The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church

A church of Kerala that traces itself to the apostle Thomas, keeps the ancient Syriac liturgy in Malayalam, and has reformed it by the Bible: a church of the Oriental family, reformed by the Bible, and in communion with the Anglicans.

Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, Overview (Sabha Office, Thiruvalla)

Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, History: The Enduring Legacy

Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, home page

Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, About the Parish

Mar Thoma Diocese of North America, Heritage (the church's history)

Mar Thoma Diocese of North America, home page

Mar Thoma Diocese of North America, Ecumenical Relations

Rev. Dr. George Mathew, The Faith and Sacraments of the Mar Thoma Church (Christava Sahitya Samithy, Tiruvalla, 2nd impression 2005; Lecturer in Liturgy at the Mar Thoma Theological Seminary and convenor of the church's Liturgical Commission), scan in the Kiraz collection, Internet Archive

Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, Qurbana Thaksa in English (translation approved under Titus II Metropolitan; foreword by Philipose Mar Chrysostom, 28 August 2006), scan in the Kiraz collection, Internet Archive. The text is OCR; the church's printed liturgy

Jaikrishnan Nair, "Kerala: Mar Thoma Church's new head is a Guru scholar," The Times of India (14 November 2020)

Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, Inaugural address of the 131st Maramon Convention (12 March 2026)

Maramon Convention (Wikipedia)

Mar Thoma Syrian Church (Wikipedia)

Mar Thoma Church, Diocese of Delhi, Rajasthan Centre (parishes and their Holy Communion Sundays)

Onmanorama Staff, "Fitting musical tribute to popular organist," Onmanorama (Malayala Manorama), 13 December 2020

Pushpa Samuel, "'Let Your Yes Be Yes': Progressing Toward Female Ordination in the Mar Thoma Church," Priscilla Papers (February 2020), CBE International

The Mar Thoma Church tells its story in two parts. The first is the ancient church of the Malabar coast: the Thomas tradition, the Persian connection, the Portuguese pressure, and the oath of 1653 by which the Syrian Christians broke from Rome. The second is the reform of the 1830s, led from inside that church by priests who wanted the Bible and the people's language in worship. In the church's own words, the reformers "never wanted to start a separate Church." A court verdict in 1889 made two churches of what had been one.

The apostle Thomas

The church holds, as a tradition, that the apostle Thomas landed on the Malabar coast in 52 and founded the first communities. The church's own page says it is "traditionally believed." The evidence is the tradition itself.

The Synod of Diamper

The Portuguese Archbishop Aleixo de Menezes convened a synod at Diamper to bring the Syrian Christians under the Pope. The church calls it "a coercive attempt" to impose Latin customs on a church that had governed itself for centuries.

The Coonan Cross Oath

Under Archdeacon Thomas, the people gathered at the stone cross at Mattancheri and swore to cut every tie with the Roman church. Twelve priests then raised the archdeacon to the episcopate as Mar Thoma I. The church's liturgist calls it "the declaration of independence."

The Antiochene line

Mar Gregorios of Jerusalem, a bishop under the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch, reached Cochin and consecrated Mar Thoma I. From this time the church took up the West Syriac liturgy of Antioch.

The Church Missionary Society

The British Resident, Colonel Munro, asked the Anglican Church Missionary Society for a "Mission of Help." The first missionary, Thomas Norton, arrived in 1816. Mar Dionysius started a seminary at Kottayam, and the missionary Joseph Fenn trained its clergy. The missionaries said that they did not mean to bring the church under Anglicanism.

The memorandum and the first Malayalam Qurbana

Twelve priests sent a memorandum of twenty-three points to the British Resident, complaining of prayers for the dead and the keeping of relics. The Metropolitan of the Malankara Church held a synod at Mavelikara that same year and ended the church's tie with the missionaries. Abraham Malpan, in his parish at Maramon, then celebrated the Qurbana in Malayalam using a revised St. James liturgy. The sources differ on the day and the year, and the church's own text says only "a Sunday in 1836."

A reforming Metropolitan recognized

Abraham Malpan sent his nephew Mathews to the Patriarch of Antioch to be consecrated bishop. He returned in 1843 as Mathews Mar Athanasius. Abraham Malpan died in 1845. In 1852 the government recognized Mathews as the Metropolitan of the Malankara Church.

The Royal Court verdict

After years of lawsuits over the old Seminary and the church properties, the Royal Court of Appeal at Trivandrum ruled that Joseph Dionysius, the Metropolitan the Patriarch recognized, was the rightful head. The reformers lost the Seminary and nearly every property. The church's liturgist says that in this year the church in Malankara "was divided into two separate churches," the Jacobite (later Orthodox) and the Mar Thoma.

