Christianity in Kerala

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Saint Thomas Cross (Mar Thoma Sleeha) indigenous to the Saint Thomas Syrian Christian community
St.Thomas Christians

Malabar region in 52 AD and introduced Christianity to the area.[2] Although a minority, the Christian population of Kerala is proportionally much larger than that of India as a whole. A significant portion of the Indian Christian population resides in the state.[3][4]

History

See also: Saint Thomas Christians
Kodungalloor where the relics of the right hand of the apostle is kept and venerated. This new church is built where it is believed that the first of the seven churches was built by Thomas
in AD 52.

The tradition of origin among Saint Thomas Christians relates to the arrival of Thomas, one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, at the ancient seaport Muziris on the Kerala coast in AD 52.[5][6][2][7][8]

It is also possible for

Jews from Galilee to make a trip to Kerala in the 1st century. The Cochin Jews
are known to have existed in Kerala around that time.

Marth Mariam Syro-Malabar Catholic Forane Church, Arakuzha
was founded in 999

The earliest known source connecting the apostle to India is the Acts of Thomas, likely written in the early 3rd century, perhaps in Edessa. The text describes Thomas' efforts in bringing Christianity to Northwest India, specifically in the Indo-Parthian Kingdom.[9]

According to traditional accounts such as the "Thomma Parvam" ("Song of Thomas"), he is generally described as arriving in or around

Byzantine traveller Cosmas Indicopleustes wrote of Syrian Christians he met in Malabar and Sri Lanka in the 6th century.[12][13][14] In 883 the English king Alfred the Great reportedly sent a mission and gifts to Saint Thomas' tomb in India.[15] During the Crusades, distorted accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians and the Nestorian Church gave rise to the European legend of Prester John.[16]

Religious education

This section is an excerpt from Religious education in Kerala § Christianity.[edit]
In 1815, British resident Colonel
seminary in Kottayam for the theological education of Jacobite Christian priests and invited the Anglican missionaries to teach there. From there, a connection was formed between the Church Mission Society and the Saint Thomas Christians of the Puthenkuttukar, or New Allegiance.[17] Restrictions were imposed on Saint Thomas Christian parishes in order to start new schools, and later on the Travancore Diwan after they attempted to take over the schools owned by the community.[18] The St. Joseph's LP School in Koonammavu was the first Catholic school for girls, and the first convent in Kerala was established in 1868 in a bamboo-mat house by Mother Eliswa, who later established more schools for girls.[19]

Denominations

Denominations among all Christians in Kerala

  Syro-Malabar (40.2%)
  Syro-Malankara (7.6%)
  Malankara Orthodox Syrian (8.0%)
  Jacobite Syriac Orthodox (7.9%)
  Syrian Marthoma (6.6%)
  Chaldean Syrian Church (0.43%)
  CSI (4.5%)
  Pentecost (4.3%)
  Dalit Christian (2.6%)
  Latin Catholic (13.2%)
  Others (5.47%)

The 2011

Calvinist and other charismatic
churches) at 5.9%.

The Saint Thomas Christians (Nasrani) of Kerala primarily belong to churches which use the

Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and Chaldean Syrian Church) and West Syriac Rite (Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Mar Thoma Syrian Church, St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and the Malabar Independent Syrian Church). The Church of South India belongs to the Anglican Communion and Saint Thomas Anglicans are theologically and liturgically similar to Anglicans elsewhere. Pentecostal Saint Thomas Christians, like other Pentecostals, are riteless (nonliturgical).[20] As of 2005, Saint Thomas Christians composed 12.5% of the total population of Kerala.[21][22]

Oriental Protestant churches.[23][24] The Salvation Army also maintains a presence in Kerala.[citation needed
]

In 2016, 61% of Christians in the state were

Catholics, which includes Eastern Catholics and Latin Catholics.[25] The percentage of Catholics among Christians is the highest in Thrissur district
.

Major Pentecostal denominations in Kerala include the

Assemblies of God in India, Church of God (Full Gospel) in India, and The Pentecostal Mission
.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Census of India". Retrieved 2009-04-12.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8028-2417-2
    .
  3. ^ "Christianity in India". Members.tripod.com. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
  4. ^ Compiled by Robert Eric Frykenberg (2005-07-01). "Timeline". Ctlibrary.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-18. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
  5. ^ "The Surprisingly Early History of Christianity in India".
  6. ^ "Thomas the Apostole". stthoma.com. Archived from the original on 8 February 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  7. ISBN 978-1-4008-7258-9
    , retrieved 2020-11-04
  8. ISSN 0240-8910
    .
  9. ^ Cordier, Henri (1920). Marco Polo; notes and addenda to Sir Henry Yule's edition, containing the results of recent research and discovery. St. Ephraem the Syrian (born about A.D. 300, died about 378), who spent most of his life at Edessa, in Mesopotamia, states that the Apostle was martyred in ' India,' and that his relics were taken thence to Edessa. That St. Thomas evangelized the Parthians, is stated by Origen (born A.D. 185 or 186, died about 251-254). Eusebius (bishop of Caesarea Palaestinae from A.D. 315 to about 340) says the same
  10. ^ Eusebius, Book V Chapter 10 "Pantaenus the Philosopher"; Frykenberg (2008), p. 103; Baum & Winkler (2003), p. 52; Medlycott (1912); Whitehouse (1873), pp. 12–20.
  11. ^ "Indian Christianity".
  12. ISBN 978-1-108-01295-9
    . Retrieved 3 November 2012.
  13. ^ Walker (2011).
  14. ^ Frykenberg (2008), pp. 105, 110.
  15. ^ Frykenberg (2008), p. 112.
  16. ISBN 1-84212-409-9
    .
  17. ISBN 9780521548854
    .
  18. ^ Devika, J.; Varghese, V. J. (March 2010). To Survive or to flourish? Minority rights and Syrian Christian assertions in 20th century Travancore (PDF). Trivandrum: Centre for Development Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  19. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 18 June 2022. .. The first convent was a simple bamboo-mat house at Koonammavu, on the land once administered by Vareed Vakayil. The congregation, under Mother Eliswa, was given the task of teaching girls who had no means to pursue education. St. Joseph's LP School at Koonammavu was set up in 1868 as the first Catholic school for girls in Malabar. Mother Eliswa's mission in life was to educate young girls and she set up several girls' schools here. ..
  20. ISBN 978-90-04-36101-0
    .
  21. ISBN 978-1-870345-43-9
    .
  22. ISBN 978-0-8028-2734-0
    .
  23. ISBN 978-1-317-81866-3
    . The Syrian Orthodox also became the target of Anglican missionary activity, as a result of which the Mar Thoma Church separated from the Orthodox in 1874, adopting the Anglican confession of faith and a reformed Syrian liturgy conforming to Protestant principles.
  24. ISBN 978-1-5246-7652-0
    . Metropolitan Juhanon Mar Thoma called it "a Protestant Church in an oriental grab."...As a reformed Oriental Church, it agrees with the reformed doctrines of the Western Churches. Therefore, there is much in common in faith and doctrine between the MTC and the reformed Churches of the West. As the Church now sees it, just as the Anglican Church is a Western Reformed Church, the MTC is an Eastern Reformed Church. At the same time as it continues in the apostolic episcopal tradition and ancient oriental practices, it has much in common with the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Thus, it is regarded as a "bridging Church".
  25. ^ "Religious denominations of Kerala" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2021-05-08.

Works cited

Further reading
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