Check.Church

Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch

Oriental Orthodox · 451 · Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon; India; diaspora

The Antiochene church of the Oriental communion, of West Syriac rite; survivor of the 20th-century genocides, seated historically at Tur Abdin's Mor Gabriel and today in Damascus; mother church of the Malankara (Jacobite) connection in India from 1665.

Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch was formed in 451, the outcome of a longer process. Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch continues today. Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch's institutional line runs back through Oriental Orthodoxy to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch stand 1 division along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 451, the outcome of a longer process
Family
Oriental Orthodox
Region
Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon; India; diaspora
Cause tags
Doctrine
Also known as
Syrian Orthodox Church

What it was organized out of

Bodies organized out of it or separated from it: Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.

On the tree

Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday1004244314511912The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxSyriac Orthodox Church of Antioch (Oriental Orthodox)Syriac Orthodox Churchof AntiochOriental OrthodoxMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church (Oriental Orthodox)Malankara OrthodoxSyrian ChurchOriental Orthodox

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.