| abstract | - The Saint Thomas Christians are an ancient body of Christians on the east and west coasts of India having spiritual descent from the Thomas the Apostle. Until the middle of the 17th century, the Thomas Christians were all one in faith and rite. There after, divisions arose among them, and consequently they are today Catholics and non-Catholics of different rites, the latter belonging to different denominations. After the Coonan Cross Oath, between 1661 and 1662, out of the 116 churches, the Carmelites reclaimed eighty-four churches, leaving Archdeacon Mar Thomas I only thirty-two churches. The eighty-four churches and their congregations were the body from which the Syro Malabar Catholic Church have descended. The other thirty-two churches and their congregations were the body from which the Syriac Orthodox (Jacobites & Orthodox), Thoziyur (1772), Mar Thoma (Reformed Syrians) (1874), Syro Malankra Catholics have originated. In 1665 Mar Gregorios, a Bishop send by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch arrived in India and the dissident group under the leadership of the Archdeacon welcomed him. Though most of the Thomas Christians gradually relented in their strong opposition to the Western control, the arrival of the Bishop Mar Gregory of the Syriac Orthodox Church in 1665 marked the beginning of a formal schism among the Thomas Christians. Those who accepted the West Syrian theological and liturgical tradition of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioich of Mar Gregory became known as the New Party (Puthankuttukar). The Old Party (Pazhayakuttukar) remained in communion with Rome and they came to be known later as the Syro Malabar Catholic Church. Now these are the Churches with Saint Thomas Christian tradition :
* Eastern Catholic Churches:
* the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church (East Syrian Rite)
* the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church (West Syrian Rite)
* Oriental Orthodox:
* the Indian (Malankara) Orthodox Church (West Syrian Rite)
* the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church (West Syrian Rite)
* Assyrian Church of the East
* the Chaldean Syrian Church (East Syrian Rite)
* Independent:
* the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. West Syrian Rite
* the Malabar Independent Syrian Church, West Syrian Rite
* the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India. Their traditions go back to the first century Christian thought, and the seven churches established by St. Thomas the Apostle during his mission in Malabar. These are at Kodungalloor (Muziris), Paravur, Palayoor, Kokkamangalam, Niranam, Chayal (Nilackal) and Kollam.
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