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The Mar Thoma Church is one of the historic Churches of Christendom. It is an independent Church with head-quarters in Tiruvalla, Kerala, South India and it belongs to the Eastern family of Churches. The early Church was known as Malankara Church. In the early centuries the Church had ecclesiastical leadership from the Church of Syria and due to this association with the Syrian Church the name of the Malankara Church has been changed to the Malankara Syrian Church.
The foreign domination in India in quick succession by the Portuguese, the French and the British paved the way for the spread of Christianity in India. The 16th and 17th centuries which saw the heyday of Portuguese rule in India was a period of great missionary activity and the rapid spread of the Roman Church. The missionary efforts of the Roman Church in Malabar were mainly directed towards winning the Syrians over to the obedience of the Pope of Rome.