The Church of St. Thomas Christians, yesterday and today.
St. Thomas Christians
The church of St. Thomas Christians is an Apostolic Church founded in India by St. Thomas. According to ancient, strong and continuous traditions, St. Thomas landed at Kodungalloor (Muziris) in 52 A.D. After preaching and establishing Christian communities in different parts of India, he suffered martyrdom at Mylapur in 72 A.D. Tradition holds that St. Thomas founded seven churches in Kerala; at Kodungalloor, Niranam, Kollam, Chayal, Kottakkavu, Kokkamangalam and Palayoor. Even before the Christian era, there were Jewish colonies in South India and it is a strange coincidence that these seven churches are situated in or near these colonies. From early centuries the Church of St. Thomas Christians came in connection with the Christian communities in the East Syrian Church.
Connection with East Syrian Church
This relationship made the St. Thomas Christians share the liturgical, spiritual and other ecclesiastical traditions with the East Syrian Church and therefore they are grouped under Chaldean Rite. At the same time the Christians of St. Thomas kept their distinctive character especially in Church administration and socio-cultural and ascetic- spiritual life.
The Knanayas
Knanaya Catholics of Syro-Malabar Church claim their origin to Thomas of Cana and the 72 families that migrated to Kerala in 345 A.D. from the land of Syria. The descendants of this group maintained their separate identity. In the matter of liturgy and spiritual activities they fully belong to the Syro-Malabar Church and as such they are an integral part of it. His Holiness Pope Pius X established the diocese of Kottayam in Kerala for this endogamous group in 1911.
Culture and social status
St. Thomas Christians were well established and integrated in the fabric of the society at large. In the early centuries their main occupations are believed to have been military services to the local kings, trade or agriculture. Their socio-cultural life was fully Indian and in their life of worship they adopted certain elements of this life. Their ascetic-spiritual life reflected Indo-oriental tradition. The sum total of this life was called the Law of St. Thomas (Mar Thoma Margam)
Metropolitan, Jathikkukarthavyan and Archdeacon
The head of the Church of St. Thomas Christians assumed the title The Metropolitan of All India. A St. Thomas Christian priest with the title Archdeacon of all India played the role of the effective leader of the community (Jathikkukarthavyan). The Archdeacon carried out the administration through general and local assemblies (Pallyogams).
Changes in the system of Church administration & life of worship.
Because of the Portuguese colonisation of parts of India in the late 15th and in the early 16th centuries and the consequent ecclesiastical arrangements, European bishops from the Latin Church were appointed to govern the St. Thomas Christians. This created a chaos among this Christians and it reflected both in the system of church administration as well as in the life of worship.
The Synod of Diamper
The Synod of Diamper (Udayamperur) in 1599 convened by the Latin Archbishop Menezes of Goa brought an end to the connection between St.Thomas Christians and East-Syrian Church; it converted St Thomas Christians into a branch of the Latin Church and under Padroado, the colonial power of the Portuguese, making its people accept many customs with which they were not familiar.
Loss of identity & resultant Coonan Cross Oath
The Latin influence gradualy led to the disappearance of the identity of the Syro-Malabarians as a separate individual Church. In other words, the Syro-Malabarians began to be considered as a group of Catholics following a different rite in a Latin diocese. The Latin Bishops and priest began to treat the St. Thomas Christians as a third rate community or subcast. This crisis is the reason for the Coonan Cross Oath in AD 1653. They began to reject the Latin rules and their authority and that it demanded Rome's intervention. Finally the sufferers for a noble agitation are out.
Another tyranny to the St. Thomas Christians.
The Propaganda Congregation of Rome acted promptly and dispatched Carmelite monks to India. One of them, Joseph Sebastiani OCD, was made the bishop and vicar apostolic of Malabar in 1661.
Bishop Chandy Parambil, son of the soil
Meanwhile the Dutch, who were in competition with the Portuguese, captured Cochin, and asked Sebastiani, to leave India. Chandy Parambil, a son of the soil, was consecrated bishop and appointed vicar apostolic in Sebastianis place. After Chandy's death in 1687, there was a period of confusion.
