Brahmavar (Goan) Orthodox Church

Brahmavar (Goan) Orthodox Church is a split faction from the Catholic Church formed under the leadership of Bishop Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares in 1889. It is part of the Indian (Malankara) Orthodox Church (also known as Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church or the Indian Orthodox Church).

The territory of Goa was then Portuguese colony. Antonio Alvarez who was a Roman Catholic priest at the time, opposed the Vatican policies and interference of the Government in 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. He left the Church with some 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.

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 diocese of Indian Orthodox Church.