A Metropolitan from within

Thomas Mar Athanasius died in 1893 without naming a successor. Joseph Mar Athanasius and Geevarghese Mar Koorilos of the Malabar Independent Syrian Church, the Thozhiyoor church, consecrated Titus Palakunnathu as Titus I Mar Thoma in 1894. The church's history says that church still takes part in the consecration of Mar Thoma bishops.

The Maramon Convention

The church's history says the convention "was started about this time in the year 1896." Wikipedia gives the first convention as 8 to 17 March 1895, and marks that date as needing a citation. The church's page for 2026 speaks of the 131st convention, which counts back to 1896 if every year was held.

Communion with the Anglicans

An Anglican commission of 1957 studied the question, and in 1961 a concordat was agreed "establishing a communion relationship between the two Churches," with bishops of each church taking part in the other's consecrations.

Theodosius Mar Thoma

After the death of Joseph Mar Thoma in October 2020, Geevarghese Mar Theodosius was installed as the 22nd Metropolitan on Saturday, 14 November 2020. He had been made Suffragan Metropolitan that July.

Abraham Malpan

A priest and teacher of Maramon and the leader of the reform. He and Geevarghese Malpan of Puthuppally taught in the Syrian Seminary at Kottayam, where they "had opportunities to come into close personal contact with the missionaries." In the church's account he translated the Qurbana into Malayalam and removed the prayers for the dead and the calling on saints, and he was excommunicated by the Metropolitan. The church's pages say he and his friends wanted reform inside the old church. No source found says that the missionaries sent him to study.

Mathews Mar Athanasius

Abraham Malpan's nephew. He had been studying in a Church Missionary school in Madras when his uncle sent him to the Patriarch of Antioch in 1841. He was consecrated there and returned in 1843. The government confirmed him as Metropolitan in 1852, and he took up the cause of reform in earnest.

Thomas Mar Athanasius

Abraham Malpan's son. He led the reformed party through the lawsuits and lost the Seminary in 1889. The church's history says he "had to carry the burden of conducting the court cases."

Titus I Mar Thoma

The younger son of Abraham Malpan. Under him "preaching, Bible reading and prayer in the church and home were greatly emphasized," and the church's missionary work grew.

Juhanon Mar Thoma

The church's liturgist records that he succeeded Abraham Mar Thoma in 1947 and died in 1976. The concordat with the Anglicans was made in his years.

Theodosius Mar Thoma

The present Metropolitan, the 22nd, installed on 14 November 2020. The church's page of December 2025 shows him in office, meeting the Patriarch of Antioch.

What the church says it changed. The church's own history lists the reforms: "the translation of the liturgy into Malayalam for congregational participation, emphasis on biblical preaching over traditional rituals, removal of prayers for the dead, and the abolition of veneration of icons and saints." The church's liturgist adds that "all elements in the prayers which overemphasized the sacrificial aspect in the Eucharist were eliminated," and that private confession to a priest was abolished.

What it kept. The ancient liturgy of St. James, the bishops, the three degrees of ministry, the seven sacraments and the church calendar. The church's liturgist writes that Abraham Malpan "was not ready to give up the Apostolic tradition and a valid episcopate."

Two dates the sources do not settle. The church's own text gives 1896 for the first Maramon Convention and 1836 for the first Qurbana in Malayalam. Wikipedia gives 1895 for the convention. Its article on the church gives 27 August 1837 for the first reformed Qurbana and its article on Abraham Malpan gives 29 August 1836, so the chart follows the church's own text. The Synod of Mulanthuruthy in 1876, when the Patriarch demanded a deed of complete submission from every parish, is in the church's liturgist's account. The name "Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church" is dated to 1898 by Wikipedia, not by the church's pages.

The Bible is the basis of all faith and doctrine; the Nicene Creed is held as agreeing with Scripture; the church's faith is also found in its liturgy.

The church's formal statement names the Holy Bible as "the basis for all matters of faith and doctrine." It adds the Nicene Creed, "as formulated in accordance with Scripture," so that the creed stands under the Bible and is not equal to it. In its prayers the church also remembers the three councils of Nicaea, Constantinople and Ephesus and the Fathers who sat in them.

The church does not have a long confession of articles. Its liturgist explains that the faith of an Eastern church "has not been codified" in articles but is "embedded in the liturgy of the church." To know what the church believes, he says, one studies the liturgy "along with Scriptures." For the parent family, see The Oriental Orthodox Churches.

accepting the Holy Bible as the basis for all matters of faith and doctrine, and the Nicene Creed as formulated in accordance with Scripture.

Upholding the Holy Bible as the ultimate source of faith and practice, guiding all spiritual and doctrinal matters.

