a resolution against Emergency and for the restoration of democracy privately. Mar Thoma church was also closely associated with the land for the landless and home for the homeless movement much before Acharya Vinoba Bhave initiated Bhoodan movement. Faith and practices of the church Liturgy The word "liturgy" is derived from the Greek word leitourgia (leitos/loas: people +ergos: work) which means a service rendered to God and people. When the Bible was not available, the liturgy took the role of the Bible, much of the scripture is formed in the liturgical context. The original liturgical language used by the Malankara Church was Aramaic and Hebrew. The Bible that was in use also was in Hebrew. Later when Syriac replaced Aramaic in eastern countries, and the arrival of Knanaya people from Persia in AD 345, the Malankara Church began using Syriac. The Bible used in the Malankara Church is called the "Peshitta" and was in Estrangelo Syriac. This was the Bible that was in use till Malayalam (the language of Kerala) translation was available. The first printed Malayalam Bible, translated from Syriac was published in 1811 by Philipose Ramban with the provision of Claudius Buchanan, known as Ramban Bible it contained the four Gospels. (A copy of this Bible was later presented to Buchanan and is kept at Cambridge University Library.) By 1841, the whole Bible was translated, printed and released by missionary-scholar Benjamin Bailey with the help of Chandu Menon, a tahsildar in the Madras State service. Even though bishops from Syrian churches visited Kerala, they did not attempt to change the Bible into the newer forms of Syriac or to the native language. In June 1876, Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Pathrose IV visited Kerala and a majority of the Malankara Church accepted him as the head of their church. But those who did not join them continued to follow their own leaders and kept their peculiar identity garnered from reformation. After Mar Thoma Church had begun to use the liturgy in mother tongue Malayalam, other churches continued to follow the same for a deeper engagement with the laity. A revised version of the ancient and apostolic liturgy known as People's liturgy, the Liturgy of St James (Gal.1:18-19), was adopted in the church, later the liturgy has been translated into various languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada. The Mar Thoma church follows the West Syrian liturgical tradition and