Brahmavar (Goan) Orthodox Church is a part of the Indian (Malankara) Orthodox Church. This is a uniate faction from the Catholic Church formed under the leadership of Bishop Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares in 1889 AD.
The territory of Goa in south India was a colony of Portugal. Fr. Antonio who was a Roman Catholic priest at the time, opposed the ‘Concordot’ of the Pope and interference of the Government in the Church Administration. His pro-Independence periodicals which were also critical of the Roman Catholic Church were banned. He was excommunicated, stripped naked and paraded through the streets.[1] He left the Church with around hundreds of goan catholic families and joined the Malankara Orthodox Church, and the Brahmavar community has come into existence since then as a part of the Indian Orthodox Church .[2]
Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares was ordained as the first Orthodox Metropolitan of Goa-Ceylon in 1889 AD by Paulose Mar Athanasious and Gheevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala at Orthodox Pazhaya Seminary.
Presently there are about 700 families in Goa in this diocese of Indian Orthodox Church.