Syro Malabar Church
| Syro-Malabar Catholic Church ܥܹܕܬܵܐ ܕܡܲܠܲܒܵܪ ܣܘܼܪܝܵܝܵܐ സീറോ മലബാർ കത്തോലിക്കാ സഭ |
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| Founder | St. Thomas the Apostle |
| Independence | Apostolic Era |
| Recognition | from 4th century to 1599 (with the Church of the East); from 1599 ( with the Catholic Church); from 1887 Metropolitan ; from 1992 Major Archiepiscopal to Patriarchate |
| Primate | H. B. Cardinal Mar George Alencherry |
| Headquarters | St. Thomas Mount, Kochi, Kerala, India |
| Territory | India |
| Possessions |
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| Language | Malayalam, Syriac and English |
| Members | 5.01 million |
| Bishops | 57 |
| Parishes | 2,997 [2] |
| Website | Official site |
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church (Aramaic: ܥܹܕܬܵܐ ܕܡܲܠܲܒܵܪ ܣܘܼܪܝܵܝܵܐ, Edtha d'Malabar Suryaya; Malayalam: സീറോ മലബാർ കത്തോലിക്കാ സഭ, sīṟēā malabār kattēālikkā sabha) or Church of Malabar Syrian Catholics is an Eastern Catholic Major Archiepiscopal Church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. It is one of the twenty-three sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic communion. The Church is headed by Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry of the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly in Kerala, India. The members of the Church are or have been known at various times as Roman Catholic Syrian Christians (RCSC), Syrian Catholics, Catholicka Kaldaya Suriyani, Catholicka Nasranis, St. Thomas Christians, or Catholics. It is the largest of the Nasrani denominations with around 5.01 million believers and traces its origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church follows a Latinised variant of the East Syrian Rite liturgy, traditionally attributed to saints Addai and Mari, which dates back to 3rd century Edessa, and like the Chaldean Rite is a Syro-Oriental Rite. It is the second largest Eastern Catholic Church, the largest being the Ukrainian Catholic Church. It is one of the two Eastern Catholic Churches from India, the other being the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church which follows the West Syrian Rite liturgy. Saint Alphonsa is the first canonized saint from the Church. Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Euphrasia Eluvathingal are other saints from the church.
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