Brahmavar (Goan) Orthodox Church

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The Brahmavar (Goan) Orthodox Church is a self-governing branch of the Indian (Malankara) Orthodox Church. This is a uniate faction from the Catholic Church, formed under the leadership of Bishop Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares in 1889 AD.

The territory of Goa in south India was a colony of Portugal. Fr. Antonio who was a Roman Catholic priest at the time, opposed the ‘Concordot’ of the Pope and interference of the Government in the Church Administration. His pro-Independence periodicals which were also critical of the Roman Catholic Church were banned. He was excommunicated, stripped naked and paraded through the streets.[1]

He left the Church with around hundreds of Goan Catholic families and joined the Malankara Orthodox Church, and the Brahmavar community has come into existence since then as a part of the Indian Orthodox Church.[2]

Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares was ordained as the first Orthodox Metropolitan of Goa-Ceylon in 1889 AD by Paulose Mar Athanasious and Gheevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala at Orthodox Pazhaya Seminary.

Presently there are about 700 families in Goa in this self-governing part of Indian Orthodox Church.

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