Saint Thomas Christians

"Nasrani" redirects here. For other uses, see Nasrani (disambiguation).

This article is about the Saint Thomas Christians or Nasrani people. For the churches of the Saint Thomas Christians, see Saint Thomas Christian churches.

Saint Thomas Christians

File:P C Alexander.jpgFile:A. J. John.JPG File:Jimmygeorge1.jpg Varghese Payapilly Palakkappilly • Gheevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala • Anna Chandy P. C. Alexander • A. J. John, Anaparambil Jimmy George • Asin Thottumkal
Total population
Kerala: 6,000,000 (12% of Pop.)
Regions with significant populations
India Kerala
Religion
Various churches: Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, Malabar Independent Syrian Church, Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Chaldean Syrian Church

The Saint Thomas Christians, also called Syrian Christians or Nasrani, are an ancient body of Christians from the Indian state of Kerala who trace their origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. The community was historically united in leadership and liturgy, but since the 17th century have been split into several different church groups and traditions.

Historically the Saint Thomas Christian community was part of the Church of the East, centred in Persia. They were organised as the Ecclesiastical Province of India in the 8th century, served by bishops and a hereditary Archdeacon. In the 16th century the overtures of the Portuguese padroado to bring the Saint Thomas Christians into the Catholic Church led to the first of several rifts in the community and the establishment of Catholic and Malankara Church factions. Since that time further splits have occurred, and the Saint Thomas Christians are now divided into several different Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, and independent bodies, each with their own liturgies and traditions.

The Saint Thomas Christians represent a single ethnic group. Saint Thomas Christian culture is largely developed from East Syrian influences blended with local customs and later elements derived from indigenous Indian and European colonial contacts. Their language is Malayalam, the local tongue of Kerala.

Terminology

The Saint Thomas Christians are so called due to their reverence for Saint Thomas the Apostle, who is said to have brought Christianity to India. The name dates to the period of Portuguese colonization. They are also known, especially locally, as the Nasrani or Nasrani Mappila. "Nasrani" is a term meaning "Christian"; it appears to be derived from Nazareth, Jesus' hometown. Mappila is an honorific applied to members of non-Indian faiths, including Muslims (Jonaka Mappila) and Jews (Yuda Mappila). Some Syriac Christians of former Travancore continue to attach this honorific title to their names. The Indian government designates members of the community as "Syrian Christians", a term originating with the Dutch colonial authority distinguishing the Saint Thomas Christians, who used Syriac as the liturgical language, from newly evangelized Christians following Latin liturgy. The term Syrian relates not to their ethnicity but to their historical religious and liturgical connection to the Church of the East, or East Syrian Church.

History

Early history

Roman trade with ancient Coastal South West India according to the Periplus Maris Erythraei 1st century CE.

The Saint Thomas Christians trace their origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle, said to have come to India sometime in the 1st century. There is no direct contemporary evidence for Thomas being in the subcontinent, though it definitely would have been possible for a Roman Jew of the time to make such a trip. Groups such as the Cochin Jews and Bene Israel are known to have existed in India around that time. The earliest known source connecting the apostle to India is the Acts of Thomas, written in Edessa likely in the 2nd century. The text describes Thomas' adventures in bringing Christianity to India, a tradition later expanded upon in early Indian sources such as the "Thomma Parvam" ("Song of Thomas"). Generally he is described as arriving in or around Maliankara and founding Seven Churches, or Ezharapallikal: Kodungallur, Kollam, Niranam, Nilackal (Chayal), Kokkamangalam, Kottakkayal (Paravoor), Palayoor (Chattukulangara) and Thiruvithancode Arappally – a "half church". A number of 3rd- and 4th-century Roman writers also mention Thomas' trip to India, including Ambrose of Milan, Gregory of Nazianzus, Jerome, and Ephrem the Syrian, while Eusebius of Caesarea records that his teacher Pantaenus visited a Christian community in India in the 2nd century, demonstrating that this tradition was well known across the world by that period.

