Catholicos of India

Last updated

Catholicos of India
Bishopric
Syriac Orthodox Church
H.B. Mor Baselios Thomas I.jpg
Incumbent:
Baselios Thomas I
26 July 2002
Style Aboon Mor
His Beatitude the Catholicos
Location
CountryIndia
Headquarters Patriarch Ignatius Zaka I Iwas Centre, Kerala, India
Information
DenominationMalankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church
Sui iuris churchMalankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church
RiteAntiochene Syriac Rite
Established Syriac Orthodox Church (1964)
Diocese Catholicate See [1]
Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
CathedralMar Athanasius Cathedral
Patron father Saint Thomas
Current leadership
Coadjutor Malankara Metropolitan Joseph Gregorios
Website
www.jscnews.org

The Catholicos of India [2] [3] formerly the Catholicos of the East, [4] is an ecclesiastical office within the Syriac Orthodox Church. He is the Catholicos, spiritual leader and regional head [5] [1] of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, an Indian archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church, functioning within the Church at an ecclesiastical-rank second to the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, [4] and his name is commemorated in liturgy throughout the Syriac Orthodox Archdioceses in India. The position was renamed as Catholicos of India [3] in 2002, in accordance with its actual jurisdiction. [6]

Contents

The current Catholicos of India is Baselios Thomas I, who was consecrated in 2002. [7]

Catholicos/Maphrian

The word is a transliteration of the Greek καθολικός (pl. καθολικοί), meaning “concerning the whole, universal or general”, a title that existed in the Roman Empire when the government representative in-charge of a large area was called 'Catholicos'. The Churches later started to use this term for their Chief Bishops.

'Maphriyono' (Maphrian) is derived from the Syriac word 'afri', meaning "to make fruitful", or "one who gives fecundity". This title may be used exclusively for the head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the East. From the mid-13th century and onwards, a few occupants of the Maphrianate were referred-to also as 'Catholicos', but the title never came into extensive usage.

In the 20th century, when the office of the Maphrianate under the Holy Apostolic See of Antioch was re-established in India, the chief of the local church assumed the title 'Catholicos of the East', but his jurisdiction was restricted to India in the East. Later, in the 21st century (2002), the Maphrianate was renamed to 'Maphrianate of India', and the Maphriano Assumed the title 'Catholicose/Maphriano of India' as per the constitution of the church in India, officially known as "Catholicos of the East" as the Syrian Orthodox Constitution. [8] [3]

In the Syriac Orthodox Context, both Catholicose and Maphriano have the same meaning, and refer to the same office. [9]

Origins and development of the Catholicate in India

The Universal Syrian Orthodox Synod decided to re-establish the Maphrianate of the East after the reconciliation movement gathered momentum in the 1950s and culminated in the consecration of Augen I as catholicose by the Episcopal Synod presided over by Patriarch Ignatius Jacob III. The church later split again in 1975 as Mar Augen I argued that the Catholicos is equal to the Patriarch and Malankara Syrian Church have ecclesiastical throne of Thomas the Apostle and that he is seated on that throne against reunification decisions. [10] The Patriarch Mor Ignatius Jacob III in his bull numbered 203 claimed that Thomas the Apostle did not establish any ecclesiastical Apostolic Throne in Malankara but the Catholicos Augen I and his group refused and not accept this claim. So the Patriarch excommunicate the Catholicos and his group is known as the Malankara Orthodox Church from the Syriac Orthodox Church.

For the people favoring the Patriarch's supremacy, the Maphrian consecrated by Patriarch Jacob III in 1975. Mor Baselios Paulose II was the Second Catholicose/Maphrian of Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church. After Mor Baselios Paulose II's demise in 1996 the office remained vacant for several years to accommodate reconciliation attempts, which were unsuccessful.

In 2002, the Catholicos Baselios Thomas I was consecrated by Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas to be the head of the Malankara Archdiocese of Syriac Orthodox Church in India known as "Jacobite Syrian Church". His Beatitiude's official title was made Catholicos of India, due to its jurisdiction was in India of the East. As a result, since the time of Baselios Thomas I, the title of the Catholocose/Maphriano was modified to Catholicose/Maphriano Of India of the East of Jacobite Syrian Church Constitution as the jurisdiction of India unlike his predecessor Baselios Augen I and Baselios Paulose II, who was titled Catholicose of the East thought his jurisdiction was only India. [3] [11] The Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Jacob III consecrated Paulose Mor Philoxenos as the Catholicose of the East under the title Baselios Paulose II. He functions at an ecclesiastical rank second only to the Patriarch, having the privilege to preside over the consecration of new patriarchs. The Catholicos is welcomed brotherly alongside the Patriarch at ecclesiastical and ecumenical functions, and hosted the Patriarch during a state visit to India in 2005.

This Catholicate is headquartered at Puthencruz, Kerala, India. The Catholicos of India presides over the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Christian Association, the legal entity of Jacobite parishes in Malankara that unequivocally supports remaining within the Antiochian Patriarchate.

The Catholicos is not authorized to consecrate Holy Chrism independently without Permission of the Patriarch because of Hudaya Canon(Accepted only the Manuscript either not catholic canon or Malankara orthodox Church canon is called the Paris canon) of the Holy fathers. The jurisdiction of the Syriac Orthodox Catholicos of the East in India only, although he is often invited to preside over Syriac Orthodox functions abroad as an Indian, officially Catholicos of the East as per Syriac Orthodox Church Constitution. [12]

Authority

As the head of the catholicate of Syriac Orthodox Church in India, the Catholicos presides over the Holy Episcopal Synod of Jacobite Syrian Christian Church and second position in Syrian Orthodox Church after the Patriarch. The Catholicos gets respects from the whole over nations and has greater position above any other honorable Metropolitans of the Syrian Orthodox Church according to constitution of the Syrian Orthodox Church and Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church.

