Malankara St.Thomas Syrian Orthodox Church Feud

MALANKARA CHURCH FEUD : REAL ISSUES

(Summary of a speech delivered by Prof. Joseph K. Alexander at the 94th Annual Conference of the MGOCSM on 27th Dec. 2002)

Recently there was a Sangamam of the members of the Dioceses south of Kottayam of the Malankara Orthodox Church (MOC) at Trivandrum. When asked why you aren’t coming for the meet; a youth told me. “No. I am not interested. I go to the church only for my spiritual needs:- of seeing the qurbana, for spiritual services like baptism, marriage and burial .I have no other interest and no time to spare”. This is the routine answer of most of the growing up members of the Church.

The Church members may be categorised into 3 groups. This is the first of them. The second are the knowledgeable grown-up intellectuals like professors, doctors, engineers: professionals in general. For them, the present day disputes and skirmishes are communal and fundamentalist. India is a secular state. Christianity a religion of love and peace shall not stoop down to such un-Christian activism in India. Some of them even say that our ecclesiasts have lost spirituality. The third group is mostly elderly who still have a lot of churchmanship in their beliefs and behavior. In this group women are a little more in number. Some children who are procreated in the same vein by these elders also come under this category.

If we examine we can understand that disputes, dissensions and divisions were the very essence of Christian Church history. Till 313 AD Christianity was the religion of the poor and the have-nots, of the destitute and of the downtrodden. It was Christ who kindled hope of a better life for them. So these persecuted used to hide in the caves and meet there together to rekindle their faith in Christ and to share the little food they had among themselves. Thus the original Christianity was of the poor. It was emperor Constantine of Constantinople who made Christianity his State religion

Thence it became a Royal Church with 3 features of:-
(1) Spirituality,
(2) Worldly possessions in the form of church edifices, convents, asrams, educational institutions, hospitals and mundane reproductive capital of all sorts to create more income for rendering more Christian services to the poor; and
(3) Structure with Prelates like Pope, Catholicose, Patriarchs, Arch Bishops, Bishops, Episcopas and their Holy Seas, Dioceses and Bishoprics.
These worldly acquisitions and positions led to personal differences and one-upmanship. Thus new groups and churches arose. Later they attributed dogmas and liturgy for these new Churches. This is how the two thousand plus Christian Churches of today came into being. The latest we know is the new Society Church created by Mar Thomas Dionysius, the newly created Sreshta Catholicose of the Patriarch faction in Kerala.

Disputes and Divisions in Christendom
The first major division in Christendom was the separation of the Oriental Orthodox Churches in 451 AD after the Chalcedon Synod. The second was in 1054 AD when the Catholic Church got separated from the main stream. The third division was in the 15th century when Calvin and Luther created their own new Churches .Thus including Catholics, in Christendom there are 4 major divisions and over 2000 sub-groups.

Disputes among St.Thomas Christians
This sort of division was repeated in every part of the World where Christianity existed including Kerala. Here St. Thomas Christians existed from 52 AD. They were a free group ruled by their Arch Deacons. Christian travelers and missionaries from other parts of the World used to visit, influence and even rule them for short periods. Now we have plenty of Christian Churches in Kerala.

Syrian, Roman, Latin, Canaanite, and Antiochan Rite Catholics with many exclusive orders of priests and nuns in each of them; The Malankara Orthodox Church; Former Jacobite Church now transmuted to the New Society Church; Church of South India with many sub-groups like Syrians, London Mission, Dalits, Bassel Mission etc; Mar Thoma Church with Sathyam & Pathyam factions; Kaldaya Nestorians; Thozhiyoor Church; Yooyomayam; Brotherens of many hues; Salvation Army; Many kinds of Pentecosts and churches of Individual pastors ,In short, division and dissentions are the rule in Christendom. Hence decrying the present day disputes among Christians as unchristian is denial of Christian history.

A Christian Church is a particular faith with its own liturgy and dogmas. Any change in them leads to another Church. A Church has its spirituality, structure and worldly possessions. Today without these 3 features a Church cannot exist. The Prelate of the Church is the main trustee. His Bishops and priests are his representatives. They have a two-fold duty to dispense spiritual services to the people and to protect the structure and the worldly possessions of the Church.

