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Definition:
Tradition has it that Thomas, one of the original tweleve apostles, traveled to India
to spread the message of Christianity through southern Asia. These events are
supposedly recorded in the Acts of the Apostle Judas Thomas, written some time around
200 CE.
Missionaries to this area in the 6th century CE found communities of Christians already living there, so some aspects of the traditions may be accurate. When they were discovered, they were employing Syriac in their liturgy and were subordinate to the catholikos of Baghdad. These Christians regard Thomas as their founder and the tomb where they believe he is buried (in Maylapur, near Madras) is treated as a shrine for the purpose of pilgimages.
There are two groups which are generally regarded as Thomas Christiains: the Malabar and the Malankara Churches, both of which have entered into union with Rome. This means that they acknowledge the supremacy of the pope, but they nevertheless retain their own traditions and rules - even when they conflict directly with those instituted by the Vatican and obeyed by Roman Catholics. This union was brought about at the Synod of Diamper on June 20, 1599 once the Nestorian elements had been eliminated.
The Malabar Christians form the largest group, consisting of about two million people located mostly in the state of Keralal on the Malabar coast of India (in the southwest). The union with Rome has not always been peaceful - a large group defected to the Syrian church in the 17th century and another schism occurred in the 19th century. Today, these Catholics call themselves the Syro-Malabar Church, have Indian bishops and have been granted their own metropolitanate of Ernakulam.
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