So in order to understand the faith of a particular church, one has to analyze the liturgy of the church along with Scriptures.

The church's list of its own marks is "Apostolic in origin, Universal in nature, Biblical in faith, Evangelical in principle, Ecumenical in outlook, Oriental in worship, Democratic in function, and Episcopal in character." The church's liturgist says the lectionary of the church "is Eastern, Evangelical (reformed) and Ecumenical in nature." The Qurbana's foreword, by the Metropolitan Philipose Mar Chrysostom, calls the liturgy "an eastern liturgy in a western garb."

A person is saved by grace through faith alone; baptism is given to infants of church families and to new believers, and the child is dipped in the water; the oil of Mooron follows at once.

The church says that the reform of the 1830s was a return "to the gospel message of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ," and sums up its teaching as "salvation by grace through faith alone." Its liturgist writes that the reformers taught that "we are saved by the grace of God and not by any human deed or work."

Baptism is one of the seven sacraments. The priest places his right hand on the forehead of the child, faces the child east, and "dips the child in the water" in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Godparents renounce Satan and confess the faith for a child. Wikipedia reports that children born in Christian families are baptized and that adults who come to faith are baptized as new believers. At once after baptism the priest anoints the person with the Holy Mooron, a consecrated oil, "as a sign of the gift of the Holy Spirit." The sources do not say that the child is dipped three times.

advocating for salvation by grace through faith alone.

places his right hand on the forehead of the child and keeps the child facing east in the baptistery dips the child in the water

The god-father/mother announces this declaration on behalf of the candidate (if he/she is a child).

The Creed in the printed Qurbana reads, "We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins" (the church's printed liturgy). The church's liturgist teaches that "Those who are baptized obtain remission of sins and cleansing through Christ," and that baptism is "identification and participation of the candidate with the death and resurrection of Christ." He also writes that "The personal conviction of the believers is a must for becoming responsible members in the church which is the body of Christ," and that parents and sponsors are told that by the time the child is grown "he must be in a position to publicly declare his acceptance of Jesus."

Of the anointing with Mooron he writes: "The effect of baptism is completed only with confirmation." In the West, he notes, the bishop lays on hands years after infant baptism, and the church of the East uses the oil instead.

The Holy Qurbana proclaims the Lord's death until he comes; the Spirit is asked to sanctify the bread and wine; the reform cut the prayers that overemphasized the sacrifice, but the printed liturgy still has the people offer "this service of bloodless sacrifice."

The Holy Qurbana is the church's central act of worship. In the words of institution the minister says that "as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes," and the people answer, "O Lord, we commemorate Your death. We celebrate Your resurrection and we await Your second coming." The minister asks the Holy Spirit to "sanctify this bread that it may be the body of our Lord Jesus Christ," and the people answer, "Bless, O Lord." The church's liturgist writes that the sanctifying "becomes complete not by any particular event but in the total liturgical act." In this church the priest does not celebrate the Qurbana without the people present.

What the reform changed is stated by the church's liturgist: "All elements in the prayers which overemphasized the sacrificial aspect in the Eucharist were eliminated, and prayers which had some kind of reference to the transubstantiation of the bread and wine were revised." Communion is given in both kinds, and the reformers ordered that the Qurbana not be celebrated when there is no one to receive it.

The reform cut back the language of sacrifice; it did not remove it. After the words of institution the printed liturgy of 2006 says, "we our people offer to You O Lord, this service of bloodless sacrifice," and goes on to ask the Lord to "blot away all the sins of us Your servants." The church's liturgist writes that at the Qurbana "Grace, peace and praise are offered as sacrifice to God the Father," and that a priest is ordained "To offer spiritual sacrifice and offerings at the altar." The Malankara Orthodox call their Qurbana an "unbloody sacrifice" (see The Oriental Orthodox Churches). The Mar Thoma keep nearly the same words, but without the prayers for the dead and the saints, and without the prayers that spoke of the bread changing.

Thus as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

All elements in the prayers which overemphasized the sacrificial aspect in the Eucharist were eliminated, and prayers which had some kind of reference to the transubstantiation of the bread and wine were revised.

Therefore, we our people offer to You O Lord, this service of bloodless sacrifice.

From the printed Qurbana (the church's own liturgy, from an OCR scan): after the words of institution the priest says, "O Lord, we remember Your death, burial and resurrection on the third day," and then that the people offer "this service of bloodless sacrifice." The church's liturgist writes that in the Mar Thoma church "the priest does not celebrate the Holy communion without the presence of the people," and that through the Qurbana "they become the participants in the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ."