Whatever its earlier origins, an organised Christian presence in India dates to the arrival of East Syrian settlers and missionaries from Persia, members of the Church of the East or Nestorian Church, in around the 3rd century. Saint Thomas Christians trace the further growth of their community to the arrival of the Nestorian Thomas of Cana from the Middle East, which is said to have occurred sometime between the 4th and 8th century. The subgroup of the Saint Thomas Christians known as the Southists trace their lineage to Thomas of Cana, while the group known as the Northists claim descent from Thomas the Apostle's indigenous converts and converted Jewish settlers in the Malabar Coast.

Classical period

File:Signatures.jpg

Tharisapalli Copper-plate grant(9th Century)- One of the reliable documentary evidences of the privileges and influence that Saint Thomas Christians enjoyed in early Malabar, with Pahlavi, Kufic and Hebrew signatures

As the community grew and immigration by East Syrians increased, the connection with the Church of the East, centred in the Persian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, strengthened. From the early 4th century the Patriarch of the Church of the East provided India with clergy, holy texts, and ecclesiastical infrastructure, and around 650 Patriarch Ishoyahb III solidified the Church of the East's jurisdiction over the Saint Thomas Christian community. In the 8th century Patriarch Timothy I organised the community as the Ecclesiastical Province of India, one of the church's illustrious Provinces of the Exterior. After this point the Province of India was headed by a metropolitan bishop, dispatched from Persia, the "Metropolitan-Bishop of the Seat of Saint Thomas and the Whole Christian Church of India". His metropolitan see was probably in Cranganore, or (perhaps nominally) in Mylapore, where the shrine of Thomas was located. Under him were a varying number of bishops, as well as a native Archdeacon, who had authority over the clergy and who wielded a great amount of secular power.

Some contact and transmission of knowledge of the Saint Thomas Christians managed to reach the Christian West, even after the rise of the Islamic empires. Byzantine traveller Cosmas Indicopleustes wrote of East Syrian Christians he met in India and Sri Lanka in the 6th century. In 883 the English king Alfred the Great reportedly sent a mission and gifts to Saint Thomas' tomb in India. During the Crusades, distorted accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians and the Nestorian Church gave rise to the European legend of Prester John.

The great distances involved and the geopolitical turmoil of the period caused India to be cut off from the church's heartland in Mesopotamia at several points. In the 11th century the province was suppressed by the church entirely, as it had become impossible to reach, but effective relations were restored by 1301. However, following the collapse of the Church of the East's hierarchy in most of Asia later in the 14th century, India was effectively cut off from church, and formal contact was severed. By the late 15th century India had had no metropolitan for several generations, and the authority traditionally associated with him had been vested in the archdeacon.

In 1491 the archdeacon sent envoys to the Patriarch of the Church of the East, as well as to the Coptic Pope of Alexandria and to the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, requesting a new bishop for India. The Patriarch of the Church of the East Shemʿon IV Basidi responded by consecrating two bishops, Thoma and Yuhanon, and dispatching them to India. These bishops helped rebuild the ecclesiastical infrastructure and reestablish fraternal ties with the patriarchate, but the years of separation had greatly affected the structure of the Indian church. Though receiving utmost respect, the metropolitan was treated as a guest in his own diocese; the Archdeacon was firmly established as the real power in the Malankara community.

Portuguese contact

Further information: Goa Inquisition

Further information: Portuguese Inquisition

A Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in Kerala, with the Holy of Holies containing the Nasrani Menorah or Mar Thoma Sliba (St. Thomas Cross) veiled by a red curtain.

The Saint Thomas Christians first encountered the Portuguese in 1498, during the expedition of Vasco da Gama. At the time the community was in a tenuous position: though thriving in the spice trade and protected by their own militia, the local political sphere was volatile and the Saint Thomas Christians found themselves under pressure from the rajas of Calicut and Cochin and other small kingdoms in the area. The Saint Thomas Christians and the Portuguese newcomers quickly formed an alliance.

The Portuguese had a keen interest in implanting themselves in the spice trade and in spreading their particularly bellicose version of Christianity, which had been forged during several centuries of warfare in the Reconquista. Facilitating their goals was the Padroado Real, a series of treaties and decrees in which the Pope conferred upon the Portuguese government certain authority in ecclesiastical matters in the foreign territories they conquered. They set up in Goa, forming a colonial government and a Latin church hierarchy under the Archbishop of Goa, and quickly set to bringing the Saint Thomas Christians under his authority.

