Early Indian Christians post Bent Cross Oath

Christianity in Malabar Coast is Pre-Nestorian, Pre-Latin and as old as Judean — Part III

This is a Three-Part Series. What you are reading is the final part. Click here for Part I and here for Part II.

In the last two series, we read about the early, united Saint Thomas Christians, popularly called Nazranis. The Coonan(Bent) Cross oath was a big revolt then with long-term repercussions. The Papal chair then was occupied by Pope Alexander VII who dispatched Carmelite Friar priests to make amends. A major part of the Nazranis had joined the revolt but the papal emissaries were successful in persuading a good number of dissidents to return to communion with the Catholic Church for which a new East Syriac Rite hierarchy in communion with Rome was established under the leadership of Palliveettil Chandy. This is the modern-day Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.

But an equal number of Nazranis refused to budge and wanted to remain indigenous. They were initially termed Puthenkuttukar under the leadership of Archdeacon Thoma I. Right from present-day Kollam areas to the borders of Bharathapuzha in Trichur, they lived in their communities waiting for bishops from Syria to take the leadership mantle. In 1665, the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch took the Puthenkuttukar under its arm. They are the modern-day Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church or Jacobite Syrian Christian Church.

For centuries, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church prospered within Kerala but in 1910, a section of the Malankara Christians said they were happy to be known as indigenous Christians and would not like to be led by the Patriarch of Antioch and instead give the entire command to their own Bishop who was then sitting in Kottayam.

A split was inevitable, and as all Malayalis do, both groups were incarnated with new names. The Antioch-supported group was called Bava Kakshi (Jacobite Syrian Church) while the Kottayam bishop group came to be known as Methran Kakshi (Kerala Malankara Orthodox Church).

Let’s see why these names came into existence.

Methran Kakshi is nothing but Malayalam for bishop’s party because it was led by Bishop Wattasseril Mor Dionysius while the other group was waiting for a leader from Antioch and so it became Bava Kakshi which means Patriarch’s Party. For the next twenty-four years, though there were arguments, no skirmishes were recorded.

It all culminated in both factions once again uniting to elect a combined leader — Bishop Moran Mor Baselios Geevarghese II as the third Catholicos of the East. (Now you know how this position existed. Baselios Marthoma Mathews III is the present Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Church — Methran Kakshi).

The unity lasted until 1973 and both factions again got into street battles. The issue was allegiance. The Patriarch of Antioch started interfering in the day-to-day affairs of the Kerala church much to the discomfort of the local administration. He went on to anoint three bishops with a direct order leading to fights within the church which started a series of litigations for reclaiming the real estate of the Church.

Ultimately the case reached the Supreme Court in 1995, which ruled that the 1934 agreement will stand — which was in favour of the Orthodox Church. The ruling rendered the existence of the Bava Kakshi Jacobite Syrian Church null and void. The only option left was to separate and form a different church but with their land and rule book (like Pentecostal Churches) without any claim to the Methran Kakshi properties.

It is rumored that the money power and influence of the Manorama group and a few other business houses favoured the winning faction. K.M. Mathew of Manorama Group served Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church as a working committee member and managing committee member for a long time.

The ruling divided the brethren so wildly that a circular was issued by the Bava Kakshi leaders to its members (numbering less than half a million) to break all links with the Orthodox faction and boycott all goods and services from companies whose owners belong to the Orthodox Church. The list includes the most circulated Malayalam newspaper, India’s largest tyre company, a leading footwear firm, and one of India’s largest non-banking finance companies. You can easily guess their names. The soured relations took an ugly turn when members were asked to divorce spouses belonging to the Orthodox Church and abandon the children.

Now that you have understood the confusing divisions among the Catholics (Syro Malankara follows), the Jacobite Church, and the Malankara Orthodox Church, let’s now delve into another what is known as the Knanaya Church.

The first three hundred years after Saint Thomas died marked by turmoil with Christianity fading away due to a lack of ecclesiastical assistance (spiritual guidance). This came to the notice of the Patriarch of Antioch who is believed to have asked the Jerusalem Metropolitan to send someone on a fact-finding mission.

One Mr. Thomas, a merchant, was selected from Cana, a village nestled in the mountains of lower Galilee, to head towards Malabar. Remember, only merchants could make the trips since they had transport and a reason to travel for business, which compensated for their travel. His large ship had big space and hence he brought with him hundreds of people including families and landed in what is now called Kodungalloor.

