St. Thomas Ecumenical Church, Nilakkal

Nilakkal St. Thomas Ecumenical Church stands at Angamoozhy in Pathanamthitta district, around 3 km from old Nilakkal and some 52 km east of Ranni. It is traditionally seen as the successor of one of the Ezharappallikal, the seven and a half churches said to have been founded by St Thomas in the 1st century. Consecrated in 1985, it was the first church of its kind, shared and run jointly by several episcopal denominations, among them the Orthodox, Jacobite, Mar Thoma, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara and CSI churches.

Nilakkal, once called Chayal, lies in dense forest and was formerly a busy trading post on the route linking the Chera and Pandyan kingdoms. Its decline began in the 12th century, and raids, civil war and Malik Kafur's southern campaign of the early 14th century ended with the town plundered and burned and the old church destroyed. Its Christians moved to places such as Kanjirappally, Ranni and Erumeli, and the flood of 1341 covered what remained.