The Portuguese subjection of the Saint Thomas Christians was relatively measured at first, but they became more aggressive after 1552, the year of the death of Metropolitan Mar Jacob and of a schism in the Church of the East, which resulted in there being two rival Patriarchs – one of whom entered communion with the Catholic Church. Both patriarchs sent bishops to India, but the Portuguese consistently were able to outmaneuver them, and effectively cut off the Saint Thomas Christians from their hierarchy in 1575, when the Padroado legislated that neither patriarch could send representatives to India without Portuguese approval.

By 1599 the last Metropolitan, Abraham, had died, and the Archbishop of Goa, Aleixo de Menezes, had secured the submission of the young Archdeacon George, the highest remaining representative of the native church hierarchy. The Archbishop convened the Synod of Diamper, which implemented various liturgical and structural reforms in the Indian church. The Synod brought the parishes directly under the Archbishop's purview; anathematised certain "superstitious" social customs characteristic of their Hindu neighbors, including untouchability and a caste hierarchy; and purged the indigenous liturgy, the Malabar Rite, of elements deemed unacceptable according to the Latin protocol. A number of texts were condemned and ordered burnt, including the Peshitta, the Syriac version of the Bible. Some of the reforms, especially the elimination of caste status, reduced the Saint Thomas Christians' standing with their socially stratified Hindu neighbors. The Synod formally brought the Saint Thomas Christians into to Catholic Church, however, the actions of the Portuguese over the ensuing years fueled resentment in segments of the community, and ultimately, open resistance to their power.

Division and defiance

The oppressive rule of the Portuguese padroado provoked a violent reaction on the part of the indigenous Christian community. The first solemn protest took place in 1653, known as the Koonan Kurishu Satyam (Koonan Cross Oath). Under the leadership of Archdeacon Thomas, Saint Thomas Christians publicly took an oath in Matancherry, Cochin, that, "by the Father, Son and Holy Ghost that henceforth we would not adhere to the Franks, nor accept the faith of the Pope of Rome". (The Missionary Register for 1822 seems to be the earliest reliable document available from within the Nasrani tradition). Four months after this event, according to their ancient tradition, 12 elders of the church laid their hands on Malankara Mooppen Thomas and ordained him as Mar Thoma I. The branch affiliated with the Catholic Church was designated the Pazhayakuttukar, or "Old faction", while the branch affiliated with Mar Thoma was called the Puthankuttukar, or "New faction". These appellations have been somewhat controversial, as both groups considered themselves the true heirs to the Saint Thomas tradition, and saw the other as heretical.

After the Coonan Cross Oath, between 1661 and 1662, out of the 116 churches, the Catholics claimed eighty-four churches, and Archdeacon Mar Thoma I with thirty-two churches. The eighty-four churches and their congregations were the body from which the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and Chaldean Syrian Church have descended. The other thirty-two churches and their congregations were the body from which the Syriac Orthodox (Jacobites & Orthodox), Thozhiyur (1772), Mar Thoma (Reformed) (1874), Syro-Malankara Catholic Church have originated. In 1665, Mar Gregorios Abdul Jaleel, a Bishop sent by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch arrived in India and the St.Thomas Christians under the leadership of the Archdeacon welcomed him. This visit resulted in the Mar Thoma faction claiming spiritual authority of the Antiochean Patriarchate and gradually introduced the West Syrian liturgy, customs and script to the Malabar Coast.

Relationship of the Nasrani groups

The arrival of Mar Gregorios in 1665 marked the beginning of a formal association of St.Thomas Christians with the West Syrian Church. Those who accepted the West Syrian theological and liturgical tradition of Mar Gregorios became known as Jacobites. Those who continued with East Syrian and Latin theological and liturgical tradition and stayed faithful to the Synod of Diamper and the Roman Catholic Church are known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in communion with the Catholic Church. They got their own Syro-Malabar Hierarchy on 21 December 1923 with the Metropolitan Mar Augustine Kandathil as the Head of their Church.

