Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

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Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Latin Ecclesia Syro-Malankara Catholica ,
Malayalam മലങ്കര സുറിയാനി കത്തോലിക്കാ സഭ , English Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Basic data
Jurisdiction status Grand Archbishop Church
rite Antiochian rite
Liturgical language Malayalam
calendar Gregorian calendar
Establishment date 1930
Seat Grand Archbishopric Trivandrum ( Thiruvananthapuram )
Hierarch Grand Archbishop of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankars Isaac Cleemis Thottunkal
statistics
Jurisdictions 12
Believers 438,000
Bishops 14th
Parishes 621
Diocesan priest 536
Religious priest 108
Permanent deacons 0
Friars 243
Religious sisters 1893
Stand 2013
Template: Infobox rite church / maintenance / picture is missing
Syro-Malankan mass, Kundara, Little Flower Church, Archdiocese of Trivandrum, 1998

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church or Syro-Malankarian Church is the Eastern Catholic Church of the Indian Thomas Christians of the Antiochian Rite .

There are also other similar Christian denominations in Kerala .

history

The Syro-Malankars are part of those Indian Thomas Christians who, after the so-called Oath of the Leaning Cross (1653), became autocephalous and became the Malankara-Syrian Orthodox Church (also called "Jacobites" in South India ). They had to give up their ancestral East Syrian rite (also Chaldean rite ) of the Thomas Christians because they only found West Syrian bishops from the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch to be ordained . From there they forcibly took over the West Syrian rite (also Antioch rite ). The greater part of the Thomas Christians preserved their unity with Rome in 1653 and still follow the original Eastern Syrian rite to this day. It is called the Syro-Malabar Church .

In view of permanent divisions within the Syrian Orthodox Thomas Christians in India, the Metropolitan of Malankara, Mar Basilios II († 1929), who was in opposition to the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch , and his five bishops began negotiations with Rome. In doing so, they merely asked for:

  • Preservation of their West Syrian liturgy , adopted after 1653 ,
  • Leaving the incumbent bishops in their seats and
  • Independence from the Patriarchate of Antioch .

These conditions were approved by the Holy See .

Plaque commemorating the founding of the Syro-Malankar Catholic Church on September 20, 1930 in the Quilon Bishop's Chapel.

The union negotiations got under way through the friendship between the Latin bishop of Quilon , Alois Benziger , and the Orthodox Archbishop Mar Ivanios, who resides in his diocesan territory. Benziger was a connoisseur of the oriental liturgies and, with Mar Ivanios, revised the West Syrian liturgy of the community in view of the impending union with Rome . Both bishops also negotiated the details of the Union.

On September 20, 1930, initially only two bishops entered into communion with the Pope in Rome:

The solemn conversion took place in the bishop's chapel at Quilon , where a plaque commemorates this today. Bishop Benziger accepted the confession of faith from the two bishops on behalf of the Pope and welcomed them to the full unity of the Catholic Church. The next morning the first mass in the new Syro-Malankar rite took place there. The beatification process has now been initiated for Mar Ivanios and he has been declared a “ Venerable Servant of God ” in a preliminary stage .

A few years later two more bishops followed:

In 1932 the regular hierarchy of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church was established with the Grand Archbishopric Trivandrum ( Thiruvananthapuram ) as the metropolis and Tiruvalla as the suffragan diocese, without any legal connection to the Syrian Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch.

The priest Givergis Paniker (1912-1986) was one of the leading liturgists of the Malankar Catholics.

present

Syro-Malankan pontifical mass for the founder, Mar Ivanios, with his decorated picture in the foreground

The union with the Roman Catholic Church was so successful that the eight dioceses , today headed by the Grand Archbishop of Trivandrum ( Thiruvananthapuram ), currently have around 430,000 believers. Outside of India, there are twelve churches in the United States and five in Germany .

In the Syro-Malankar rite, the celebration towards the people is forbidden - as is common today in the Latin rite. Also of interest is the monastic life based on Kurisumala Ashram (1958). It is a community of Cistercians who celebrate the Syrian liturgy and live in strict asceticism .

On February 10, 2005 the Syro-Malankan Church was canonically established by Pope John Paul II with the Apostolic Constitution Ab ipso sancto Thoma Apostolo as an autonomous Grand Archbishopric and the previous Archbishop of Thiruvananthapuram, Cyril Mar Baselios Malancharuvil OIC, was elevated to Grand Archbishop (syro- Malankar Catholics call him Catholicos ). The current Grand Archbishop has been Cardinal Isaac Cleemis Thottunkal since February 10, 2007 .

Administrative structure

The administrative structure consists of two archdioceses and three suffragan dioceses each . In addition, an Apostolic Exarchate for the Syro-Malankar believers in the United States has existed since 2010 . In 2015, two further dioceses were established, which include the territory previously under the Apostolic Visitator of the Syro-Malankar faithful outside the home area of ​​their church:

(Grand) Archbishops of Trivandrum

Life dates Term of office Remarks
Geevarghese Mar Ivanios Panicker 1882-1953 1932-1953
Benedict Varghese Gregorios Thangalathil 1916-1994 1955-1994
Cyril Baselios Malancharuvil 1935-2007 1995-2007 from 2005 Major Archbishop
Isaac Cleemis Thottunkal 1959– 2007–

Gallery of the main cathedral of the Grand Archbishop in Trivandrum

  • St. Mary's Cathedral Trivandrum, facade, 1995

  • St. Mary's Cathedral, facade with porch, 2013

  • St. Mary's Cathedral Trivandrum, general view, 1995

  • St. Mary's Cathedral Trivandrum, choir room, 1995

  • St. Mary's Cathedral, choir room, 2013

  • St. Mary's Cathedral Trivandrum, main altar, 1995

  • St. Mary's Cathedral, high altar, 2013

  • St. Mary's Cathedral, Grand Archbishop's throne

  • St. Mary's Cathedral Trivandrum, crypt with archbishop tombs, 2013

  • Trivandrum, Grand Archbishop's Curia

See also

literature

  • Malankara: Acts of the Holy Synod of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. Vol. 1, No. 1, July 2005

Web links

Commons : Syro-Malankara Catholic Church  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Eastern Catholic Churches 2013. (PDF) Catholic Near East Welfare Association, accessed February 9, 2015 .
  2. ^ Biographical page on Archbishop Mar Ivanios ( Memento of October 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ Bishop Mar Theophilos ( Memento of February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Bishop Joseph Mar Severios
  5. ^ Bishop Thomas Mar Dioskoros

Coordinates: 8 ° 31 '30 "  N , 76 ° 56' 14.9"  E