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{{short description|16th century Saint Thomas Christian archdeacon}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Archdeacon
|name = Jacob of Muttuchira
|image= Ancient Rock Inscriptions from Muttuchira Syro Malabar Catholic Church.JPG
|caption = Lithic inscriptions from the Church in Muttuchira
|title= Archdeacon of All India of the [[Archdiocese of Angamaly]]
|predecessor= Arkadeacon [[Givargis of Christ]]
|successor=
|appointed= by Metropolitan Simeon}}

'''Jacob Pakalomattam''' (died 1596) was an [[Archdeacon]] of the [[Saint Thomas Christians|Saint Thomas Christian community]] in India in the years preceding the [[Synod of Diamper]] in 1599. He was a native of [[Muttuchira]] and belonged to the [[Pakalomattam family|Pakalomattam]] dynastic family. His activities were based in the [[Holy Ghost Forane church, Muttuchira|Church of Ruha d'Qudisha]] in Muttuchira.{{sfnp|Martin Thomas|2015}} He owed his staunch allegiance to the traditionalist [[List of patriarchs of the Church of the East|Eliah Patriarchate]] of the [[Church of the East]] and Metropolitan Mar Shemon, who was sent to India by Patriarch [[Eliya VI|Eliya VI Barmama]].<ref name="SRITE"/> He protested against the Latinising attempts of the [[Padroado|Portuguese ''Padroado'']] and resisted the [[Chaldean Catholic Church|Chaldean Catholic]] attempts of reconciliation led by [[Joseph Sulaqa]] and [[Abraham of Angamaly]]. Throughout his archdeaconate, he is known to have rebelled against the Chaldean Catholic archdeacons including [[Givargis of the Cross|Givargis of Cross]].<ref name=SRITE>{{cite web|url=http://www.srite.de/index?id=2&cikk=84|author=Istvan Perczel|author-link=Istvan Perczel|title=The Saint Thomas Christians in India from 52 to 1687 AD|website=www.srite.de|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215032305/http://srite.de/index?id=2&cikk=84|archive-date=15 February 2009}}</ref>{{sfnp|Martin Thomas|2015}}{{sfnp|Perczel|2018}}

==Life==
[[File:Rooha D Kudhisha Syro-Malabar Catholic Forane Church, Muttuchira.jpg|thumb|Church Ruha d'Qudisha, Muttuchira]]
Archdeacon Jacob was born to the Nadackal line of Pakalomattam family in Muttuchira.{{sfnp|Martin Thomas|2015}}<ref name="SRITE"/> Traditionally it had been the privilege of the eldest priest belonging to Pakalomattam to be the Archdeacon of the Saint Thomas Christians.<ref name="SyriacWorld">{{cite book|author=István Perczel|author-link=István Perczel|title=Syriac Christianity in India|series=The Syriac World|editor=Daniel King|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-GEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA653|isbn=9781317482116|publisher=Routledge|pages=653–697|year=2018}}</ref> The position of Archdeacon is the highest clerical rank in the Church of the East after a bishop.<ref name="SRITE"/> He is the head of all the clerics belonging to a diocese and he is incharge of the cathedral church and represents the will of the bishop in his absence.<ref name="SRITE"/> Since [[India (East Syriac ecclesiastical province)|India]] was an exterior province of the Church of the East and since the Patriarch reserved for himself the right to send Metropolitans to India, the effective ecclesiastical authority vested on the native Archdeacon.<ref name="SRITE"/> Archdeaconate was not just an ecclesiastical institution, but a socio-political and ethno-religious, princely authority, that represented the integrity of the Christian community of Hendo (India).<ref name="SRITE"/>

