Malankara (Indian) Orthodox Church is an ancient Church of India and it traces its
origin to as far back as A. D. 52 when St. Thomas one of the Disciples of Jesus
Christ came to India and established Christianity in the South Western parts of
the sub -continent. The St. Thomas Christians or the Indian Syrian Christians exist
at present in different churches and denominations. But a major section of the parent
body of St. Thomas Christians which has maintained its independent nature constitute
The Orthodox Church under the Catholicate of the East on the Apostolic Throne of
St. Thomas and the Malankara Metropolitan with Headquarters at Devalokam, Kerala
in India. The Church, though modern in its vision and outlook, keeps the traditional
oriental Orthodox faith and liturgy. It accepts the first three Ecumenical Synods.The
liturgy now in use is the translation of the liturgy adopted from the Antiochian
Church. Earlier it had relationship with the Churches of Edessa, Tigris and Selucia.
However, the liturgical rites are uniquely Indian. Today the Church uses liturgy
in Malayalam, Syriac, Hindi, Kannada, German and English. The Indian Orthodox diaspora
in Ireland scattered over several places in Ireland. This church has congregations
as well as prayer groups in Dublin, Waterford, Cork, Sligo, Drogheda and Belfast
(Northern Ireland).