Now may I pose a question .Can any Christian Church go back today to the pristine and ideal Christian life that existed among our fore-fathers in the 1st or 2nd century AD? Impossible. So, saying that one is neutral in disputes, or such disputes are unchristian is only evasion of the problem. It is sheer escapism.

Civil Cases
.Let we go through a very brief summary of our church cases.
1. Mavelikara Padiola (1836) was the first dispute and was with the CMS missionaries.
2. Seminary Case. This second was for the ownership of the Malankara Sabha properties filed by H G Pulikkottil Joseph Mar Dionysius IInd in the Alleppy District Court in 1879. The Royal Court finally decided it in 1889 in favour of Pulikottil Thirumeni of Malankara Orthodox Church. The defendants left the Church and formed Mar Thoma Church.
3. Arthat Case. Pulikottil Thirumeni filed separate cases for the churches in Cochin State and won those cases also.
4. Vattippanam Case. Mar Thoma VI the Malankara Metropolitan gave 3000 poovarahan to the East India Co. as fixed deposit. In 1909 Patriarch Mar Abdulla came to Malankara to further consolidate their rule in Malankara. He excommunicated Vattaserril Thirumeni and ordained in 1911 Mar Coorilos as a rival Malankara Metropolitan .This rival claimed the annual interest of this Vattipanam. So the State Secretary of the British Government, deposited it in the treasury, and filed an interpleader case in 1913 to decide the right claimant. Thirumeni won, then lost and finally in the review appeal won the case in 1928
5. Samudaya case. Paulose Athanasios of the patriarch faction claiming Malankara Metropolitan ship filed the case in the Kottayam District Court on 10-3-1938. After a series of appeals and review, Catholicose party won the case by the Supreme Court Judgment of 1958.

Then the two factions joined into a single Church in 1958 by mutual acceptance of the Prelates and ecclesiasts. Catholicose accepted the Patriarch subject to the provisions of the 1934 constitution of the Malankara Church. Then as per this constitution the Patriarch was invited to attend the consecration of Augen Bawa in 1964 as the new Catholicose. He came and attended the ordination. Later on 31st Dec 1970. the last combined meeting of the Malankara Association was also held to elect Vattakunnel Mathews Mar Athanasios as the Malankara Metropolitan designate. The erst-while Patriarch faction kept quiet till the elapse of 12 years in 1970 to escape the Supreme Court award of all the expenses to the Catholicose party.

.By the 1934 constitution and the 1958 Supreme Court Judgment, the Patriarch’s spiritual powers over the Malankara Church had reached a vanishing point He never had any temporal powers over it, though he tried for it. Yet this foreigner started fomenting disputes in the combined Church. One after another he violated the provisions of the 1934 constitution and created a rival Sreshta Catholicose and 4 bishops in Malankara. He even started issuing orders to the Catholicose. So the Catholicose party was forced to file cases. Thus the case O.S.4/79 was filed to prevent these illegal metropolitans entering the Church properties.

6. Second Samudaya Case A special additional district court was created to hear all these cases: 8 of them and their appeals were later transferred to the Kerala High Court. The 2 member judgment of 1st June 1990 decreed that the defendants are illegally created Bishops and issued a permanent injunction to them from performing any religious services or sacraments. It also declared that Malankara Church is Episcopal and is not a federation of parish churches and it is governed by the 1934 constitution.

The Patriarch faction filed an appeal in the Supreme court. The Supreme Court gave the verdict on 20-6-1995 in favour of the Catholicose party by affirming the High Court verdict of 1990.

