St.Mary's Jacobite Syrian Church (Angamaly, Kochi)

The Church of the Holy Virgin Mary Mother of God at Ankamaly is an ancient church and one of the most prominent in Kerala. According to tradition, Mor Yuhannon who represented the Malankara Church at the Holy Synod of Ephesus in AD 431 stayed at Kothamangalam and had visited Ankamaly church.

It was the erstwhile seat of the Archdeacon of the Malankara Church (the local head of the Church) and hence held a pre-eminent position among churches in Malankara for many centuries. Archdeacons of Pakalomattom family who administered from Ankamaly are Gewargis Kattanar, Yakob Kattanar, Alexander Kattanar, and Gewargis Kattanar (the Second). Gewargis the Second was buried in this Church.

The Roman Catholic historian Fr. Bernard records that the Syrian Christians in Mangad, Kochi, Purakad, and Thekkumkur who were loyal to the Ankamaly Syrian church were threatened by local kings and Petty chieftans to attend the Udayamperur Synod in 1599, as commanded by the Portuguese. (Marthoma Christeeya Purapad pp. 16,19). The Raja of Cochin decreed that all assets of Syrian churches which abstain from Udayamperur Synod on 20th June 1599 will be confiscated. (The Indian Church of St. Thomas, p. 102). The Ankamaly Church defied the command and boycotted the Synod; the Portuguese historian Govaeo (quoted in Fr. Xavier Koodapuzha, Thirusabha Charithram, p. 620) states that all eighteen priests of the church abstained from the Synod. The militant Portugese bishop through threats and offers of gold and military support to the local king and chieftains managed to create a schism in the Church and established a Roman Catholic presence in Malankara. Twenty-four of the 69 churches, including the St. George's Church located next to the Church of the Mother of God at Ankamaly, came under their influence. The schism divided many families; to this day some ancient families of Ankamaly in both communities like Pynadathu have the same patronymic. The forty-five churches that remained in the mother Church, continued to be administered by the Archdeacon whose seat remained at Ankamaly.

After the Koonan Kurishu Satyam of 1653, the delegate of the Holy See of Antioch, Mor Gregorius cAbdel Jaleel of Jerusalem, arrived in Malankara and in 1685, consecrated a native of Malankara as the archbishop for Syriac Orthodox Christians of Malankara, Mor Thoma I. He was assisted during his reign by Ankamaly Vengoor Gewargis Kattanar, Kadavil Chandy Kattanar, Palliveetil Chandy Kathanar, and Anjimootil Itty Thoman Kathanar, who lead the Koonan Kurish Satyam. The seat of Mor Thoma I was at Ankamaly; he was buried in this church in 1670.

The Ankamaly Church was prominent among the 103 churches represented at the Mulunthuruthy Synod in 1876, presided by Patriarch Peter IV. Patriarch Peter IV divided Malankara, which was until then a single diocese, into six dioceses. Ankamaly was one of them with Ambat Mor Kurillos Gewargis as the first bishop. Mor Kurillos established the Trikkunath Seminary at Aluva in 1892 as the bishophric but was entombed in the Ankamaly church in accordance with his wishes.

sor.cua.edu/ChMon/Ankamaly/AnkamalyHVMary.html