Jacobite Syrian Church | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | JSC |
Classification | Oriental Orthodox |
Orientation | Syriac Malankara |
Scripture | Peshitta Vishudhagrandham (Malayalam Translation) |
Theology | Miaphysitism |
Polity | Episcopal polity |
Patriarch | Ignatius Aphrem II |
Catholicos | Baselios Thomas I |
Malankara Metropolitan | Gregorios Joseph |
Church | Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch[1] |
Region | India and Nasarani Malayali Diaspora |
Language | Malayalam, English, Hindi, Syriac, Tamil, Kannada |
Liturgy | West Syriac Rite Divine Liturgy of Saint James |
Headquarters | Patriarch Ignatius Zaka I Iwas Centre (Patriarchal Centre) Puthencruz Kochi India |
Founder | Saint Thomas the Apostle |
Origin | 52 AD by tradition[2][3] |
Branched from | Saint Thomas Christians Malankara Church[1] |
Separations | Malabar Independent Syrian Church (c. 1772), Church of South India (1836), Mar Thoma Syrian Church (1889), Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (1912,[4] 1975), and Syro-Malankara Catholic Church (1930)[5] |
Members | 480,0000 in Kerala[6] |
Official News Portal | J.S.C. |
Part of a series on |
Christianity in India |
---|
Part of a series on |
Oriental Orthodoxy |
---|
Oriental Orthodox churches |
Christianity portal |
The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church,[7][8][9][10] the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church,[11] the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church[12][13] or the Syriac Orthodox Church in India,[14][15] is an autonomous Maphrianate of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch based in Kerala, India and a part of the Oriental Orthodox Church. It is administered by the Malankara Metropolitan, Gregorios Joseph, under the spiritual authority of the Catholicos of India, Baselios Thomas I, and, the Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius Aphrem II the supreme hierarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church.[11]
According to tradition, it was founded by Saint Thomas the Apostle, and was under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, as formalized by the Council of Nicaea.[16] It is currently the only church in Malankara that remains a part of the Syriac Orthodox Church. The church employs the West Syriac Rite Liturgy of Saint James.[17][18][19]
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 and died 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.[20] The term "Jacobite" was originally used as a derogatory word for Miaphysites from the church of Antioch, but were later embraced by the church.
Puthencruz is the headquarters of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church in India. It is registered as a society under the Societies Act of the Government of India. Its headquarters are named after Ignatius Zakka I. The property was bought and built under the leadership of Baselios Thomas I after the church faced difficulties in continuing its operations in Muvattupuzha after Baselios Paulose II's death.
It is believed that Saint Thomas Christians of Malabar were placed under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Antioch since AD 325 as per Canon 6 of the Council of Nicaea.[21][22] They received episcopal support from Syriac bishops, who traveled to Kerala in merchant ships along the spice route, while the local administrative leader of the Saint Thomas Christians held the rank of archdeacon, which was a hereditary office held by the Pakalomattam family. Delegates from the Patriarch of Antioch have arrived in Malabar since the early days. An early example of this is the Knanaya Migration in AD 345, when Thomas of Cana arrived in Malabar with bishop Joseph of Edessa and 72 families of Syriac Jewish migrants, under the direction of Patriarch Euthasius of Antioch.[23] This community settled in Kerala, and is known as the Knanaya Community today. The churches outside of the Roman Empire(in Persia towards the East), were arranged under the Catholicate of Seleucia. In 490, the Catholicos of Selucia was excommunicated by the Patriarch of Antioch. Jacob Barradeus ordained Ahudemmeh as Great Metropolitan of the East in 599, and in 628, his successor Marutha, was made Maphrian of the East.[24] This caused a split in the Church in Malabar with Jacobite and Nestorian factions.[25]
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.[26] 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 uses the West Syriac liturgy and is part of the Oriental Orthodox Communion. It 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.[27]
The highest rank in the ecclesiastical hierarchy is the Patriarch of Antioch, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church, who became the first among equals of the Diocese of the East as stated by the Council of Nicaea (Canon 6). The second among equals is the Maphrian, known nowadays as the Catholicos of India, and is the head of the Jacobite Syrian Church in India, and first among the Syriac Orthodox bishops in India. There are also archbishops, and bishops.
