Thomas Mar Athanasius

Thomas Mar Athanasius Mar Thoma XIV (1877–1893) was the Metropolitan of the Malankara church. Mar Athanasiu's period was a turbulent one in the history of this Church. There was a litigation that took ten years to settle. After the final verdict, the Church passed through a period of transition. Malankara Church was divided into two. The majority came under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Antioch, while the remaining individuals continued to be independent with their own Metropolitan, Thomas Mar Athanasius.

On the South Western coast of India lies a small state known as Kerala. It was here in the 1st century, Thomas the Apostle arrived to preach the gospel to the Jewish community. Some of the Jews and locals including the wise men who saw Jesus as a baby at Bethlehem, became followers of Jesus of Nazareth. They were known as Malabar Nasrani people and their church as Malankara Church. They followed a unique Hebrew-Syriac Christian tradition which included several Jewish elements and Indian customs.