The St. Thomas Christians, based in Kerala, had their own bishops from the Middle East until 1597 when the last Syrian Bishop Mar Abraham died. Since then until 1887, the Syrian Catholics were under Latin bishops of various religious congregations.

In 1887, Pope Leo XII created the vicariates of Kottayam and Trichur for the Church, recognizing its independent culture and liturgical traditions. But the Vicar Apostolics appointed were from the Latin rite.

In 1896 the vicariates were re-organized into Changanacherry, Ernakulam and Trichur and the Church received Vicar Apostolics of its own rite and culture.

In 1911, the Kottayam vicariate was created exclusively for the endogamous "Suddists (purists)," who claim to be the descendants of Thomas of Cana.

Pope Pius XI in 1923 elevated the Vicariate of Ernakulam as an archdiocese with the diocese of Trichur, Changanacherry and Kottayam as its suffragans. In the strict sense, this marked the establishment of Syro-Malabar hierarchy.

Since 1950 the Church began to grow out of its base in central Kerala and dioceses were extended to the state's southern and northern parts. From 1962 the Church began to set up mission centers in northern India, which later became dioceses.

The first diocese outside Kerala was Chanda, in central India, in 1977.

The Syro-Malabar Church now has 26 dioceses with 10 dioceses outside Kerala but within India. One diocese, Chicago, covers Catholics in the United States and Canada.

The SMC dioceses outside Kerala are suffragans of Latin archdiocese in each area. The SMC has an estimated following of 3.5 million people.

A dispute over liturgical renewal disturbed the SMC for more than a decade. One faction wants to revive the Church's Eastern Apostolic patrimony, while the other wants revision on modern lines.

In an attempt to find solutions, the Pope intervened and sanctioned in 1992 SMC's long standing demand to become a "sui juris" (self governing) status. The same year, the pontiff made the SMC a Major Archiepiscopal Church and appointed Cardinal Antony Padiyara its Major Archbishop with Ernakulam-Angamaly as his base. Metropolitan provinces of Ernakulam and Changanacherry came under his jurisdiction. He was installed May 20, 1993.

The Pope also appointed Archbishop Abraham Kattumana as the Pontifical Delegate for the SMC to set up and head a synod of SMC bishops to finalize the administrative laws and liturgical guidelines. However, the Vatican reserved the right to decide on liturgy and appoint bishops.

Archbishop Abraham Kattumana died of cardiac arrest in Rome in 1995 while reporting to the Pope. The following year, the Pope accepted the resignation of Cardinal Padiyara, which he had submitted a year ago on health reasons. The Pope then appointed Redemptorist Father Varkey Vithayathil as the apostolic administrator in 1996. He was installed on Jan. 18, 1997.

In 1999, the Pope made him the Major Archbishop of Syro-Malabar Church. He was made a Cardinal in 2001. Cardinal Vithayathil now heads the SMC Synod as the Church's head.

The SMC Synod now has full powers, including the authority to decide on liturgy and appoint bishops. The bishops elected by the synod, however, need the ratification from the Vatican, according to the decree announced in January 2004.