The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, also known as the Malankara Syrian Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular church in full communion with the worldwide Catholic Church possessing self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. It is one of the major archiepiscopal churches of the Catholic Church. It is headed by Major Archbishop Baselios Cardinal Cleemis Catholicos of the Major Archdiocese of Trivandrum based in Kerala, India. With more than 1096 parishes, its one of India's biggest church evangelical establishments.
The Syro-Malabar Church, also known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic Church based in Kerala, India. It is a sui iuris (autonomous) particular church in full communion with the Holy See and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO). The major archbishop presides over the entire church. The incumbent Major Archbishop is Raphael Thattil, serving since January 2024. The Syro-Malabar Synod of Bishops canonically convoked and presided over by the major archbishop constitutes the supreme authority of the church. The Major Archiepiscopal Curia of the church is based in Kakkanad, Kochi. Syro-Malabar is a prefix reflecting the church's use of the East Syriac Rite liturgy and origins in Malabar. The name has been in usage in official Vatican documents since the nineteenth century.
The Archeparchy of Changanacherry is a Syro-Malabar Catholic archeparchy with an area of 24,595 km2 comprising the districts of Kottayam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, and also Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the largest Catholic dioceses in India in terms of area. Joseph Perumthottam is the current Metropolitan Archbishop, serving since 2007. Thomas Tharayil has been the auxiliary bishop since 2017. Suffragan eparchies of the Changanassery archeparchy includes Palai, Kanjirappally-Nilackal, and Thuckalay-Thiruvithancode.
The Eparchy of St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic of Chicago, also known as the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Diocese of Chicago, is a Syro-Malabar Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or eparchy of the Catholic Church in the United States. Its episcopal seat is the Mar Thoma Sleeha Cathedral in the episcopal see of Chicago in Illinois state.
The Eparchy of Idukki is an eparchy of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in southern India. It belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Eranakulam-Angamaly. Its cathedral church is Saint George's Cathedral Vazhathoppe, Idukki township, Kerala.
The Eparchy of Belthangady is an Eastern Catholic eparchy in Belthangady, India, under the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. It was established in 1999 by Pope John Paul II's bull "Cum Ampla". It is a suffragan diocese of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Tellicherry. The bishop of this diocese is Mar Lawrence Mukkuzhy. This diocese had been established for the Syro-Malabar Christians of three districts in Karnataka, namely Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu and Udupi.
This is a timeline of the history of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India.
St. Thomas Cathedral is the Syro Malabar Catholic cathedral of the eparchy of Irinjalakuda in India. It presently exists under the nomenclature and the Canonical Status as Cathedral in the Wake of the Origin of the New Eparchy, effected by the amalgamation of the two independent and important parishes of the locality, namely, St. George’s Forane Church and St. Mary’s church, which were amicably situated side by side for about a century.
George Alencherry is the Major Archbishop Emeritus of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church after serving in the postion from 2011 to 2023. He is also a cardinal of the Catholic Church.
The Eparchy of Mandya is situated in Mandya city in Mandya district of Karnataka. The eparchy includes ten civil districts of Karnataka, namely Bangalore, Bangalore Rural, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Ramanagara, Tumkur, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Mandya and Hassan. The most recent bishop of Mandya was Antony Kariyil, who was later appointed as the Metropolitan Vicar of the Major Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly with the personal title of Archbishop on August 30, 2019. Infant Jesus Church, Henkel is the cathedral of the eparchy and the bishop's residence is at Kalenahalli, 6 km away from the city of Mandya.
The Eparchy of Faridabad is a diocese of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in Faridabad, a city in Haryana, India. Erected on 6 March 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI it serves around 150,000 Syro-Malabar Catholics in the area of Delhi. Its first and current eparch is Kuriakose Bharanikulangara, with the personal title of archbishop. The eparch resides in Faridabad, where the Kristuraja Cathedral is located.
The St. Thomas the Apostle Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Melbourne is a Syro-Malabar Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or eparchy of the Catholic Church in Australia. The eparchy was erected by Pope Francis on 11 January 2014. This is the second eparchy of the Syro-Malabar Church outside India, after the Eparchy of Chicago, and it has jurisdiction over Syro-Malabar Catholics in the entirety of Australia.
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Mississauga is an eparchy for all Syro-Malabar Catholics in Canada. It comprises 72 parishes, which include both churches and missions, with churches or missions in all the provinces of Canada, and one territory.
The Eparchy of Great Britain is the sole Syro-Malabar Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or eparchy of the Catholic Church in Great Britain. Its cathedral is Syro-Malabar Cathedral of St Alphonsa in the episcopal see of Preston, Lancashire. This eparchy is exempt, that is, not part of any ecclesiastical province in the Latin Catholic Church, but immediately subject to the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, under the supervision of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. It has jurisdiction over Syro-Malabar Catholics in the entirety of Great Britain: England, Scotland and Wales. Most of the faithful of this eparchy are British Indians with heritage in Kerala, where the Syro-Malabar Church is historically based.
The Eparchy of Shamshabad is a Syro-Malabar Church eparchy of the Catholic Church in Telangana, India. It was established by Pope Francis on 10 October 2017, and Raphael Thattil was appointed its first bishop. In a letter to the bishops of India, Francis cited India's decades of experience with "overlapping jurisdictions" of different sui iuris churches. He wrote: "With the growth of spiritual friendship and mutual assistance, any tension or apprehension should be swiftly overcome. May this extension of the pastoral area of the Syro-Malabar Church in no way be perceived as a growth in power and domination, but as a call to deeper communion, which should never be perceived as uniformity."
Joseph Srampickal is an Indian Syro-Malabar Catholic bishop. In 2016, he was appointed the first bishop of the Eparchy of Great Britain, which had been erected by Pope Francis the same year.