The gist of the court’s observations and Decree were:-
!. Patriarch faction cannot question the 1934 constitution of the Church and the Catholica Simhasanam created in 1912 in Kerala, because both have been unconditionally accepted by Patriarch Yacoob IIIrd in 1958 when he signed the mutual acceptance agreement and by Patriarch’s acceptance to participate in the ordination of the Augen Bawa in 1964.
2.The area of operation of the Patriarch and of the Malankara Metropolitan were demarcated in 1964 By this order issued by the Patriarch he has given up all spiritual rights over the Malankara Church
3.Parish churches are governed by the 1934 constitution (clauses 6 to 44)
4.As per the constitution the Patriarch‘s spiritual powers over Malankara church verges on to nothingness and he never had temporal powers over it.
5 St.Thomas has Simhasanam and Malankara Metropolitan occupies that. He can also use the honorific His Holiness.
6.Articles 46 and 71 stands amended by the Supreme Court to give more realistic representation to parish members in the Malankara Association meeting .
7.The court ordered for the immediate meeting of the Malankara Association to approve or not all the bishops and priests separately appointed by the two factions after 1971 and to assign Dioceses to them.

Objections to stall the meeting. Mar Thomas Dionysius insisted for the immediate implementation of the Supreme Court Order .The Catholicose issued notices for the Association meeting Then the Patriarch faction raised a number of objections like:-
a), The Court should issue fresh explanations for the judgments of 3/1996 and of 2/1997
b). V.R. Krishna Iyer may be appointed as mediator to the dispute
c) Supreme Court should issue orders for the conduct of the Association instead of the Catholicize
d) Marthoma Mathews IInd of the MOC is not a legally elected Malankara Metropolitan and he is the Catholicose only of the Catholicose party.
e) That the Court should order all ecclesiasts and Catholicose to declare allegiance to the Patriarch
f). The name of Patriarch should be mentioned in all prayers.

Supreme Court heard and dismissed all of them on 28-11-2001 and ordered to hold the Malankara Association before 31-3- 2002. Again Mar Thomas Dionysius poked many more spokes to stop the meeting.

The handling of the Malankara Sabhha case by the Supreme Court judges headed by Justice Kripal was very unique. In order to make both parties to unite together the judges prompted the Catholicose party which won the case to yield too many of the demands of the opposition... Bawa Thirumeni even agreed to resign if the Association declares that he is not the Malankara Metropolitan. So as agreed by both parties, the Court appointed Justice Mali mud, a judge of the rank of the Chief Justice to observe the conduct of the Malankara Association and the election and to report back for the final verdict of the Supreme Court. As an abundant caution both parties were asked to deposit Rs.50,000 (later raised to Rs.1 lakh) each as security.

The Malankara Association. was thus held on 20th March 2002 and justice Malimud reported that the Association was held observing all formalities and that the Association elected Bawa as the Malankara Metropolitan of MOC with 3464 votes and only 10 persons abstained from voting.
On the basis of this report the Supreme Court gave the final verdict on 12-7-2002 that Moran Mar Baselios Marthoma Mathews IInd is the Malankara Metropolitan and that this decision is final and unchallengeable in any court or forum.

Having found that none of his gimmicks succeeded ,Mar Thomas Dionysius somersaulted and went to Damascus and got him ordained as Sreshta Catholicose of a New Society Church. There is only one Church in Malankara .Patriarch has no spiritual or temporal powers over it.

Mar Dionysius and his faction thus reaffirmed their exit from the MOC and its constitution This being the case he and his faction have no claim over any parish church or properties belonging to the 1662 parishes in the combined Malankara Orthodox Church that came into being in 1958.

Root of all these cases
All these cases that cited above happened in the MOC only because of the greed of the Antiochan Patriarch for worldly possessions. When Patriarch Patrose III came to the ”Gods own country”, he got enamoured and decided to become the owner and overlord of these people and their church properties by hook or crook.. .He and his successors used all means including spiritual excommunication weapon on Malankara Prelates and their people. Their villainy can be seen from the series of these, they employed.

