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Mar Thoma Syrian Church

This article is about the Anglican denomination. For the people, see Saint Thomas Christians.

Mar Thoma Syrian Church
Emblem of the Mar Thoma Church
AbbreviationM T S C
TypeOriental Protestant Christian
ClassificationOriental
Protestant[1][2][3][4]
OrientationAnglican[5][6][7]
Syrian Christian[8][9][10]
ScriptureHoly Bible
TheologyProtestant theology[11][7][12][13]
PolityEpiscopal
Mar Thoma MetropolitanTheodosius Mar Thoma
RegionUniversal
LanguageMalayalam, English, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi
LiturgyReformed Liturgy of Saint James (West Syriac Rite)[3]
HeadquartersPoolatheen Aramana, Thiruvalla, India
PossessionsAustralia, Canada, Germany, Middle East (Gulf Region), Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Nigeria
FounderSaint Thomas the Apostle (AD 52), through apostolic succession by sacred tradition;
Abraham Malpan, leader of the Anglican inspired, 19th century reformation[10][14][15]
Separated fromMalankara Church[10][16][17][18]
SeparationsSt. Thomas Evangelical Church of India (1961)
Number of followers1 million[10][19]
Ministers
Missionaries700 (approx.)
Places of worship1,246
Hospitals12
Nursing homes13
Official websitemarthoma.in Edit this at Wikidata
SloganLighted to Lighten
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The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, often shortened to Mar Thoma Church, and known also as the Reformed Syrian Church[20][21][9] and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, is an autonomous Oriental Protestant Christian church based in Kerala, India. While continuing many of the Syriac high church practices, the church is Protestant in its theology and doctrines. It employs a reformed variant of the West Syriac Rite Divine Liturgy of Saint James, translated to Malayalam.[3][4][13][7][11]

The Mar Thoma Church sees itself as continuation of the Saint Thomas Christians, a community traditionally believed to have been founded in the first century by Thomas the Apostle, who is known as Mar Thoma (Saint Thomas) in Syriac,[22][23] and describes itself as "Apostolic in origin, Universal in nature, Biblical in faith, Evangelical in principle, Ecumenical in outlook, Oriental in worship, Democratic in function, and Episcopal in character".[24]

Until the beginning of the 20th century, Mar Thoma Christians lived in a few districts of Central Travancore (Pathanamthitta, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram districts) and Kunnamkulam (Thrissur district) in Kerala. Since that time they have spread with the 20th-century Indian diaspora to North America, Europe, the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. According to the figures provided by the church itself,[25] it currently has over 1 million members.[26] Their mother tongue is Malayalam, the language of Kerala, and historically the variety known as Suriyani Malayalam was associated with them.

According to the 2011 Census of Kerala it was, with a membership of 405,089, the sixth largest Christian church in the state, coming after the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church (2,345,911), the Latin Catholic Church (932,733), the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (493,858), the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church (482,762), and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church (465,207).[27]

