Malankara Metropolitan

The Malankara Metropolitan, or the Metropolitan of Malabar, is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of the Malankara Syrian Church. It evolved from the sixteenth-century East Syriac metropolitans of India who were also styled as the Metropolitan of Malabar. Since the division among the Saint Thomas Christians following the Synod of Diamper, the title has been primarily associated with the Syriac branch from the West, commonly known as the Malankara Church. Among this group, the office of the Malankara Metropolitan became the continuation of the local dynastic Archdeaconate.

Baselios Marthoma Mathews III succeeded Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, who died on July 12, 2021, as Malankara Metropolitan.

Overview

The Saint Thomas Christian community of India traces its origins back to the first century when the Apostle Thomas is said to have established the Christian presence in the Malabar Coast of India. When the Portuguese Catholic missionaries arrived in Kerala in 1498, the colonial period was inaugurated, and many locals began to connect with the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch. The Malankara church schism of 1912 resulted in the formation of two factions: the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, which supported the Malankara Metropolitan, whom the patriarch deposed, and the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, which supported the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church as the supreme head of the church. The Catholicosate was established, and an Orthodox metropolitan was elected as the head (Catholicos) of the Malankara Church by the Orthodox Faction. On the other hand, the Jacobite faction continued to observe the Patriarch as the supreme head of the church. Later, the Jacobite faction also elected a Jacobite Metropolitan who chronologically became the local head of the church under the Patriarch.

Today, both of these churches are claiming the Malankara Metropolitan title. The Orthodox faction elects the supreme head of the Malankara Orthodox Church as the title Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan, whereas the Jacobite faction elects the local head of the church under the Patriarch as the title Catholicos of India and Metropolitan trustee of the Syriac Orthodox Church. However, following an observation by the Supreme Court of India, the head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church is the affirmed Malankara Metropolitan recognized by law.

Metropolitan

According to the judgment of the Supreme Court of India following an election conducted in 2002, the Catholicos of the East, Supreme Head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and custodian of the Orthodox Theological Seminary (Pazhaya Seminary), Kottayam, is the affirmed Malankara Metropolitan. As of 2023, the Catholicos of the East & Malankara Metropolitan (the supreme head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church) is Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, who succeeded Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, who died in July 2021.

Background

The Metropolitan was previously chosen by the Government of Travancore and Cochin in South India. This title was awarded with the proclamation from the King of Travancore and the King of Cochin.

The Prime jurisdiction regarding the temporal, ecclesiastical, and spiritual administration of the Malankara Church is vested in the Malankara Metropolitan. The Malankara Metropolitan is the legal custodian of the Kottayam Old Seminary, the interest of Vattipanam, and Other Common Community properties of Malankara Church.

After the Coonan Cross Oath incident, at which the Saint Thomas Christians refused to submit to the Portuguese (Padroado), the first Malankara Metropolitan was Mar Thoma I, who was ordained in 1653.

After 1877, every denomination in the Malankara Church started claiming its prelate as Malankara Metropolitan. Among them, the head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church was affirmed by the Supreme Court of India.

Lineage

Historically, the primate or leader of Saint Thomas Christians was known as Jathikku Karthavyan (leader of the Community), Malankara Moopen (Elder of the Community), the Archdeacon or Arkadiyakon (High Priest). The Pakalomattom family has traditionally held this office. In the 16th century, the arrival of the Jesuits led to changes in the structure of the Saint Thomas Church.

In 1653, the Archdeacon position was elevated to Bishopric, and the Metropolitan Bishop assumed the honorific ecclesiastical title Mar Thoma. This title was used from 1653 to 1815. Later, a regular 'Bishopric' was established in Malankara with the assistance of Gregorios Abdal Jaleel.

Title of Malankara Metropolitan

Prominence of Malankara

The position of the Malankara Metropolitan in the 19th century represents an upgrowth from the position of the previous Thomas and Archdeacons. The power and authority of the Malankara Metropolitan received more recognition than the power and authority of the previous Archdeacons' and Martoma's' because the British Residents of Travancore were favorably disposed towards the Malankara Church.

In 1815, during Col. John Munro's time as the British Resident of Travancore, Pulikkottil Joseph Ittoop Ramban was ordained as a bishop by Geevarghese Philexenos II (Kidangan) (1811-1829) of Malabar Independent Syrian Church (Thozhyoor Church). He was given the episcopal title Dionysius II. After the death of Thoma VIII, he was named as the head of the Malankara Church by a Royal proclamation issued by the King of Travancore and later by the King of Cochin. This enabled him to dethrone Mar Thoma IX. The proclamation insisted that every Malankara Syrian Christian of Travancore-Cochin obey the Malankara Metropolitan. From then onwards, the head of the Malankara Church was legally recognized as Malankara Metropolitan.