Excommunication Weapons.
1. The first excommunication was applied on 21-9-1843 by Patriarch Ignatius Elias IInd on Cheppad Dionysius the ruling Malankara Metropolitan to install in his place Palakunnath Mathews Mar Athanasios ordained by himself. (1)
2. The second was 32 years later in 1875 .Patriarch Patrose IIIrd excommunicated Palakunnath Mathews Mar Athanasios to install in his throne Pulikottil Mar Joseph Dionysius IInd
3. The third was 14 years later in 1889 when the Royal Court Judgment denied temporal powers to the Patriarch. So Pulikottil Joseph Mar Dionysius IInd was excommunicated by the same Patrose IIIrd on the plea that he did not do the needful in getting proper court judgment. (2)
4. Patriarch Mar Abdulla excommunicated 22 years later Vattaserril Thirumeni in 1911 because he refused to persuade the Malankara churches to surrender their church and properties to the Patriarch as ordered by him He also cursed Thirumeni and all his successors, ecclesiasts and priests of the Malankara Church.
5. The next was on Augen Bawa on 16-07-1974 .Patriarch Yacoob IIIrd also sent the notorious letter saying that St. Thomas the apostle of Christ was not even a sexton.
Of these excommunications the only one withdrawn was the one on Pulikottil Thirumeni when he gave the golden Amsa Vadi to the Patriarch.

Some say naively to divide the parishes to solve the dispute.
A parish church in Malankara is established by the local people who believe in a particular faith and liturgy. It becomes a church only when it is consecrated by the Bishop of that faith. They are also bound by its constitution. Thus a church is a unit of a structure having a common faith, liturgy, constitution and an ecclesiastical hierarchy. None of such churches in that Church can claim independent existence or can secede from it. So a division of any of the parish will be violation of the practice and the Constitution of the Church and of the Supreme Court Order. Division cannot be a solution .That is the legal reason why by the verdict of the Supreme Court and its direction; all the 1662 churches of the Malankara Orthodox Church were invited and directed to attend the Malankara Association held on March 20th 2002.Some parishes abstained from it. That was unlawful and futile. They cannot go out of the Church.
The claim of the new metropolitans created in the new Society Church that they can enter any church in Malankara is frivolous and shows either ignorance of the law or criminality of that faction.

Mar Thomas Dionysius , Society Catholicose
Finding that the law of the land and of the Malankara Church are against his aspiration to become a successor to Catholicose, Mar Thomas Dionysius cornered a few around him to violate all the rules of the Church and unlawfully got ordained as rival Catholicose by the ever-willing Patriarch who wants stooges to put his foot in India. This ordination is not only illegal, but also immoral and vulgar for a spiritual leader. He is the Catholicose of a new Society Church and new faith .Patriarch has no right to ordain him for 2 reasons.
1. Though Patriarch of Antioch as per the 1934 Constitution of the Malankara Orthodox Church (MOC) is the supreme head of MOC, he never had any temporal powers over it and his spiritual powers verged on to nullity. Now by the Supreme Court judgment of July 2002 there is and there can be only one Church in India that accepts him so. And its supreme prelate in India is Mar Thoma Mathews II who. is the Malankara Metropolitan and the Catholicose .This fact is unchallengeable in any court or forum. Moreover the Patriarch can act in India only through Catholicose .Since he has ordained Mar Thomas Dionysius as Sreshta Catholicose on his own and without the approval and concurrence of MOC, that ordination is not only vulgar but also null and void.
2. On the same day of the Malankara Association meeting at Parumala on 20-03-2002, Mar Thomas Dionysius by an illegal parallel meeting declared the creation of a new Society Church, faith and its constitution. He also declared himself as the Malankara Metropolitan of this new Church. By this action he has not only gone out of the MOC, but also has severed his connection with the Patriarch who is the supreme head of the only Church in India. There cannot be another Indian Church that can recognize him so. Mar Thomas Dionysius, is a bishop of another Church. He cannot receive an ordination to be a Sreshta Catholicose in India from the Patriarch of Antioch. He can receive such an ordination from a Prelate of the Armenian , Coptic or any other Church, but not from the Antiochan Patriarch. So he is neither a Sreshtan nor a rival to the MOC Catholicose. .In short, legally Fr. Thomas is not even a Bishop.
Mar Thomas’s argument that individual parishes are independent, only shows his ignorance about the clauses 6 to 44 of the 1934 constitution of MOC. Even if his stand is conceded for argument sake, it may be noted that the lateral observation by the Supreme Court Judges about not giving any decision regarding individual parishes as they are not parties in the case , is about the 1662 parishes of the MOC. Mar Thomas is now out of them. He has no right to talk anything about the MOC parishes. Hence his argument is like the barking of a dog at the moon