  1. ^ Kurian, George Thomas (21 March 2001). Nelson's Dictionary of Christianity: The Authoritative Resource on the Christian World. Thomas Nelson. pp. 562, 973, 6066. ISBN 978-1-4185-3981-8. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  2. ^ Hedlund, Roger E (1979). World Christianity Vol. 3 South Asia. Missions Advanced Research and Communication Center. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-912552-33-0. Archived from the original on 2 January 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2023. The Mar Thoma Syrian Church, which represents the Protestant Reform movement, broke away from the Syrian Orthodox Church in the 19th century.
  3. ^ a b c Leustean, Lucian N. (30 May 2014). Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century. Routledge. p. 568. ISBN 978-1-317-81866-3. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2022 – via Google Books. The Syrian Orthodox also became the target of Anglican missionary activity, as a result of which the Mar Thoma Church separated from the Orthodox in 1874, adopting the Anglican confession of faith and a reformed Syrian liturgy conforming to Protestant principles.
  4. ^ a b Burgess, Michael (2005). The Eastern Orthodox Churches: Concise Histories with Chronological Checklists of Their Primates. McFarland. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-7864-2145-9. Archived from the original on 14 November 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2023. On the death of Mathews Mar Athanasios, Metran of the Malankara Syrian Church, in 1877, he was succeeded by Thomas Mar Athanasios, who lost control over most of his parishes and church buildings in a series of lawsuits filed during his sixteen-year reign by rival Metran Dionysios V. Subsequently, his movement was renamed the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, and gradually absorbed elements of both Anglicanism and evangelism, as new parishes were established and reforms effected. It remains today the most Protestant of all the Malabar Syrian churches.
  5. ^ Fernando, Leonard; Gispert-Sauch, G. (2004). Christianity in India: Two Thousand Years of Faith. Penguin Books. pp. 64, 156, 176. ISBN 978-0-670-05769-6. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  6. ^ Oslington, Paul (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Christianity and Economics. OUP USA. pp. 448–449. ISBN 978-0-19-972971-5.
  7. ^ a b c Pallikunnil, Jameson K. (2017). The Eucharistic Liturgy: A Liturgical Foundation for Mission in the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. AuthorHouse. pp. 48, 53. ISBN 978-1-5246-7652-0. Metropolitan Juhanon Mar Thoma called it "a Protestant Church in an oriental grab."...As a reformed Oriental Church, it agrees with the reformed doctrines of the Western Churches. Therefore, there is much in common in faith and doctrine between the MTC and the reformed Churches of the West. As the Church now sees it, just as the Anglican Church is a Western Reformed Church, the MTC is an Eastern Reformed Church. At the same time as it continues in the apostolic episcopal tradition and ancient oriental practices, it has much in common with the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Thus, it is regarded as a "bridging Church".
  8. ^ Alexander (Metropolitan of Mar Thoma Syrian Church.) (2010). The Marthoma Church: Heritage and Mission. Christava Sahitya Samithy. pp. 14–18. ISBN 978-81-7821-207-4. The Mar Thoma Church combines evangelical and reformed doctrines with ancient forms of worship and practices. As a reformed Church with progressive outlook, it agrees with the reformed doctrines of Western Churches. Therefore, in the days of ecumenism, there is much in common between the Mar Thoma Church and other reformed Churches. At the same time as it continues the Apostolic Episcopal tradition and ancient Oriental practices, it has much in common with the Orthodox Churches. Thus it is regarded by many in the ecumenical world as a bridging Church.
  9. ^ a b King, Daniel (12 December 2018). "Chapter Seven. The Syrian Church Denominations. & Chapter Twenty-Three. The Liturgies of the Syriac Churches". The Syriac World. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-48211-6.
  10. ^ a b c d Fenwick, John R. K. "Mar Thoma Syrian Church (Malankara)". Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  11. ^ a b Hindson, Edward E.; Mitchell, Daniel R. (August 2013). The Popular Encyclopedia of Church History: The People, Places, and Events That Shaped Christianity. Harvest House Publishers. p. 225. ISBN 978-0-7369-4807-4. Archived from the original on 15 November 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  12. ^ Kurian, George Thomas; Day, Sarah Claudine (14 March 2017). The Essential Handbook of Denominations and Ministries. Baker Books. ISBN 978-1-4934-0640-1. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  13. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Fortescue was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Kolath, Alex (15 August 2010) [7 February 2008]. "Abraham Malpan" (PDF). papers.musementpark.com (2nd ed.). Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  15. ^ Moffett, Samuel Hugh (2014). A History of Christianity in Asia, Vol. II: 1500–1900. Orbis Books. ISBN 978-1-60833-163-5. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  16. ^ a b "Heritage – Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church". Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  17. ^ Kennedy, David J. (2016). Eucharistic Sacramentality in an Ecumenical Context. Taylor & Francis. pp. 208–209. ISBN 978-1-317-14011-5. Archived from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023 – via Google Books.
  18. ^ Nadar, G. Krishnan (2001). Historiography and History of Kerala. Learners' Book House. p. 82. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 30 November 2020 – via Google Books.
  19. ^ "Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar – World Council of Churches". oikoumene.org. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  20. ^ Donald Anderson McGavran. Ethnic Realities and the Church: Lessons from India Archived 8 February 2024 at the Wayback Machine. William Carey Library; 1979. ISBN 978-0-87808-168-4. p. 41.
  21. ^ S. N. Sadasivan. A Social History of India Archived 8 February 2024 at the Wayback Machine. APH Publishing; 2000. ISBN 978-81-7648-170-0. p. 442.
  22. ^ Gregorios, Paulos; Roberson, Ronald G. (2008). "Syrian Orthodox Churches in India". In Fahlbusch, Erwin; Lochman, Jan Milič; Mbiti, John; Pelikan, Jaroslav; Vischer, Lukas (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Vol. 5. William B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 285–286. ISBN 978-0-8028-2417-2. Archived from the original on 25 November 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  23. ^ Mathew, K. S. (1993). The Faith and Practice of the Mar Thoma Church.
  24. ^ "Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar". marthoma.in. Mar Thoma Syrian Church. 2012. Archived from the original on 23 September 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  25. ^ "World Council of Churches". www.oikoumene.org. Archived from the original on 9 March 2022. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  26. ^ "Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar – World Council of Churches". oikoumene.org. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  27. ^ K.C. Zachariah, "Religious Denominations of Kerals" (Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India), Working Paper 468, April 2016, p. 29 Archived 17 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine (downloaded 5 September 2020)

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