St. Mary's Orthodox Syrian Church, Niranam, is a church under the Niranam Diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. It is historically believed that this is the one of the seven churches founded by Thomas the Apostle, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, in AD 52.[1]
Niranam Pally is one of the oldest churches in India. It is believed that the church was founded by St. Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, in AD 54. The church was reconstructed several times since then. The stones in the church shows the reconstruction in 1259. St. Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ landed at Maliankara near Kodungallur around A.D.52. He established seven and half churches. Those are Kodungallur, Palayur, Kottakkavu, Kokkamangalam, Niranam, Chayal, Kollam and the half church at Thiruvithamkode. On his way from Kollam in northeast direction he arrived at Niranam "Thrikpapaleswaram" by sea.
It is believed to be one of the oldest churches in Kerala and thus in India as well as among the oldest ones in the world. The architecture shows striking similarities to ancient temple architecture. It is believed to have been established by St. Thomas.
Pattamukkil Kudumbam at Niranam: Special Entrance to Niranam Church.Tharavad is surrounded from three sides of Niranam Church
Before the headquarters of Malankara Metropolitans was permanently relocated to the Orthodox Theological Seminary, Kottayam in 1815, the Niranam Church also served as the thronal cathedral and headquarters of Malankara Metropolitans during multiple periods between 1653 and 1815.
Today
The present building, supposedly the fourth, was constructed in 1912 and was renovated during the year 2000. There are five altars at Niranam church. The main altar, the central one, is in the name of Saint Mary. This is used for regular services of the church.
There are two altars on the north and south of the main one. The altar on the northern side is consecrated to Saint George and the altar on the southern side is consecrated in the name of Mar Behnam.
There are two smaller altars, to the front of the main altar. The north among these is in the name of Saint Thomas. It is also the shrine of Mar Thoma II.Malankara Metropolitan of Malankara Orthodox Church
The southern among the small altars is consecrated to Saint Stephen. This is also the shrine of Mar Thoma V.
Granite cross
The tall granite cross at the right side of the entrance is a relic of the past, probably from 1259, the time at which the third renovation of the church building took place. The base of the cross has carvings resembling a Hindu Temple.[2]
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.
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 their mother tongue is Malayalam. Nasrani or Nazarene is a Syriac term for Christians, who were among the first converts to Christianity in the Near East.
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.
Mar Thoma III was the third metropolitan bishop who was the 3rd Metropolitan of the Malankara Church in India for a brief period from 1686 to 1688.
Mar Thoma V was the 5th Malankara Metropolitan who served puthenkoor from 1728 to 8 May 1765. He was born as Ousep to the Pallippuram branch of the Pakalomattom family, situated in Andoor, Marangattupilly, where his father served as administration chief of Vadakkumkur Kings. He was ordained in 1728 and served as Malankara Metropolitan for 37 years until his death on May 8, 1765. His final resting place is Niranam St. Mary’s Church. His tenure faced numerous challenges and conflicts with bishops sent from the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate in Antioch, resulting in some of these Syriac bishops being banished from the country and forced to return.
This article lists the various old and ancient churches that exist among the Saint Thomas Christians in Kerala.
The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church or the Syriac Orthodox Church in India, is an autonomous Maphrianate of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch based in Kerala, India and a part of the Oriental Orthodox Church. It is administered by the Malankara Metropolitan, Gregorios Joseph, under the spiritual authority of the Catholicos of India, Baselios Thomas I, and, the Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius Aphrem II the supreme hierarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church.
Mar Thoma Sleeva (Saint Thomas Cross) are ancient crosses associated with the community of Indian subcontinent, who trace their origins to the evangelism of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century AD. The Saint Thomas Christians, which is one of the oldest Christian communities of the world, survive in the Malabar region in state of Kerala, India and have a diaspora in other parts of the Indian subcontinent. Saint Thomas Christian crosses are known as Mar Thoma Sleeva (Saint Thomas cross), Indian cross, or Persian Cross in English, as well as Nasrani Sthambam in Malabarese.
St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral, Puthencavu is one of the important churches in South India, located at a village named Puthencavu, Alappuzha district in Kerala state of India. The church is one of the oldest Christian churches in the Central Travancore region of Kerala.
Most churches in Kerala follow the tradition of Syrian Christians, known as Saint Thomas Christians. The remainder of religious people in Kerala are Latin Catholics, or part of a minority of Protestant Christians.
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.
Valiyapally is a title given to a main church in a diocese of the Christian denominations Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church,Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church.
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.
St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral, Kadampanad, popularly known as Kadampanad Church is an ancient church of Saint Thomas Christians situated in the Central Travancore village of Kadampanad, in Pathanamthitta District, Kerala, India. This Church belongs to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church under the Diocese of Adoor-Kadampanad.
Martha Mariyam Cathedral or St. Mary's Church is a prominent Valiyapally of the Syriac Orthodox Church situated in Kothamangalam town in the Ernakulam district of Kerala, India.
Ēḻarappaḷḷikaḷ or Ezharappallikal, are the seven major churches or Christian communities of Saint Thomas Christians across Malabar Coast of India that are believed to have been founded by Thomas the Apostle in the first century. According to Indian Christian traditions, the apostle Thomas arrived in Muziris (Kodungallur) in AD 52, established the Ezharappallikal and evangelised in present-day Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Many of these churches built near Jewish and Brahmin settlements. These were at Maliankara (Kodungallur), Kollam, Palayoor, Kottakkayal, Kokkamangalam, Niranam and Nilackal (Chayal). Thiruvithamcode church in Kanyakumari was built on the land given by arachan (king) and hence it is often referred in the name Arappally. Similarly, the Churches at Malayattoor and Aruvithura are also referred to as Arappallikal.
The Kollam Orthodox Diocese, one of the 30 dioceses of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, was created after the Mulanthuruthy Synod in 1876. H.G. Dr. Joseph Mar Dionysius is the Metropolitan of the diocese, whose head office is in Bishop's House, Cross Junction, Kadappakada, Kollam, Kerala, India.
Mavelikkara Diocese is one of the 30 dioceses of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. The diocese was created on 10 August 2002. H.G Vattamparambil Dr Abraham Mar Epiphanios, is the Metropolitan of the diocese. The head office is located in TheoBhavan Aramana, Thazhakkara, Mavelikkara.
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