The church's liturgist says that Communion is for those who have confessed: "Those who come prepared for the communion confess the sins and the Minister declares absolution." He writes that in the reformed churches "the practice is public confession. There is no private confession (auricular confession) in these churches." Wikipedia reports that "The church does not subscribe to the concept of Eucharistic Sacrifice." No page of the church says this, and the church's own printed liturgy still speaks of an offered sacrifice, so the chart follows the liturgy.

Bishops, priests and deacons under a Metropolitan, with a representative assembly of clergy and laity; the whole body of the baptized shares in priestly ministry.

The church is led by "the Metropolitan, Episcopas, ordained clergy and deacons, with the Metropolitan serving as the supreme head." Bishops are consecrated with the help of bishops of the Malabar Independent Syrian Church, which keeps the line of the old Syrian church. The church's liturgist writes that "the hierarchy of Deacon, Priest and the Bishop indicates the presence of God with different degree of authority vested in each one of them by the vibrant Sacrament of ordination," and that the priest is "the steward of the Sacrament."

The church also says that "The laity has full participation in the priestly ministry given through the Church by Christ." Its government joins the bishops with the people: "a representative assembly (Prathinidhi Mandalam), an executive council (Sabha Council) and an Episcopal Synod." The church's liturgist writes that the priest "is not a substitute" for the ministry of the believers and that his work is to prepare them for it. The Mar Thoma and the Malankara Orthodox both keep three degrees of ministry. The Mar Thoma add a representative assembly.

The Church is blessed and enriched by the leadership of the Metropolitan, Episcopas, ordained clergy and deacons, with the Metropolitan serving as the supreme head.

The laity has full participation in the priestly ministry given through the Church by Christ and is called to profess and practice Christian truths in daily life.

It has a democratic pattern of administration with a representative assembly (Prathinidhi Mandalam), an executive council (Sabha Council) and an Episcopal Synod.

The church's liturgist writes: "Anyone who has received the Sacrament of baptism has the right to become a minister," and that ministers are chosen from the local church and ordained as deacons and priests. The church's own page lists organizations for women, the Suvishesha Sevika Sangam, and for youth, students and evangelists. The church has not ordained women. Pushpa Samuel, writing in the journal Priscilla Papers (2020), records that "In 1986, the Mar Thoma Church officially stated that there is no theological barrier to ordaining both men and women to serve the church," but that "there are currently no ordained females within the global Mar Thoma Church." No statement on this was found on the church's own pages.

The church's liturgist ties the minister's power of absolution to the line of bishops: "The church which has the apostolic succession has inherited this power. The minister, being the representative of the church, exercises this power."

The Syriac liturgy of St. James in Malayalam, with the Bible read and preached; Mary and the saints are remembered as examples, and prayers to them and for the dead were removed.

The Mar Thoma Church worships by the liturgy of St. James, in Malayalam, and it has other forms of the Qurbana as well. The church's history says that "the translated St. James Liturgy is still used today, and it is the most prominent of the seven liturgies in the Mar Thoma Church." The reform put the service in the language of the people and the Bible in the people's hands.

The church says that Abraham Malpan took out of the liturgy "the prayers for the dead and invocation of saints," and its liturgist gives the reason: "All prayers for the departed and to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints were omitted since Christ is the only mediator." Yet the printed liturgy still remembers them. The deacon says, "We call to remembrance the holy prophets, the apostles, the preachers, the evangelists, the martyrs, the confessors, and all the saints. Make us worthy, O Lord, to follow in their footsteps." The church keeps these as examples. The Malankara Orthodox keep prayers to the saints, which this church does not.

The church's pages mention a choir of "sacred hymns and liturgical songs," and a Department of Sacred Music. No church rule on instruments was found, but they are in use: the Jerusalem Mar Thoma Church in Kottayam had the same organist "for decades," a Kerala paper reports.

He translated the liturgy of the Holy Qurbana into local language Malayalam from Syriac and eliminated from it the prayers for the dead and invocation of saints etc.

All prayers for the departed and to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints were omitted since Christ is the only mediator.

We call to remembrance the holy prophets, the apostles, the preachers, the evangelists, the martyrs, the confessors, and all the saints. Make us worthy, O Lord, to follow in their footsteps.

The church's history lists the changes as "the translation of the liturgy into Malayalam for congregational participation, emphasis on biblical preaching over traditional rituals, removal of prayers for the dead, and the abolition of veneration of icons and saints." In the foreword to the printed liturgy, the Metropolitan wrote in 2006: "Liturgy is the action of the people." The church's liturgist says that "wholehearted participation of the community in the Holy Communion service is a special feature of the oriental churches," and that the people answer with recitals and singing.

The Spirit is given in baptism and sealed with the oil of Mooron, sanctifies the bread and the people, and renews the church; the sources do not claim tongues or miracles today.

