Syro-Malankara Church - Background/history

The Malankara Syrian Catholic Church is a Major Archiepiscopal Church and is one of the 23 rites of the Universal (Catholic) Church. Rites are individual Churches in communion with the Pope; 22 rites are Eastern, and one is Western. The Latin Rite (commonly referred to as the Roman Catholic rite) is the Western rite. The theology of the Malankara Syrian Catholic rite is the same as the Latin rite, but the liturgy is different.

Here's (quite) a bit of history.

The history of the Malankara Church dates back to A.D. 52, the year in which St. Thomas the Apostle came to India. Over the course of twenty years, St. Thomas preached the Gospel in the southern parts of India, building 7 and ½ churches. The Persian (East Syriac) Church had close relations with the Church in Malabar because of their shared patrimony – the Persian Church also claimed St. Thomas as its founder. It was the Chaldean liturgy that was in use in the Malabar Church until the 17^th century and it was Persian bishops who guided the Church.

In the 16^th century, Portuguese missionaries arrived in India and the evangelization of India was entrusted to them by the Holy Father. Naturally tensions between the Latin missionaries and the Syriac Christians existed. Unfortunately, these tensions were soon elevated when the missionaries sought to Latinize the liturgy in an attempt to free the Chaldean liturgy of its so-called heresies. The refusal on the part of the Latin missionaries to understand the value of diversity and the refusal on the part of some Indian Christians to give up their liturgical traditions resulted in a split within the Indian Church. In 1653, the Church in India split into two. One group, which would eventually become the Syro-Malabar rite, accepted the Latinized liturgy and Latin authority over them; thus, they officially entered into communion with Rome. Another group, choose to split from the Catholic Church because they wanted to preserve their liturgy and autonomy. Since the arrival of the Latin missionaries, the influence of the Persian Church on the Church in India had declined significantly such that the schismatic group looked to the West Syriac (Antiochene) or Jacobite Church. The Syrian Orthodox or Jacobite Church soon sent bishops to Malankara, beginning with Mar Gregorios in 1663. These bishops, over the course of two centuries, introduced Antiochene elements of the liturgy; in the 19^th century the liturgy of the schismatic or Malankara Syrian Orthodox Christians had become Antiochene. Unfortunately, attempts at reunion with Rome failed several times. Moreover, the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church was split multiple times, most recently in the 20^th century. The two factions, namely the Malankara Syrian Orthodox (Jacobite), under the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian (Orthodox), and autocephalous Church, fought immensely between each other. The bishops of the Orthodox faction sought to rejoin the Catholic communion because they were in the minority when compared to the Jacobite faction. In 1926, Mar Ivanios (an Orthodox bishop) was authorized to seek reunion with the Catholic Church; he was, however, to seek the preservation of the (now Antiochene) liturgy and the autonomy of the bishops.

On September 20, 1930, Mar Ivanios, along with four others – another bishop, a priest, a deacon, and a layman – reunited with the Roman Church. The other bishops of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, for their own reasons, chose not to reunite. The reunion of Mar Ivanios was the result of much prayer and study. Undeterred by the lack of support from his brother bishops, Mar Ivanios continued because, as he himself put it, “I looked for the Church of Christ and I found that it subsisted in the Catholic Church … If obeying Christ is the primary duty of a Christian, I tried to obey Him … The Church is God’s Church and is not be dealt with according to each one’s whims and fancies. The real body of Christ is the Catholic Church. Those branches separated from the main trunk are destined to wither away.”^[1] Mar Ivanios was allowed to preserve the Antiochene liturgy of St. James: all of the Malankara liturgical traditions were preserved. On June 11, 1932, the hierarchy of the Malankara Syrian Catholic Church was formed under the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Trivandrum.

In 2005, the Holy Father, John Paul II, of beloved memory, elevated the Malankara Church to Archiepiscopal status. The Major Archbishop, or Catholicos, is the Head and Father of the Malankara Syrian Catholic Church. With this elevation, the Malankara Syrian Catholic Church now has fullest autonomy possible. According to the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, a Major Archiepiscopal Church has all the rights and privileges of a Patriarchal Church; the only exception being that a new Patriarch has to request communion with Rome whereas the Major Archbishop has to have his election confirmed by the Pope.

