The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church also known as the Malankara Church and the Indian Orthodox Church, is an autocephalous church based in Kerala, India. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the oldest Christian communities in Asia. The Church serves India's Saint Thomas Christian (also known as the Nasrani) population. According to tradition, the Church originated during the first-century AD missions of Thomas the Apostle. The autocephalous Catholicos of the East and the Malankara Metropolitan, enthroned on the Apostolic Throne of St. Thomas (currently H.H. Moran Mar Baselios Marthoma Paulose II), is the primate of the Church. It employs the Malankara Rite, an Indian form of the West Syriac liturgical rite.