Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

is a minority religion in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. It was introduced to the island in first century. Traditionally, after

Thomas the Apostle Thomas the Apostle (; , meaning 'the Twin'), also known as Didymus ( 'twin'), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Thomas is commonly known as "doubting Thomas" because he initially doubted the resurrection of ...

's visit in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

in AD 52, Christianity is said to have been introduced to Sri Lanka because of its close geographical and commercial ties. Records suggest that St. Thomas Christians and East Syriac Christians lived in Sri Lanka, and the

Anuradhapura cross The Anuradhapura cross is a form of the Christian cross symbol. It is the most ancient symbol of Christianity in Sri Lanka. The cross The cross was discovered in 1912 during archaeological excavations in Anuradhapura. It is cut in sunk rel ...

is one of the archaeological finds that suggest Christianity in Sri Lanka before the arrival of the Portuguese. Nestorian Christianity is said to have thrived in Sri Lanka with the patronage of King Dhatusena during the 5th century. There are mentions of involvement of Persian Christians with the Sri Lankan royal family during the Sigiriya Period. Over seventy-five ships carrying Murundi soldiers from

Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...

are said to have arrived in the Sri Lankan town of Chilaw most of whom were Christians. King Dhatusena's daughter was married to his nephew Migara who is also said to have been a Nestorian Christian, and a commander of the Sinhalese army. Maga Brahmana, a Christian priest of Persian origin is said to have provided advice to King Dathusena on establishing his palace on the Sigiriya Rock. According to Leonard Pinto, this is not widely accepted as it is contrary to recorded '' Mahāvaṃsa'' textual sources on royal family from this period. In 1557, King

Dharmapala A ''dharmapāla'' is a type of wrathful god in Buddhism. The name means "''dharma'' protector" in Sanskrit, and the ''dharmapālas'' are also known as the Defenders of the Justice (Dharma), or the Guardians of the Law. There are two kinds of ...

converted to Christianity, and king's conversion did not make any significant impact in Christianity. The

Anuradhapura Cross The Anuradhapura cross is a form of the Christian cross symbol. It is the most ancient symbol of Christianity in Sri Lanka. The cross The cross was discovered in 1912 during archaeological excavations in Anuradhapura. It is cut in sunk rel ...

discovered in 1912 is also considered to be an indication of a strong Nestorian Christian presence in Sri Lanka between the 3rd and 10th century in the then capital of Anuradhapura of Sri Lanka. There were also conversions by the Dutch in the 17th century. The Christian population of Sri Lanka includes members of Burghers, Sinhalese and Tamil ethnic groups. Christianity represented 10% of the population of Sri Lanka in 1891. In the following decades, the population growth of Christians was lower than the national average. As a result, the percentage of Christians in the population declined, reaching a low of 7% in 2001. In 2012, Christianity grew again as a percentage of the population, reaching 7.44%. The growth was greatest among non-Catholic Christians.

Catholicism

In the pre-colonial era, Nestorian Christians and St. Thomas Christians were both present in Sri Lanka. These two groups later established a union with the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. After Yahballaha III, the Nestorians accepted union with the Catholic Church. Father Jordanus arrived in Sri Lanka in 1329 and Giovanni de Marignolli arrived as Papal Legate in 1348/49 to assist the Christians in the country. There were also Catholic travellers such as

Odoric of Pordenone Odoric of Pordenone (c. 1280–14 January 1331) was a Franciscan friar and missionary explorer from Friuli in northeast Italy. He journeyed through India, Sumatra, Java, and China, where he spent three years in the imperial capital of Khanbaliq ...

who visited Sri Lanka.

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

was formally introduced by the Portuguese in 1505. 6.19% of the population (1,261,194 persons) is Catholic, according to the 2012 census. Catholicism thus constitutes approximately 83.5% of the Christian population as of census day 2012. Catholicism was first introduced by the Portuguese, who left a notable mark in that Portuguese surnames are still used by many Catholics. Dutch missionaries tried to spread Protestantism after the Portuguese were expelled, but most Sri Lankan Christians are now Catholics. There is an archbishop and 11 other bishops. The dioceses are: # Archdiocese of Colombo # Diocese of Anuradhapura # Diocese of Badulla # Diocese of Batticaloa # Diocese of Chilaw # Diocese of Galle # Diocese of Jaffna # Diocese of Kandy # Diocese of Kurunegala # Diocese of Mannar # Diocese of Ratnapura # Diocese of Trincomalee

Protestantism

290,967 persons in Sri Lanka (1.43%) are Protestants as per the 2012 census. The Ceylon Pentecostal Mission has about 16,500 church members and 70 churches (faith homes) in Sri Lanka. About 2000 people (1998) are affiliated with congregations belonging to the

Baptist World Alliance The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is an international communion of Baptists, with an estimated 51 million people from 266 member bodies in 134 countries and territories as of 2024. A voluntary association of Baptist churches, the BWA accounts f ...

. The main Protestant churches in Sri Lanka are

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

and

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

. The

Church of Ceylon The Church of Ceylon () is the Anglican Church in Sri Lanka. It is an extraprovincial jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who serves as its Metropolitan bishop, Metropolitan. It was established in 1845 with the appointment of the fir ...

is an extra-provincial Anglican church, and the Church of South India (a united church of Anglicans, Presbyterians, and other Protestants) is a full member of the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

and has a diocese in Jaffna. The Anglican Church has a strong effect on people in some areas. Methodist missionaries established 187 schools of which only 2 remains ( Wesley College and Methodist College) because all the other schools were taken over by the government. Methodism has over 40,000 followers in Sri Lanka with 45 circuits, 200 churches and 120 pastors. Moratuwa Area and Kutunayake Negombo Areas are the regions where many Methodists live. In 2005 and 2006, the Methodist Church of Sri Lanka had a very difficult time during a period of anti-Christian violence. St. Andrew's Church in Colombo is a congregation of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

. For administrative purposes, it is part of the Church of Scotland's International Presbytery. According to the 2015 yearbook of

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

, around 6,671 active members are in Sri Lanka.

American Mission

Ceylon under the British Occupation, when the British government slashed expenditures on education on the island due to budgetary constraints, it relied heavily on Christian missionaries to carry out educational actives. A significant portion of this effort was made by the American Ceylon Mission (ACM) that was established in 1813 by Rev. Samuel Newell in

Jaffna Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population o ...

, in Tamil-dominated northern Ceylon, as part of the evangelising effort of the

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian mission, Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the l ...

Lutheranism

The Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church is a confessional Lutheran church in

, and the only

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

denomination registered with the Sri Lankan government. The church consists of more than a dozen congregations or mission stations, mainly concentrated in the tea plantation regions of Nuwara Eliya, Central Province.

Eastern Orthodoxy

The

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

organized two missionary trips to Sri Lanka in January and April 2024, marking the resumption of its mission on the island after earlier attempts had failed to take root. Liturgical services were held in the city of

Kurunegala Kurunegala (, ; , ) is a major city in Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of the North Western Province, Sri Lanka, North Western Province and the Kurunegala District. Kurunegala was an ancient royal capital for 50 years, from the end of the 13th ...

and the neighboring village of Melsiripura. Following constituent meetings of communities in Kurunegala and

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

, members are awaiting the decision of clergy on the official establishment of the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sri Lanka.

References

External links

Church of Ceylon - The Anglican Church in Sri Lanka

Archdiocese of Colombo

Open Doors Int'l, Sri Lanka
*

St. Andrew's Church (Church of Scotland)
{{Transitional period topics 1505 establishments in Asia 16th-century establishments in Sri Lanka