The church holds that the Holy Spirit is given to believers in baptism and sealed in the anointing with Mooron: "The anointment with 'Mooron' signifies the gift of the Holy Spirit, received by those who are baptized." The Spirit is asked to sanctify the bread, the wine and the worshipers. The lectionary of the church, its liturgist says, spends Sundays after Pentecost meditating "on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, fruits of the Holy Spirit, mission and evangelism."

The church's vision is "to grow as a community that reflects Jesus Christ, mature in faith, united in the Holy Spirit," and it asks for "renewal in Spirit." The church's pages do not teach speaking in tongues or healing miracles as gifts of this age. They do teach anointing the sick with oil in the name of the Trinity, with James 5 as its ground.

The anointment with 'Mooron' signifies the gift of the Holy Spirit, received by those who are baptized.

Depending on the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, the Church continues Christ's work of reconciliation in the world

The Church is in need of renewal in Spirit in order to become more effective and useful instrument in His hands for the extension of His Kingdom.

The Qurbana's epiclesis, from the printed liturgy, asks: "May the Holy Spirit sanctify this bread that it may be the body of our Lord Jesus Christ." The church's liturgist says that "the Holy Spirit plays an important role in the crucial situations" of the service. Of anointing the sick, he grounds it in James 5:14-15 and writes that the priests are entrusted with this ministry.

Christ will come again; the dead will be raised and judged; the reform rejected purgatory and prayers for the dead, though the liturgy still asks that the faithful departed be gathered at the last day.

The church confesses in its Creed that it looks forward "to the resurrection of the dead and the new life of the world to come." At the Qurbana the people say, "we await Your second coming." The church's own account of the reform says that it rejected "the doctrine of purgatory," and its history lists the removal of "prayers for the dead."

The printed liturgy asks for mercy at the judgment: "O Lord God of all souls and all flesh, save us from eternal judgment." It also asks God, "in the last day when You raise and gather all the faithful who have departed and fallen asleep in the true faith," that "we also may with them be counted worthy of remission of our sins and be gathered into Your heavenly kingdom." The church does not offer this as a prayer to change the state of the dead; it is a prayer by the living about their own place with them. The church's liturgist writes that the Qurbana "leads us to the sign post pointing to the day of Judgement."

look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the new life of the world to come.

the rejection of auricular confession and the doctrine of purgatory

O Lord God of all souls and all flesh, save us from eternal judgment.

The Qurbana also has the commemoration: "when You raise and gather all the faithful who have departed and fallen asleep in the true faith" (the church's printed liturgy, from an OCR scan). The church's liturgist writes that the Qurbana "leads us to the sign post pointing to the day of Judgement" and that "Holy Communion is a sign of things to come." Wikipedia says the church holds that "salvation does not occur after death"; that line was not found on a page of the church.

Mary and the saints, remembered but not invoked

The Qurbana remembers Mary, the apostles and the martyrs as examples to follow; the reform struck out prayers to them and for the dead.

The church keeps the Oriental custom of remembering the holy ones at every Qurbana, and it keeps a fast in August for Mary and the feast of the Apostle Thomas on 21 December, which it observes as Mar Thoma Church Day. But it does not ask them for help. The church says that Abraham Malpan took out "the prayers for the dead and invocation of saints," and its liturgist says that this was done "since Christ is the only mediator." In this the church differs from the Malankara Orthodox Church, which keeps prayers to the saints.

O Lord, we remember the mother of our Lord, the blessed Virgin Mary, who is worthy to be blessed of all the generations on earth.

For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus,

Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The Mar Thoma Church stands with the text here, and it should be said plainly. There is "one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5), and Christ "ever liveth to make intercession" (Hebrews 7:25). A prayer to the saints sets another go-between beside him, and the church saw that and cut it out. The Bible also tells us to remember faithful men and run as they ran, "seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1), and remembering them as examples is not wrong. What is left is a matter of care. The liturgy still blesses Mary and the holy ones by name in the middle of the Qurbana, and a congregation hearing it every week can slide from honoring to calling on them. The church has taken the harder step its parent did not take, and it should guard the line it drew.

The Malankara Orthodox keep prayers to the saints, as the chart on the Oriental Orthodox Churches shows. The Mar Thoma removed them from the book.

Seven sacraments and the oil of Mooron

The church keeps seven sacraments, including anointing with consecrated oil after baptism and priestly absolution; the reform named baptism and the Supper as the two Christ commanded.

The church counts seven sacraments: baptism, the anointing with Mooron, confession, the Holy Qurbana, marriage, ordination and the anointing of the sick. Its liturgist explains that "Baptism and Holy Communion are the two Sacraments directly commanded by Christ and clearly evidenced by the gospels and the Epistles," and he calls them the "Dominical Sacraments" of the reformed churches The Mooron, which the bishop consecrates, is put on the forehead and other parts of the body after baptism and is used to sanctify new church buildings. The minister declares absolution after a public confession.

