The manuscript collection of the Chaldean Syrian Church in Trichur (Thrissur), India has now been cataloged. This diverse collection of manuscripts provides valuable insight into the ecclesiastical and liturgical developments among Syriac Christian communities.

Particularly important among this collection are manuscripts that testify to dual influence of both middle eastern Chaldean Catholic and Portuguese Roman Catholic missionary efforts on the community in Trichur. A significant number of the manuscripts are liturgical in content, but there are also a number of other genres represented, including grammatical works, notebooks, journals, and collections of canon law. This collection boasts an impressive number of important 17th-century manuscripts, but the earliest dated manuscript in the collection is a very important witness to the Nomocanon (Qānone súnhādíqāye) of ʻAbdisho bar Brīkā (APSTCH THRI 00064) dated to 1291 CE, which is within ʻAbdisho’s lifetime. Most of the manuscripts in this collection were copied locally in India, but several of them were brought from the middle east, providing evidence for the well-worn travel routes between the middle east and the Kerala region of India. View now