NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
George Iype in Kochi
A long-standing feud between two factions of the Orthodox Church in Kerala has taken an ugly turn with bishops and priests of rival groups taking out processions in a bid to take over parishes both sides have laid claim to.
In the past one month itself the fight between the Orthodox and Patriarch factions of the state's Malankara Syrian Church has led to clashes between the two sides, disruption of Sunday mass services and delay in the burial of a priest.
Chief Minister A K Antony has appealed to the top Orthodox Church leaders in Kerala to negotiate and settle their decades-long row instead of creating a law and order situation in the state.
The latest crisis in the Malankara Syrian Church came after it recently split into two -- the Malankara Orthodox Church and the Jacobite Syrian Church. While the Malankara Orthodox group is headed by Catholicos Baselios Marthomma Mathew II, the other faction last month appointed Bishop Thomas Dinonysius as a Catholicos.
The Malankara Orthodox head Mathew II claims Dinonysius' elevation as a Catholicos is illegal and unethical. "There can be only one Catholicos for the Orthodox Church in India. The election of Dinonysius as Catholicos is against a Supreme Court order and it is meant to take over our churches across Kerala," Catholicos Mathew II told rediff.com.
Church leaders in Kerala lament that the split in the Orthodox Church and the public feud between its two factions is painful and demeaning.
The Orthodox Church, like the Catholic rites of Syro Malabar and Syro Malankara Churches, traces its origin to Saint Thomas the Apostle. But for over a century now the two factions of the Orthodox Church have been disputing over money, power and position that has led to closure of many churches and even physical confrontations between members of the Church.
The Orthodox Church was founded in India in the 17th century, when some St. Thomas Christians broke away to form a separate Church to oppose Portuguese missioners' Latinization of their native Church.
But it split in the late 19th century, when the Patriarch of Antioch, the supreme head of the Orthodox Church, rejected some Syrian Orthodox Christians' demand for autonomy.
In 1909, the then Patriarch excommunicated an Indian metropolitan, who refused to acknowledge his authority. Three years later, the Indian metropolitan got a rival Patriarch to declare the excommunication invalid and appoint him the head of the Church in India.
Since then the Malankara Orthodox Church began to be headed by a Catholicos, now Mathew II who is based in Kottayam. The Patriarch faction, however, disapproved of it.
Litigation between the factions followed over control of parishes and the appointment of bishops. They were briefly reunited in 1958 after the Supreme Court intervened. But the unity lasted only until 1970 when the Patriarch denied the existence of a throne of Saint Thomas in India.
Innumerable cases filed by both sides in the lower courts again reached the Supreme Court in 1995. The Court then said that there could be only one Church and recommended the formation of a Malankara association to discuss and settle the disputes.
According to Bishop Athanasios of the Malankara Orthodox Church, the court order has made it clear that the Orthodox Church in India should be headed by Catholicos Mathews II only. "He is the supreme head to which all bishops of the orthodox church should owe allegiance to," he said.
But Catholicos Dinonysius disagrees. "We are ready to abide by the church constitution. We do not recognise Catholicos Mathews II as our head and that is why we have established ourselves as a separate church," he told rediff.com.
Two weeks back, priests and laity members of rival churches clashed during the burial ceremony of a senior priest because both groups laid claim to the cemetery.
While similar clashes between the two church factions over their claims to various parishes, church institutions and even cemeteries have left many injured in the last one month or so, bishops from both sides have made it clear that they are not for any conciliatory talks.
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
