Hi there, my name is Alex George Shijan and I’m an Eastern Catholic within the…

Hi there, my name is Alex George Shijan and I’m an Eastern Catholic within the Syro-Malabar Sui Iurus Catholic Church. I’m a seminarian for the Eparchy (Greek for Diocese) of Great Britain, currently at St Alphonsa Cathedral Minor Seminary, Preston. I have a real passion for teaching about and help others live out the spirituality and traditions of our church, and I run a site called BooksWithSyro in that effort. The Syro-Malabar church finds its origin in St Thomas Apostle’s missionary work in south India starting 52AD, where he converted whole families and formed Christian communities across the coast forming what was known as the “Ezharappallikal” or the 7 large churches. As time passed, due to our common apostolic father The Church of the East formed ties with the communities in India. Eventually India was established as a metropolitan territory with its own bishop from The Church of The East and archdeacon (who run the church) from the Indian people. Over time this “Law of St Thomas” or Mar Thoma Margam formed a way of life for the Indian christians and the traditions “Hindu in Culture, Oriental in Worship and Christian in Religion” formed. This is the tradition of the Syro-Malabar church.