Malankara / Saint Thomas Christians

Grew from

Oriental Orthodox

Origin

Kerala, India

The ancient Christian community of the Malabar coast, which holds that the apostle Thomas reached India in 52 and which was certainly established long before any European arrival. Portuguese attempts from 1599 to bring it under Latin practice provoked the Coonan Cross Oath of 1653, and the community has since divided among several jurisdictions, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic and Reformed.

What marks it out

A liturgy of Syriac derivation in a fully Indian setting, with local custom in dress, music and architecture. Descent is claimed from Brahmin families converted by Thomas, and the community held a distinct and high position in Kerala society for centuries. The tomb at Mylapore is venerated as the apostle's.

Alongside it

Also from Oriental Orthodox.

• Armenian Apostolic (301 AD)
• Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo (330 AD)
• Coptic Orthodox (451 AD)
• Syriac Orthodox (451 AD)

This body appears in the history but does not carry recorded doctrinal positions here, so it is absent from the comparison panels.