Saint Mary’s Greater Church | Kaduthuruthy, Kerala, India | Syro Malabar Rite | Knanaya Community | Estd 500 C.E. | A Church of Pivotal Importance in the History of Kerala Syriac Christianity | A Brief Socio-Historical Survey

Kaduthuruthy Valiyapally or Saint Mary’s Greater Church of Kaduthuruthy is a historic church of pivotal importance in Kerala Syriac Christianity.

Early History: - The church was first established in the year 500 C.E. according to the long-standing tradition of the Knanaya community. It was the first church that the community had constructed outside of their ancestral settlement at Kodungallur, the capital city of the Chera Dynasty of Kerala where they had migrated to from Persian Mesopotamia. During this time the Christians of Kerala were under the Church of the East centered in Iraq, from where they received the East Syriac liturgical tradition. - In time the church was rebuilt several times throughout its history. In its early history, the Saint Thomas Christians who did not have a church within the region, are noted to have used Kaduthuruthy for their spiritual needs as well. - Due to internal ethnic tensions, the Saint Thomas Christians departed the church and built nearby Saint Mary’s Lesser Church in 1009 C.E. The terms Valiyapally or Greater Church and Cheriyapally or Lesser Church are used in Kerala when two historic Syrian Christian churches existed directly in the same vicinity. The terms are not epithets of status, superiority, or size but instead age of the physical church structure. - In time, records of the Valiyapally’s expansion in 1456 C.E. are noted. The Knanaya had approached the Kingdom of Vadakkumkur, a central Kerala fiefdom, during the late medieval era and petitioned for the churches expansion. The Hindu Kings approved and allowed for a gopuram or entrance gate and courtyard to be included as well as the walls of the church to be extended.

Portuguese Influence and Cross-Cultural Art: - When the Portuguese arrived to Kerala at the turn of the 16th century, they had refashioned several of the existing churches of the Syrian Christians. Kaduthuruthy Saint Mary’s Church was the first church to be rebuilt in the emerging baroque style in 1590 C.E.. - The Portuguese had taught the style to local Hindu masons who carved the extravagant altar of the church and added a detailed baroque facade to the exterior. The facade, while baroque in foundation, includes several added Indian elements. For example Hindu nature spirits flank the fanning ends of the top register. - It was during this 1590 reconstruction as well that the monolith granite cross was added to back of the church. The base of the cross features several low relief carvings exhibiting biblical scenes and socio-cultural facets of the Knanaya community. In example, Saint Mary and Infant Jesus Enthroned as well as the Cross of Gogultha are showcased. - At the same time historical figures like the medieval Assyrian merchant magnate K’nai Thoma and his companion Uraha Mar Yoseph are carved in splendor. The traditional Kerala Syrian Christian artform of Margam Kali is also seen depicted. - The 1590 church and its cross were consecrated by Mar Abraham the last foreign East Syriac Bishop of the Syrian Christians of Kerala. He was initially a prelate of the Church of the East but later in life changed his allegiance to the Chaldean Catholic Church (this had in turn entered all the native Kerala Christians into allegiance with the Catholic Church). - The only unaltered element of the medieval 1456 structure which remains is the rock carved baptistery which features low relief carvings of Christ’s baptism at the river Jordan as well the Cross of Saint Thomas. Fascinatingly this is one of the few remaining pure examples of native Kerala Christian religious art.

Allegiances and Alliances: - During the 1590s, Latin Catholic Archbishop of Goa Alexio de Menezis would go on a pastoral propaganda tour in an attempt to solidify Latin Catholicism among the Kerala Syrian Christians (the Portuguese had resented the East Syriac rite, even though the native Christians were now official Chaldean Catholics and members of the Catholic Church). Around 1599 Kaduthuruthy Church would be the first church of the Kerala Syrian Christians to accept the authority of Menezis and his push for Latinization. It is noted that Menezis had performed an extravagant high mass in Latin with full instrumentation that had moved the parishioners to tears and shifted their allegiances. After Kaduthuruthy’s shift, so too would follow all nearby Syrian Christian churches, until all had accepted the Latin Catholic authority. - In the following decades, the Portuguese would push their hegemony upon the native Christians too far, culminating in the famous Leaning Cross Oath of 1653. In an act of protest, the Syrian Christian community en masse severed their ties to the Latin Church and its Portuguese medium. The community instead consecrated their own native archdeacon Thoma Parambil as now bishop Mar Thoma I. - The Saint Thomas Christians had around ~100 churches during this event, all of which were in open rebellion. The Knanaya had 5 churches, out of which 4 (including Saint Mary’s Church) staunchly remained in alliance with the Latin Church and Archbishop Garcia Mendes (a later successor of Archbishop Alexio De Menezis). - The one outlier Knanaya Church, Kallissery Saint Mary’s, played a pivotal role in this rebellion as well. The priest of Kallissery Church, Anjilimootil Itti Thoman, was a direct advisor to the now Mar Thoma I. Many Portuguese sources and modern historians highlight Itti Thomman as a major antagonist of the Portuguese who openly stoked the flames of unrest. Itti Thomman’s kin at the other 4 Knanaya churches however, remained ardently in support of the Portuguese, the only Kerala Syrian Christians to do so Post Leaning Cross Oath. - In an attempt to remedy the open turmoil in Kerala, the Vatican had sent Bishop Joseph Sebastiani to treat with the native Christians and win back their support around 1660. All however would vigorously remain in rebellion except for the four churches of the Knanaya community. - It was during this time that the Vatican realized that the majority the native Christians would only return to the Catholic fold with their own autonomous hierarchy. - This led to the consecration of Mar Chandy Parambil (the first native bishop of the Syro Malabar Church) in 1663 and the formation of the modern Syro Malabar Church. Mar Chandy was a cousin of Mar Thoma I. Both now rival hierarchs were from the priestly Parambil family of the Saint Thomas Christians, a family which had for generations carried the position of Archdeacon granted from the Church of the East upon the native Christians of Kerala. - Mar Chandy’s consecration occured at Saint Mary’s Church Kaduthuruthy. The Portuguese sources note that no other Syrian Christians supported Mar Chandy initially, except for the Knanaya community, hence why his elevation occurred in their church. - Over time Mar Chandy successfully convinced 84 native churches to rejoin the Catholic fold with 32 remaining with Mar Thoma I. The rift between these two cousins would forever divide the native Syrian Christians of India into the Syro Malabar Catholic Church and the Malankara Orthodox Church (which subsequently divided into numerous factions in the following centuries). The Syro Malabar Catholic Church is considered an “Eastern Catholic Church”, as it is apart of the Roman Catholic communion but maintains its East Syriac liturgy it inherited in ancient days.

Sources for Further Reading: - Fahlbusch, Ernst (2008). The Encyclopedia of Christianity: Volume 5. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802824172. - Frykenberg, Robert E. (2008). Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198263777. - Neill, Stephen (2004). A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-54885-3. Retrieved 8 June - Kollaparambil, Jacob (2015). Sources of the Syro Malabar Law. Oriental Institute of Religious Studies India. ISBN 9789382762287. - Swiderski, Richard Michael (1988a). "Northists and Southists: A Folklore of Kerala Christians". Asian Folklore Studies. 47 (1). Nanzan University: 73–92. doi:10.2307/1178253. JSTOR 1178253