The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church

The Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht made contact with the Mar Thoma Syrian Church in 2006 with a view to strengthening the cooperation between independent Catholic churches in the World Council of Churches. Representatives of each church then visited the other to become more familiar with it. These visits were followed by a series of consultations by a theological commission that examined fundamental questions of dogmatics, ecclesiology, ethics and history. The dialogue commission drew up three statements based on its consultations: the Santhigiri Statement (2011), the Hippolytus Statement (2012) and the Munnar Statement (2014).

Following the three consultations, the members of the commission concluded that the two churches share the same faith, which is also the faith of the Old Church. They therefore regard it as highly desirable to formally establish a relationship of church communion analogous to the relationship each church has with the Anglican Communion. Based on this conviction, the commission submitted its findings to the Episcopal Synod of the Mar Thoma Church and the International Bishops’ Conference of the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht in February 2014 for further consideration.

This information is out of date and is currently being updated. Read about the full communion between both churches here.