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Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, also known as the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church, Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, or the Syriac Orthodox Church in India is an autonomous maphrianate of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch based in Kerala, India and a part of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. It is headed by the Catholicos of India, Mor Baselios Joseph, within the hierarchy of Syriac Orthodox Church.
According to tradition, it was founded by Saint Thomas the Apostle. It is currently the only church in Malankara that maintains the hierarchy of the Syriac Orthodox Church under the Holy See of Antioch. The church employs the West Syriac Rite's Liturgy of Saint James.
In the aftermath of the Council of Chalcedon, Emperor Justinian I who supported the Chalcedonians, exiled Patriarch Severus of Antioch to Egypt, for refusing to accept the council, and professing Miaphysitism. The Syriac Orthodox Church is the church of Antioch that continued to accept Severus as patriarch until his death in 538 AD. During this turbulent time for the church, Jacob Baradaeus was consecrated as bishop with the support of Empress Theodora and he led and revived the church. The term "Jacobite" was originally used as a derogatory word for Miaphysites from the church of Antioch, but were later embraced by the church.
According to Indian Christian tradition, the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala were evangelized by Thomas the Apostle, who reached Malankara in 52 CE. The dominant view is that the entirety of the Saint Thomas Christian community gradually gravitated towards the Persian Church of the East headed by the Catholicos-Patriarch of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, and became part of its archdiocese of Rev Ardashir, by 420 CE, which lasted till the arrival of Portuguese colonists in the 16th century. The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church however maintains that Saint Thomas Christians always acknowledged the ecclesiastical pre-eminence of the Patriarch of Antioch over the "East", which covers Persia and India, based on the canons of the ecumenical councils of Nicaea and Constantinople. The Jacobite church further argues that the Persian bishops who governed Saint Thomas Christians, recognized the supremacy of the Patriarch of Antioch before 500 CE. However, it acknowledges the perpetual connections with the Church of the East from the 14th to 16th centuries.
In the 16th century, the overtures of the Portuguese Padroado to bring the Saint Thomas Christians into the Latin Church of the Catholic Church led to the first of several rifts in the community due to Portuguese colonialists, and the establishment of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. Since then, further splits have occurred, and the Saint Thomas Christians are now divided into several factions.
Saint Thomas Christians were administratively under the single native dynastic leadership of an archdeacon (a native ecclesiastical head with spiritual and temporal powers, deriving from the Greek term arkhidiākonos) and were in communion with the church in the Middle East from at least 496 AD. The indigenous Church of Malabar/Malankara followed the faith and traditions handed over by the apostle St. Thomas. In the 16th century, the Portuguese Jesuits deliberately attempted to annex the native Christians to the Catholic Church, and in 1599 they succeeded through the Synod of Diamper. Resentment against these forceful measures caused the majority of the community under Archdeacon Thomas to swear an oath never to submit to the Portuguese, known as the Coonan Cross Oath, in 1653.
Meanwhile, the Dutch East India Company defeated the Portuguese and gained supremacy over the spice trade in Malabar in 1663. The Malankara church used this opportunity to escape from Catholic persecution with the company's help. At the church's request, the Dutch brought Gregorius Abdul Jaleel of Jerusalem, a bishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church, aboard their trading vessel in 1665. The Malankara Church consolidated under Archdeacon Thoma welcomed Gregorios Abdal Jaleel, who regularized the canonical ordination of Thoma as a bishop. The Malankara Church gradually adopted West Syriac liturgy and practices.
As part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, the church has continued to use the adopted West Syriac liturgy, and as of the 21st century, has dioceses in most parts of India as well as in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Western Europe, the Persian Gulf, Australia, and New Zealand. In 2003 it was estimated that the church had 1,000,000 (including Knanaya) members globally.
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Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, also known as the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church, Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, or the Syriac Orthodox Church in India is an autonomous maphrianate of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch based in Kerala, India and a part of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. It is headed by the Catholicos of India, Mor Baselios Joseph, within the hierarchy of Syriac Orthodox Church.
According to tradition, it was founded by Saint Thomas the Apostle. It is currently the only church in Malankara that maintains the hierarchy of the Syriac Orthodox Church under the Holy See of Antioch. The church employs the West Syriac Rite's Liturgy of Saint James.
In the aftermath of the Council of Chalcedon, Emperor Justinian I who supported the Chalcedonians, exiled Patriarch Severus of Antioch to Egypt, for refusing to accept the council, and professing Miaphysitism. The Syriac Orthodox Church is the church of Antioch that continued to accept Severus as patriarch until his death in 538 AD. During this turbulent time for the church, Jacob Baradaeus was consecrated as bishop with the support of Empress Theodora and he led and revived the church. The term "Jacobite" was originally used as a derogatory word for Miaphysites from the church of Antioch, but were later embraced by the church.
According to Indian Christian tradition, the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala were evangelized by Thomas the Apostle, who reached Malankara in 52 CE. The dominant view is that the entirety of the Saint Thomas Christian community gradually gravitated towards the Persian Church of the East headed by the Catholicos-Patriarch of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, and became part of its archdiocese of Rev Ardashir, by 420 CE, which lasted till the arrival of Portuguese colonists in the 16th century. The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church however maintains that Saint Thomas Christians always acknowledged the ecclesiastical pre-eminence of the Patriarch of Antioch over the "East", which covers Persia and India, based on the canons of the ecumenical councils of Nicaea and Constantinople. The Jacobite church further argues that the Persian bishops who governed Saint Thomas Christians, recognized the supremacy of the Patriarch of Antioch before 500 CE. However, it acknowledges the perpetual connections with the Church of the East from the 14th to 16th centuries.
In the 16th century, the overtures of the Portuguese Padroado to bring the Saint Thomas Christians into the Latin Church of the Catholic Church led to the first of several rifts in the community due to Portuguese colonialists, and the establishment of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. Since then, further splits have occurred, and the Saint Thomas Christians are now divided into several factions.
Saint Thomas Christians were administratively under the single native dynastic leadership of an archdeacon (a native ecclesiastical head with spiritual and temporal powers, deriving from the Greek term arkhidiākonos) and were in communion with the church in the Middle East from at least 496 AD. The indigenous Church of Malabar/Malankara followed the faith and traditions handed over by the apostle St. Thomas. In the 16th century, the Portuguese Jesuits deliberately attempted to annex the native Christians to the Catholic Church, and in 1599 they succeeded through the Synod of Diamper. Resentment against these forceful measures caused the majority of the community under Archdeacon Thomas to swear an oath never to submit to the Portuguese, known as the Coonan Cross Oath, in 1653.
Meanwhile, the Dutch East India Company defeated the Portuguese and gained supremacy over the spice trade in Malabar in 1663. The Malankara church used this opportunity to escape from Catholic persecution with the company's help. At the church's request, the Dutch brought Gregorius Abdul Jaleel of Jerusalem, a bishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church, aboard their trading vessel in 1665. The Malankara Church consolidated under Archdeacon Thoma welcomed Gregorios Abdal Jaleel, who regularized the canonical ordination of Thoma as a bishop. The Malankara Church gradually adopted West Syriac liturgy and practices.
As part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, the church has continued to use the adopted West Syriac liturgy, and as of the 21st century, has dioceses in most parts of India as well as in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Western Europe, the Persian Gulf, Australia, and New Zealand. In 2003 it was estimated that the church had 1,000,000 (including Knanaya) members globally.