Malankara Church
Malankara Church | |
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| Type | Eastern Christian |
| Classification | Oriental Orthodox |
| Theology | Miaphysitism |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Supreme Head | Patriarch of Antioch |
| Metropolitan Bishop | Malankara Metropolitan |
| Sub-divisions | Syro-Malankara Catholic Church Jacobite Syrian Christian Church Malabar Independent Syrian Church Saint Thomas Anglicans Mar Thoma Syrian Church Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India |
| Region | Kerala, India |
| Language | Suriyani Malayalam, Classical Syriac, Malayalam |
| Liturgy | Antiochian Rite- Liturgy of Saint James |
| Headquarters | Pazhaya Seminary |
| Founder | Thomas the Apostle as per tradition. |
| Origin | 52 AD (tradition) 1665 |
| Separated from | Church of the East |
| Branched from | Saint Thomas Christians |
| Merged into | Syriac Orthodox Church |
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The Malankara Church, also known as Malankara Syrian Church, was the unified body of Puthankur Saint Thomas Christians who claim origins from the missions of Thomas the Apostle. This community, under the leadership of Thoma I, opposed the Padroado Jesuits as well as the Propaganda Carmelites following the Coonan Cross Oath of 1653, which was taken to resist Western Catholic influences.
The Malankara Church eventually came under the influence of the Syriac Orthodox Church but later split successively, leading to the creation of churches across various denominations and traditions. The Malankara divisions and branchings have resulted in the present-day Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, Malabar Independent Syrian Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, the Saint Thomas Anglicans of the Church of South India and the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India.