A Global Communion · Est. AD 52
Under the primacy of His Holiness Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, Catholicos of the East, the institutions of the Church number in excess of 3,500 worldwide, each parish catalogued together with its recorded family count.
The globe may be turned by dragging, and enlarged by scrolling. Each point denotes an actual parish, chapel, or cathedral — some 3,536 in total — plotted outward from the coast of Kerala across six continents.
In search of a particular parish? Find your nearest, or enter any place in the world to search the full record of 3,536 locations.
Tradition holds that the Apostle Thomas landed upon the Malabar coast in A.D. 52, there founding the earliest communities of worship in the region. Across centuries of contact with the Syrian churches, and later under colonial pressure, that lineage remained unbroken.
In 1912, the Catholicate was re-established in India, affirming anew the Church's apostolic autonomy. Every marker upon the map above carries within it a thread of that same continuous narrative.
The Apostle Thomas arrives upon the Malabar coast.
The Coonan Cross Oath, a stand taken against colonial control.
The Catholicate is re-established in India.
Of the West Syriac rite, holding to the faith affirmed at the Councils of Nicea, Constantinople, and Ephesus.
In communion with the Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopian, and Eritrean Orthodox Churches.
Prior to its worldwide expansion, the Church comprised seven dioceses alone. Presented here is its earliest cartographic record.
From the Apostle's landfall to the present communion — the centuries may be traversed by scrolling sideways.
Timeline data as of 2 August, 2026.
Every parish, chapel, cathedral, and shrine across the globe at present, plotted from the Church’s current directories.
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Select any marker to explore.
Sourced from the Church’s official directories, and revised as parishes report changes.
Upon entering any place in the world, the five nearest churches, chapels, cathedrals, or other Malankara Orthodox locations will be identified.
Behind every marker lies a history someone has chosen to set down — a founding date, a first Qurbana, a handful of families who first gathered in a living room. One such entry may be drawn at random.
The directory catalogues the Church's full institutional life — episcopal palaces, monasteries and convents, cathedrals, directly-administered churches, thronal churches and mission churches, parishes, congregations and communities, Catholicate centres and retreat centres, chapels, major and minor seminaries, malpanates, mission training centres, Bible schools, campus ministries, and youth and student centres. Each marker carries its own symbol, keyed below.
Churches claimed by more than one diocese carry more than one pin on the edifice.
Proprietary churches — typically owned by a family or clan association — are consecrated under Malankara Orthodox rites and operate outside diocesan administration.
Since the 1974 schism, parishes of the Knanaya Diocese fall under the direct jurisdiction of the Catholicos in Devalokam.
This map does not count digital congregations, such as the Good Shepherd Orthodox Family Fellowship.
Each diocese is traced in its own hue on the map, keyed below.
No dioceses match that search.
Diocesan data as of 2 August, 2026.
From the coast of Kerala to communities upon every inhabited continent — the Church’s present reach, catalogued by country.
No nations match that search.
Every parish, chapel, and shrine accounted for — the full institutional life of the Church, gathered into a single census.
Beyond the map: an estimated 1,706,012 members across 32 dioceses and 2 titular sees worldwide.
Drawn from the Church’s 2023 clergy directory.
Figures are drawn from the Church’s official 2023 clergy directory, and are here organised by diocese, ranked from metropolitans to deacons.
The sacred chrism used in every sacrament of initiation, consecrated only by the Patriarch or the Catholicos — a rite held only a handful of times in a generation.
Preparation begins months beforehand, as olive oil is blended with more than a dozen spices, resins, and perfumes, then slowly rendered over steam before being sealed with balsam on the day itself. The consecration calls for twelve priests, twelve full deacons, and twelve subdeacons, who, together with twelve censers, twelve liturgical fans, and twelve candles, form two solemn processions around the altar — the number recalling the twelve apostles and the ranks of angels gathered around the divine.
Should a location be absent from the map, or listed in error — or should further parish history be available which is not yet on file — it may be reported below.
The figures and details set out throughout this site are drawn from the following ecclesiastical directories and records.
Akkara Kurian Writer. Niranam Grandhavari. 2009.
Malankara Edavaka Pathrika, 1892–1906.
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Catholicate Day Collections Directory, 2022. Catholicate Palace, Devalokam, Kottayam. mosc.in/uploads/2022/03/CDC-Book.pdf
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Catholicate Day Collections Directory, 2024. Catholicate Palace, Devalokam, Kottayam. mosc.in/uploads/2023/03/CDC-Book-2024-1.pdf
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Catholicate Day Collections Directory, 2025. Catholicate Palace, Devalokam, Kottayam. mosc.in/uploads/2023/03/CDC-Book-2025.pdf
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Catholicate Day Collections Directory, 2026. Catholicate Palace, Devalokam, Kottayam. mosc.in/uploads/2023/03/CDC-Book-2026_compressed_compressed.pdf
St. Thomas Orthodox Vaidika Sanghom. Clergy Directory, 2023. Orthodox Theological Seminary, Kottayam. orthodoxvaidikasanghom.org/uploads/downloads/clergy-2023.pdf
This project was created and is supervised by Andrew Punnoose, with the generous assistance of David George, Jerin George, Ajoe, Benjamin Gleeson, and many others.