The Mar Thoma Church is one of the historic Churches of Christendom. It is an independent Church with head-quarters in Tiruvalla, Kerala, South India and it belongs to the Eastern family of Churches. The Church is established in A.D. 52 by St. Thomas, one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ. The early Church was known as Malankara Church. In the early centuries the Church had ecclesiastical leadership from the Church of Syria and due to this association with the Syrian Church the name of the Malankara Church has been changed to the Malankara Syrian Church.