Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
Autonomous Oriental Orthodox church in Kerala, India, within the Syriac Orthodox Church
The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, also known as the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church, Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, Malankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church, or the Syriac Orthodox Church in India, is an autonomous maphrianate of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch based in Kerala, India. It is headed by the catholicos of India, Mor Baselios Joseph.
According to tradition, the community traces its origin to Thomas the Apostle's mission to South India in AD 52. Over time, it became an integral part of Syriac Christendom, utilizing East Syriac liturgical practices and relying on visiting bishops for spiritual guidance, while a native archdeacon oversaw temporal affairs.
In the 16th century Portuguese missionaries enforced Latin Catholic jurisdiction, severing the Malankara Church's links to the Syriac Church and enforcing Latinized liturgical customs. Following the Council of Diamper, the community rejected Latinization through the Coonan Cross oath and re-established contact with Syriac Christians.
In subsequent centuries, the Malankara metropolitans were consecrated by delegates sent by the Syriac Antiochian patriarch, who guided the community in de-Latinizing and adopting West Syriac liturgical traditions, theology, and canonical governance. The 20th century saw the revival of the historical maphrianate, governed by the catholicos of India alongside a regional holy synod.
Headquartered at the patriarchal centre in Puthencruz, Kerala, it serves a global population of around 1 million people, through various dioceses and patriarchal vicariates in India and around the world. The church employs the West Syriac Rite, with the principal Eucharistic liturgy being the Liturgy of James the Just.
“Jacobite Syrian Christian Church” enters the record as autonomous Oriental Orthodox church in Kerala, India, within the Syriac Orthodox Church. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Jacobite, Syrian and Christian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1077454. VIAF identifies the subject as 30150083867414942419. The Library of Congress control number is n2017043035. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jacobite Syrian Christian Church” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.