A Global Communion · Est. AD 52
Under H.H. Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, Catholicos of the East, the Church's institutions now number over 3,500 worldwide — each parish mapped with its own family count.
Drag to turn it, scroll to zoom in. Every point is a real parish, chapel, or cathedral — 3,536 of them, plotted from Kerala's coast outward across six continents.
Looking for one parish in particular? Find your nearest, or type any place in the world to search all 3,536 locations.
Tradition holds that the Apostle Thomas landed on the Malabar coast in AD 52, founding the first communities of worship in the region. Through centuries of contact with the Syrian churches, and later, colonial pressure, that lineage never broke.
In 1912, the Catholicate was re-established in India, affirming the Church's apostolic autonomy. Every marker on the map above carries a thread of that same unbroken story.
The Apostle Thomas arrives on the Malabar coast.
The Coonan Cross Oath, a stand against colonial control.
The Catholicate is re-established in India.
West Syriac rite, holding to the faith affirmed at Nicea, Constantinople, and Ephesus.
In fellowship with the Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopian, and Eritrean Orthodox churches.
Before its worldwide expansion, the Church stood as seven dioceses alone. See how it was first mapped.
From the Apostle's landfall to the present communion — scroll sideways to move through the centuries.
Timeline data as of August 2, 2026.
Every parish, chapel, cathedral, and shrine across the globe today — plotted from the Church’s current directories.
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Click any marker to explore.
Sourced from the Church's official directories, and updated as parishes report changes.
Type any place in the world and we'll find the five closest churches, chapels, cathedrals, or other Malankara Orthodox locations to it.
Behind every marker is a history someone chose to write down — a founding date, a first Qurbana, a handful of families who started meeting in a living room. Draw one.
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.
Diocese data as of August 2, 2026.
From Kerala’s coast to communities on every inhabited continent — the Church’s reach today, by country.
Every parish, chapel, and shrine accounted for — the full institutional life of the Church, gathered in one 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 organized here 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.
Is a location missing from the map, or listed incorrectly? Or do you have history about a parish we don't have yet? Tell us here.
Figures and details throughout this site are drawn from the following church 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
Created and supervised by Andrew Punnoose, with the generous help of David George, Jerin George, Ajoe, Benjamin Gleeson, and many more.
