About St Mary's Orthodox Church Edamon in ST Marys Orthodox Church Edamon, Punalur

The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, also known as the Indian Orthodox Church, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church centred in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the churches of India's Saint Thomas Christian community, which has origins in the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. The church is locally headed by the autonomous Catholicos; Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II became Catholicos of the East and the Malankara Metropolitan on 1 November 2010,Saint Thomas Christians were under the single dynastic leadership of Arkidhyaquana (East Syrian term for ecclesiastical head with extensive administrative powers) and liturgically it was a part of the Church of the East centered in Persia. [3][4] It was not necessary for the Malankara Church to oppose or adhere Nestorianism as they were outside Roman and Persian empire and the native Dravidian kings never interfere in their faith. The indigenous Eastern Church of Malabar /Kerala followed the faith and traditions handed over by Apostle St.Thomas and most of the early churches were named after St.Mary. During the period of Colonialism i.e. from 16th century the Portuguese Jesuits began deliberate attempt to annexe the community into the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church and in CE 1599 they succeeded in their attempt by Synod of Diamper. Resentment against these forceful measures led the majority of the community under their Arkidhyaquana Thomas in swearing never to submit to the Portuguese in the Coonan Cross Oath in 1653. It prompted the Portuguese to call the native Malankara Nazranis consolidiated under Arkidhyaquana as ‘Puthenkootukar’ (new traditionlists) and call Roman supporters as ‘Pazhyakootukar’ (old traditionalists) to hide their new Latin hierarchy introduced in Malabar. In fact, Latin rites introduced in Malankara by Menezes was much more strange and embarrassing than West Syrian rites for Malabar Christians who were genetically accustomed with Syrianism of Asiatic Christianity.

The Dutch East India Company defeated Portuguese for the supremacy of spice trade in Malabar. Malankara Nazranis used this opportunity to escape from Latin persecution with the help of Dutch East India Co. The Dutch brought Bishop Gregorios Abdul Jaleel of Jerusalem of West Syrian Antiochean Church . Arkidhyaquana (Mar Thoma -I) forged a relationship with the West Syriac Orthodox Church and gradually adopted West Syrian liturgy and practices. Over time, however, relations soured between the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs and the local hierarchy, particularly after Patriarch Ignatius Peter IV (reigned 1872—1894) began demanding registered deeds for the transfer of properties. In 1912 a Synod in Malankara led by Canonical Patriarch Ignatius Abdul Masih II, (who had been controversially deposed by the Ottoman government),[5][6] consecrated Mar Ivanios as Catholicos of the East, under the name Baselios Paulose I. The Catholicate of East, relocated at Malankara in CE 1912, actually united the Baselios Mapriyanate of Tigris defunct in CE 1860 and the St.Thomas Catholicate of Selucia in erstwhile Persian empire. The very fact was declared in unambiguous words by farsighted H.H. Patriarch Mor Abdel Messiah after the blessed occasion of the installation of Catholicate in Malankara at Niranam Church. “The Catholicose, who has now been consecrated with the title Moron Mar Baseliose is successor to the Catholicose on the throne of St.Thomas, which existed in ancient times at Selucia”. The Antiochen group supported the supremacy of Patriarch, briefly accepted the Catholicose between 1958 and 1975 after their defeat in the long litigation in supreme court, but again parted away and attempts by Church leaders and two Supreme Court decisions were unable to resolve the matter.

The church is theologically and traditionally a part of the Oriental Orthodox communion of churches. The Indian Orthodox Church accepts the Miaphysite Christology of St Cyril of Alexandria and uses the Malankara Rite, a local variant of the West Syrian Rite. The members of the Church are known as Malankara Nazaranis or Marthoma Suriyanis... :)