Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Kottayam, Catholic Metropolitan Archieparchy in Kottayam, India

The Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Kottayam is an ecclesiastical administrative center for this Christian denomination in southern Kerala. It oversees parishes, schools, and hospitals that serve both its members and the wider population in the area.

The archeparchy traces its origin to 345 AD, when, by tradition, 72 Jewish-Christian families from seven clans under the merchant Thomas of Kynai, with Bishop Urha Mar Yausef, migrated from South Mesopotamia to Kodungallur. After the colony was destroyed in 16th-century wars between Cochin and Calicut, the Southists moved to Kottayam and other riverbank towns. Pope Pius X re-established the Kottayam vicariate on 29 August 1911 as a personal jurisdiction for the Knanaya; Pius XI made it an eparchy on 21 December 1923, and Benedict XVI raised it to an archeparchy on 12 May 2005.

The Knanaya call themselves Southists because King Cheraman Perumal settled them in the southern part of his palace grounds, while other Thomas Christians were the Northists. They kept endogamous marriage, their own parishes and clergy, and the Syriac Chaldean liturgy of Addai and Mari. The community counts 72 founding families from seven clans, numbers tied to the 72 disciples and the seven sacraments.

The archeparchy is a personal diocese: it has jurisdiction over Knanaya Catholics of the Syro-Malabar Church wherever they live, though most are concentrated around Kottayam. Its seat is in Kottayam, Kerala, and the current archbishop, Mathew Moolakkattu OSB, has led it since 2006.

The archeparchy is the only Syro-Malabar jurisdiction that also follows the Syro-Malankara rite, so both rites are celebrated within its territory. Its bishops trace their line to Charles Lavigne SJ, vicar from 1887 to 1896, and Mathew Makil, who led from 1911 to 1914.