What is the Syro-Malabar Church?

The Syro-Malabar Church is an autonomous Eastern Catholic particular church in full communion with the worldwide Catholic Church and based primarily in Kerala, India. Tracing its roots back to Saint Thomas the Apostle, it is the largest Syriac Christian church and the second largest Eastern Catholic church globally. It employs a variant of the East Syriac Rite and is governed by its own Synod of Bishops under a major archbishop.

What we know

• The Syro-Malabar Church is an autonomous Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular church in full communion with the Holy See and the worldwide Catholic Church. [2]
• It is the largest Syriac Christian church and the largest Eastern Catholic church, with millions of adherents worldwide. [2]
• The church uses the Syro-Malabaric Rite, which is the Indian usage and variant of the East Syriac Rite. [2, 4]
• The community traces its traditional origins to the evangelization efforts of Thomas the Apostle in 1st-century AD India. [2] · medium confidence

Still open

• There is an ongoing internal conflict regarding whether to completely restore the pre-16th century rite or adopt a reformed Indianized or brand new liturgical form.

Where to go next

• what caused itWhat was the Coonan Cross Oath?
• whoWho is Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil?
• whereWhere is the Major Archiepiscopal Curia located?
• compared withHow does it differ from the Syro-Malankara Church?
• the bigger pictureWhat are Eastern Catholic Churches?
• an unexpected connectionHow did a 16th-century synod shift Indian church jurisdiction?The Synod of Diamper abolished Chaldean jurisdiction over the Malabar Church and subjected it to the Latin Catholic Archdiocese of Goa under Portuguese patronage.

Sources

• [1]Syro-Malabar Church (Wikidata Q64871) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Syro-Malabar Church · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]St. Mary's Syro-Malabar Cathedral Basilica, Ernakulam · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Syro-Malabaric Rite · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Syro-Malankara Catholic Church · CC BY-SA 4.0