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[1] Geevarghese Chediath, The Malankara Catholic Church, translated by A.J. Joy Angemadathil (Kottayam, India: Bethany Sister’s Publication, 2003), 100.

Bible according to children (hilarious post)

(Disclaimer: This post is taken word-for-word from the book mentioned at the end of this post)

(Warning: Eating and/or drinking is NOT recommended while reading this post as it may result in choking. The post or the authors of the blog will not be held responsible to any damage that occurs). :D

Enjoy

Sunday school boys and girls produce not only graphic misinterpretations of the Bible in their drawings. They also rewrite biblical history with amazing Grace. It is truly astonishing what happens to Bible stories when they are retold by young scholars around the world.

The Bible is full of many interesting caricatures. Michelangelo painted them on the sixteen chapels.

The first five books of the Bible are Genesis, Exodus, laxatives, Deuteronomy, and Numbers. In the first book of the Bible, Guinessis, God got tired of creating the world, so he took the sabbath off. Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. One of their children, Cain, asked, “am I my brother's son? My punishment is greater than I can bare.”

Noah’s wife was called Joan of Ark. He built an ark, which the animals came on to in pears. Lot’s wife was a pillar of salt by day, but a ball of fire by night. Saddam and Gomorrah were twins.

Abraham begat Issac and Isaac begat Jacob and Jacob begat twelve partridges. God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Montezuma. Abraham took Isaac up the mountain to be circumcised. Jacob, son of Isaac, stole his brother Esau’s birthmark. Esau was a man who wrote fables and sold his copyright for a mess of potash. Jacob was a patriarch who brought up his 12 sons to be patriarchs, but they did not take to it. One of Jacob's sons, Joseph, gave refuse to the Israelites.

The Jew's were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with the unsympathetic Genitals. Samsung was a strong man who left himself be led astray by a Jezebel like Delilah. Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the Apostles. He slayed them by pulling down the pillows of the temple.

Pharaoh forced the Hebrew slaves to make beds without straw. Moses was an Egyptian who lived in a hark made of bullrushes. Moses led the Hebrews to the red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert.

Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the 10 Amendments. The First commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple. The Fifth Commandment is humor thy father and mother. The Seventh Commandment is thou shalt not admit adultery. The Ninth Commandment is thou salt not bare faults witness.

Moses ate nothing but whales and manner for forty years. He died before he ever reached Canada. Then, Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Geritol. The greatest miracle in the bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.

David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He wrote psalms. They are called psalms because he sang them while playing the harmonica. David also fought with the Finkelsteins, a race of people who lived in biblical times. Solomon, one of David’s sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.
Later came Job, who had one trouble after another. Eventually, he lost all his cattle and all his children and had to go live along with his wife in the desert. Then came Shadrach, Meshach, and to Bed We Go, and then Salome, who was a wicked woman who wore very few clothes and took them off when she danced before the Harrods.

When Mary heard that she was the Mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta. When the three wise guys from the East Side arrived, they found Jesus in the manager wrapped in waddling clothes. In the Gospel of Luke they named him Enamel. Jesus was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption. St. John, the Blacksmith, dumped water on his head.

Jesus enunciated the Golden Rule, which says to do one to others before they do one to you. He also explained, “Man doth not live by sweat alone.” Jesus was crucified on his way to Calgary. It was a miracle when he rose from the dead and managed to get the tombstone off the entrance.

The people who followed the Lord were called the twelve decibels. The epistles were the wives of the apostles. One of the opposums was St. Matthew, who was by profession a taximan.

St. Paul cavorted to Christianity. He preached holy acrimony, which is another name for marriage. A Christian should only have one wife. This is called monotony. The natives of Macedonia did not believe in Paul, so he got stoned.

Other Christians were condemned to death in large groups. They entered the arena to face wild lions singing hymns of praise in the name of the Father, the Son, and In-The-Hole-he-Goes. The Romans went to the coliseum to watch the Christian die for the fun of it. But, as Mel Brooks says, “The meek shall inherit the earth.”

Taken from

Don't Stop Laughing Now, pages 47 - 50