Further divisions

The foreign Jacobite prelate Mar Gregorios who came to Kerala in the year 1751 CE, consecrated Rev. Abraham Kattumangat as bishop Abraham Mar Koorilose in the year 1772 CE at Mattancherry church, Kochi. He was driven into exile from the states of Travancore and Kochi where the majority of St. Thomas Christians lived, to Anjoor in the state of Malabar. He spent his days in prayer and meditation in a hut. A few relatives and friends joined him there. This group was known as Thozhyoor Church later named as Malabar Independent Syrian Church, after a court verdict on May 28, 1863.

In 1836, as a protest against the interference of the Anglicans in the affairs of the Malankara Church, the Metropolitan, Cheppad Mar Dionysius had convened a Synod at Mavelikara on January 16, 1836. There it was declared that Malankara Suryiani Church was a subject of the supremacy of the patriarch of Antioch. As a result of this declaration the Anglican Church Missionaries were forced to separate themselves from communion with the Malankara Church. With their converts and a few St. Thomas Christians, they formed themselves the C.M.S. Church. On September 27, 1947 the C.M.S. Church joined together with other similar Churches and formed the C.S.I. (Church of South India).

By June 1875, there were two factons in the Malankara Church. Mathews Mar Athanasius was the Malankara Metropolitan approved by the Governments of Travancore and of Cochin. The Patriarchal faction under the leadership of Metropolian Pulikkottil Joseph Mar Dionysious II supported the Patriarch of Antoch. Being invited by this faction, the Antiochene Patriarch Moran Mar Ignatius Peter III arrived in Kerala. On June 1876, at the synod of Mulanthuruthy,, presided over by the Patriarch, the Patriarchal faction came under the Antiochene Patriarchate. The bishop’s faction continued with Mathews Mar Athanasius, the Malankara Metropolitan. His successor Thomas Mar Athanasius and the bishop’s faction had lost all the property of their Church to the Patriarchal faction in a court verdict on July 12, 1889. But the Metran Faction continued as an independent, Malankara Church. Later they chose the name Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church.

However, in 1912 due to attempts by the Antiochean Patriarch to gain temporal powers over the Malankara Church, there was another split in the West Syrian community when a section declared itself an autocephalous church and announced the re-establishment of the ancient Catholicosate of the East in India. This was not accepted by those who remained loyal to the Patriarch. The two sides were reconciled in 1958 but again differences developed in 1975. Today the West Syrian community is divided into Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (in Oriental Orthodox Communion, autocephalous), Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church (in Oriental Orthodox Communion, under Antioch).

In 1930 a section of the Malankara Church under the leadership of Mar Ivanios and Mar Theophilus left the Church and came into communion with the Catholic Church. They are known as Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.

In 1961, there was a split in the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church which resulted in the formation of St. Thomas Evangelical Church.

Socio-cultural and religious identity

Interior of the Palayur Church, the oldest Christian church in India and one of the seven founded by St Thomas the Apostle in 52 AD

File:Kalaripayattu.JPG

A large number of Syrian Christians underwent training in Kalaripayattu and used their military power to protect the interests of their community.Sometimes they organised against local chieftains to protect their rights

St. Thomas Christians had an identity of their own. Though their liturgy and theology remained that of East-Syrian Christians of Persia, their life-style customs and traditions were basically Indian. It is oft-quoted - "Nazranis are Hindu in culture, Christian in faith and Syrian in liturgy"

Due to the common Apostolic origin and a number of socio-cultural factors, from a very early period the Church of St. Thomas Christians came in to a life long relationship with the Church of Persia. According to early Christian writings the Church of Persia was also established by St. Thomas the apostle. The Primate of Persia was consecrated Metropolitan of Great India as per the attestation of the Council of Nicea in 325. The Primate or Metropolitan of Persia consecrated bishops for the Indian Church of St. Thomas Christians. This relation caused to form the liturgical system of Malabar Christians, closely aligned with that of Persian Church and thus the Malabar Christians following Syrian Liturgy were called Syrian Christians of Malabar.[5]

The presence of Jews among the early Christians had significant effects on the liturgy and traditions of the entire community. The community maintained some of the original rituals of the early Jewish Christians, such as covering their heads while in worship. Their ritual services were and still are called the Qurbana (also spelled Kurbana), which is derived from the Aramaic and Hebrew term korban (קרבן), meaning "sacrifice". The Nasrani Qurbana used to be held in Syriac.

