Synod of Diamper - Background

Background

In 1597, Mar Abraham, the last metropolitan archbishop appointed by the Chaldean Patriarch, died. His Archdeacon, George (of the Cross) according to the custom and by virtue of appointment of Mar Abraham, took up the administration of the Archdiocese of Angamale. Menezes hastened to Nominate Fr. Francis Ros SJ as Administrator. In the end since the Archdeacon George (of the Cross) was well accepted by the people, Menezes had unwillingly reversed his decision and confirmed the Archdeacon as Administrator. Archdeacon called together an assembly of the Saint Thomas Christians at Angamali, in which a solemn oath was taken that they would act only according to the wishes of Archdeacon, and that if the Pope sent them as their Bishop, not their Archdeacon, but a Latin, that they would plead their case with Rome.

Menezes undertook a visit to all the Churches of Saint Thomas Christians in February 1599, which lasted for few months and slowly earned the good will of people. After having won over a considerable number of people and priests, Menezes threatened to depose Archdeacon, George (of the Cross) and appoint in his place Thomas Kurian, another nephew of former Archdeacon whose claims had been ignored in 1593. In order to prevent a division, Archdeacon, George (of the Cross) yielded to the demands of Menezes.

This void in leadership in India cleared the way for the Portuguese to impose their own customs, hierarchy, law, liturgy and rites among the Saint Thomas Christians. Many of the local customs were officially anathematised as heretical and their manuscripts were condemned to be either corrected or burnt.

Dom Alexis Menezes, Archbishop of Goa, was leading this schism summoning all the priests, other clerics and four lay men elected from each church, even from the churches he had not visited under the pain of excommunication. About 130 ecclesiastics and 660 laymen ( elected and specially invited) met at Diamper in the territory of Kingdom of Cochin.

The Syond solemnly began on the third Sunday after Pentecost, 20 June 1599. It was held in the church of Diamper ( Udayamperoor) from June 20 to 26, 1599. Archbishop Menezes presided the Syond. The Chaldean Patriarch was condemned as a heretic and schismatic, and they were made to swear that they would not accept any bishop except the one immediately nominated by Rome. The controversial Syond of Diamper canonized Romanization of the Church of Saint Thomas Christians. Aleixo de Menezes, laboring under the shadow of the Protestant Reformation and the Council of Trent, was unwilling to give an inch to the customs of the Saint Thomas Christians.