Mar Thoma Syrian Church

The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, often shortened to Mar Thoma Church, and known also as the Reformed Syrian Church and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, is an autonomous Oriental Protestant Christian church based in Kerala, India. While continuing a number of the Syriac high church practices, the church is Protestant in its theology and doctrines. It employs a reformed variant of the West Syriac Rite Divine Liturgy of Saint James, translated to Malayalam.
The Mar Thoma Church sees itself as continuation of the Saint Thomas Christians, a community traditionally believed to have been founded in the first century by Thomas the Apostle, who is known as Mar Thoma in Syriac, and describes itself as "Apostolic in origin, Universal in nature, Biblical in faith, Evangelical in principle, Ecumenical in outlook, Oriental in worship, Democratic in function, and Episcopal in character".
Until the beginning of the 20th century, Mar Thoma Christians lived in a few districts of Central Travancore and Kunnamkulam in Kerala. Since that time they have spread with the 20th-century Indian diaspora to North America, Europe, the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. According to the figures provided by the church itself, it currently has over 1 million members. Their mother tongue is Malayalam, the language of Kerala, and historically the variety known as Suriyani Malayalam was associated with them.
According to the 2011 Census of Kerala it was, with a membership of 405,089, the sixth largest Christian church in the state, coming after the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, the Latin Catholic Church, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.

Definitions

Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church is commonly called the Mar Thoma Church. In official and legal records the church is referred to as Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar or as Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. Malabar is a term used to denote the Kerala coast in earlier days. The original Church was referred to as the Church of Malabar by the Jesuits and as the Syrian Church of Malabar in Missionary Registers from 1801 onward. Malankara is an ancient name derived from the name 'Maliankara', Maliankara Island is on the Southwestern side of the Indian Peninsula. It is between Gokarnam and Kanyakumari the southernmost point of India. Kerala, the present southwestern state of India is only a part of Malankara. It is also thought to be a cognate of this name Maliankara, a place near Muziris, where Thomas the Apostle first landed in Kerala.
Mar Thoma is Aramaic, and means Saint Thomas. Members of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church are commonly called as Mar Thomiyar, Mar Thomites, or Mar Thoma Syrians. The original liturgical language used by Saint Thomas Christians was the East Syriac language which is a variant of Aramaic. The Reformation movement in the Malankara Syrian Church later resulted in the evolution of an independent indigenous Malankara church under the Mathoma Metropolitan, breaking all the ecclesiastical and temporal control from outside Malankara. In 1898, during the reign of Titus I Mar Thoma the church accepted as its name, Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church or Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar to comprise its order and heritage. The members of this church are known as Mar Thoma Nasrani or Mar Thoma Syrian Nasrani.

Administration

The Mar Thoma Syrian Church has a well-defined constitution and has a democratic pattern of administration. The central administrative setup consists of the Metropolitan, the Episcopal Synod, the Prathinithi Mandalam and the Sabha Council, and the Vaideeka Selection Committee.
The Central Administration of the Church is backed by the Dioceses. Each diocese has its own council and an assembly. The assembly members are elected by the individual parishes, and the diocesan council members are elected by the assembly.
All members of a parish are members of the Edavaka Sangham and they also have the right to elect their representatives to the Diocesan Assembly and Prathinidhi Mandalam.
The title of the head of the Church is "Mar Thoma Metropolitan". He is ordained from among the duly-consecrated bishops of the Church, the choice being ordinarily that of the senior-most among them. The present Mar Thoma Metropolitan is Theodosius Mar Thoma who resides at Poolatheen at Church Headquarters in Tiruvalla, Kerala. He is 21 Mar Thoma in the line of continuation after the re-establishment of the Mar Thoma episcopacy after the Oath of the Koonan Cross.
If the Metropolitan is personally satisfied that he has difficulty continuing to perform the duties pertaining to his office, he may relinquish the powers and responsibilities of Metropolitan. Then he becomes the Mar Thoma Metropolitan Emeritus and is addressed as "Mar Thoma Valiya Metropolitan". The present "Mar Thoma Valiya Metropolitan is Philipose Chrysostom Mar Thoma Valiya Metropolitan.
To assist the metropolitan there are Episcopas, the senior-most among them is called the Suffragan Metropolitan.

