Bishop Thomas Antonios Valiyavilayil

Thomas Mar Anthonios (Valiyavilayil) was born on November 21, 1955, in Adoor, within the Archeparchy of Trivandrum. He is a religious of the Order of the Imitation of Christ, where he made his first profession on January 15, 1974, and his perpetual profession on December 9, 1980. He was ordained a priest on December 27, 1980. Subsequently, he obtained a doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Oriental Institute. In addition to English and Malayalam, he speaks Italian, German, Hindi, and Syriac, and reads Greek and Latin. After his ordination, he held the following positions: Superior of various convents; Director of a boarding school in Kottayam; Master of Postulants; Bursar; Chaplain and Parish Priest; Professor at St. Mary’s Malankara Major Seminary in Trivandrum and at other Major Seminaries; General Councilor of his Institute and Postulator for the beatification cause of the Servant of God Mar Ivanios; and Chancellor of the Major Archiepiscopal Curia of the Syro-Malankara Church. Elected Curial Bishop on January 25, 2010, he was assigned the Titular See of Igilgili. On March 26, 2015, His Holiness Pope Francis appointed him the first Apostolic Exarch of St. Ephrem of Khadki for the Syro-Malankara faithful. Information Note: The Eparchy of St. Ephrem of Khadki for the Syro-Malankara faithful. The new Eparchy—subject to the Major Archbishop and the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malankara Church in accordance with the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches—extends across the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, as well as parts of the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The *territorium proprium* of the Syro-Malankara Major Archiepiscopal Church has been extended to the boundaries of the new Eparchy.