Southern States - Kerala

Crucial Malankara Church meet today
By George Jacob

KOTTAYAM, MARCH 19. The self-inflicted fatricidal war in the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, among those owing allegiance to the Catholicos of the East and the Patriarch of Antioch, is all set to enter a new phase on Wednesday.

While the Catholicos and his followers have completed the work for convening the Malankara Syrian Christian Association at Parumala (in Pathanamthitta district), as per the directive of the Supreme Court, on March 20, those owing allegiance to the Patriarch, who have alleged malpractice in the election process and hence boycotted it, have decided to organise a convention of the faithful at Puthenkurissu (Ernakulam district) the same day to reiterate their faith in the supreme head of the Universal Syrian Church.

In short, the association meeting, which was expected to be a convention of representatives from both factions, as desired by the Supreme Court, would for all practical purpose, end up as a meeting of the Catholicos faction, opening the floodgates of yet another series of disputes and litigations.

According to the Catholicate office, 4,039 persons including representatives from 1,244 churches and the existing members of the Church Managing Committee will participate in the association meeting scheduled on Wednesday. These include 1,316 priests and 2,733 lay members.

The agenda before the meeting includes (i) to decide whether Moran Mar Baselius Marthoma Mathews II, the present Catholicos, is also the Malankara Metropolitan--this would be decided by secret ballot; (ii) election of 37 priests and 74 lay members to the new Managing Committee--in this case, the election may not be necessary as the nominations received are in conformity with the number of posts in the committee and (iii) adoption of a Resolution on Faith.

The decision on the Malankara Metropolitanship is crucial for the future conduct of actions being contemplated by both factions, since the one who holds this post is the legal custodian of Church properties.

Meanwhile, the Patriarchal faction, which has disengaged itself from the electoral process alleging highhandedness and malpractice by the Catholicos faction, has called the convention to reiterate its faith in the Patriarch of Antioch. According to them, the Catholicos faction has exploited the situation to create an independent, national Church with little role for the head of the Universal Syrian Church of which the Malankara Church is a `member'. The managing committee of their faction and synod working committee would also meet on Wednesday. According to Thomas Mar Dionisious, Catholicos-designate of the faction, one lakh faithful are expected to converge at Puthenkurissu in what according to him is the second `Koonan Kurissu Oath', reminding the flocks about the fervour of their forefathers who defied the then Catholic masters to reiterate their faith in the Patriarch of Antioch, in 1653.

With the Catholicos faction moving ahead with the election process, that too under the supervision of a Supreme Court-nominated observer, the Patriarch faction appears to be preparing themselves for a major showdown with the result that they have the other day expressed their readiness to part ways with their brethren in the Church on the basis of a referendum. The crux of the argument of the Patriarchal faction is that while the majority of the flock was ready to accept the spiritual authority of the Patriarch, the Catholicos and his followers are trying to exploit the intricacies of the election process to wrest control of the Church.

They fear that armed with the legal approval provided by the presence of the court-appointed observer, the Catholicos faction would engage in a massive effort to wrest control of their churches. A series of legal battles reminiscent of the many they have fought between themselves during the past one century may follow, resulting in the closure of many of these `disputed' churches, they fear. In short, the present moves by the Catholicos faction would only help take the faction-feud back to square one, according to them.

Fatricidal wars are nothing new to the Syrian Christian community in Malankara, considered one of the oldest in the Christendom. In fact, they have fought more wars among themselves than with other communities. Like the ongoing battle, these fights were mainly on two issues, purity of faith and control over Church properties.

The present crisis in the Malankara Church is more than quarter of a century old and could be traced back to the lack of confidence between the two factions which surfaced after the election of the former Catholicos, Moran Mar Baselius Marthoma Mathews I. With both factions upping the ante, it now appears that continuation of the Church as a unified entity would be a distant dream unless the Catholicos faction, acting from a position of strength, take a tolerant view of the situation. The earliest signal to the future of the Church would be evident when the Supreme Court, on April 15 takes up the various complaints filed by affected parties on the issues of (i) conduct of the election and (ii) compliance with the judgment, which led to the present spurt in factional feud.

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