Following the [[schism of 1552]], by which a faction of the Church of the East entered into obedience to the [[Holy See]], both the Eliah Patriarchate ([[Assyrian Church of the East|Nestorian]]) and the Shemon Patriarchate ([[Chaldean Catholic Church|Chaldean Catholic]]) contested for the right to send bishops to India.<ref name="SRITE"/> Apparently, the first to send a prelate to India was the Nestorian Patriarch, [[Shemon VII Ishoyahb|Simeon VII Denkha]].<ref name="SRITE"/> The prelate whom he sent was Mar Abraham, who must have reached Malabar before 1556. At the same time, Patriarch [[Abdisho IV Maron]] (1555-1567) sent Mar Joseph Sulaqa to Malabar.<ref name="SyriacWorld"/><ref name="SRITE"/> However Mar Joseph could not reach Malabar before 1558. Alerted by the presence of Mar Abraham, the Portuguese ''Padroado'' allowed Mar Joseph to occupy the see as the Metropolitan of the East Syriac Christians. Later Mar Abraham was captured and forced to confess Catholic faith and was sent back to Mesopotamia by the Portuguese missionaries.<ref name="SRITE"/> Following this, the [[Goa Inquisition|Roman Catholic Inquisition]] also captured Mar Joseph and sent him to Lisbon from where he reached Rome to meet the pope.<ref name="SRITE"/> Mar Joseph returned to Malabar in 1564 but was again captured and deported to Rome by the Roman Catholic missionaries in 1567.<ref name="SRITE"/> Meanwhile, Mar Abraham was gone over to the Chaldean Catholic side and was consecrated as Catholic bishop and was sent to India with the approval of the pope.<ref name="SRITE"/> Since Mar Abraham had gone over to the Chaldaean Catholic side, the Nestorian Patriarch, [[Eliya VI|Mar Eliah VI]] (1576-1591), sent another bishop, Mar Simeon, to Malabar in 1576.<ref name="SRITE"/> Mar Simeon appointed Jacob of Muttuchira as his Archdeacon. Alarmed by the presence of the new bishop, the Portuguese missionaries allowed Mar Abraham to occupy the see.<ref name="SRITE"/> Mar Simeon was captured by Franciscan missionaries in 1584 and sent to Rome where his priestly orders were declared invalid and forced to remain until his death in 1559.{{sfnp|Martin Thomas|2015}} Although the missionaries were successful in this, the presence of the rebellious Archdeacon Jacob who according to them resisted all attempts of latinisations, forced them to let Mar Abraham to govern the Malabar Christians until his death in 1597.{{sfnp|Martin Thomas|2015}}

Archdeacon Jacob maintained his authority and support among the native Christians even after Mar Simeon had been deported to Portugal.{{sfnp|Martin Thomas|2015}} He maintained constant touch with Mar Simeon through letters in which Mar Simeon was addressed as the Metropolitan of India.{{sfnp|Martin Thomas|2015}} He based his administration in Muttuchira and built the ''Prasu'' Church and rebuilt the older Church of Ruha D’ Qudisha.{{sfnp|Martin Thomas|2015}} He also built churches at [[Kothanalloor]], [[Elanji]], and other regions.{{sfnp|Martin Thomas|2015}} He refused to accept Mar Abraham, since numerous Latin innovations were already being interpolated into the Malabar rite under Mar Abraham's jurisdiction as prescribed by the Goan synods, in which Mar Abraham attended as instructed by the pope.<ref name=Pallath>{{cite book|last= Pallath|first=Paul|title=The Provincial Councils Of Goa|url=https://archive.org/details/TheProvincialCouncilsOfGoa|publisher=Oriental Institute of Religious India|location=Vadavathoor|year=2018}}</ref><ref name="SyriacWorld"/><ref name=:2013>{{cite book|first=István|last=Perczel|author-link=István Perczel|title=Some New Documents on the Struggle of the Saint Thomas Christians to Maintain the Chaldaean Rite and Jurisdiction|url=https://www.academia.edu/5266468|editor1=Peter Bruns|editor2=Heinz Otto Luthe|series=Orientalia Christiana|publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag|year=2013}}</ref> Archdeacon Jacob rejected the [[Gregorian calendar|Gregorian Calendar]] and taught his followers to recite the traditional [[Holy Qurbana|Chaldean raza]] without the Latin interpolations.<ref name="SRITE"/>{{sfnp|Martin Thomas|2015}} [[Alexis de Menezes|Dom Alexis de Menezes]], the [[Patriarchate of the East Indies|Archbishop of Goa]] and the mastermind of the [[Synod of Diamper]], wrote to him that Mar Simeon had been convicted and his orders were declared invalid by the pope in Rome, in attempt to force the archdeacon to submit to the Papal authority and even offered him large promises and favours in return.{{sfnp|Martin Thomas|2015}} But Archdeacon Jacob rejected Menezes' attempts and was finally [[Excommunication|excommunicated]] by Menezes.<ref name="SRITE"/>