Baptism and Holy Communion are the two Sacraments directly commanded by Christ and clearly evidenced by the gospels and the Epistles.

Mooron is also used to sanctify the water used for baptism, the new church buildings and the altar table

Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,

Is any among you sick? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The church is right to name baptism and the Supper as the two the Lord commanded. Its anointing of the sick follows James, who tells the sick to "call for the elders of the church" (James 5:14). But the Mooron is not in the book of Acts. The Spirit was given there "through the laying on of the apostles’ hands" (Acts 8:18), and Peter promised the gift in baptism itself: "be baptized" and "ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). A bishop's oil for infants, without which the church's own liturgist says baptism is not completed, adds a second step the text does not know and takes the place of apostles' hands that are no longer on earth. The church counts five more rites as sacraments than the Lord's two.

The church year, with fasts and feasts

The church keeps a calendar of seasons, Lents and feasts, and a lectionary that sets a theme for each Sunday.

The church follows the Eastern church year, which begins with the Sanctification of the Church, near the end of October, and runs through Annunciation, a twenty-five day Lent before Christmas, Epiphany, the Fast of Nineveh, the Great Lent of fifty days, Passion Week, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. It has a Fast of the Apostles in June, the Transfiguration in August, and a fast in honor of Mary in August. Its liturgist describes the year as "the unfolding of the mysteries of Christ through the prayers of the church in the course of one year," and says the lectionary "is Eastern, Evangelical (reformed) and Ecumenical in nature."

The liturgical year is the unfolding of the mysteries of Christ through the prayers of the church in the course of one year.

the lectionary of the Mar Thoma church is Eastern, Evangelical (reformed) and Ecumenical in nature.

Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years. I am afraid of you, lest by any means I have bestowed labor upon you in vain.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day: which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

The apostles gave the church one day, the first day of the week, and no yearly calendar. Paul rebuked the Galatians, "Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years" (Galatians 4:10), and told the Colossians that no one should judge them "in respect of a feast day" (Colossians 2:16). Where such days are kept to the Lord as a matter of private choice, they are free (Romans 14:6). But this church fixes them for every congregation by its lectionary and its Lents, and so what the apostles left free it has made a rule. The readings are from Scripture and the church does not call the days a means of salvation, but a Lent bound on every parish is still a rule the apostles did not make.

The Maramon Convention

A yearly convention for preaching and hearing the Word, held on the sandbed of the Pampa River at Maramon since the 1890s, which the church's history calls the largest annual Christian convention in Asia.

The church says the convention began in the years of the reformers' losses, when the people turned to God. Its history calls the convention "a powerful platform for evangelism, spiritual renewal, and social reform." The church's heritage page gives the year as 1896 and says the church has been "holding annually for over a century" a convention that is "a source of great spiritual power and inspiration for innumerable people." The church's page for 2026 names the 131st convention. Wikipedia puts the first one in March 1895 and describes ten days on the sand of the Pampa River beside Maramon church.

The Maramon Convention (Evangelistic Meeting) was started about this time in the year 1896.

The famous Maramon Convention which we have been holding annually for over a century, is a source of great spiritual power and inspiration for innumerable people.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

A great gathering for the preaching of the word is what the apostles did. The Bereans were praised because they received the word "examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11), and the Lord's last command was to "make disciples of all the nations" and teach them "to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20). A convention that puts the Scriptures before the people, in their own language, is on the apostles' road. The church tells how it began in the sorrow of the lost lawsuits, and how the losses "were forgotten in the zeal of spiritual fulfillment." A convention is only as good as what is preached in it, and the sources do not report its sermons, so the church is credited for the plan and not for every year.

Full communion with the Anglicans and other churches

The church is in full communion with the Anglican Communion, the Church of South India and the Church of North India, and calls itself a bridge church.

The church's page says, "The Church is regarded as a 'bridge' church in the ecumenical world." In 1961 the church and the Anglican Church in India agreed on a concordat. The church's liturgist writes: "The Mar Thoma Church is in full communion with the worldwide Anglican communion." Bishops of each church take part in the consecrations of the other.

The Church is regarded as a 'bridge' church in the ecumenical world.

a concordat was agreed upon in 1961 establishing a communion relationship between the two Churches

that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me.

giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.

Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.

The Lord prayed "that they may all be one" (John 17:21), and Paul bids us keep "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3). The Mar Thoma are right to seek it. But the text puts the unity in "one faith" (Ephesians 4:5), the faith "once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3). The Anglican churches it joins also keep bishops over many congregations and baptize infants, so the bond is made across points that Scripture has not settled their way. Unity made by agreements between hierarchies is not what the apostles taught. It comes from all of us standing on the one book.

