Reformed Orthodox
There are four Reformed Orthodox Churches in Eastern Christianity. The term "Reformed Orthodox" is given to an attempted Protestant Reformation of the Orthodox Christian beliefs and practices of the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches. Presently the Ukrainian Lutheran Church, the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India, Evangelical Baptist Union of Georgia, Ukrainian Reformed Orthodox Church, Evangelical Orthodox Church and the Nihon Christ Kyodan Miyakojima Church are revised according to Lutheran, Anglican, Baptists and Pentecostal Protestant reforms, respectively. Another term applied primarily to the reformation of Non-Chalcedonianism is Protestant Oriental.
Malankara Church Reformation
The reformation in Malankara church was started by Abraham Malpan who was one of the most influential priest and a leader among reformists of the church. This led to the formation of Mar Thoma Syrian Church . He was a priest and a Syriac professor in Kottayam. When British missionaries came to India in the 1850s, he had an idea of changing the unholy things in the church. The church was following so many rituals and beliefs which were introduced by the Catholics in 16th century and later the Jacobites. He wanted to bring back the old faith and practices which was prevalent prior to the arrival of Catholicsm in Malankara. He also wanted to include the Anglican principles, which he felt as righteous. He sent his nephew Deacon Mathew to Syria to be ordained as an episcopa. Abraham Malpan had no intentions of creating a new church. Presently the church is headed by Joseph Mar Thoma the title Mar Thoma means successor of St. Thomas (Malankara Orthodox church started to use the title in mid 1970s) Metropolitan. The Church has more than 1,500 parishes worldwide and has 850,000 members. It is in full communion with the Anglican Communion and the Malabar Independent Syrian Church. It also has a growing ecumenical relationship with the Indian Orthodox Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, and the Latin Catholic Church but has no special relationship or communion with any of those Churches. The Mar Thoma Church has preserved, but altered parts of its west Syriac Rite liturgy, elements, etc. to conform to reformation principles.
Most prominent elements in the Reformation of the traditional Indian Church were:
- Icons, pictures, statues, and drawings of saints were removed from homes, churches, and places of worship.
- All prayers, worship and devotion to the Virgin Mary and the saints were omitted.
- All prayer requests to dead and prayers to uplift the dead from sin and suffering were omitted.
- Insisted that Sunday services are to be held in a reverent and spiritual way. During that time reading and expounding scriptures is to be done.
- Conducted worship services, including Holy Communion in the mother tongue, Malayalam.
- Holy Communion was not celebrated when there were none to receive.
- Mandated that communion under both kinds should be distributed separately.
- Considered the practice of praying for the dead and of doing obeisance at their graves with lighted candles as abhorrent.
- Intercession of saints and prayers for the dead were discarded.
- Auricular confession was discontinued.
- Believed that those who come for confession should ask for forgiveness with fasting and prayer, instead of offering oil, incense and candles.
- Insisted that bishops should ordain only candidates who have been examined by them and the malpans (Meaning:- Syriac scholars).
- Repudiated the custom of smearing charcoal on the forehead on Ash Wednesday.
St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India
The St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India (STECI) is an Evangelical, Episcopal denomination based in Kerala, India. It derives from a schism in the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church in 1961, and traces its ancestry before then back almost 2,000 years. STECI holds that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God. Adherents believe that all that is necessary for salvation and living in righteousness is given in the Bible. The church is engaged in active evangelism. The headquarters of this church is at Tiruvalla, a town in the state of Kerala which is the part of South India.
Ukrainian Reformation
- See Ukrainian Lutheran Church, Byzantine Rite Lutheranism and Ukrainian Reformed Orthodox Church