Mar Thomas Dionysius is licking the dust.
Now he is pleading and prostrating before every political leader, media persons and camera, and spiritual leaders of all hues and every other, to mediate . The fun is that many without understanding the issues have offered to mediate. Who in India can be a better mediator than the Supreme Court Judges ?. Moreover, where were these mediators when there was a second division in the Church in 1971 and when Patriarch started fomenting trouble in this Church?

Mar Dionysius says he is ready for any mediation. Because anything that he can get through the mediation, even if it is only a candlestick from the Malankara Church, it will be legalizing his illegal actions. It will be a contract out of Supreme Court .So what the Catholicose fought for 100 years in the courts will be nullified by such mediation. This is why the Malankara Metropolitan H.H.Marthoma Mathews IInd says that he is ready for mediation provided he is given peace with justice. Nothing less than the supreme Court Order will be injustice to the Malankara Orthodox Church.

Mar Dionysius claims that he has not filed any case and there are over 300 cases against him. That only shows his criminality. How can a wrong doer originate a case. It is the victim who goes to the court for justice. He even says that 80 % of the judges do not judge properly. Why. ?.He knows it better.

He claims prayer, fasting and Christian witness as his motto. But it is his group that dragged on the case from 1995 to 2002; that murdered late Malankara Varghese; that forcefully entered many churches not for prayer but to preach and foment ill will ;and was organizing Chaverpadas .
The murder of late Malankara Varghese by the faction spear-headed by Mar Thomas Dionysius is more Satanic than the similar murder of ANA PAPPY ,the self-imposed body guard of Vattaseril Thirumeni on Saturday 30th March 1912 .I am constrained to lament like H.G.Wells in his World History, when he describes the murder of King Philips by his own son Alexander the Great. It is tragic that 20 centuries of Christian teachings has not even encrusted the thinnest film of Christian ness and culture on the skins of Arab Christian Prelates and their rank and file ,even in Kerala..
.
Solutions.
1. The only legal and peaceful solution to the problem is that these illegally created Catholicose and his Bishops and priests must get out of the 1662 parish churches of the Malankara Orthodox Church because they have gone out of the faith and the 1934 constitution and has created a new Society Church .Moreover this was what was done on earlier occasions by the parties who lost the cases. Marthoma Church left and created new churches for themselves when they lost their case in1889. Similarly in 1929 Mar Ivanios left the Church, He did not try to take any Malankara parish church with him.

Many argue that the two factions should settle the issue by dividing the parishes on the basis of membership. The Catholicose, His Synod, Working Committee, Managing Committee or the Malankara Association cannot and will not accept this. because it is illegal. But if any individual parish members at the grass root level agree for collecting funds for their fellow members who have gone out of the Church for the construction of another church building for themselves, they may do so..

The root cause of all the trouble is the Patriarch’s attempts to exercise spiritual powers in Malankara Church. He is a foreigner He should be prevented from doing this through the diplomatic channel. Moreover as per the 1934 constitution clause 101 the present Patriarch Zakka I was can not be recognized .He was ordained against the provisions of clause 101. So his exercise of spiritual powers in Malankara is illegal. He could have been recognized had the Catholicose and the Patriarch mutually were to accept each other at or after the March 2002 Association meeting. This also was not done.

Again the 1934 constitution of the Church has been accepted by the Supreme Court. So the Patriarch can operate in the Malankara Church only through the Catholicose. Hence his creation of Mar Thomas Dionysius as a rival Catholicose is violation of the Supreme Court order and is ultra vires of the 1934 constitution of the MOC.

Again there cannot be any other Church in Malankara recognizing the Patriarch of Antioch, So Mar Dionysius‘s claim that he has created another Society Church under the Patriarch is wrongful and illegal. His new church can be a part of any other oriental Orthodox Church, but not under the Patriarch of Antioch.

