Thiruvithamcode Arappally ("Royal Church"), or St. Mary's Orthodox Church, is a church located in Thiruvithamcode, Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

The church today is operated by the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan, Baselios Mar Thoma Didymos I proclaimed the church as an international St. Thomas pilgrim centre on December 16, 2007.

It is believed by the Christian communities in Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

 that the historic Thiruvithamcode Arappally, also called Amalagiri church as named by the Chera

Chera dynasty

Chera Dynasty in South India is one of the most ancient ruling dynasties in India. Together with the Cholas and the Pandyas, they formed the three principle warring Iron Age Tamil kingdoms in southern India...

 King Udayancheral, was built by St. Thomas

Thomas the Apostle

Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...

, known as the Apostle of India, in 57 CE.