Saint Thomas Knanaya Church

Sunday Mass: Since my wife was in Hong Kong, I decided to go to Mass at the Saint Thomas Knanaya Church which is next door to my apartment complex (I wouldn't drag my wife on a field trip like this). The Internet said they were Jewish-Christians from Syria who migrated to India in 310 AD, and they were in union with the Pope of Rome. They have one peculiar practice which if a member marries outside of the sect, they are excommunicated, and the Pope was trying to get them to get rid of that rule. I asked some Catholic friends from India about this sect, and they gave me the impression that they are considered a funky bunch, even in the Catholic community in India.

When I walked in the vestibule, I saw pairs of shoes on the floor. I asked a man at the door if I needed to take my shoes off, and he said, not really. But I felt kind of oafish after I went in because almost everyone had removed their shoes.

I sat in an empty pew in the middle of the church. Less than a minute later, a woman from a pew behind me scooted into my pew and told me that I had to move to the other side of the aisle, that the sexes were separated. All of the women in the church were in native Indian dress. Almost all were veiled.

It turned out this community was Eastern Orthodox, and the Mass was 2 hours and 15 minutes long, with most of it sung. The Mass was said mostly in the Malayalam language, some ancient Syrian, and a tiny bit in English. At least some of the homily was in English. I have never been to an Orthodox Mass before, and that this was an Indian cultural experience made it very exotic. I chose not to receive communion. After not taking my shoes off and sitting on the wrong side, I decided to receive Communion, in order to not risk offending anybody or drawing too much attention to myself. I felt self-conscious enough as it was.

After Mass, I joined the congregation for coffee and doughnuts in the parish hall. They said it would have been O.K. if I received communion. According to them, there is a branch of the Knanaya which is Eastern Orthodox and a branch which is Western, and some decades ago, the Pope of Rome, the Eastern Orthodox, and the Western rite Knanaya agreed on mutual communion. At coffee time, I was obviously an outsider, and people came up and introduced themselves to me. I did speak with one of the priests, and I thought was a bit smug and aloof. But the lay people were very friendly, very Christian.