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Saint Thomas Anglicans
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Saint Thomas Anglicans
Saint Thomas Anglicans (often called Anglican Syrian Christians or CSI Syrian Christians) are the Saint Thomas Christian members of the Church of South India (CSI); the self-governing South Indian province of the Anglican Communion. They are among the several different ecclesiastical communities that splintered out of the once undivided Saint Thomas Christians; an ancient Christian community whose origins goes back to the first century missionary activities of Saint Thomas the Apostle, in the present-day South Indian state of Kerala. The Apostle, as legend has it, arrived in Malankara (derived from Maliankara near Muziris) in AD 52.
The community began as a faction of Malankara Syrian Christians, who opted to join the Anglican Church, mostly between 1836 and 1840. This happened due to the influence of the Church Mission Society missionaries, who laboured amongst the Oriental Orthodox Christians of Travancore. In 1879, these St. Thomas Anglican congregations were organized as the Diocese of Travancore and Cochin of the Church of England. Other Saint Thomas Christians influenced by Anglican practice and belief would go on to found the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, a church in full communion with the Anglican Communion.
In 1930, a separate Anglican ecclesiastical province was founded from the Church of England dioceses in the British Indian Empire, establishing the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon. In 1947, soon after Indian independence, the Anglican dioceses of South India, merged with other Protestant Churches in the region, on the basis of the Lambeth Quadrilateral, forming the Church of South India. Anglican Syrian Christians have been members of the CSI, ever since.
In November 1795, a treaty of perpetual friendship and tributary alliance was signed between the Raja of Travancore and the East India Company. The treaty was again modified in 1805, which established British paramountcy over Travancore. The British bureaucracy of colonial India was made up of many Evangelical Christians, who were surprised by the presence of an autochthonous Christian community. They believed that the indigenous Church, if properly equipped, could be used to reach and Christianize the Indian peoples. The British mindset was also shaped by the political ramifications of such an approach.
The beginning of the relationship between the Anglican Church and the Malankara Church could be traced to the visits of Rev. R. H. Kerr and Rev. Claudius Buchanan to the Malabar Syrians in 1806, during the episcopate of Mar Dionysius I. These were facilitated by Gen. Colin Macaulay, the first British Resident of Travancore. The missionaries found the Malabar Syrian Christians in poor and depressed conditions. This is clear in the words of the Syrian Metropolitan, in his interview with Claudius Buchanan, recorded in Dr. Buchanan's famous book "Christian Researches in Asia"; in which Mar Dionysius I says, "you have come to visit a declining church".
In 1810, Colonel John Munro, a man with deep Christian convictions became the Resident of Travancore, an office he held for the next 10 years. Col Munro persuaded Rani Gowri Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore, with whom he was on very good terms to donate land in Kottayam as well as the money and timber, in-order to build the Orthodox Pazhaya Seminary (founded 1815) for the Malankara Church. He also petitioned the Church Missionary Society to send missionaries on a Help Mission, to educate and train the clergy of the Malankara Church.
In the coming years, several pious Christian men like Benjamin Bailey, Joseph Fenn and Henry Baker (Sr) arrived in Kottayam and worked at the Pazhaya Seminary and among the Malankara Syrians. The missionaries took charge of the college as its early Principals, taught Biblical languages and worked on the translation of the Holy Bible to the native language Malayalam.
The CMS missionaries reckoned that a real improvement in the life and conditions of Malankara Syrians, could be achieved only by reforming their Church. They used their position in the Kottayam seminary propagate their ideas and shared them with Metropolitan Mar Dionysius III. To explore the feasibility of reforms, the Metropolitan convened an assembly of his prominent clergy and laity with the missionaries on 3 December 1818, at Mavelikkara. A committee of distinguished priests was appointed to identify areas of improvement. However, Metropolitan Mar Dionysius IV, who took office in 1825, was antagonistic towards these efforts.
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Saint Thomas Anglicans
Saint Thomas Anglicans (often called Anglican Syrian Christians or CSI Syrian Christians) are the Saint Thomas Christian members of the Church of South India (CSI); the self-governing South Indian province of the Anglican Communion. They are among the several different ecclesiastical communities that splintered out of the once undivided Saint Thomas Christians; an ancient Christian community whose origins goes back to the first century missionary activities of Saint Thomas the Apostle, in the present-day South Indian state of Kerala. The Apostle, as legend has it, arrived in Malankara (derived from Maliankara near Muziris) in AD 52.
The community began as a faction of Malankara Syrian Christians, who opted to join the Anglican Church, mostly between 1836 and 1840. This happened due to the influence of the Church Mission Society missionaries, who laboured amongst the Oriental Orthodox Christians of Travancore. In 1879, these St. Thomas Anglican congregations were organized as the Diocese of Travancore and Cochin of the Church of England. Other Saint Thomas Christians influenced by Anglican practice and belief would go on to found the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, a church in full communion with the Anglican Communion.
In 1930, a separate Anglican ecclesiastical province was founded from the Church of England dioceses in the British Indian Empire, establishing the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon. In 1947, soon after Indian independence, the Anglican dioceses of South India, merged with other Protestant Churches in the region, on the basis of the Lambeth Quadrilateral, forming the Church of South India. Anglican Syrian Christians have been members of the CSI, ever since.
In November 1795, a treaty of perpetual friendship and tributary alliance was signed between the Raja of Travancore and the East India Company. The treaty was again modified in 1805, which established British paramountcy over Travancore. The British bureaucracy of colonial India was made up of many Evangelical Christians, who were surprised by the presence of an autochthonous Christian community. They believed that the indigenous Church, if properly equipped, could be used to reach and Christianize the Indian peoples. The British mindset was also shaped by the political ramifications of such an approach.
The beginning of the relationship between the Anglican Church and the Malankara Church could be traced to the visits of Rev. R. H. Kerr and Rev. Claudius Buchanan to the Malabar Syrians in 1806, during the episcopate of Mar Dionysius I. These were facilitated by Gen. Colin Macaulay, the first British Resident of Travancore. The missionaries found the Malabar Syrian Christians in poor and depressed conditions. This is clear in the words of the Syrian Metropolitan, in his interview with Claudius Buchanan, recorded in Dr. Buchanan's famous book "Christian Researches in Asia"; in which Mar Dionysius I says, "you have come to visit a declining church".
In 1810, Colonel John Munro, a man with deep Christian convictions became the Resident of Travancore, an office he held for the next 10 years. Col Munro persuaded Rani Gowri Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore, with whom he was on very good terms to donate land in Kottayam as well as the money and timber, in-order to build the Orthodox Pazhaya Seminary (founded 1815) for the Malankara Church. He also petitioned the Church Missionary Society to send missionaries on a Help Mission, to educate and train the clergy of the Malankara Church.
In the coming years, several pious Christian men like Benjamin Bailey, Joseph Fenn and Henry Baker (Sr) arrived in Kottayam and worked at the Pazhaya Seminary and among the Malankara Syrians. The missionaries took charge of the college as its early Principals, taught Biblical languages and worked on the translation of the Holy Bible to the native language Malayalam.
The CMS missionaries reckoned that a real improvement in the life and conditions of Malankara Syrians, could be achieved only by reforming their Church. They used their position in the Kottayam seminary propagate their ideas and shared them with Metropolitan Mar Dionysius III. To explore the feasibility of reforms, the Metropolitan convened an assembly of his prominent clergy and laity with the missionaries on 3 December 1818, at Mavelikkara. A committee of distinguished priests was appointed to identify areas of improvement. However, Metropolitan Mar Dionysius IV, who took office in 1825, was antagonistic towards these efforts.
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