It is one of the earliest Christian churches in India. According to a local belief, the church was founded on or before the 4th century by a few Syrian Christian families who had migrated from Paravur and Angamali. The new church was established in 1338 AD by four Syrian Christian merchants who bought the entire land of Kothamangalam from a local chief for commodity trading with the nearby state of Tamil Nadu.[2]
History
Kothamangalam was a major commercial city during the Portuguese period. The Martha Mariyam Cathedral church at Kothamangalam, commonly known as Valiyapally is the oldest of all the churches in the region. Present Kothamangalam region was historically known as Malakhachira (മാലാഖച്ചിറ, which literally means "Place of the Angel").[3] The name came from a legend associated with Thomas the Apostle. According to tradition, the Apostle, during his mission in India, stayed in this region where he had a vision of archangelGabriel who instructed him to establish seven and a half churches in Malankara.[4][5][6]
According to tradition, Mar Yuhannon stayed at Kothamangalam church and had visited Angamaly Church.[3]
All the six Patriarchs of Antioch who had visited Malankara in the last two centuries came to this church as well. The last of these Patriarchal visits was that of Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II in 2015. It was during such a visit that Patriarch Ignatius Zakka Iwas I had ordained an assistant metropolitan for the diocese by name Mor Severios Abraham, at the Kothamangalam Cheriapally.
^ abJohn Mason Neale, A history of the Holy Eastern Church : the Patriarchate of Antioch, (First published 1873. Republisher: Facsimile Publisher, 2015), p.6, ff.3..