Reform movement and church splits

From 1816, Dionysius II, Dionysius III, Dionysius IV, and Mathews Athanasius succeeded the Malankara Metropolitans. Athanasius was inspired and encouraged by the Anglican missionaries at the old seminary in Kottayam, where Mathews Athanasius wanted to reform the traditional Syrian church. A parallel group under Dionysius V was working against his reformational schemes. Dionysius V invited and brought Ignatius Peter IV of Antioch to Malankara in 1875. The Patriarch divided the Malankara Church into seven dioceses; Dionysius V was declared the Malankara Metropolitan and was put in charge of Quilon Diocese in the synod of Mulanthuruthy (27 to 30 June 1876). Neither the incumbent Metropolitan Mathews Athanasius nor the Churches favoring him participated in the synod.

A series of court cases followed thereafter. The Travancore Royal Court, by order on 14 July 1889, declared that Dionysius V was the rightful Malankara Metropolitan and Thomas Athanasius had no rights or claims to that office. The reformed faction separated and organized themselves as the independent Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. The majority faction that preserved the Oriental Orthodox faith and came under the leadership of the new Malankara Metropolitan Dionysius V, under the spiritual guidance of the Patriarch of Antioch, is known as the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (Malankara Church).

In 1911, the church was divided into two factions due to internal disputes. Since then, the faction that supported the Patriarch of Antioch is known as the Bava Kakshi (Patriarch faction), while the Methran Kakshi (Malankara Metropolitan's faction) supported Vattasseril Thirumeni (bishop). In 1912, Methran Faction was ordained as the Catholicos of the East by Patriarch Ignatius Abded Mshiho II. After several years of litigation between the two factions, the Supreme court of India declared that the Patriarch has no power in the Malankara Church, with his spiritual power reaching a vanishing point since the establishment of the Catholicate. This caused the Malankara Church to split again. The Patriarch faction under the Patriarch of Antioch still believes in the spiritual powers of the Patriarch and remains under the Catholicos of India, later established in 1975.

Electing Catholicos Geevarghese II as Malankara Metropolitan

After the death of Malankara Metropolitan Gee Varghese Dionysius VI of Vattasseril (1934), the Malankara Association was held at M.D Seminary. Kottayam elected Catholicos Baselios Geevarghese II as the Malankara Metropolitan and passed a constitution for the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, popularly known as the 1934 constitution or Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Constitution.

Since 1934, the Catholicos of the East has held the Office of Malankara Metropolitan.

Malankara Association 2002 at Parumala

According to the Supreme Court order, the Malankara Syrian Christian Association (Parliament of the Malankara Church) was held, under the observation of the Supreme Court of India, in order to set right the position of Malankara Metropolitan Catholicos Baselios Mar Thoma Mathews II.

The Association Meeting was held on 20 March 2002 at Parumala Seminary, and Baselios Mar Thoma Mathews II was elected as the Malankara Metropolitan. The secret ballot voting was conducted at the seminary, and the Supreme Court Observer Justice V.S. Mulimud declared the result. The total polling was 3,483 votes. Out of these, 3,464 votes were cast in favor of Baselios Mathews II, 10 voted against, and 9 were invalid. The total number of delegates registered for the association was 3,528. "The supreme authority of the Malankara Syrian Christian Association has been unambiguously approved by the Supreme Court. The factions no longer exist, and there is only one official Malankara Church." The election was held after the Supreme Court's 1995 judgment on the dispute in the Malankara Church.

This meeting was boycotted by the Patriarch faction, which was unhappy with its overall conduct.

Thronal Cathedral

From 1653 to 1815, the See of Malankara Metropolitan was located at individual churches of the incumbent's preference. These include primarily the Niranam Church, along with the Kandanad Church, Kadampanad Church, and others, at various times during that period. With the establishment of the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Kottayam in 1815, the headquarters of the Malankara Metropolitan were relocated to Kottayam, while the thronal cathedral was also relocated to Kottayam Cheriapally, the most prominent church in Kottayam at the time. Since then, Kottayam Cheriapally has remained the thronal cathedral of Malankara Metropolitans.

Headquarters

From 1653 to 1815, the headquarters of the Malankara Metropolitan were also located at individual churches of the incumbent's preference, similar to the thronal cathedral. With the establishment of the Orthodox Theological Seminary, Kottayam in 1815, the headquarters were permanently relocated to the Seminary.

See also

• Orthodox Theological Seminary, Kottayam
• List of Malankara Metropolitans
• Saint Thomas Christians
• Syro-Malabar Church

Sources

• Frykenberg, Robert Eric (2008). Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198263777.
• Chronicles of Malabar

External links

• Ordinations, Demises etc. of Malankara Church leaders at Niranam Valiyapally
• Official website of Malankara Metropolitan and Malankara Church
• Official Malankara Orthodox Web TV
• MOSC Online News Media
• Malankara Orthodox/Baselius College Radio