Ecclesial Identity of the Syro Malabar Church: A Re-Reading in the Context of Her all India and Global Presence

Abstract

The ‘Catholic’ character of the one Church of Christ is visibly manifested in her rich diversity of ecclesial traditions, theological heritages and cultural backgrounds, as clearly seen in the early Church and strongly affirmed by the ecumenical council of Vatican II. It is the right time for the universal Church to learn to breathe with her two lungs, the lung of the East and the lung of the West. To be more precise, unlike human beings, the Church needs to learn to breathe once again. with her ‘three lungs,’ the Syriac Orient, the Greek East and the Latin West. The Syro Malabar Church, being a flourishing Oriental Church has a rich apostolic heritage and patrimony. The term Mar Thoma Margam with its different dimensions, best expresses her ecclesial identity. Now the time has come to re-read her ecclesial identity in the context of her all-India and global context.