So a writ petition should be filed against the Patriarch’s violation of the Court Orders.

2.. Yet another solution is to convince the State Govt. Executive this point that the Patriarch is acting illegally. So it is the duty of the Government to implement the orders of the Supreme Court.” And this court doth lastly order that this order be punctually observed and carried into execution by all concerned” This is an order of the Supreme Court to the State Executive. Convince them by a dialogue that they have to execute it

3. Still another solution is that a case may be filed against Mar Thomas Dionysius for non-compliance of the Supreme Court Judgment of 2002 , with a prayer to the Court to direct the State Government executive to take necessary steps to implement the Judgment and to report back to the Supreme Court in 30 days time from the receipt of the order. Mar Dionysius is the only living appellant in the original Appeal suit 331 of 1980 in the Supreme Court . He has to comply.

4. Lastly Mar Dionysius is fomenting trouble only in less than 200 parishes of the four Metropolitans who continue to remain in the combined Church. File individual cases for these parish churches for implementation of the Supreme Court order.
These are some of the possible ways to tackle the evil. Mediation in the dispute or division of the parishes is not the solution.

Demands of His Holiness Baselios Marthoma Mathews II
1.There is only one Church and its unchallengeable Prelate in any forum, is Himself.
2. All the 1662 Parish churches belong to the Malankara Orthodox Church .All of them are to be governed by the clauses 6 to 44 of the 1934 constitution of the Church.
3. The New Society Church and its new prelate Mar Dionysius and his followers are no longer members of the Malankara Orthodox Church and cannot remain under the Patriarch of Antioch..
4. Anybody; Society Church members, Marthomites, CSI, Catholic or other Christians may enter and see the services in these parishes. The Catholicose do not want direct possession of any parish church or its properties. But the priests and Bishops that officiate and conduct sacraments in all these parish churches and institutions of the CHURCH shall be ecclesiasts ordained and appointed by Him and His Bishops only and should be governed by the 1934 constitution.
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Note. 1 Cheppad Mar Dionysius was excommunicated by Patriarch Ignatius Elias IInd.
1. This can be seen in para 158 of the Royal Court Judgment. There we read exhibit Q-Q. a letter written by Palakunnath Mathews Mar Athanasios to Major General Callan that Cheppadan has been excommunicated and hence he is the right claimant for Malankara Metropolitanship. The date in my posting is the date of this letter. I could not come across the actual date of the excommunication because that letter presented by Yuyakim Coorilose was declared unacceptable and hence was suppressed by Mar Coorilose.
2. Z.M.Parret. "Malankara Nasranikal" Vol. III Ch 6." Mathews Mar Athanasios" Page. 170 . Sub-heading Cheppad Divanasiosine Mudakki.
3. P.Cherian - "The Malabar Syrian Christians and the Church Missionary Society", Kottayam.1932. Page 203. reiterate this information.
Note .2. Pulikottil Joseph Mar Dionysius II nd was also excommunicated.
Patriarch Patrose IIIrd returned from Malankara in 1877. He wrote later on 7th November 1892 when he was 91 years old a Kalpana from Syria when he learned that the Royal court Judgment has denied him temporal powers. This letter was an exhibit in Samudaya case 111 of 1113 in the Kottayam District Court and in Vattipanam case as Exhibit No. J.N. Parts of this letter are reproduced in
1. Z.M.Parret- "Malankara Nasranikal " Vol iii. Page 234 to 240. on page 238 this suspension is worded.
2. K.C.Mammen Mapillai." Autobiography". It is reported to me by a friend that this is reported in that book also. But at present I do not have that book with me.

(Prof. Joseph K. Alexander , Retd Director , Collegiate Education ,Kerala Govt. Service is an economist, He was the principal of Govt. college, Kottayam, was a member of the Orthodox Church official bodies including the Church Planning Committee,3 times Chief Election Officer of the Malanakara Association, Senior Vice President of the MGOCSM for 14 years in the 1980 s and ‘90s and so on. Currently he is in the Faculty of the Civil Service Academy of our Church at Trivandrum and is the Treasurer of MGOCSM.)