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 Jacobite Syrian Church | |
|---|---|
 Patriarch Ignatius Zaka I Iwas Centre inKochi | |
| Abbreviation | JSC |
| Type | Autonomousmaphrianate |
| Classification | Christian |
| Orientation | |
| Scripture | Peshitta Vishudha Grandham |
| Theology | Oriental Orthodox Theology |
| Polity | Episcopal polity |
| Patriarch | Ignatius Aphrem II |
| Catholicos | Baselios Joseph[1] |
| Church | Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch[2] |
| Region | India andNasaraniMalayali Diaspora |
| Language | Malayalam, English,Hindi,Syriac,Tamil,Kannada |
| Liturgy | West Syriac Rite Divine Liturgy of Saint James |
| Headquarters | Patriarch Ignatius Zaka I Iwas Centre (Patriarchal Centre) PuthencruzKochi India |
| Founder | Saint Thomas the Apostle |
| Origin | |
| Branched from | Malankara Church[2][7] |
| Members | 483,000 in Kerala (2011)[8] |
| Official News Portal | JSC news |
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TheJacobite Syrian Christian Church,[9][10][11][12] also known as theMalankara Syriac Orthodox Church,[13]Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church,[14] or theSyriac Orthodox Church in India[15][16] is an autonomousmaphrianate[17] of theSyriac Orthodox Church of Antioch based inKerala, India and a part of theOriental Orthodox Churches. It is headed by the Catholicos of India,Mor Baselios Joseph, within the hierarchy of Syriac Orthodox Church.[18]
According to tradition, it was founded bySaint Thomas the Apostle.[19] It is currently the only church inMalankara that maintains the hierarchy of the Syriac Orthodox Church under the Holy See of Antioch. The church employs theWest Syriac Rite'sLiturgy of Saint James.[20][21][22]
In the aftermath of theCouncil of Chalcedon, EmperorJustinian I who supported theChalcedonians, exiledPatriarchSeverus of Antioch to Egypt, for refusing to accept the council, and professingMiaphysitism. The Syriac Orthodox Church is the church of Antioch that continued to accept Severus aspatriarch until his death in 538 AD. During this turbulent time for the church,Jacob Baradaeus was consecrated as bishop with the support ofEmpress Theodora and he led and revived the church.[23] The term "Jacobite" was originally used as a derogatory word for Miaphysites from the church of Antioch, but were later embraced by the church.
According to Indian Christian tradition, the Saint Thomas Christians ofKerala were evangelized byThomas the Apostle, who reached Malankara in 52 CE.[19] The dominant view[7] is that the entirety of the Saint Thomas Christian community gradually gravitated towards the PersianChurch of the East headed by the Catholicos-Patriarch ofSeleucia-Ctesiphon, and became part of itsarchdiocese of Rev Ardashir, by 420 CE,[24][25][26] which lasted till the arrival of Portuguese colonists in the 16th century.[27] The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church however maintains that Saint Thomas Christians always acknowledged the ecclesiastical pre-eminence of thePatriarch of Antioch over the "East", which covers Persia and India, based on the canons of the ecumenical councils ofNicaea andConstantinople.[7] The Jacobite church further argues that the Persian bishops who governed Saint Thomas Christians, recognized the supremacy of the Patriarch of Antioch before 500 CE. However, it acknowledges the perpetual connections with the Church of the East from the 14th to 16th centuries.[7]
In the 16th century, the overtures of thePortuguesePadroado to bring the Saint Thomas Christians into theLatin Church of the Catholic Church led to the first of several rifts in the community due to Portuguese colonialists, and the establishment of theSyro-Malabar Catholic Church. Since then, further splits have occurred, and the Saint Thomas Christians are now divided into several factions.
Saint Thomas Christians were administratively under the single native dynastic leadership of an archdeacon (a native ecclesiastical head with spiritual and temporal powers, deriving from the Greek termarkhidiākonos) and were in communion with the church in the Middle East from at least 496 AD.[28] The indigenous Church of Malabar/Malankara followed the faith and traditions handed over by the apostle St. Thomas. In the 16th century, the PortugueseJesuits deliberately attempted to annex the native Christians to the Catholic Church, and in 1599 they succeeded through theSynod of Diamper. Resentment against these forceful measures caused the majority of the community under Archdeacon Thomas to swear an oath never to submit to the Portuguese, known as theCoonan Cross Oath, in 1653.
Meanwhile, theDutch East India Company defeated the Portuguese and gained supremacy over the spice trade in Malabar in 1663. The Malankara church used this opportunity to escape from Catholic persecution with the company's help. At the church's request, the Dutch broughtGregorius Abdul Jaleel ofJerusalem, a bishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church, aboard their trading vessel in 1665. The Malankara Church consolidated underArchdeacon Thoma welcomedGregorios Abdal Jaleel, who regularized the canonical ordination of Thoma as a bishop. The Malankara Church gradually adoptedWest Syriac liturgy and practices.