Almost all of them were Jewish Christians. It is widely believed that the Knanaites are their descendants named after Knai Thoma (Thoma of Cana).

Kaldaya Suriyani Sabha

The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church went for another division in 1814. Early that year, two bishops following the East Syrian liturgy came to Kerala, and Christians around Angamalee accepted him. They lived in Trichur and came to be known as the Church of the East or Kaldaya Suriyani Sabha or Eastern Church or Eastern Chaldean Church or Indian Chaldean Church whichever name you prefer.

The Reeth Church

A reunion movement within the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church was underway in the early 1920s under the leadership of Archbishop Geevarghese Ivanios to be in communion with the Catholic Church. Seven families of Malankara took the initiative to join the Catholic Church by saying a Mass before Bishop Aloysius Maria Benziger in his Kollam Cathedral. Others followed. This was accomplished in 1930 when they split and formed the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church or Malankara Syrian Catholic Church, popularly known in Central Kerala as Reeth Palli.

This is not to be confused with Syro-Malabar Church which was already in commune with Rome and follows East Syriac Rite liturgy whereas the Reeth Church has retained its original West Syriac Rite. From that point, it was ruled that if any Christian following West Syrian liturgy wants to join the Catholic Church, they will join the Syro-Malankara Church, not the Latin rite or Syro-Malabar Church.

It does not end there. There is more.

Mar Thoma Church (in communion with the CSI, CNI, and Anglican Church) was formed in 1898 breaking the Malankara Church by a reformist Palakunnathu Abraham Malpan. His family practiced West Syriac Rite Oriental Orthodoxy after the Coonan Cross Oath of 1653 which he rewrote keeping Kerala traditions in mind and tuning with the original one before the advent of Portuguese. He removed auricular confession, prayers for the dead, intercession of saints, and veneration of sacraments and gave prominence to Jesus himself and not anyone other than him including Mother Mary. This impressed many and thus in 1898, the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church was born.

Oh, wait, the fight continues even today.

Apart from the Methran and Bava Kakshi fights among the Orthodox West Syrian Liturgy followers, there is currently another fight going on among the Syro-Malabar Eastern Liturgy followers which is in full communion with the Vatican.

There seems no dearth of the ‘fighting’ spirit within the Church.

The latest bout currently underway is a fifty-plus years old liturgy dispute over the adoption of a Synod-ordered Mass requiring the priests to face the altar during the Eucharistic prayer.

A Church’s synod in August 2021 mandated the implementation of a uniform mode of Mass in all its 35 dioceses requiring the priest to face the altar against the congregation during the Eucharistic prayer to Communion.

However, the majority of the priests and lay people in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese rebelled as they wanted to continue with their traditional mass in which the priest faces the congregation throughout which is more a modern Roman tradition than Syrian.

A mass is conducted facing the east which is commonly called Ad orientem. This was the usual form of mass till two thousand years in which even the priestly celebrant also faces the altar with his back to the congregants. The mass facing people is called populum. The current fight is over which direction he should be facing, with each group claiming their tradition as the original one.

But then what about CSI and CNI?

The British came to India in the sixteenth century as traders. But they started colonizing the Indian provinces starting 1858. England is predominantly Protestant. So along with the British came the Anglican, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Methodist groups — all Protestants. But their evangelization was far too feeble to match what the Portuguese did in the early 16th century.

The Protestants, however, did spread their wings and continued to operate independently till the year India gained independence from the British. A majority of Protestant Churches met at St George’s Cathedral in Madras on Sept. 27, 1947, and formed the South India United Church or SICU which later went on to be called the Church of South India. CNI or Church of North India is the northern arm of this union formed in 1970. I am not going into the liturgical part of this as it is not the focus of this series.

So, is it the end of divisions here? Well, not exactly. Pentecostal Church is one which got divided into several factions and continues to do so even today. But then if you are tired enough of so many divisions, let’s keep some interesting titbits on them and more divisions to follow, for another day. If you like this, then share it with someone who may be confused about their ancestry because this is not taught anywhere, even in your Church. And if you think there is something wrong with this, send an email to binu@boilandsteam.com and I will be happy to correct and enrich myself. Any differences of opinion are welcome too, but no more divisions, please!!!

Early Christianity just got started here. It becomes more interesting as we dig deep into the Jews who were present till Bombay. They are known with different names. We can delve into it later.

Christopher Joseph helped weave the chronology and Anosh Malekar edited the story. References are taken from several articles and research papers in public domain. Thanks for their contribution.