Multiple tyrranies
As a result of an agreement between Rome and the Dutch, the Holy See, appointed an Italian Carmelite as the vicar apostolic of Malabar in 1770. This Carmelite vicar apostolic eventually took residence at Varapuzha. These vicars apostolic were under the Propaganda Congregation of Rome. There were also archbishops or administrators appointed by the Portuguese Padroado who resided at Kodungallur.
Thus the Kerala Christians were under two jurisdictions: the Propaganda represented by the vicar apostolic who resided at Varapuzha and the Padroado represented by the Archbishop of Kodungallur.
Grievance against foreign missionaries & the historic journey to Rome and Lisbon
In the course of time, the grievance of St. Thomas Christians against the foreign missionaries gained momentum. Many conventions (pothuyogams) were held at Angamaly to orchestrate their grievances, of which the one in 1778 decided to send a delegation to Rome. A few years after this convention, Fr. Joseph Kariattil and Fr. Thomas Paremmakkal made their historic journey to Rome and Lisbon.
Archbishop Kariattil and his mysterious death at Goa
In 1782, Kariattil was consecrated Archbishop of Kodungallur in Lisbon, but on his way back before he could reach Kerala, he died in Goa in 1786. It is saying that he was killed for political reasons by the padroado military. Thomas Paremmakkal kept a journal of their journey. This journal is the famous Varthamanapusthakam. Following the death of his companion, Paremmakkal was made the administrator (Govarnador) of Kodungallur.
Agitation is against the foreign vicar apostolic and not against Rome or Pope
This was the time of great turmoil. The agitation against foreign vicars apostolic continued to gain momentum. In 1787, representatives of 84 churches assembled at Angamaly and drew up a document known as the Angamaly Podiola, which lists the sins of commission and omission of the foreign missionaries. Rome took these developments seriously and sent delegates to study the situation.
Onlookers of the agitation are the beneficieries
The Syro Malabar Hierarchy Restored
In the light of the report the delegates submitted, Pope Leo XIII decreed in 1887 the separation of the Rite of the St. Thomas Catholics from that of the Latins. The Pope erected two vicariates apostolic (quasi-dioceses) for the St. Thomas Catholics: Trichur and Kottayam, but appointed two Latin bishops, Bishop Adolf Medlycot, an Anglo-Indian and Bishop Charles Levinge, a French Jesuit, as their vicars apostolic.
Plea for native bishops and the resulted erection of three vicariates
The plea for native bishops continued. In 1896, the Pope decreed the erection of three vicariates for the St. Thomas Catholics: Thrichur, Ernakulam and Changanacherry. This time the vicariates were entrusted to the care of native Indian bishops: John Menachery, Louis Pazheparambil and Mathew Makil respectively.
The 4th Vicariate
In 1911, Pius X erected a fourth vicariate, the vicariate of Kottayam for the southists, an endogamous community (a community which allows marriage only within itself) among the St. Thomas Christians. They claim to be the descendants of the East-Syrian Christians who migrated from Persia along with Knai Thomman. The descendants of the original community of St. Thomas Christians are known as the Northists. On December 2, 1923 Pope Pius XI established the Syro Malabar Hierarchy in India with Ernakulam as the Metropolitan See and Changanacherry, Thrissur and Kottayam as suffagrans.
Mission territories of St. Thomas Christians
With the progress of the Syro Malabar Church another phenomenon was also taking place. The St. Thomas Christians who were mainly agriculturists were finding it hard to have sufficient arable land in their traditional habitats in south Kerala as the population increased. The famine that followed the Sec ond World War also nearly compelled many to look for better and more land for cultivation. Thus began the migration to the northern part of the present state of Kerala in the late forties and early fifties of this century. There was also migration to the southern parts of Karnataka and western parts of Tamil Nadu.
The spiritual needs of these migrants, who often lived in very remote areas, were looked after by the Latin bishops who took care of their spiritual needs. But the bishops in kerala were not satisfied and found a reason saying that they were not accustomed to Latin liturgy and customs. The Syro Malabar prelates could not take care of them since none of them had jurisdiction in these territories. Their jurisdiction did not cover areas beyond the river Bharathapuzha in the central part of Kerala. So the Bishops in Kerala began to press in Rome for establishing new dioceses outside the previously permitted territory saying it is as a necessity, with the intention to expanding the territory.