As far as the cultural identity of Syrian Christians is considered, they typically followed the social customs of their Hindu neighbors. The vestiges of Hindu symbolism could be seen in their devotional practices too. Social sins like Untouchability entered their practices and the Synod of Diamper abolished it vide Section IX of Decree 2. The rituals related to birth, Vidyarambham, marriage, pregnancy, death etc. were also similar in both communities. Now also, tying Thaali, a Hindu symbol of marriage is the most important rite in the Christian marriages too. They used to learn temple arts like Kathakali, Kooth and Thullal and their own art forms like Margam Kali and Parichmuttu Kali have some resemblance to Yathra kali Pattu of Brahmins in Kerala. In 1519, a Portuguese traveler Duarte Barbosa on his visit to Malabar commented on the practice of Syrian Christian priests using Kudumi similar to that of Hindus, in his manuscript "Book of Duarte Barbosa".

In the social stratification of medieval Malabar, Syrian Christians succeeded in relating their social status with that of upper-caste Hindus on account of their numerical strength and influence and observance of many Brahmin customs. They had the right to recruit and train soldiers and Christian trainers were given with the honorary title "Panikkar" like their Nair counterparts. They were also entitled with the privilege to collect the tax, and the tax-collectors were honored with the title "Tharakan". Like Brahmins they had the right to sit before the Kings and also to ride on horse or elephant, like the royals. They were protectors of seventeen underprivileged castes and communities and hence they were called Lords of Seventeen Castes. They did not allow the lower-castes to join their community for fear that it could imperil their upper-caste status. Between 9th and 15th centuries, Syrian Christians had a small kingdom of their own, viz. Villarvattom, but this regal period came under extinct and the community fell under the power of Rajas of Cochin and Travancore. They owned a large number of Kalaripayattu training centers and the Rajas of Travancore and Cochin, including the renowned Marthanda Varma, recruited trained Christian warriors to defend their kingdom. The upper-caste Hindus and Syrian Christians took part in one another's festival celebrations and in some places in Kerala, the Hindu Temples and Syrian Christian Churches were built on adjoining sites by the Hindu Kings.

Saint Thomas Christians today

St.Marys Syrian Knanaya Church in Kottayam, Kerala containing ancient Nasrani symbols and Sassanid Pahlavi inscriptions.

Even though the Syrian Christians had to compromise their social and religious privileges from the aftermaths of Portuguese subjugation, they started reemerging as a powerful community from the 19th century onward. They played a pioneering role in many spheres such as Banking, Commerce, Cash crops etc. In Syrian Christians, 17.4% of the adult population are self-employed, highest among all the communities in the state of Kerala. They were quick to understand the benefits of academic education and in the educational achievements Syrian Christians stand second to none. The educational achievements of the community helped it's members to attain a good proportion of the Central and State Government jobs.

Though part of the unique local tradition was lost, some of its distinct traditions and observances lived on. A surviving Jewish tradition among the Nasrani people is the tradition of Pesaha-appam or unleavened Passover bread. On passover night, the Nasrani people have Pesaha-appam along with Pesaha-pal or "Passover coconut milk". This tradition of Pesaha-appam is observed by many Nasrani people until this day.

The Nasrani Church has a separate seating arrangement for men and women. Until the 1970s the Nasrani kurbana was sung in Syriac. Many of the tunes of the Syriac Christian worship in Kerala are remnants of ancient Syriac tunes of antiquity. The "Holy of Holies" is divided by a red curtain for most of the time and is opened during the central part of the Nasrani Mass or Qurbana in the hagbah. The Nasrani Baptism is still called by the Aramaic term mamodisa and follows many of the ancient rituals of the ceremony. It is referred to in Malayalam as Njana Snanam ("Bath of Wisdom"). The Knanaya people have preserved some elements of their Jewish traditions due to their tradition of endogamy.