Archdeacon Jacob died in 1596<ref name="SRITE" /> and was entombed in the old Ruha d'Qudisha Church (currently church of Saint Francis of Assisi) in Muttuchira.{{sfnp|Martin Thomas|2015}}

==Lithic inscription at Muttuchira==
[[File:Ancient Rock Inscriptions from Muttuchira Syro Malabar Catholic Church.JPG|thumb|Ancient Rock Inscription from Muttuchira Ruh d'Qudisha Church.]]
Following is the English translation of the inscription on the granite plaque:
<blockquote>By the command of the lord in AD 1528 Mar Thana [Mar Denha] and Mar Avu [ [[Jacob Abuna]] ] along with Giwargis Padre, installed this Holy Cross in this place. After this, Giwargis padre went to Portugal along with his nephew Mathai padre. In AD 1580, kanni 13 sunday, on the day of the feast of Holy Cross, this mar Sliva was erected covered in wood, by Bishop Mar Simon and Jacob [Archdeacon Jacob] Padre. Same year, on the day of 18th on the day of the feast, this bleeding Cross was installed. AD 1581 meenam month on the 29th friday good friday, this granite Cross was installed.<ref>{{cite journal|author=T K Joseph|editor=H Hosten|title=The saint Thomas Christians of Malabar (AD 1490- 1504)|journal=Kerla Society Papers |series=5 |page=253 note}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ayyar|first=A. S. Ramanatha|year=1930|title=Travancore Archaeological Series|journal=Travancore Archaeological Series|series=Part II|volume=VII|pages=75}}</ref></blockquote>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin|2}}
*{{cite journal|url=https://www.nasrani.net/muttuchira+church+sliva+lithic+inscriptions|first=Antony|last=Martin Thomas|title=MUTTUCHIRA SLIVA AND LITHIC INSCRIPTIONS- LANDMARK MONUMENTS OF SAINT THOMAS CHRISTIANS OF INDIA|journal=The Harp|volume=XXX|editor1-first=Jacob|editor1-last=Thekeparampil|editor2-first=Thomas|editor2-last=Koonammakkal|editor2-link=Thomas Koonammakkal|editor3-first=Baby|editor3-last=Varghese|editor3-link=Baby Varghese|year=2015}}
*{{cite book|last= Perczel|first=István|author-link=István Perczel|title=Mar Shim'on and Archdeacon Jacob: Nestorian Resistance and the Contours of a Shared Culture (1577 - 1593)|series='Accommodationist Strategies on the Malabar Coast: Competition Or Complementarity?'; ''The Rites Controversies in the Early Modern World''; ''Studies in Christian Mission''|volume=53|editor1-last=Fabre|editor1-first=Pierre-Antoine|editor1-link=:fr:Pierre Antoine Fabre|editor2-last=Županov|editor2-first=Ines G.|editor2-link=Ines G. Županov|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/496245459/PerczelL-accomodatiom-malabar|doi=10.1163/9789004366299_010|isbn=9789004366299|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|location=[[Leiden]]|page=201|year=2018|oclc=1031917853}}
{{Refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob Of Muttuchira}}
[[Category:Archdeacons]]
[[Category:Church of the East in India]]
[[Category:1596 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:16th-century Christian clergy]]
[[Category:People from Kottayam district]]
[[Category:Pakalomattam family]]
[[Category:Christian clergy from Kerala]]
[[Category:Church of the East Christians]]

Jacob of Muttuchira - Revision history

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