The St. Thomas Christians of India, known as Mar Thoma Nasranis, simply Nasranis or Syrian Christians, are Christians of India that trace their origin to Apostolic times. The ancestors of Nasranis were baptised by St. Thomas the Apostle, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ. They were once united and powerful, but at present due to historical reasons they are divided. A pictorial representation is given below.

 
Historical Divisions of Nasranis (chart)

 

The aim of Nasrani Foundation is to encourage further studies and research about St Thomas Christian community. We commit ourselves to utilise new media technologies to spread awareness of faith, tradition and heritage of Mar Thoma Nasranis. For example, we have developed a digitised dynamic liturgical calendar (see the calendar widget above), which is a handy tool to organise life according to the liturgical seasons of the Church.

For brief history of Mar Thoma Nasranis, please visit the following sections. The first chart begins from the arrival of St. Thomas the Apostle in Malabar and ends in the period just before the arrival of the Portuguese.

As shown above, the Nasranis are divided into a number of denominations. They are either independent or in communion with Churches outside the country. The second chart begins with the arrival of the Portuguese and describes the turbulent history of the community, mainly due to the attempts of the Latin hierarchy to latinise the Thomas Christians who follow the East-Syriac rite.

 

 

Nasrani Clock  

 

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Nasrani Calendar  

 

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Timeline of Mar Thoma Nasranis Historical Divisions of Mar Thoma Nasranis