By and large, today's Nasrani people belong to one or the other of the various Christian denominations of the Saint Thomas Christian tradition.

Demographics

Nasrani people largely live in the districts of Pathanamthitta, Alapuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam and Trichur in Kerala. They have also migrated to other cities in India like Kanyakumari, Ooty, Mangalore, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Delhi, Shimoga, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad and Kolkota. Others have migrated to the United States, Europe, Australia or work in the Middle East. The Syro Malabar Catholic Church and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church together constitute about 51.4%, the Syrian Orthodox and Syrian Jacobites together about 21.4%, the Mar Thoma Christians about 15.7%, the Church of South India 5.2% and others about 6.3% of Christian in the state.

Syrian Christians lead all other with respect to per capita ownership of land and many of them own large estates and engage in trade of rubber, spices and cash crops. They also take a prominent role in the educational institutions of Kerala and throughout India.

Saint Thomas Christian Statistics

Church Name	Population	Orientation
Syro-Malabar Church	3,947,396	Catholic-East Syrian Rite
Syro-Malankara Church	413,513	Catholic-West Syrian Rite
Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church	900,000 (Approx)	Oriental Orthodox-West Syrian Rite
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church	900,000 (Approx)	Oriental Orthodox-West Syrian Rite
Malabar Independent Syrian Church	10,000 (Approx)	Oriental-West Syrian Rite
Chaldean Syrian Church	25,000 (Approx)	Church of the East-East Syrian Rite
Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church	1,061,940	Oriental Reformed-West Syrian Rite

• Population statistics are based on Baptism Records and other registers available with different churches.

Nasrani symbol

File:Stthomas cross.jpg

Postal Stamp released by Govt of India commemorative of the 19th death centenary of St. Thomas

Saint Thomas Cross is widely perceived as the symbol of Saint Thomas Christians. It is also known as Nasrani Menorah or Mar Thoma Sleeba (മാര്‍ത്തോമാ ശ്ലീബാ in Malayalam). There are several interpretations for the Nasrani Symbol. The interpretation based on Christian Jewish tradition assumes that it's design was based on Jewish menorah, an ancient symbol of the Hebrews, which consists of seven branched lamp stand (candelabra).

The interpretation based on local culture states that the Cross with out the figure of Jesus and with flowery arms symbolizing "joyfulness" points to the resurrection theology of St. Paul, the Holy Spirit on the top represents the role of Holy Spirit in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The lotus symbolizing Buddhism and the Cross over it shows that Christianity was established in the land of Buddha. The 3 steps indicate Calvary and the rivulets, channels of grace flowing from the Cross.

Note that the Christian cross was not adopted as a symbol by Mediterranean and European Christianity until several centuries had passed.

Traditions, rituals and social life among Syrian Christians

• Saint Thomas Christians observe Holy Thursday with high reverence. This day is called as Pesaha, a Malayalam word derived from the Aramaic or Hebrew word for Passover - Pasha or Pesah - commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus Christ during Passover in Jerusalem. The tradition of consuming Pesaha appam or Indariyappam after the church service is observed by the entire community under the leadership of the head of the family. Special long services followed by Holy Qurbana are conducted during the Pesaha eve in the churches.

• Generally, foot wares are removed before entering the church and women cover their heads during worship.

• The ritual services (liturgy) is called the Holy Qurbana (or kurbana), which is derived from the Hebrew Korban (קרבן), meaning "sacrifice".

• Some parts of the Nasrani Qurbana are sung in Syriac.

• Immediately after a Child is born, a priest or male relative shouts in the child’s ear Maron Yesu Mishiha ( Jesus Christ is the Messiah ) and the child would be fed with three drops of honey in which a little gold had been rubbed.

• Another surviving tradition is the use of muthukoda (ornamental umbrella) for church celebrations, marriages and other festivals. Traditional drums and arch decorations and ornamental umbrella are part of the church celebrations. Its use have become popular all over Kerala.

• The rituals and ceremonies of Syrian Christians related to house building, astrology, birth and marriage have close similarity with those of Hindus in Kerala. Death rituals express Christian canonical themes very distantly and the influence of Hindu culture is quite noticeable. Much stress is given to ideas concerning life after death and the anticipation of final judgment.

