Synod of Diamper
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The Synod of Diamper, held at Udayamperoor (Kerala, India) formally united the Saint Thomas Christians with the Catholic Church. It convened on June 20, 1599 by Aleixo de Menezes, Archbishop of Goa to deal with the problem of Nestorianism. At that time, changes were made to the liturgy (known as the Holy Qurbana) to make it conform to Western theology.
The result of the synod was unfortunate. As the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) explains:
- "The only case in which an ancient Eastern rite has been wilfully romanized is that of the Uniat Malabar Christians, where it was not Roman authority but the misguided zeal of Alexius de Menezes, Archbishop of Goa, and his Portuguese advisers at the Synod of Diamper (1599) which spoiled the old Malabar Rite."
In 1653 a group swore the Coonan Cross Oath not to obey the Jesuit missionaries. The Saint Thomas Christians who gathered at Mattancherry near Fort Kochi under the leadership of the archdeacon to receive a bishop, Mar Gregory, from the Syriac Orthodox Church of West Syrian tradtiion (though the Saint Thomas Christians had been of East Syrian tradition) took the oath.
Those who accepted Mar Gregory became known as the New Party (Puthankuttukar) and remain out of communion with Rome to this day. The Old Party (Pazhayakuttukur) remained in communion with Rome and constitutes the Syro-Malabar Church.
