WHY BAVA THIRUMENI IS FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE HERE: St Peters and St Pauls Jacobite Syrian Church in Kolenchery was established in AD 7th Century. It has a membership of 2000 families - 1700 Jacobite Syrian Orthodox and 300 metran faction. The first “Catholicose” of the Metran faction, Paul Murimattathil was from this Church. In 1912, the Metran faction invited the deposed Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Mor Ignatius Abdul Masih II, to ordain Murimattathil Paulose Mar Ivanios as Baselios Paulose I, Catholicose of the East on the Apostolic throne of St Thomas, which had suddenly surfaced 19 centuries after the Church established by St Thomas in India was nurtured and protected by the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate at Antioch. WHY this faction had to invite a Patriarch deposed for his mental instability, and thus stripped of his authority to ordain anyone, and remained a Monk, and died a Monk, and is buried among Monks in the Syriac Orthodox Church at Mardin, for this “ordination” is quite another historical fact. What is of immediate relevance to this present issue at Kolenchery is the fact that Paul Murrimattathil was a parish member of St Peters and St Pauls Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, but THE PARISHIONERS OF ST PETERS AND ST PAULS, KOLENCHERY, ENRAGED BY THIS TREACHEROUS ACT OF PAUL MURRIMATTATHIL, DID NOT ALLOW HIM TO STEP INTO THE CHURCH, AND FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE HE COULD NOT SET FOOT IN THE CHURCH COMPOUND EVEN! NOR WAS HIS DEAD BODY ALLOWED TO BE BURIED IN THE CHURCH!! THE METRAN FACTION WAS FORCED TO BURY HIM IN THE CHURCH IN PAMBAKUDA, WHERE HE SADLY STAYED. It is this church over which the Metran faction is NOW claiming SOLE ownership! :/ A Church that refused recognition or entry or burial to their FIRST SO-CALLED CATHOLICOSE!!! To understand the import and significance of this fact, one should know with what reverence and affection the Tomb of a Patriarch, A Catholicose, a Bishop and a Priest is treated in Old Oriental Orthodoxy. For us they are the Tombs of Great Men of God who ran the race with fortitude and are an beacon-light on the Way. THE CATHOLICOSE WHO RESTS IN THE ST PETER AND ST PAUL CHURCH IS Mar Thoma VII, Malankara Metropolitan from April 1808 to July 1809. Mar Thoma VII was buried at Kolenchery church on 5th July, 1809. Now the question arises: “WHY is the metran faction so keen on the sole-ownership of a Church that insulted and rejected their very own “FIRST CATHOLICOSE”? The answer is simple. Having stood for more than 2000 years as a Christian Church, it has established various Schools, Colleges, Medical colleges, Engineering Colleges and Nursing Colleges to educate and train the people of its Parish and all others around. It is estimated that the wealth of the Church tops 500 crores. The metran faction would love to get their hands into this honey-pot, although most of the bees that worked hard to make that honey were not from them. THE HONOURABLE COURT HAS ALREADY COMMENTED THAT THE LITIGATIONS ARE ONLY IN CHURCHES THAT HAVE ENORMOUS INCOME. IT WON’T BE LONG BEFORE THE HONOURABLE COURT REALIZES THAT ALL THESE LITIGATIONS ORIGINATED WITH THE METRAN FACTION FILING CASES AGAINST THE HOLY MALANKARA SYRIAC ORTHODOX CHURCH. So, on what basis is the metran faction claiming ownership? The answer is this: The Pramaanis of the Church, the richest family in the Parish, joined the metran faction because metran faction at that time had better political connections – E J John was a Union minister and C M Stephen was a very active politician. When the Pramaanis joined the methran faction 2 out of the 3 vicars also followed suit. The question I ask myself is this: In 1975 HH The Patriarch of Antioch and All East, through a Patriarchal Bull, excommunicated EVERYONE – laymen, priests and bishops - who rebelled against the Holy Church, and joined the rebel-faction; then HOW can these priests lay claim to Holy Apostolic Priesthood? Were they ordained again? If they were ordained, would not that ordination be from the lineage of bishops who were ordained by a catholicose who was ordained by a catholicose who was ordained by a deposed Patriarch of Antioch who no longer had the authority to ordain? A lineage of illegitimate Spiritual Apostolic Succession! On what grounds do they claim to be Oriental Orthodox? Everything they do is utterly against the Pristine Purity of Old Oriental Orthodoxy. In mid 1960s both Kolenchery St Peters and St Pauls and Puthencruz churches were rebuilt. Our present Catholicose HB Baseliose Thomas I was then posted in Kolenchery and had literally carried stones for rebuilding the Church. It was HB who installed the Stone Cross on the central steeple of the Church. He was there in Kolenchery as the Chaplain of the Medical College, building it up from scratch. The Foundation-stone of the Medical College was laid in 1964 by HH Mor Yacoub III, the 121st Patriarch of Antioch and All East while on HH’s Apostolic visit to Malankara to consecrate and install Ougen as Catholicose - who again played foul, joined the methran faction and stands excommunicated from the Holy Syriac Church, and as such has no locus standii as even a priest, let alone a Ctholicose. Most of the Parishioners in this Church was under the Pastoral care of our Bava. So do not wonder at the LOVE that drives Bava Thirumeni in this case …
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 08:54:17 +0000
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