As part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, the church has continued to use the adopted West Syriac liturgy, and as of the 21st century, has dioceses in most parts of India as well as in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Western Europe, thePersian Gulf, Australia, and New Zealand. In 2003 it was estimated that the church had 1,000,000 (includingKnanaya) members globally.[29]
Theliturgical service is calledHoly Qurbono in theSyriac language. The Liturgy of Saint James is celebrated on Sundays and special occasions. The Holy Eucharist consists ofGospel reading,Bible readings, prayers, and songs. Apart from certain readings, prayers are sung in the form ofchants andmelodies. Hundreds of melodies remain preserved in the book known asBeth Gazo.[30] Liturgy is done every Sunday and on feast days, traditionally done every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday (which only some churches follow nowadays).[31]
The official Bible of the church is thePeshitta or its Malayalam translation,Vishudhagrandham(വിശുദ്ധ ഗ്രന്ഥം).[32]
There are 7 hours of prayers in the Syriac Orthodox Church, in accordance withPsalms 119:164. The Hours are: Vespers (Ramsho - 6pm), Compline (Sootoro - 9pm), Midnight (Lilyo - 12am), Matins (Saphro-6am), Third Hour (Tloth sho' - 9am), Sixth Hour (Sheth sho - 12pm), and Ninth Hour (tsha' sho - 3pm).[33]
The Jacobite Syrian Christians pray from theShehimo duringcanonical hours in accordance withPsalm 119. In 1910, Reverend Konattu Mathen Malpan translated the prayer book of the Syrian orthodox church into Malayalam, known as Pampakuda Namaskaram, with permission fromIgnatius Abded Aloho II.[34][35] It is the common prayer book of Syrian Orthodox Christians in India.
Prayers are done facing the East, and churches are normally built facing the East, in accordance withMatthew 24:27.
The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, as a part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, rejects theCouncil of Chalcedon along with the rest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches.[36] The church believes in the faith as proclaimed by the three EcumenicalCouncils of Nicaea,Constantinople, andEphesus. The church confesses Trinitarianism, that God, who is one in essence, subsists in threehypostasis, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is Unbegotten, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father. The Trinity is one Godhead, having one will, one word, and one lordship.[37]
The church believes in the incarnation of God the Son, who is Jesus Christ, of the Virgin Mary, who they teach was cleansed by the Holy Spirit of all natural impurity, filling her with the Father's grace. The church confesses that Christ has one incarnate nature, that is fully human and fully God (miaphysitism). This union is natural, free of all separateness, intermixture, confusion mingling, change, and transformation. The church maintains that at the time of Christs death, his body separated from his soul, and his divinity did not depart from either.[38]
The Malankara Church has accepted miaphysitism since early on, per pictorial evidence in St. Mary's Knanaya Church of Kottayam,Piravom Church, andMulanthuruthy Church dating to the first millennium.[39]
In punishment by the cross (was) the suffering on this one; He who is true Christ and God above, and Guide ever Pure
— Inscription of St. Mary's Knanaya Church, Kottayam[40]
The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church of India established bySaint Thomas the Apostle believes inapostolic succession within the hierarchy of theSyriac Orthodox Church, within theOriental Orthodox Communion.
It is under theHoly See of Antioch, established bySaint Peter, which was confirmed as a patriarchate in theCouncil of Nicaea, along with theHoly See of Alexandria, and the Holy See of Rome. All bishops of the East must be in communion with the patriarch of Antioch. A bishop in the East who is not in communion with the Holy See of Antioch is considered invalid by the church.
The highest rank in the ecclesiastical hierarchy is thepatriarch of Antioch, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church, who became thefirst among equals of theDiocese of the East as stated by theCouncil of Nicaea (Canon 6). The second among equals is themaphrian, known nowadays as theCatholicos of India, and is the head of the Jacobite Syrian Church in India, and first among the Syriac Orthodox bishops in India. There are also archbishops, and bishops.
Three ranks of hierarchy
There are three ranks of priesthood in the Syriac Orthodox Church:
The church believes in the intercessions of the Mother of God and all the Saints. The church holds the place ofSaint Mary as the Mother of God as affirmed by the Council of Ephesus, with the title ofTheotokos(Θεοτόκος) in Greek,Yoldath Aloho(ܝܠܕܬ ܐܠܗܐ) in Syriac, orDaiva Mathavu (ദൈവമാതാവ്) in Malayalam. The church also considers Saint Thomas the Apostle as its patron saint, the Apostle of India (ܫܠܝܚܐ ܕܗܢܕܘܐ Shleehe d'Hendo). Its most venerated relics include theHoly Girdle ofSaint Mary and the relics ofSaint Thomas the Apostle.[42] The church of India also venerates other saints, local saints, church fathers, martyrs, aligned with the practices of the entireSyriac Orthodox Church.