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. Each position above is set against it, and the wall below shows how far each one stands from it. Choose a course to read the Scripture and the reason. The Mar Thoma Church did something few ancient churches have done. It went back to the Bible and cut away what it found there was no warrant for. The question is how far that road went, and where it stopped.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

The church stands nearer the line here than its parent, and it should be said first. It names "the Holy Bible as the basis for all matters of faith and doctrine," and it put that into practice in the 1830s, when it measured the liturgy by Scripture and cut out what did not stand. The Bereans did the same, "examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). But the church has not stopped at the Bible. It binds the Nicene Creed beside it and honors three councils and the Fathers in its prayers, and its liturgist says the faith lies "embedded in the liturgy" and not in a written statement. Inspired Scripture leaves the man of God "complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (2 Timothy 3:17), and the church is "not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). A creed that agrees with Scripture does not need to be bound, and a liturgy that is the home of the faith can carry what the Bible does not teach, as the Mooron shows.

The wording of the Overview, that the creed is held "as formulated in accordance with Scripture," places the creed under the Bible, and that is the right order. The church's weakness is not that it ranks tradition above Scripture. It is that the test is applied only to the points the reformers raised, and the rest of the inherited book was left as it was.

for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory.

But when they believed Philip preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

The church teaches what the apostle taught, that we are saved "by grace" "through faith" and "not of works" (Ephesians 2:8-9), and it said so at the cost of its property. It joins baptism to "the remission of your sins," as Peter did (Acts 2:38), and it dips the child in the water, which is nearer the burial of Romans 6 than sprinkling. But those in Acts who "believed Philip" were "baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12), and the command is "Repent ye, and be baptized" (Acts 2:38). A child cannot repent or believe, so godparents answer for it, and no verse sends an answer for another. The church's own teacher says that "The personal conviction of the believers is a must," which is what the infant lacks. The church then adds the Mooron after baptism, and its liturgist says the effect of baptism is completed only with it, though Peter promised the gift of the Spirit with baptism itself. This course stands midway, because the church holds the right gospel and the right reason for baptism and gives it to those who cannot yet obey.

The church baptizes adults who come to faith as well, as Wikipedia reports, so the pattern of the New Testament is known to it. The line to draw is the one between the new convert and the child of a member: what the church keeps for the convert, the text asks of every candidate.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

The church does here what the Oriental Orthodox did not. It removed the prayers that "overemphasized the sacrificial aspect," it gives both the bread and the cup, and it will not celebrate without the people, which is the New Testament picture of a supper eaten together. Its words of institution come straight from Paul: "ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come" (1 Corinthians 11:26). But it did not stop calling the Supper a sacrifice. Its people still "offer" a "service of bloodless sacrifice" and ask in the same breath that God "blot away all the sins," and its priests are ordained to offer "at the altar." The Lord "offered one sacrifice for sins for ever" (Hebrews 10:12), and "where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin" (Hebrews 10:18). The Supper remembers that offering; it does not offer it again in any form. Nor is the day kept: the church's own parishes list Communion on the second and fourth Sundays, or the first and third, where Acts 20:7 binds every first day. The course stands close to the line, held back by the sacrifice language and the Sundays without the Supper.

The phrase "bloodless sacrifice" is all but the same as the "unbloody sacrifice" the Oriental Orthodox speak of in their Qurbana. The Mar Thoma reform took out what that phrase had gathered around it, the prayers for the dead and the talk of the bread changing, but kept the phrase. If the church were to remove the offering from its liturgy and set the Supper on every first day, this course would stand on the line.

Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

In the New Testament the elders and the bishops are one office, plural in every church: Paul told the elders of Ephesus that the Spirit "hath made you bishops" (Acts 20:28), and Titus was to "appoint elders in every city" (Titus 1:5). The Mar Thoma Church has one Metropolitan "serving as the supreme head" over bishops, who each have charge over many parishes, and priests who serve under them, and its liturgist says the three degrees hold "different degree of authority" by ordination. That is a ladder the apostles did not build. Credit is due: the church joins a representative assembly of clergy and laity to its bishops, it says the laity "has full participation in the priestly ministry," and it has no pope. The church has not ordained women, and on that point it stands with the text, which asks that a bishop be "the husband of one wife" (1 Timothy 3:2). But a bishop over a diocese and a Metropolitan over the bishops are what the New Testament pattern does not have.

