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.
Pathanamthitta District, is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala. The district headquarters is in the town of Pathanamthitta. There are four municipalities in Pathanamthitta: Adoor, Pandalam, Pathanamthitta and Thiruvalla.
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.
Gregorios of Parumala, also known as Parumala Thirumeni and Geevarghese Mar Gregorios, was a Metropolitan of the Malankara Church. Parumala Thirumeni became the first person of Indian origin to be canonised as saint. In 1947, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church declared Mar Gregorios as a saint, making him the first saint from India canonized by that church. In November 1987, the Syriac Orthodox Church canonized him as a saint.
Mathews Mar Athanasius Mar Thoma XIII 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.
Dionysius IV (born Cheppad Peelipose, was 12th Malankara Metropolitan from 27 August 1825, until he abdicated in 1852 and 107th Successor to the Holy Apostolic Throne of St.Thomas.
Geevarghese Dionysius Vattasseril, also Dionysius VI, Dionysius Geevarghese II or, popularly, Vattasseril Thirumeni, was a bishop of the Malankara Church and 15th Malankara Metropolitan. In 2003, Dionysius was canonized as a saint by the Malankara Orthodox Church, and his feast day is celebrated on February 23 each year. He is known as 'The Great Luminary of Malankara Church', a title which the Church bestowed on him in recognition of his contribution to the Church.
Thumpamon is a village in Pandalam, a part of Adoor thaluk in Kerala, India. One of the greatest attractions of this village is the Achenkovil River, which is known for its natural sceneries along the riverbank. The village relies on non-resident Indian and crops like rubber, coconut, paddy and pepper. The most common crop in the village is rubber. Because of non-resident Indians, this is one of the wealthiest villages in Kerala. Thumpamon is divided into two regions, Thumpamon North and Thumpamon South, by the Achenkovil River.
Baselios Augen I was the 17th Malankara Metropolitan, the fourth Catholicos of the East in the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, and the first Catholicos of the East in the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church. He was the first Catholicos consecrated in a reunified Malankara Church, by the Patriarch of Antioch in 1964 but his tenure saw a second split in the Holy Church.
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.
Translation of the Bible into Malayalam began in 1806. Church historians say Kayamkulam Philipose Ramban, a scholar from Kayamkulam, translated the Bible from Syriac into Malayalam in 1811 to help the faithful get a better understanding of the scripture. The Manjummal translation is the first Catholic version of the Bible in Malayalam. This is the direct translation from Latin. The four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles were translated by the inmates of the Manjummal Ashram, Fr. Aloysius, Fr. Michael and Fr. Polycarp. The Pancha Granthy came out from Mannanam under the leadership of Nidhirikkal Mani Kathanar in 1924. The Catholic New Testament was published in full in 1940, and has influenced development of the modern language.
Kadammanittapally in Kadammanitta, Kerala, India, is a parish church under Thumpamon Diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, named after St John the Baptist. Sacred footprints of Geevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala are claimed to be in the parish.
Kayamkulam Philipose Ramban was a Syriac scholar and hieromonk of the Malankara Church, known for translating the Bible into Malayalam for the first time. His work, completed in 1811, made the Bible accessible to the Saint Thomas Christians.
The Diocese of UK, Europe and Africa is one of the 32 dioceses of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church with its headquarters in London.
St. Mary's Orthodox Syrian Cathedral is an Orthodox ancient church located in Thumpamon near Pandalam, Kerala state of India. It is the headquarters of the Thumpamon Diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. The first church was built in AD 717. The Architectural style of the church is Gothic Revival style.
Geevarghese Mar Philoxenos aka Puthencavil Kochu Thirumeni was an administrator, orator and an advocate of Orthodox and the Catholicate of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of India. He served as Metropolitan of Thumpamon Diocese from 1930 to 1951.
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.
St. George's Monastery is a Jacobite Syrian Christian Church situated at a hilltop near Puthencruz, Ernakulam District, Kerala. The monastery was established by Mor Yulius Elias Qoro. The Malankara Syrian Orthodox Seminary began functioning in this monastery and later moved to Udayagiri. The monastery is the final resting place of Catholicos Baselios Paulose II. In 2019, a retreat house named Khanema Hanna Home was consecrated by Ignatius Aphrem II Patriarch near to the Monastery.
The Kollam Orthodox Diocese, one of the 32 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.