There are three ranks of priesthood in the Syriac Orthodox Church:
The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church of India established by Thomas the Apostle believes in apostolic succession within the hierarchy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, within the Oriental Orthodox communion. The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, as a part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, rejects the Council of Chalcedon along with the rest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches.[28]
The church believes in the faith as proclaimed by the three Ecumenical Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, and Ephesus. It is under the Holy See of Antioch, established by Saint Peter, which was confirmed as a patriarchate in the Council of Nicaea, along with the Holy See of Alexandria, and the Holy See of Rome.
The Syriac Orthodox Church respects the relics of Saint Mary, and the saints. The most notable of these relics, are the Holy Girdle of the Theotokos and the relics of the Thomas the Apostle. The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church kept some of these relics and celebrates them on occasions.[29] The church of India also has relics from other saints including St. George the Martyr, St. Cyricus the Martyr, as well as other saints.
The liturgical service is called Holy Qurbono in the Syriac language. The Liturgy of Saint James is celebrated on Sundays and special occasions. The Holy Eucharist consists of Gospel reading, Bible readings, prayers, and songs. Apart from certain readings, prayers are sung in the form of chants and melodies. Hundreds of melodies remain preserved in the book known as Beth Gazo.[30]
The official Bible of the church is the Peshitta or its Malayalam translation, Vishudhagrandham(വിശുദ്ധ ഗ്രന്ഥം) translated by Fr. Kurien Kaniamparambil.
The Jacobite Syrian Christians pray from the Shehimo during canonical hours in accordance with Psalm 119. In 1910, Reverend Konattu Mathen Malpan translated the prayer book of the Syrian orthodox church into Malayalam, known as Pampakuda Namaskaram, with permission from Ignatius Abded Aloho II.[31][32] It is the common prayer book of Syrian Orthodox Christians in India.
The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church officially accepted Miaphysitism per pictorial evidence in St. Mary's Knanaya Church of Kottayam, Piravom Church, and Mulanthuruthy Church since the first millennium.[33]
In punishment by the cross (was) the suffering on this one; He who is true Christ and God above, and Guide ever Pure
— Inscription of St. Mary's Knanaya Church, Kottayam[34]
The Nasrani Cross (Persian cross) is used by Syrian Christians of India, which spread in the early fourth century.[35]
The JSC and MOSC regularly engage in disputes over the position of the Patriarch of Antioch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, and his authority over the Malankara Church. The conflict with MOSC started in 1912, when the Malankara Metropolitan Dionysius Vattesseril was suspended by the Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius Abded Aloho II. This caused Vattesseril to go to the deposed Patriarch, Ignatius Abded Mshiho II, to get an autocephalous Catholicate established in Malankara. After years of conflict the church reunited in 1955, under the Patriarchate of Antioch, with an autonomous Maphrianate, leading to the subsequent enthronment of Baselios Augen I as Catholicos of the East. However, in 1974, the Catholicate sought to remove the Patriarch from his authority over Malankara, leading to Augen I being suspended by the Syriac Orthodox Synod of 1975 from his position, and the enthronement of Baselios Paulose II as Catholicos of the East, causing a second split into the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church(who supported the Synod) and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church(who rejected the Synod).[36]
The MOSC proclaims the general agreement of territorial jurisdictions integral to the Orthodox churches around the world and alleges that the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate illegally interferes in the temporal matters of the Malankara Church. The JSC lost many of its prominent churches to the Malankara Orthodox after the Supreme Court of India's verdict, despite having absolute majority in many of those churches.[37] After the long struggle for talks on churches that were dismissed by Malankara Orthodox, the Jacobite Syrian Church decided to end their sacramental relationship with them in 2022.[38]
Aside from the ecumenical agreements by the Syriac Orthodox Church, and the larger communion being the Oriental Orthodox Church, the JSC also has these relations:
According to the Agreement of Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I and Pope John Paul II, the Catholic Church and Syriac Orthodox Church have a relationship between sacraments of penance, Eucharist and anointing of the sick for a grave spiritual need, and marriage agreements specifically with the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.[39][40]
By the fourth century, the bishops of Antioch, Alexandria and Rome became the heads of the regional churches, and were known as patriarchs In the seventh century, the Syriac Orthodox Christians who lived outside the Roman Empire began using the title for its maphrian, for their head. This office ranked right below the Patriarch of Antioch in Syriac Orthodox church hierarchy, until it was abolished in 1860 and reinstated in 1964 in India.
