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3.4 The Archdiocese of Kottayam
After seeing the two important elements which influenced the
traditions and ecclesiastical life of the Syro-Malabar Church, the primary
question under discussion, namely, the traditions and customs in the
Christian families in the Archdiocese of Kottayam, can be discussed. On 29
August 1911 the Vicariate Apostolic of Kottayam was erected exclusively
for the “Southist Catholics” by the Apostolic Letter “In Universi Christiani”
36
of His Holiness Pope Pius X.
3.4.1 Origin and History of the Southists

As already mentioned when analysing why the Malabar Church had
Chaldean connections (3.3.2.1), there was an immigration of seventy-two
Judeo-Christian families accompanied by Bishop Mar Joseph of Uraha, four
37
priests and a few deacons under the leadership of Thomas Kinayi. The
year of the immigration is generally believed and accepted to have been
38
A.D. 345. This Christian community remained an endogamous community
following their Judeo-Christian traditions. They co-existed peacefully in the
Indian nation and fulfilled their missionary purpose of re-invigorating the
Church of St. Thomas Christians.

As the Catholicos of the East had promised the emigrants that he
would send bishops to India, Mar Joseph of Uraha had successors till the
th
end of the 16 century. Under the East Syrian Bishops, these immigrants
and their descendents, known as Southists, had their own churches and
39
priests distinct from the other St. Thomas Christians known as Northists.
This system continued also under the Latin Rite European bishops, who
governed the St. Thomas Christians. When a ritual separation was effected
for the Catholics in Kerala between the Orientals and Latins in 1887, all the

36 Cf. KOLLAPARAMBIL, J. (ed.), Archeparchy of Kottayam Erected by St Pius X for the
Southist People: Papers Presented at Centenary Symposia, Kottayam, 2014, Appendix IV:
In Universi Christiani in AAK 1911, p. 188. See also V. VITHAYATHIL, The Origin and
Progress of the Syro-Malabar Hierarchy, Kottayam, 1980, Appendix III, p. 115.
37 Cf. KOLLAPARAMBIL, J., The Babylonian Origin of the Southists Among the St
Thomas Christians, Pont. Institutum Orientalium, Roma, 1992, p. XXIV.
38 Cf. Ibid., p. XXIII. See also P. J. PODIPARA, The Thomas Christians, St. Paul
Publications, Bombay, 1970, p.63.
39 The distinction between the Southist and Northist Communities will be explained in
3.4.2.1.

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