The Archeparchy of Changanacherry is a Syro-Malabar Catholic archeparchy with an area of 24,595 km2 comprising the districts of Kottayam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, and also Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the largest Catholic dioceses in India in terms of area. Joseph Perumthottam is the current Metropolitan Archbishop, serving since 2007. Thomas Tharayil has been the auxiliary bishop since 2017. And Joseph Powathil is the bishop emeritus, having served from 1985 to 2007. Suffragan eparchies of the Changanassery archeparchy includes Palai, Kanjirappally-Nilackal, and Thuckalay-Thiruvithancode (Tamil Nadu). The Changanacherry (originally named Kottayam) jurisdiction was one of the first two Syro-Malabar vicariates, along with Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Thrissur, when Pope Leo XIII in 1887 re-organized Syro-Malabar Catholics as a separate church from the Latin Church's jurisdiction ever since the Synod of Diamper in 1599. History The Apostolic Church of St. Thomas Christians traditionally traces its origin to St. Thomas, the Apostle, who is held to have arrived on the Kerala Coast in A.D. 52. In the course of history this Church entered into good relationship with the East Syriac Church. The presbiteral office of the Archdeacon of all India did the temporal administration. The Portuguese missionaries who arrived in the 15th century could not decipher the liturgical traditions and the mode of governance of this Church. They Latinized the ancient liturgical texts and forced existing East Syriac Christians or Nasranis to convert to the Roman Catholic Church under the Padroado Archbishop of Goa. When the domination of the Portuguese missionaries became unbearable, a section of this community broke away from western supremacy in 1653 and accepted allegiance to Antiochian West Syriac Rite and Miaphysite belief. But a good number returned to the East Syriac Catholic fold through unification efforts. Those who did not return constitute the present Malankara Churches. The others maintained and regained loyalty to the Apostolic See of Rome. This relationship started only in 1553 as a half Catholic-half Nestorian position due to a split in the Babylonian Church of the East and strengthened in 1599 through the Udayamperur sunnahadose (Synod of Diamper). The first two Vicariates of the Syro-Malabar Church are Trichur and Kottayam. The Archdiocese of Changanacherry is part of the Kottayam Vicariate and the second Metropolitan Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church, after the establishment of the Syro-Malabar hierarchy which was the prelude to the restoration of the identity of