Kerala’s association with Christianity is centuries old. Saint Thomas, one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus, is believed to have arrived in Muziris, near the present-day Kodungallur. Christians form 18.3 per cent of the 3.5-crore population of the state.
Catholic Churches
- The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, also called the Church of Malabar Syrian Catholics: It is an eastern Catholic major archiepiscopal church in full communion with the Pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, but with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
- The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church: Also known as the Malankara Syrian Catholic Church, it is an eastern Catholic church in its own right, also in full communion with the supreme pontiff of Rome and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
- The Latin Church, too, is a Catholic Church headed by the Pope but employs the Latin liturgical rites.
- Knanaya is an endogamous group in the Saint Thomas Christian community. Its various traditions trace it back to the arrival of Syrian merchant Thomas of Cana in the 4th or 8th century, while another legend traces their origin to Jews in the Middle East.
Oriental Orthodox Churches
- The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, also known as the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, is an Oriental Orthodox Church that is an integral branch of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. Currently, its supreme head is Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II seated in the Cathedral of Saint George, Damascus, Syria.
- The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, also known as the Indian Orthodox Church, has its origin in the Evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle of the first century. It is headed by the autocephalous Catholicos of the East and the Malankara Metropolitan, presently Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II.
- Assyrian Church of the East: Under it, the Chaldean Syrian Church of India is an Eastern Christian Church based in Thrissur. An archbishopric of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East, it is in full communion with Patriarch Gewargis III, the Catholicos-Patraiarch of the Assyrian Church of the East.
Other Oriental Churches
- The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church is a Syriac Christian Church based in Thiruvalla, with members, who are part of the Saint Thomas Christian community.
- The Malabar Independent Syrian Church, also known as the Thozhiyur Church, centred in Kerala, another of the churches of the community traces origins to the Evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle.
- Church of South India (CSI) is India’s second largest church based on the number of members and the country’s largest Protestant denomination.
- The Pentecostal Mission was founded in Ceylon in 1923. — ST