Administrative divisions

For administrative purposes, the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church is divided into 13 dioceses or popularly called 'Bhadhrasanams' headed by a Metropolitan or by an Episcopa.
They are:

Diocese Name	Mar Thoma Bishop Houses and Diocesan centers	Headquarters
Niranam–Maramon	Poolatheen Aramana	Tiruvalla
Chengannur–Mavelikara	Olivet Aramana	Chengannur
Adoor	Hermon Aramana	Adoor
Kottarakkara–Punalur	Oorshalem Aramana	Kottarakara
Thiruvananthapuram–Kollam	Mar Thoma Kendram	Mannanthala, Trivandrum
Kottayam–Kochi	Bethel Aramana	Manganam, Kottayam
Ranny–Nilackel	Mar Thoma Centre	Ranni
Kunnamkulam–Malabar	Mar Thoma Centre	Kozhikode
Chennai–Bangalore	Mar Thoma Bhavan	Chennai
Mumbai	Mar Thoma Centre	Mumbai
Delhi	Mar Thoma Centre	New Delhi
North America–Europe	Sinai Mar Thoma Center	New York
Malaysia–Singapore–Australia–New Zealand	—	—

Metropolitans and bishops

Present episcopal synod

The present members of the Episcopal Synod of Mar Thoma Church are:

Theodosius Mar Thoma
Euyakim Coorilos
Joseph Barnabas
Thomas Timotheos
Isaac Philoxenos
Abraham Paulos
Mathews Makarios
Gregorios Stephanos
Thomas Theethos
Mar Thoma Metropolitans

The excommunication of Reformist bishops and their followers by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch in 1875, the Synod of 1876 and the Royal Court Verdict of 1889 were turning points in the history of the Malankara Syrian Church of Malabar. The Reformist faction continued to consecrate bishops to the Malankara See without the consent of Patriarch as they claimed Malankara church is independent of the Syrian Church. Before the death of Malankara Metropolitan Mathews Athanasius, he consecrated Thomas Athanasius as Suffragan bishop of Malankara Church. Following the death of Mathews Athanasius, the suffragan succeeded as the Metropolitan of the Malankara See in 1877 which led to a schism in the Malankara church. Those who supported reformation loyally followed the Malankara Metropolitan who was legally evicted from the Malankara Syrian Church. He died in 1893 without consecrating a successor and suggesting a new name for the church. The Metropolitan of Malabar Independent Syrian Church stepped in and consecrated Titus Mar Thoma as the new bishop.
The Mar Thoma Syrian Church usually follow the traditional West Syriac episcopal consecration practice, by which only the presiding bishop or Mar Thoma Metropolitan lays hands on the bishop-elect. Participation as co-consecrators is effectuated while bestowing the pastoral staff. For that, the bishops of the Malabar Independent Syrian Church, Church of South India and Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church have historically joined the Mar Thoma Metropolitan.

Clergy

Semmasan :
The Sabha Prathinidhi Mandalam elects a Vaidika Selection board to select candidates for the ordained ministry of the church through recommendations, exams and pre- and post- theological training interviews.
Following a Malankara Church tradition and from diasporic influence, the church follows a compulsory twelve-month unpaid missionary service to those who are inclined to be a priest, before selection process as a "Tithe of Youth" program for "evaluation purposes". Additionally, this program was challenged in youth meets of the church at the time of its conception on the basis of non-guarantee in an entry, fast-changing world, career stagnation, and other economic factors and have arrived at a discussion level resolution of implementing this process after the pursual of their theological training and integrating the "Deacon" status during the time period under mentorship which enables the church to fill up NGO's, projects and mission fields with trained and theologically equipped individuals for staff duties and pastoring, thus avoid stress and negligence that would be otherwise imparted on the youth. During the intensive field training, when the inclined candidate is counted to be worthy for the controlled influx in church duties, the trained and experienced Deacons can be nominated for ordinations as Kassessas, by each diocese as the allotment.
Kassessa :
Persons receiving ordination as ministers shall be duly ordained deacons. They all have had their Bachelor of Divinity degree from the Mar Thoma Theological Seminary, Kottayam, Kerala, or from other recognized theological seminaries of India. The wife of a Kassissa is known as "Baskiamma" derived from" Baskiyomo in Syriac.
Vicars general:
From among the clergy who have completed 25 years of service in the ordained ministry and not less than sixty years of age are selected according to their contributions and ordained as vicars general. In the absence of the diocesan bishop, they may be appointed as deputy head of the bishopric.