Our Origin
Nearly two thousand years of Apostolic and Antiochian tradition
From the Apostle Thomas to the Church of Antioch
The Christian community of Kerala, India traces its origin to the advent of St Thomas the Apostle to India, who reached the Cranganore port in AD 52. Around AD 345, approximately four hundred Christian settlers from Syria arrived under the leadership of Thomas of Cana. They established themselves in the Malankara region, adopting the rites and liturgies of the Syrian Church of Antioch and becoming part of that patriarchal see — a spiritual lineage St Mary's church in Sydney continues to this day.
Centuries of resilience
Across the centuries, the Malankara Church weathered significant external pressures: Nestorian bishops arrived in 1490; Portuguese colonial authorities in the sixteenth century attempted to forcibly introduce their own teachings; a nineteenth-century split arose among European missionary sympathisers; and in the early twentieth century a group defied the Holy Church to form an independent faction.
Through each of these trials, the community expanded “against heavy odds,” aided by the continued tolerance and hospitality of many neighbourhoods and the goodwill of local rulers and chieftains. Throughout, the Church maintained its apostolic connection to the Holy See of Antioch — the same connection St Mary's church in Sydney honours today as part of the Malankara Archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church.
See how this heritage took root in Sydney