Dr Thomas Mar Athanasius was born in Arikuzha a small village 5 KM away from Thodupuzha town on 28 June 1952 to Fr Yohannan putanil and his wife Baschiyomo Mariyam. He did his primary education at Arikuzha and Manakkadu schools and his under graduate education was at Newman College, Thodupuzha. He did post graduate studies in English literature at St.Johns College, Agra. After his post graduate studies he dedicated his life for full time Christian ministry.For theological studies he joined United Theological College, Bangalore. After the successful completion of Bachelor of Divinity he went to Germany for further theological education where he joined University of Munich and completed his doctoral studies. The doctoral dissertation was titled A comparative study of the Theological Methodologies of Sankarachariya and St.Irenious published by Peeter Lang publishing company.
Dr.Thomas mar Athanasius Metropolitan was consecrated the Metrpolitan of the Kandanad Diocese by H B Baselious Paulose II Catholicose of the East. The period of Dr.Thomas Mar Athanasius is considered as the golden era of the Kandanad diocese. Muvattupuzha Aramana is situated in the heart of the city, Aramana building and St.Thomas Cathedral are having a very important position in the history of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian church. Dr.Thomas Mar Athanasius constructed Aramana Shopping Complex which later become the thriving force to provide financial stability to the diocese. In the field of Christian ministry, diocese witnessed an unprecedented growth. There are number of institutions started under his leadership in order to empower different levels of Christian life. Samanvaya Ecumenical Study and Dialogue Centre, pampakuda,Trinity Retirment Home,Kolenchery,Swasraya Training and Rehabilitation centre,Vettikal,mulanthuruthy,Sukhada Retreat Centre,Kolenchery,Hagia Sophia Public School,Mattakuzhy,varikoli, Santhula Trust Hospital,vadakara,koothattukulam are some of the major endevours emerged under his able leadership.
Presently he is in the ministry of the Kandanad East Diocese as its Metropolitan and serves the church as the Corporate Manager of Malankara Orthodox Church Colleges and President of Ministry of Human Empowerment.