List of Syro-Malabar Catholic eparchies and bishops

The Syro-Malabar Church, an Eastern Catholic church of the Catholic Church, traces its origin to apostolic times. Historically, the church developed as the Malankara Church, a suffragan of the Metropolis of Persia and India under the Church of the East and later elevated as the Metropolis of All India of the Church of the East in the seventh century by Patriarch IshoÃÂ¿yahb III. It had the jurisdiction all over India. After the Schism of 1552, the church was integrated with the Chaldean Catholic Church as the Archdiocese of Angamaly.The efforts of the Portuguese Padroado to liturgical latinisation under the Latin Church archidiocese that culminated in the Synod of Diamper in 1599, led to a suppression of the Syro-Malabar customs and rites, and liturgical Latinisation. In the 20th century, Syro-Malabar Catholics attained greater autonomy and were ultimately made a major archeparchal sui iuris church and regained its all India jurisdiction by 2017.

Cardinals from the Syro Malabar Church

Major Archbishop of the Syro Malabar Church

Source:

Bishop of the Major Archepiscopial Curia

Eparchies under Syro-Malabar provinces and their Hierarchs

Sources:

Eparchies immediately subject to the Holy See

Apostolic Visitations

Hierarchs working for the Holy See

Timeline

May 20, 1887 Two independent Vicariates of Kottayam (present Changanassery1) and Thrissur2 for Syrians; Charles Lavigne and Adolf Medlycott were made Vicar Apostolic respectively (Quod Jampridem, Pope Leo XIII).
September 16, 1890 Seat of Kottayam Vicariate moved to Changanassery
July 28, 1896 Vicariate of Ernakulam3 created, with territories from both Vicariates of Changanassery and Thrissur, and Bishop Louis Pazheparambil, Bishop Mathew Makkil, and Bishop John Menachery were made the bishops respectively (Quae Rei Sacrae, Pope Leo XIII).
July 28, 1896 Vicariate of Kottayam renamed as the Vicariate of Changanassery
August 29, 1911 Establishment of the Vicariate of Kottayam4 for the Knanaya (Southists) Community of the Syrians.
December 21, 1923 Vicariates of Thrissur, Changanassery and Kottayam raised as Eparchies.
December 21, 1923 Vicariate of Ernakulam raised as a Metropolitan Archieparchy with suffragan sees of Thrissur, Kottayam and Changanassery.
December 21, 1923 Establishment of the Syro-Malabar Hierarchy and elevating the Syro-Malabar Church as a Metropolitan Sui iuris Church
July 25, 1950 Eparchy of Pala5
December 31, 1953 Eparchy of Thalassery6
July 26, 1956 Eparchy of Changanassery raised as a Metropolitan Archieparchy with suffragan see of Pala
January 10, 1957 Eparchy of Kothamangalam7
March 31, 1962 Ordinariate of Chanda, Maharashtra (CMI)
July 29, 1968 Ordinariate of Chanda raised as the Exarchate of Chanda
July 29, 1968 Exarchate of Sagar, Madhya Pradesh (CMI)
July 29, 1968 Exarchate of Satna, Madhya Pradesh (VC)
July 29, 1968 Exarchate of Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh (MST)
March 23, 1972 Exarchate of Bijnor, Uttarakhand (CMI)
March 23, 1972 Exarchate of Jagdalpur, Chattisgargh (CMI)
March 1, 1973 Eparchy of Mananthavady08
June 20, 1974 Eparchy of Palakkad09
February 26, 1977 Exarchates of Bijnor10, Chanda11, Jagdalpur12, Sagar13, Satna14, and Ujjain15 raised as Eparchies.
February 25, 1977 Eparchy of Rajkot16, Gujarat (CMI)
February 26, 1977 Eparchy of Kanjirappally17
June 22, 1978 Eparchy of Irinjalakkuda18
September 8, 1978 First Apostolic Visitation for the faithful outside proper territory of the Syro-Malabar Church in India until April 23, 1985.
June 19, 1984 Eparchy of Gorakhpur,19 Uttar Pradesh (CST)
April 28, 1986 Eparchy of Thamarassery20
April 30, 1988 Eparchy of Kalyan,21 Maharashtra
