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Christianity in India is the third-largest religion in that nation, following Hinduism and Islam. Abrahamic religions on the whole date back about 2500 years with the arrival of Judaism, followed by arrival of Christianity around 2000 years ago.
Christianity is believed to have come to India in two main periods, the first century missionary activity of Thomas, the disciple of Jesus, and the Western missionary activities from 1500 to 1975. Vasco da Gama, seeking pre-existing Christian colonies in India, discovered a sea route to India by circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope which caused a major influence on both the histories of Asia and Europe.
The total official number of Christians in India as per Census in 2001 are 24,080,016 or 2.34% of the population. There are three main regional concentrations of Christian population, namely in Malabar Coast, on the Konkan Coast, and among tribal people in East, Central, and North-East India. The states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh account for 60% of India's total Christian population. The Christian churches run thousands of educational institutions and hospitals contributing significantly to the development of the nation.
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Malankara Church of India is the Christian church believed to be started by St. Thomas, the apostle of Jesus Christ. Maliankara, a place near Muziris, (now known as Pattanam, near Cochin on the Malabar Coast), where Thomas the Apostle first landed in Kerala in AD 52, was the headquarters of the Indian Christian church from the 1st century AD. It is also known as Church of Malabar or Malabar Church. Hence the Christians here are known as Malankara Nazarenes , Saint Thomas Christians, Malabar Christians and Malankara Christians. The history of Indian Christianity hence started 15 centuries even before the arrival of European missionaries in India.
According to tradition, it was on a trading vessel plying between Alexandria and the Malabar Coast that St. Thomas the Apostle arrived in Kodungallur or Cranganore (കൊടുങ്ങല്ലൂര്)in AD 52. Modern developments in archaeology, anthropology, numismatics, toponymy, geography and trade route investigations have revealed evidence of the trading which forms the background to the St. Thomas tradition of Kerala. Maliankara was the headquarters of the Church of Malabar from the 1st century. (Malankara is cognate of Maliankara) and hence the church was known as the Malankara Church.
Selected picture
Roman Catholicism reached Goa during the period of European colonisation, which began in 1498 when the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrived on the Malabar coast. With the establishment of Goa Inquisition in 1560, a large section of the population became Roman Catholic.
Did you know...
- ...that Most Rev. S. Arulappa, Archbishop of Hyderabad, was the youngest to be consecrated as a Roman Catholic Archbishop in India?
- ...that the Church of South India, a union of Anglican, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches in South India, was inaugurated in 1947 at St. George's Cathedral (pictured) in Madras (now Chennai)?
- ...that the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health is one of the most frequented religious sites in India, drawing nearly 2 million pilgrims annually?
Selected biography
Mother Teresa (August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997) was an Albanian Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India in 1950. For over forty years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries.
By the 1970s she had become internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary, and book, Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of her death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools.
Following her death she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
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Foundations Christianity • Malankara Church • Syrian Malabar Nasrani • Saint Thomas Christians • Holy Apostolic Throne of St. Thomas • Malankara Metropolitans • Knanaya
Important figures Groups Chaldean Syrian Church • Church of North India • Church of South India • Indian Brethren • Indian Pentecostal Church • Jacobite Syrian Church • Malabar Independent Church • Presbyterian Church of India • Mar Thoma Church • Indian Orthodox Church • Roman Catholic Church • St. Thomas Evangelical Church • Syro-Malankara Catholic Church • Syro-Malabar Catholic ChurchEvents Things to do
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