Establisment of Tellicherry Diocese
In 1953 the diocese of Tellicherry was established. The new diocese covered a very extensive area including some districts in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In the south it bordered Thrissur while in the north the territories extended up to Shimoga in Karnataka. In the east the entire district of Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu was under the new diocese. In the mean time the territories of Changanacherry and Thrissur were extended to the southern district of Kanyakumari and to Coimbatore in southeast in Tamil Nadu respectively because the Syro Malabarians were settling there also.
Syro Malabar mission dioceses
There was also an increased missionary consciousness, so far it was not, in the Syro Malabar Church. However, until 1962 the Syro Malabar Church had no mission territory. Lack of interest on the part of the Syro Malabarians is the main reason for the absence of Syro Malabar missions. They were more consentrated in establishing institutions like schools, colleges and hospitals. Later due to growth of Communitst idologies and trade unionism these intitutions became non profitable. So they began to think in another way and started to approach the Holy See to allow Syro Malabar Missions. For the first time a mission Exarchate in the Syro Malabar rite was established (1962) in Chanda, which later became a diocese. The Vatican II bring to the consciousness of the Syro Malabar Church that the Eastern Churches also have equal right and responsibility to evangelize. This was explicitly stated by the Council after reading the plight of the Syro Malabar Church. Later, seven more Syro Malabar mission dioceses were established in central and north India . They are Bijnor, Rajkot , Jagadalpur, Sagar, Satna, Ujjain and Gorakhpur. A ninth Syro Malabar diocese called Kalyan near Bombay was established in 1989.
The origin of this last one, however, owes to a different factor. As in the case of the migration to the north of Kerala, the Syro Malabarians were migrating to other parts of India in search of work. The high literacy rate and the non-availability of enough jobs in Kerala catalysed this type of migration. In almost all metros of India there are considerable number of Syro Malabarians. According to the teaching of Vatican II the faithful of each Church have the right to worship according to their own ecclesial traditions and they have the duty to preserve and promote their rites. (If the Vatican was free from the influence of the Propaganda Congregation of Rome and the Portuguese Padroado and had taken this wise decision in 15th century itself, the St. Thomas Christians in Kerala will be remained united as they were earlier.) Since there are large communities of Syro Malabarians in different parts of India, provision must have to be made for them to worship in their own ecclesial traditions. The Syro Malabar Church authorities were requesting the Holy See since long to make arrangements to provide pastoral care for the faithful in diaspora. As the first step, Kalyan was established in 1989. Now there are many more dioceses in different parts of India and outside.
The Church of St. Thomas Christians Today
As the population in the dioceses of Ernakulam, Changanacherry and Thrissur increased, there was a need to divide them. Thus dioceses of Palai and Kanjirappally took origin from Changanacherry while the diocese of Kothamangalam was carved out of Ernakulam. Palakkad and Irinjalakuda were erected by bifurcation of Thrissur. Tellicherry was divided into Mananthavady and Thamarassery.The Archbishop of Kottayam has jurisdiction over the Southists in all dioceses. With the establishment of new dioceses there was also an increase in the activities of the Church in various fields.
The Church began to establish educational institutions, houses for the aged, for the handicapped, for mentally retarded, rehabilitation centers for the distressed, centers for the alcoholics, orphans and non-formal education centers etc. Printing presses and publishing houses also were established. In the field of health more and more hospitals, clinics and dispensaries were started. It is beyond doubt that the better health and educational standard in Kerala now are among the major contributions of the Catholic institutions.
The number of religious Congregations (Institutes of consecrated life) also increased. At present there are more than 40 Congregations for men and 130 for women in the Syro Malabar Church. The majority of these congregations are of Latin origin, founded in European countries. However, membership in Congregations of Latin origin is far ahead of other. Many of the Congregations of the Latin origin got established in the Syro Malabar Church because of the particular history of this Church. Many other came to the Syro Malabar Church in search of candidates, as the membership in these congregations in the European countries dwindled. In that process many have established their houses in the Syro Malabar dioceses. A few of them established Syro Malabar provinces. There are a couple of them who were in Kerala for decades but remained as Latin Congregations with a large number of Syro Malabarians as members. In the spirit of Vatican II they too are to establish Syro Malabar provinces.