December 16, 1992 Syro-Malabar Church raised to a Major Archepiscopial Sui iuris Church with the establishment of Major Archiepiscopal see of Ernakulam-Angamaly and appointment of Mar Antony Cardinal Padiyara as the first Major Archbishop.
May 18, 1995 Eparchies of Thrissur (Suffragan sees of Irinjalakuda and Palakkad) and Thalassery (Suffragan sees of Thamarassery and Mananthavady) made Metropolitan Archieparchies.
November 11, 1996 Eparchy of Thuckalay,22 Tamil Nadu
February 3, 1998 Major Archiepiscopal Headquarters at Mount St. Thomas, Kakkanad.
April 24, 1999 Eparchy of Belthangady,23 Karnataka
July 23, 1999 Eparchy of Adilabad,24 Andhra Pradesh (CMI)
July 6, 2001 Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle of Chicago,25 USA, also acting as Apostolic Visitation in Canada
December 19, 2002 Eparchy of Idukki26
May 9, 2005 Eparchy of Kottayam was made a Metropolitan Archieparchy with co-extensive jurisdiction across the Syro-Malabar territory.
July 15, 2006 Second Apostolic Visitation for the faithful outside proper territory of the Syro-Malabar Church in India
August 21, 2007 Eparchy of Bhadravathi,27 Karnataka (MCBS)
January 18, 2010 Eparchy of Mandya28 Karnataka
January 18, 2010 Eparchy of Ramanathapuram29, Tamil Nadu
March 6, 2012 Eparchy of Faridabad30, encompassing the Union Territories of Delhi NCT, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and states of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and parts of Uttar Pradesh.
December 23, 2013 Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Melbourne31 established in and for Australia, also acting as Apostolic Visitation for New Zealand
August 26, 2015 Extension of the territory of the Eparchy of Mandya.
September 19, 2015 Apostolic Exarchate of Mississauga, Canada
July 16, 2016 Eparchy of Great Britain32, for England, Scotland and Wales
July 28, 2016 Apostolic Visitation for the Syro-Malabar Faithful in Europe, headquartered in Rome.
October 9, 2017 Eparchy of Hosur33, Tamil Nadu
October 9, 2017 Expansion of territories of Eparchies of Ramanathapuram and Thuckalay.
October 9, 2017 Eparchy of Shamshabad34, for the rest of the territories in India (23 States and 4 UTs).
October 9, 2017 Re-establishing of the All India jurisdiction of the Syro-Malabar Church with Pope Francis granting the title of Metropolitan and Gate of All India to Mar George Cardinal Alencherry, the Major Archbishop of the church.
December 22, 2018 Apostolic Exarchate of Mississauga raised to the Eparchy of Mississauga35, Canada
July 19, 2020 Headquarters for the Apostolic Visitation for Europe moved to the Basilica of Sant'Anastasia al Palatino, in Rome, after Pope Francis granted the Basilica to the Syro-Malabar Church.
March 29, 2021 Expansion of territory of the Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle of Melbourne to include New Zealand and Oceania
May 13, 2024 Verbal assent by Pope Francis to the Major Archbishop Mar Raphael Thattil to practice jurisdiction over faithful in the Middle East (Vicariates of Northern Arabia and Southern Arabia).
August 28, 2025 Territorial expansion of the eparchies of Adilabad, Bhadravati, Bijnor, Chanda, Gorakhpur, Jagdalpur, Kalyan, Rajkot, Sagar, Satna, and Ujjain from the Eparchy of Shamshabad.
August 28, 2025 Eparchies of Faridabad (Suffragan sees of Bijnor and Gorakhpur), Kalyan (Suffragan sees of Chanda and Rajkot), Shamshabad (Suffragan see of Adilabad), and Ujjain (Suffragan sees of Jagdalpur, Sagar, and Satna) made Metropolitan Archieparchies.
August 28, 2025 Eparchy of Hosur was made suffragan to the Archeparchy of Thrissur.
November 18, 2025 Apostolic Visitation for the Syro-Malabar Faithful in the Arabian Peninsula.