The JSC and MOSC regularly engage in disputes over the position of thePatriarch of Antioch of theSyriac Orthodox Church, and his authority over the Malankara Church. The conflict with MOSC started in 1912, when the Malankara MetropolitanDionysius Vattesseril was suspended by thePatriarch of Antioch,Ignatius Abded Aloho II. This caused Vattesseril to go to the deposed Patriarch,Ignatius Abded Mshiho II, to get an autocephalous Catholicate established in Malankara. After years of conflict the church reunited in 1955, under the Patriarchate of Antioch, with an autonomous Maphrianate, leading to the subsequent enthronement ofBaselios Augen I asCatholicos of the East. However, in 1974, the Catholicate sought to remove the Patriarch from his authority over Malankara, leading to Augen I being suspended by the Syriac Orthodox Synod of 1975 from his position, and the enthronement ofBaselios Paulose II asCatholicos of the East, causing a second split into the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church (who supported the Synod) and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (who rejected the Synod).[43]
The MOSC proclaims the general agreement of territorial jurisdictions integral to the Orthodox churches around the world and alleges that the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate illegally interferes in the temporal matters of the Malankara Church. The JSC lost many of its prominent churches to the Malankara Orthodox after the Supreme Court of India's verdict, despite having absolute majority in many of those churches.[44] After the long struggle for talks on churches that were dismissed by Malankara Orthodox, the Jacobite Syrian Church decided to end their sacramental relationship with them in 2022.[45]
Aside from the ecumenical agreements by theSyriac Orthodox Church, and the larger communion being theOriental Orthodox Churches, the JSC also has begun ecumenical partnerships between the Roman Catholics. According to the agreement ofPatriarch Ignatius Zakka I andPope John Paul II, the Syriac Orthodox Church andCatholic Church have a relationship between sacraments of penance, Eucharist and anointing of the sick for a grave spiritual need. There are also set rules and guidelines, within this agreement specifically for interfaith marriages between the Malankara Syriac Orthodox and theSyro-Malankara Catholic churches.[46][47]
By the fourth century, the bishops of Antioch, Alexandria and Rome became the heads of the regional churches, and were known as patriarchs. In the seventh century, the Syriac Orthodox Christians who lived outside the Roman Empire began using the title of "maphrian", for their head. This office ranked right below the Patriarch of Antioch in Syriac Orthodox church hierarchy, until it was abolished in 1860 and reinstated in 1964 in India.
TheMaphrian of India (Catholicos) is an ecclesiastical office of theSyriac Orthodox Church and the local head of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church. He is the head of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, which is a part of the Syriac Orthodox Church. The jurisdiction of Catholicos is limited to India so to avoid disambiguation and avoid legal issues. The Syriac Orthodox Church uses the title Catholicos of India, distinct fromCatholicos of the East.[48]
The Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, an Orthodox church in Malankara (Kerala, India) is an integral part of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church with the Patriarch of Antioch, His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II as its supreme head. The local head of the church in Malankara is the Catholicose of the east, His Beatitude Aboon Mor Baselios Thomas I, ordained by and accountable to the Patriarch of Antioch.
Traditionally, the Holy Qurbono, i.e. Eucharist, is celebrated every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Presently, only monasteries observe the Wednesday and Friday Holy Qurbono. Monasteries, and some churches, observe daily prayers known as shhimo 'simple [prayers]'.
In accordance with Psalm 119, verse 164, "Seven times in the day have I praised thee for thy judgments, O Righteous One," the Syriac Orthodox Church set the times for prayer to seven: Evening or ramsho prayer (Vespers), Drawing of the Veil or Sootoro prayer (Compline), Midnight or lilyoprayer, Morning or saphro prayer (Matins), the Third Hour or tloth sho`in prayer (Prime, 9 a.m.), the Sixth Hour or sheth sho`in prayer (Sext, noon) and the Ninth Hour or tsha` sho`in prayer (Nones, 3 p.m.). The midnight prayer consists of three qawme 'watches' (literally 'standing').
The faith of the Syriac Orthodox Church is in accordance with the Nicene Creed. It believes in the Trinity, that is one God, subsisting in three separate persons called the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The three being of one Essence, of one Godhead, have one Will, one Work and one Lordship. The special aspect of the First Person is His Fatherhood, that of the Second Person His Sonship, and that of the Third Person His Procession.
Episcopate: Within it there are the ranks of Patriarch, Catholicos, archbishop, and bishop.
Vicarate: Within it there are the ranks of chor-episcopos and priest or qasheesho.
Deaconate: Within it there are the ranks of archdeacon, evangelical-deacon, subdeacon, lector or qoruyoand singer or mzamrono.
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