting for low church congregational worship.
The Kerala Brethren are a significant subset of the Open Brethren movement. In the South Indian State of Kerala, four Syrian Christian (Nasrani) men who came from traditional churches were baptised in 1898, and many of the Kerala Brethren consider this event to have been the start of their movement. Some 600 of the 2,200 Brethren assemblies in India are located in Kerala.
Victor Premasagar (1927–2005) was the fourth successor of Frank Whittaker as Bishop in Medak. He was an Indian churchman and Old Testament scholar who made major contributions to research on the Old Testament and to the field of theology. Premasagar's articles appeared in the Expository Times (1966), the Vetus Testamentum (1966), the International Review of Mission (1972), and the Indian Journal of Theology (1974) and cited in major works relating to the theme of Promise in the Bible and critical works on Psalms LXXX and the Hebrew word HOQ in the Tanakh.
Bishop Moore Vidyapith Mavelikkara (BMVM) is a LKG–12 private, Christian, co-educational school in Kallumala, Mavelikkara, Kerala, India. It was established in 1975 and is named after Edward Alfred Livingstone Moore. It is part of the Diocese of Madhya Kerala of the Church of South India and is affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations.
Protestants in India are a minority and a sub-section of Christians in India and also to a certain extent the Christians in Pakistan before the Partition of India, that adhere to some or all of the doctrines of Protestantism. Protestants in India are a small minority in a predominantly Hindu majority country, but form majorities in the north-eastern states of Meghalaya, Mizoram& Nagaland and significant minorities in Konkan division, Bengal, Kerala& Tamil Nadu, with various communities in east coast and northern states. Protestants today trace their heritage back to the Protestant reformation of the 16th century.
Christianity is the third-largest practiced 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.
Thekkekara is a village in Alappuzha district in the Indian state of Kerala.The village is situated in mavelikara south.
Marady is a village in Ernakulam district in the Indian state of Kerala.
Indo-Fijians also known as Indian Fijians are Fijian citizens of Indian descent, and include people who trace their ancestry to various regions of India and the Indian subcontinent. Although Indo-Fijians constituted a majority of Fiji's population from 1956 through the late 1980s, discrimination and the resulting brain drain resulted in them numbering 313,798 (37.6%) out of a total of 827,900 people living in Fiji as of 2007.
The Armenians in Pakistan are ethnic Armenians living in the present country of Pakistan. Armenians migrated to Karachi during the economic boom in the early 20th century. Notable Armenian settlements in Pakistan can be found in the cities of Karachi, Lahore and in the capital Islamabad.
Kerala has a reputation of being, communally, one of the most religiously diverse states in India. According to 2011 Census of India figures, 54.73% of Kerala's population are Hindus, 26.56% are Muslims, 18.38% are Christians, and the remaining 0.33% follow other religions or have no religion. Hindus represent the biggest religious group in all districts except Malappuram, where they are outnumbered by Muslims. Various tribal people in Kerala have retained the religious beliefs of their ancestors. In comparison with the rest of India, Kerala experiences relatively little sectarianism.
Kuzhuvelil Varkey Mathew is an Indian biblical scholar and a member of the Society for Biblical Studies in India.
The Kollam-Kottarakkara Diocese is one of the twenty-four dioceses of the Church of South India. It comprises parishes in Attingal, Vembayam, Chenkulam, Kundara, Kottarakkara, Manjakkala, Punalur and Ayiranelloor regions, which span the Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts.
The Right Reverend K. Reuben Mark is the present Bishop in Karimnagar and the sixth in succession and occupies the Cathedra of the Bishop placed in Karimnagar's CSI-Wesley Cathedral. Reuben Mark is currently a Council Member for the period 2015–2018 at the fully-ecumenical United Theological College, Bangalore. During the XXXVIth session of Church of South India Synod, Reuben Mark has been elected as Deputy Moderator for the triennium 2020-2023 succeeding V. Prasada Rao.
Royapettah is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India.
