Liturgy
The original liturgical language used by Malankara Church was Aramaic and Hebrew. The Bible that was in use also was in Hebrew. Later when Syriac replaced Aramaic in eastern countries, and the arrival of Knanaya people from Persia in AD 345, Malankara Church began using Syriac. The Bible used in Malankara Church is called the "Peshitta" and was in Estrangelo Syriac This was the Bible that was in use till Malayalam (language of Kerala) translation was available. It is interesting to note that even though bishops from Syrian churches visited Kerala once in a while, they did not attempt to change the Bible into one of the new forms of Syriac. In June 1876, Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Pathrose IV, visited Kerala and a majority of Malankara Church accepted him as the head of their Church.But those who did not join them continued to follow their own leaders, kept their identity, continued to use the name Mar Thoma Church and began to use the liturgy in their mother tongue, Malayalam. Later the liturgy has been translated into various languages including English, Hindi, Tamil and Kannada.
The liturgy of the Mar Thoma church when studied with scripture is invaluable to the spiritual life of the worshipper.
Read more about this topic: Mar Thoma Syrian Church
Famous quotes containing the word liturgy:
“My liturgy would employ
Images of sousing,
A furious devout drench....”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“You never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion.... Dogs do not ritually urinate in the hope of persuading heaven to do the same and send down rain. Asses do not bray a liturgy to cloudless skies. Nor do cats attempt, by abstinence from cat’s meat, to wheedle the feline spirits into benevolence. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)