malankara

Malankara is a historic region in present-day Kerala, India, along the Malabar coast. The term is associated with the Saint Thomas Christian community that has inhabited the area since ancient times, who according to tradition trace their origin to the apostle Thomas. Over centuries, the Malankara church developed a distinct liturgical and organizational tradition within the broader East Syriac and Syriac Christian world, commonly referred to as the Malankara Church.

From the 16th century, Portuguese influence and Latinisation efforts caused schisms and debates about church authority. The 1653 Coonan Cross Oath came to symbolize a turn toward indigenous leadership, and in the following centuries the community gradually aligned with the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. Distinct institutions emerged: the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (also called the Indian Orthodox Church), an autocephalous church in communion with the Oriental Orthodox family; the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, under the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch; and the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, formed in the 19th century through a reform movement within the Malankara tradition.

Today, these churches represent the main branches of the Malankara tradition in Kerala. The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church governs itself with its Catholicos and Malankara Metropolitan; the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church maintains its own hierarchy under the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch; the Mar Thoma Church operates as a distinct reformed body. The term Malankara thus denotes both the historic region and its enduring Christian communities.