St.Thomas Malankara Catholic Church,Thiruvazhy

St.Thomas syro malankara catholic church
Thiruvazhy,Elampal,Punalur
Kollam (Dist.),Kerala-691322

Vicar:Fr.Philip Kalluvettamkuzhiyil



THE SYRO MALANKARA CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church (also known as Malankara Syrian Catholic Church, Malankara Syriac Catholic Church; Malayalam: സീറോ മലങ്കര കത്തോലിക്കാ സഭ) is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. T

he Church is one of the Saint Thomas Christian churches centered in Kerala, India, which trace their origin to the evangelism of Saint Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. It is one of two Saint Thomas Christian churches in the Catholic communion, the other being the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. Among the Eastern Catholic Churches, the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is a Major Archiepiscopal Church, headed by Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis (Thottunkal), who was elected in 2007. The liturgy of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is of the Antiochene Rite, West Syrian in character. The liturgy today is celebrated in Malayalam, Syriac, English, Tamil, and Hindi. The church was established in 1930 when it split from the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, an Oriental Orthodox (Monophysite) church, and subsequently entered into communion with Rome. The Malankara Church itself had emerged out of the split within the Saint Thomas Christian community of the 16th century; previously the entire community had comprised a province of the Church of the East, or the Nestorian Church, based in Persia. However, the collapse of that church and influence from the Portuguese, who tried to bring them under the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, led to a rift in the community. Eventually, the majority entered into communion with Rome as the Eastern Catholic Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, while the rest formed the Malankara Church and aligned with the Syrian Orthodox Church. This latter group became gradually closer to the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, leading to a series of splits concerning the extent to which the Patriarch would be given authority; the faction giving the Patriarch full administrative powers became the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church.Taking only five members of his church with him, Mar Ivanios had founded the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, on 20 September 1930.