Chaldean Syrian Church - Early History

Early History

The St. Thomas Christians trace their origin to Thomas the Apostle, who is said to have evangelized in India in the 1st century. By the 3rd century India's Christian community was part of the Church of the East, led by the Patriarch of the East in Seleucia-Ctesiphon, Persia. In the 7th century India was designated its own ecclesiastical province. In 1499 the Portuguese arrived in India, and forcefully attempted to bring the St. Thomas Christian community fully into the Latin Church of the Catholic Church. The actions of the Portuguese padroado ultimately caused part of the community to follow the archdeacon Thomas in swearing the Coonan Cross Oath in 1653. The faction that followed Thomas were known as the Malankara Church, and eventually entered into communion with the Syriac Orthodox Church. The Catholic faction eventually became known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.

The Chaldean Syrian Church's current Metropolitan, Mar Aprem Mooken, has argued that the church represents a direct continuation of the ancient Church of the East hierarchy in India. However, Mathias Mundadan sets the church's origin within the 19th century autonomy movement within the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. For over two hundred years the Syro-Malabar Catholics were under the authority of the Latin Archbishop of Goa. This arrangement led to resentment from some members, who wanted more autonomy for their local church, resulting in a formidable and sustaining autonomy movement. In the 19th century this movement's leaders made repeated pleas to both the Pope and the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church (an Eastern Catholic church in communion with the Pope) for their own bishop and liturgy. The Assyrian Church of the East in India is known as the Chaldean Syrian Church. Outside India the name Chaldean Church refers to that branch of the Church of the East which has a separate existence from 1553 AD when Pope consecrated a monk named John Sulaqa as the Patriarch of the Chaldeans of Babel. The head of Chaldean Church is Patriarch Cardinal Immanuel Delli who resides in Baghdad. The Catholicos Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East is His Holiness Khanania Mar Dinkha IV who resides in Chicago where a lot of Assyrians from Iran and Iraq have migrated during the 20th Century.

The Chaldean Syrian Church in India is based in Trichur. The history of this church in the early centuries is the same as the history of the other Syrian churches in Kerala. From the arrival of St. Thomas till the coonen cross in 1653 the history of the Indian church is common. Therefore, referring to this period the account written by Fr. Dr. Geevarghese Panicker (a priest of the Syro-Malankara Church who accepted the Pope on 20 September 1930) published in the Journal of St. Thomas Christians, Vol. II, and No.2. Oct-Dec 2000 is reproduced below.

Malankara is another name for Kerala, the cradle of Christianity in India. St. Thomas, the Apostle came to Kerala in A.D. 52 and preached the gospel with great success. Not much is known about the early history of these St. Thomas Christians, but two facts stand out clearly. Between the 3rd and the 9th centuries there were waves of immigrants from Mesopotamia to Kerala, and from the early centuries, This Church, with its liturgical center in Edessa, had also claimed its origin from St. Thomas. Thus the East Syrian or Chaldean liturgy was used in Kerala until the 17th century. The Syrian Church (using the Syriac liturgy) in Kerala was undivided until the advent of the Portuguese.