• Syriac Christians do not marry close relatives. The rule is that bride and groom must not be related for at least five generations. Entering into marriage relationship in the Mar Thoma Church is possible only if there are five generations, between the common ancestor and the prospective parties i.e. marriage between third cousins is permissible.

• Syrian Christians generally prefer arranged marriages and the prospective partners see each other in the Pennukanal (Bride Viewing) ceremony at bride’s home.

• Syrian Christians didn't use any pictures, paintings or statues of Jesus or saints in their churches until the arrival of Portuguese. They considered it as idolatry.

• Syrian Christians almost almost universally uses Nilavilakku in their houses and churches.

• The traditional dress of a Syrian Christian woman is the Chatta & Mundu, a seamless white garment, but now limited within old age group. Following the general trend, Sari and Churidar have become predominant among the younger generations.

Caste status

Syrian Malabar Nasranis or Syrian Christians are considered forward caste in India. They tend to be endogamous, and tend not to intermarry even with other Christian castes.

Syrian Christians derive status within the caste system from the tradition that they were elites, who were evangelized by St. Thomas.

Anthropologists have noted that the caste hierarchy among Christians in Kerala is much more polarized than the Hindu practices in the surrounding areas, due to a lack of jatis. Also, the caste status is kept even if the sect allegiance is switched (i.e. from Syrian Orthodox to Syrian Catholic)

Syrian Christians constitute one of the largest forward caste community in the state of Kerala, according to the 1968 Socio-Economic Survey, accounting for nearly 12.0% of the total population.[6]

See also

• Christianity in India
• List of Saint Thomas Christians
• Syrian church in India
• Rock crosses of Kerala
• Caste system in Kerala
• Synod of Diamper
• Saint Thomas Christian Churches