Even though the Syro Malabar Church grew in leaps and bounds, quantitatively and qualitatively, it was canonically in an anomaly. As far as the tradition of the Oriental Churches goes they should have a common head immediately after the Pope, normally with the title of Patriarch or Major Archbishop. The Oriental Code was promulgated in October 1990. As the Code came into force the Syro Malabar Church found itself in a difficult situation because it was not a Sui juris Church in the sense of the Code.
A Pontifical Commission was appointed in September 1992 with Archbishop Thomas White, Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand, as Chairman and Prof. Robert Taft SJ and Fr. Michel Angelo Batiz OCD as members. The commission held extensive consultation in Kerala, visiting all the eparchies in the provinces of Ernakulam and Changanacherry.
In the following December, the Pope decided to raise the Syro Malabar Church to a Major Archiepiscopal Sui juris Church and the Metropolitan of Ernakulam was appointed Major Archbishop, presumably in the light of the report of the Commission. Since a new canonical situation was coming into existence, the necessary structures were to be created with the powers of the Major Archbishop envisaged in CCEO.
Therefore, a special delegate of the Pope, Archbishop Abraham Kattumana was appointed with special powers. Archbishop Kattumana was until then the Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Ghana , Togo and Benin in the African continent. All the powers of the Major Archbishop were exercised by the Delegate, while Cardinal Antony Padiyara, the Major Archbishop, retained only the precedence of honour and the right to be commemorated in liturgy. Even though the Church was raised to the Major Archiepiscopal status, two of the essential powers of the Major Archbishop and the Synod, namely, the right of election of the bishops and the right to decide on liturgical matters were reserved to the Pope.
The Major Archbishop was installed at a religious ceremony on 20 th May 1993 held in St. Mary's Basilica Church at Ernakulam. The Curia of the Major Archbishop began functioning at the Archbishop's House and lately has been shifted to Mount St. Thomasť, a place twelve Kms away from the town. The Synod of Bishops met many times and did quite a lot of things. The Synod has already established the necessary administrative structures and formulated particular laws regarding a number of things.
In 1995 the Papal Delegate Archbishop Mar Abraham Kattumana died in Rome. The powers so far exercised by the Papal Delegate were given to Major Archbishop Mar Antony Cardinal Padiyara. In 1997 when Major Archbishop Mar Antony Cardinal Padiyara resigned, Archbishop Mar Varkey Vithayathil was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Ernakulam-Angamaly. In 1997 a new diocese of Thackalay was created.
In 1998 the Pope granted autonomy to the Church to decide on liturgical matters. In April 1999, the diocese of Belthangady was established bifurcating the diocese of Thalassery. In July 1999 the diocese of Adilabad was established bifurcating the diocese of Chanda. In 2001 the first Syro Malabar diocese outside India was established in North America with headquarters in Chicago. In 2002 the eparchy of Idukki was created bifurcating the diocese of Kothamangalam.
Archbishop Mar Varkey Vithayathil was appointed Major Archbishop of the Church of St. Thomas Christians on 18 th December 1999 and was installed in office on 26 th January 2000. Pope John Paul II granted Syro Malabar Church full autonomy in jurisdiction in January 2004. With the conferring of the faculty to appoint bishops and create dioceses in the proper territory, the Syro Malabar Church can now exercise all faculties without reservation in accordance with the norms of Code of Canons for the Oriental Churches.
As per the report, now in 2014, there are 26 dioceses in the Syro Malabar Church of today across the World. Fifteen of them are in South India, the home of the Syro Malabar Catholics, and eleven are outside its proper territory. It is estimated that there are more than 3.7 million Syro Malabar Catholics today.
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Kallarackal Kadavil Family, Pallippuram, Cherthala
| History of Syro-Malabar Christians (part 1) |