The Maphrian of India(Catholicos) is an ecclesiastical office of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the local head of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church. He is the head of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, which is a part of the Syriac Orthodox Church. The jurisdiction of Catholicos is limited to India so to avoid disambiguation and avoid legal issues. The Syriac Orthodox Church uses the title Catholicos of India, distinct from Catholicos of the East.[41]
The following saints from Malankara are included in the 5th Diptych(Canon of the Church Fathers):
((cite web))
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
The Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, an Orthodox church in Malankara (Kerala, India) is an integral part of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church with the Patriarch of Antioch, His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II as its supreme head. The local head of the church in Malankara is the Catholicose of the east, His Beatitude Aboon Mor Baselios Thomas I, ordained by and accountable to the Patriarch of Antioch.
Twenty years after the Nicean Council (synod), Knai (or Q'nai) Thoma, an influential merchant from Cana, brought a colony of 400 Syrian Christians consisting of 72 families belonging to 7 clans with instructions from the Bishop of Antioch (Antioch had not been declared a Patriarchate then), Mor Eusthathius, to the Malabar coast of India. The group included men, women, children, priests, deacons and their bishop Mor Joseph of Urfa (Uraha/Edessa).
The Catholicos –Patriarch of the Seleucian Church (Church of the East) and the Jacobite Maphrian were not the one and the same. The Catholicos and the Catholicate in the Church of the East originated in the ancient Persian Church. Seleucia was the ecclesiastical centre of their Church. But the Maphrian was a subordinate of the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch and was appointed by him and had his beginning in 628/9 .He had his residence at Tagrit and other places. The Maphrianate was dependent on the Jacobite Patriarch. But the Seleucian Patriarch was not dependent on any other Patriarch for his authority. He had his autonomy. But the Maphrianate was part of the Jacobite Church. Nevertheless the Maphrian had some autonomy in his Maphrianate. The Maphrianate remained without further growth, while the Catholicate of the Persian Church grew and developed. Hence it is not correct to present the Maphrian as the successor of the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East. In 1860/63 in Synod of 17 Jacobite bishops at Deir-as-Safaran, the Jacobite Patriarch Jacob II (+1871) terminated the Maphrianate. (A. Urumpackal, the Juridical Status, 33)
Metropolitans of Jacobite Syrian Christian Church | |
---|---|
Patriarch of Antioch |
|
Catholicos of India and Maphrian |
|
Metropolitans |
|
Metropolitans of Autonomous Dioceses | |
Knanaya Arch Diocese | |
E.A.E Arch Diocese | |
Malankara Archdiocese of North America | |
Simhasana Churches | |
Honavar Diocese |
Denominations |
| |
---|---|---|
Religious organisations | ||
Related |
| |
Eastern Christian communion of autocephalous churches from Armenia, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan and parts of the Middle East, and India | ||
Autocephalous churches | ||
Autonomous churches |
| |
Independent churches |
| |
Liturgy |
West Syriac, legacy of the Church of Antioch |
| ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
East Syriac, legacy of the Church of the East (the "Nestorian Church") (410–1552) |
| ||||||||
Saint Thomas Christians, legacy of the Malankara Church (active 1st century–1601) in Kerala, India |
| ||||||||
Key figures |
| ||||||||
Languages | |||||||||
See also | |||||||||
|
Dioceses | |
---|---|
Autonomous dioceses | |