Two churches long in communion with the Anglican Communion celebrated a new full communion agreement with each other on February 10. Despite differences over the ordination of women and same-sex marriage, which have deeply divided Anglican churches, the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht and Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church look forward to cooperation in social justice work and ministering to migrant populations.
The service, held in St. Thomas Mar Thoma Church in Thiruvalla, Kerala, India, was conducted in Malayalam, English, and German. The Mar Thoma church is headquartered in the small city.
The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church traces its origins to the year 52 and the ministry of the Apostle Thomas. It has about 1.2 million members in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America. Theodosius Mar Thoma is the 22nd Metropolitan of the Malankara Church and the first to be born after Indian independence. He has been in office since 2020. Since 1979, the clergy of the Mar Thoma Church may serve in the Episcopal Church. An Episcopal bishop may exercise oversight of a Mar Thoma congregation at the request of its metropolitan.
With strong encouragement from Western missionaries, Mar Thoma Christians experienced a 19th-century reform that emphasized scriptural study and congregational discipleship in new ways; they also set aside the use of icons and statues in churches during that period. In 1875, the Mar Thoma Church formally separated from the Syrian Orthodox Church, though it continues to use a version of the West Syrian rite. Today, the church reports 700 missionaries, 12 hospitals, 13 nursing homes, and about 1,250 places of worship.
The Union of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Churches was organized in 1889, as a body gathering European Roman Catholic clergy and laity who rejected the doctrine of papal infallibility. It contains full-member dioceses in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and some smaller jurisdictions.
It has been in full communion with the Anglican Communion since the Bonn Agreement (1931); the Episcopal Church ratified that agreement in 1934. The Rt. Rev. Bernd Wallet, Archbishop of Utrecht, has been in office since 2021. There are about 60,000 members of the Union of Utrecht.
This new relationship reflects communion across significant differences, including doctrine and practice. The Mar Thoma Church, like other Oriental Christian churches, is pre-Chalcedonian in theological orientation and language. Old Catholic Churches, like most Western churches, affirm the Council of Chalcedon’s definition of the human and divine nature of Christ. A 15-year dialogue reached a consensus position among Mar Thoma churches that while they are pre-Chalcedonian because of historical realities, they are not anti-Chalcedonian.
The churches’ practices of ordination and marriage also have differences, but these are not seen as barriers to full communion. Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht have mainly adopted positions affirming both the ordination of women to all orders and the possibility of blessing same-sex marriages. Mar Thoma churches have since 1987 held that there are no theological impediments to the ordination of women, although they do not practice it for cultural and traditional reasons.
Both churches were founding members of the World Council of Churches in 1948. Irregular connections between independent South Indian Christians and Old Catholics adjacent to Anglicanism date to the ministry of Joseph René Vilatte in the late 19th century.
This agreement may have strong initial expressions in shared education and formation, in sacramental ministry to transnational and migrant populations, in disaster relief, and as a theological resource to other dialogues.
Old Catholic participants in the dialogue traveled to India for this year’s celebration, where they were joined by Mar Thoma theologians and a large congregation with full choirs. The Rt. Rev. Dr. John Ekemenzie Okoro, a Nigerian-born Austrian citizen who served as Old Catholic Bishop of Austria from 2008-2015, ended the celebration with a rousing hymn and this simple benediction: “God, we thank you for this historic moment. Please bless our churches.”
