Independent Syrian Church of Malabar

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The Bible in Old Syriac script in St. George's Cathedral in Thozhiyur, Kerala, South India

The Independent Syrian Church of Malabar (English Malabar Independent Syrian Church (MISC) ) is an autocephalous and completely independent Eastern Orthodox Church of the West Syrian rite . The seat of their metropolitan is Thozhiyur in the Indian state of Kerala , there is also the main church, St. George's Cathedral. It is therefore also called "Church of Thozhiyur" ( Malayalam : Thozhiyur Sabha ).

history

The Independent Syrian Church of Malabar traces its origins back, like all other Churches belonging to the Thomas Christians , to the mission of the Apostle Thomas in South India. Christians who initially adhered to the East Syrian rite have been recorded there since the fifth century . The Portuguese tried after their arrival in India, these Christians of the Roman Catholic Church to be assumed. Some of the South Indian Christians rejected these attempts. After the Portuguese tried to arrest the Syrian Orthodox Bishop Aithalla Theodor, who arrived in Mylapur in 1652 , they gathered in early January 1653 to take the oath of the Leaning Cross ( Coonan Cross Oath ) and founded their own church. In order to consecrate the bishops according to the apostolic succession , they contacted the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch , which was made possible by the Dutch , who replaced the Portuguese as colonial power. In 1665, the Syrian-Antiochene Metropolitan of Jerusalem, Mar Gregorius Abdul Jaleel, reached Kerala on a Dutch ship and consecrated Mar Thoma I, who after the "Oath of the Leaning Cross" initially only received an emergency ordination without the presence of a bishop of equal or higher rank received, according to the Apostolic Succession to the spiritual head of the Thomas Christians not united with Rome, who were also called Kathanare .

The Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan of Jerusalem, Mar Gregorius, consecrated two bishops as Metropolitans of Kerala in 1766 and 1770. One of the two, Bishop Cyril, who was ordained a Metropolitan as Mar Koorilose I, moved his seat in 1772 to the geographically isolated and British- ruled area of Anjur- Thozhiyur. He declared the believers who followed him to be independent and thus founded the independent Thozhiyur Sabha . Independence was finally confirmed by a court judgment passed in Madras in 1862 against a representative of the Syrian Orthodox Church.

present

The St. George's Cathedral of the Independent Syrian Church of Malabar in Thozhiyur, Kerala, South India

Today the church consists of about 15 parishes with about 10,000 believers. They are mainly located in the Thrissur district in the Indian state of Kerala, but there are also communities in Chennai , Coimbatore and Kochi . It runs a hospital and four schools and publishes a magazine.

The spiritual head of the church, the metropolitan, is elected by a church synod ( Sabha Mandalam ). Since May 28, 2001 this has been Cyril Mar Basilius I.

The church maintains close ecumenical relations especially with other Indian churches and with the Anglican Church . In 1948 she agreed to communion with the Mar Thoma Church , and in 1989 with the Church of England . The collaboration with the Mar Thoma Church goes back to the year 1893 when the MISC helped the Mar Thoma Church out of a crisis by ordaining a bishop according to apostolic succession. Since then, the Mar Thoma Church has supported the MISC in the election of its bishops. According to its church constitution, the MISC should seek the support of the Metropolitan of the Mar Thoma Church in the event of internal difficulties, although it is neither subordinate to the Mar Thoma Church nor agrees with it on all points of ecclesiastical dogmatics. This relationship between two independent churches is unique. After two English clergymen traveled to Thozhiyur in 1991, a support group for the MISC was formed within the Church of England.

Metropolitans

  • Abraham Mar Koorilose (Kattumangattu) (1771–1802)
  • Geevarghese Mar Koorilose (Kattumangattu) (1802–1807)
  • Skaria Mar Philexenos (Cheeran) (1807-1811)
  • Geevarghese Mar Philexenos (Kidangan) (1811-1829)
  • Geevarghese Mar Koorilose (Kuthoorey) (1829-1856)
  • Joseph Mar Koorilose (Alathoorey) (1856-1888)
  • Joseph Mar Athanasius. (Maliyakal) (1888–1898)
  • Geevarghese Mar Koorilose (Karumamkuzhi Pulikkottil) (1898–1935)
  • Kuriakose Mar Koorilose (Kuthoorey) (1935–1947)
  • Geevarghese Mar Koorilose (Cheeran) (1948-1967)
  • Paulose Mar Philexenos (Ayankulangara) (1967–1977)
  • Mathews Mar Koorilose (Kuthoorey) (1978-1986)
  • Joseph Mar Koorilose (Alathoorey) (1986-2001)
  • Cyril Mar Basil I (since 2001)

See also

Christian denominations in Kerala

Individual references and sources

  1. ^ Teotonio R. De Suza (Goanet): Mar Thoma Church and the Goa Link
  2. ↑ Pro Oriente: Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
  3. ^ Mar Thoma Syrian Church Of Malabar: Ecumenical Relations

Web links