The line of bishops is the other part of this. Its bishops keep the line of the Syrian church through the Malabar Independent bishops, and the church's liturgist says Abraham Malpan "was not ready to give up the Apostolic tradition and a valid episcopate." He also writes that "The church which has the apostolic succession has inherited this power" to forgive and retain sins. The New Testament passes on the apostles' teaching, "the things which thou hast heard from me" (2 Timothy 2:2), not a power carried by a chain of hands. The apostles ordained "elders in every church" (Acts 14:23), and the proof of an elder is that he is "blameless" and "apt to teach," not whose hands were laid on him.

howbeit in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

This is the place where the church stands nearest the line, and the credit is large. The old Syriac service, which "the people did not understand," is now in Malayalam, and Paul would "rather speak five words with my understanding" in the church than "ten thousand words in a tongue" (1 Corinthians 14:19). The Bible is read and preached, as the church's history says. The prayers to Mary and the saints and for the dead were taken out because, in the church's words, Christ is the only mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). That is a plain return to the text, and very few ancient churches have done it. What remains is smaller. The liturgy is a fixed written order with set responses, where the apostles had singing and teaching "with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Colossians 3:16), and the service still has incense, vestments and a curtain. The apostles' churches sang, "singing and making melody with your heart" (Ephesians 5:19), and the organ that some Mar Thoma parishes have added is not in that worship. The course stands near the line but not on it.

The church still honors Mary and the saints by name in the middle of the Qurbana, and it observes a fast for Mary. That is why the course is not on the line. It is a remaining habit, not a doctrine, and it is the part of the old service that will most easily slip back into prayer.

Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? have all gifts of healings? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

The church's pages make no claim to tongues or miracles as proof of the Spirit, and the church ties the gift to baptism, as Peter did: "ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). It asks for "renewal in Spirit" for the work of the gospel, and that is a good prayer. But it gives the gift again through the bishop's Mooron, an oil made to stand in for the apostles' hands, for in Acts the Spirit was given "through the laying on of the apostles’ hands" (Acts 8:18). The apostles' hands were the sign of that age, and the oil is a later rite, no part of "the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3). This course stands where the other Oriental churches stand on the oil, and further from the line than the church stands on the word.

The sources do not say what the church teaches about the gifts as miracles, so this verdict rests on what they do say: the Spirit in baptism and the Mooron.

And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment;

For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that they that would pass from hence to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from thence to us.

But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

The church's own account says it threw out purgatory and prayers for the dead, and that is the plain teaching of the text: "it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment" (Hebrews 9:27), and each one receives "the things done in the body" (2 Corinthians 5:10), with a gulf fixed that none may cross (Luke 16:26). The church confesses the resurrection and the second coming, and it hopes as Paul did for "them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 4:14). The one thing left is the remembrance of the faithful departed in the Qurbana, which asks that we be gathered with them. That asks nothing for the dead, so it does not go against the text. The course stands very near the line.

The church should keep the line it drew. The Qurbana once carried prayers for the dead, and what is left, the commemoration, should not be allowed to grow back into them.

The Mar Thoma Church holds much that the New Testament teaches, and it should be said plainly. It holds the Bible as the basis of its faith. It teaches salvation by grace through faith, and it paid for that teaching with its property and its seminary. It reads the Scriptures and holds the Qurbana in Malayalam, the language of the people, and it preaches the word. It took out the prayers to the saints and for the dead because "Christ is the only mediator." It gives both the bread and the cup, and it will not celebrate the Qurbana without the people. It has put away private confession to a priest and the doctrine of purgatory. It gathers its people each year at a convention to hear the word, and its missionary work has grown across India and the world. It has kept its faith through lawsuits, loss and long separation.

Measured by the New Testament alone, the Mar Thoma Church stands nearer the line than most churches that came down from the ancient East, and nearer than the church it came out of. It took the Bible and tested old worship by it, and much that had no warrant it cut out: the prayers to the saints, the prayers for the dead, the prayers that overemphasized the sacrifice, the private confessional, the Syriac the people could not follow. That is the work of the Berean spirit.

But it did not go all the way. Its people still offer the Qurbana as "this service of bloodless sacrifice," and many of its parishes do not keep the Supper every first day. It baptizes infants on the word of their godparents, and adds an oil without which baptism is not counted complete. It rules by a Metropolitan and bishops over many congregations, where the apostles left elders in every church. It binds a calendar of Lents and feasts, and a fixed order of service, and some of its parishes have brought the organ into worship. It has bound the Nicene Creed beside Scripture and remembers the early councils in its prayers. It has joined itself in full communion to churches that keep bishops and infant baptism too.

None of this is contempt for them. These are brothers who put the Bible first when it cost them their buildings. The answer to them is to ask them to carry the same measure one step further: to take the Bible as the one rule for their children's baptism, for their bishops, for their calendar and for the days when they eat the Supper, and to trust that "the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3) is enough.

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