External references

Hardcopy

• Menachery G (1973) The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, Ed. George Menachery, B.N.K. Press, vol. 2, ISBN 81-87132-06-X, Lib. Cong. Cat. Card. No. 73-905568; B.N.K. Press – (has some 70 lengthy articles by different experts on the origins, development, history, culture... of these Christians, with some 300 odd photographs).
• Mundadan, A. Mathias. (1984) History of Christianity in India, vol.1, Bangalore, India: Church History Association of India.
• Podipara, Placid J. (1970) "The Thomas Christians". London: Darton, Longman and Tidd, 1970. (is a readable and exhaustive study of the St. Thomas Christians.)
• The Land of the Perumals, or Cochin, Its Past and Present– Madras: Gantz Brothers– 1863.
• Philip, E.M. (1908) The Indian Christians of St. Thomas (1908; Changanassery: Mor Adai Study Center, 2002).
• Veluthat, K. (1978). Brahmin settlements in Kerala: Historical studies. Calicut: Calicut University, Sandhya Publications.
• Aprem, Mar. (1977) The Chaldaean Syrian Church in India. Trichur, Kerala, India: Mar Narsai, 1977.
• Menachery, Professor George. (2000) Kodungallur – The Cradle of Christianity In India, Thrissur: Marthoma Pontifical Shrine.
• Dalrymple, William (2000) “Indian Journeys”, BBC documentary
• Acts of St. Thomas (Syriac) MA. Bevan, London, 1897
• Poomangalam C.A (1998) The Antiquities of the Knanaya Syrian Christians; Kottayam, Kerala.
• Menachery George & Chakkalakal Werner (1987) "Kodungallur: City of St. Thomas", Azhikode
• Bornkamm, G. "The Acts of Thomas" in E. Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 2. London: Lutterworth, 1965.
• Tisserant, E. (1957) Eastern Christianity in India: A History of the Syro-Malabar Church from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Trans. and ed. by E. R. Hambye. Westminster, MD: Newman Press.
• Michael Geddes, (1694) A Short History of the Church of Malabar together with the Synod of Diamper, London.
• Vellian, J (1988) Marriage Customs of the Knanites, Christian Orient, 9, Kottayam.
• Lukas, P.U (1910) ed. Ancient songs of the Syrian Christians, Kottayam.
• Menachery G (ed) (1982) The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, B.N.K. Press, vol. 1;
• K.V. Krishna Iyer, Kerala’s Relations with the Outside World, pp. 70, 71 in "The Cochin Synagogue Quatercentenary Celebrations Commemoration Volume", Kerala History Association, Cochin, 1971.
• Periplus Maris Erythraei "The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea", (trans). Wilfred Schoff (1912), reprinted South Asia Books 1995 ISBN 81-215-0699-9
• Miller, J. Innes. (1969). The Spice Trade of The Roman Empire: 29 B.C. to A.D. 641. Oxford University Press. Special edition for Sandpiper Books. 1998. ISBN 0-19-814264-1.
• "In Universi Cristiani" (Latin Text of the Papal erection of the Knanaya Diocese of Kottayam)
• Thomas Puthiakunnel, (1973) "Jewish colonies of India paved the way for St. Thomas", The Saint Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, ed. George Menachery, Vol. II., Trichur.
• Koder S. 'History of the Jews of Kerala".The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, Ed. G. Menachery,1973.
• Vellian Jacob (2001) Knanite community: History and culture; Syrian church series; vol. XVII; Jyothi Book House, Kottayam
• Tamcke, M. (ed.) (2001) : Orientalische Christen zwischen Repression und Migration (Studien zur Orientalischen Kirchengeschichte 13; Münster: LIT).
• Puthur, B. (ed.) (2002): The Life and Nature of the St Thomas Christian Church in the Pre-Diamper Period (Cochi, Kerala).
• H. Rawlinson, Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome (1926).
• Bindu Malieckal (2005) Muslims, Matriliny, and A Midsummer Night's Dream: European Encounters with the Mappilas of Malabar, India; The Muslim World Volume 95 Issue 2
• T.K Velu Pillai, (1940) "The Travancore State Manual"; 4 volumes; Trivandrum)
• Weil, S. (1982)"Symmetry between Christians and Jews in India: The Cananite Christians and Cochin Jews in Kerala. in Contributions to Indian Sociology,16.
• Menachery, G. (ed.): (2000) Thomapedia. The Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, 2. Trissur). [ISBN 81-87132-13-2].
• Claudius Buchanan (1811). Christian Researches in Asia: With Notices of the Translation of the Scriptures into the Oriental Languages. 2nd ed. Boston: Armstron, Cornhill
• Menachery G (ed); (1998) "The Indian Church History Classics", Vol. I, The Nazranies, Ollur, 1998. [ISBN 81-87133-05-8].
• Jessay, P.M. "The Wedding Songs of the Cochin Jews and of the Knanite Christians of Kerala: A Study in Comparison." Symposium, 29 August 1986.
• The Holy Bible (King James Version): 1611 Edition (Thos. Nelson, 1993) ISBN 0-8407-0028-8.
• Palackal, Joseph J. Syriac Chant Traditions in South India. Ph.d, Ethnomusicology, City University of New York, 2005.
• Joseph, T. K. The Malabar Christians and Their Ancient Documents. Trivandrum, India, 1929.
• Leslie Brown, (1956) The Indian Christians of St. Thomas. An Account of the Ancient Syrian Church of Malabar, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1956, 1982 (repr.)
• Thomas P. J; (1932) "Roman Trade Centres in Malabar", Kerala Society Papers, II.
• Marco Polo. The Book of Travels Translated by Ronald Latham. Penguin Classics 1958.
• N.M.Mathew. St. Thomas Christians of Malabar Through Ages. CSS Tiruvalla. 2003.
• Bjorn Landstrom (1964) "The Quest for India", Double day English Edition, Stockholm.
• Thayil, Thomas (2003). The Latin Christians of Kerala: A Study on Their Origin. Kristu Jyoti Publications. ISBN 81-87370-18-1

External links

• Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
• The cradle of Christianity in India
• The Syro Malabar Church
• Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (Indian Orthodox Church)
• Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church
• Christians of Kerala
• Population of Christians in India and Kerala based on 2001 report of Indian census
• Syrian christians are in a class of their own South Indian newspaper 31 August 2001
• The Nasrani Syrian Christian Network
• Project for preserving the manuscripts of the Syrian Christians of Kerala