Article of autonomy of the Catholicos

Article freedom according to the constitution of the Syriac Orthodox Church of 1998 grand permission by Patriarch Ignatius Zaka I Iwas [13]

Article 8

Article 15

Article 22

Article 27

Article 40

Article 48

Catholicate See

List of Maphrians/Catholicos

List of Catholicoi of India

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church</span> Orthodox Church in Kerala, India

The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (MOSC) also known as the Indian Orthodox Church (IOC) or simply as the Malankara Church, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church headquartered in Devalokam, near Kottayam, India. The church serves India's Saint Thomas Christian population. According to tradition, these communities originated in the missions of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. It employs the Malankara Rite, an Indian form of the West Syriac liturgical rite.

A catholicos is the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and, in some cases, it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes from ancient Greek καθολικός, derived from καθ' ὅλου from κατά and ὅλος, meaning "concerning the whole, universal, general"; it originally designated a financial or civil office in the Roman Empire.

The Maphrian, originally known as the Grand Metropolitan of the East and also known as the Catholicos, was the second-highest rank in the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, right below that of patriarch. The office of a maphrian is an maphrianate. There have been three maphrianates in the history of the Syriac Orthodox Church and one, briefly, in the Syriac Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malankara Metropolitan</span> A title in Indian Christianity

Malankara Metropolitan is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of the Malankara Syrian Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baselios Paulose II</span> Jacobite Orthodox Maphrian of India (1914—1996)

Baselios Paulose II (born as Puthusseril Joseph Paulose was the second Maphrian of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, which is part of Syriac Orthodox Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baselios Thomas I</span> Catholicos of the East (born 1929)

Baselios Thomas I is a Syriac Orthodox Catholicos of India (Maphrian) and head of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church in India. He was enthroned on 26 July 2002 by Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East in a ceremony held in Damascus, Syria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregorios Joseph</span> Syriac Orthodox Church Metropolitan of Kochi, India

Mor Gregorios Joseph is a Syriac Orthodox archbishop and currently the Malankara Metropolitan of the Syriac Orthodox Church in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacobite Syrian Christian Church</span> Malankara body of the Syriac Orthodox Church in India

The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, or the Syriac Orthodox Church in India, is a Maphrianate of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch based in Kerala, India and part of the Oriental Orthodox Church. It recognizes the Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch and All the East as supreme head of the church. It functions autonomously within the church as an Archdiocese, administered by the Metropolitan Trustee, under the authority of the Maphrian of India, Baselios Thomas I. Following schism with the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, it is currently the only church in Malankara that is under the administrative supervision of Syriac Orthodox Church. The church employs the West Syriac Rite Liturgy of Saint James.

Baselios Paulose I or Murimattathil Bava was the first Catholicos of the East after its reinstatement in India. The First Catholicos of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church was in power only for seven months and eighteen days. He was 76 years old when he became the Catholiocs and died the following year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ignatius Abded Mshiho II</span> 117th Patriarch of Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch

Moran Mor Ignatius Abded Mshiho II was the Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1895 until his deposition in 1903.

Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan are the titles used by the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, which is also called the Indian Orthodox Church, for the same bishop holding two offices of Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan. The term "Catholicos" is derived from the Greek word Katholikos (Καθολικός), meaning "Universal Bishop". His Holiness Baselius Marthoma Mathews III is the present Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan.

Catholicos of the East is the title that has been held by the ecclesiastical heads of the Church of the East, the Grand Metropolitan of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, since AD. 280.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baselios Augen I</span>

Baselios Augen I was the 17th Malankara Metropolitan and fourth Catholicos of the East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athanasius Paulose</span> 19th and 20th-century Jacobite Syrian patriarch and saint

St.Paulose Mor Athanasios, popularly known as Aluvayile Valiya Thirumeni, was the Metropolitan of the Angamaly Diocese and malankara Metropolitan of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mary's Church, Meenangadi</span> Church in Kerala, India

E. A. E St. Mary's Soonoro Syriac Orthodox Church, Meenangadi, is a Marian Pilgrim center of the Syriac Orthodox Church located at Meenangadi in Kerala, India. The church is under E.A.E Arch Diocese, the first missionary association of Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, and is currently under the direct control of Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church. In 2006, the church was elevated to the status of "Marian Pilgrim Centre", and in 2018, it celebrated its diamond jubilee. It is the first church to adopt the 8 Day Lent in Malabar Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. George's Monastery, Malekurish</span> Syriac Orthodox Monastery in India

St. George's Monastery is a Jacobite Syrian Christian Church situated at a hilltop near Puthencruz, Ernakulam District, Kerala. The monastery was established by Mor Yulius Elias Qoro. The Malankara Syrian Orthodox Seminary began functioning in this monastery and later moved to Udayagiri. The monastery is the final resting place of Catholicos Baselios Paulose II. In 2019, a retreat house named Khanema Hanna Home was consecrated by Ignatius Aphrem II Patriarch near to the Monastery.

Malankara Malpan Arch Corepiscopa Curien (Kurian) Kaniyamparambil was a priest in the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church and a scholar in Syriac language, who translated the Bible (വിശുദ്ധഗ്രന്ഥം) from ancient Peshitta text to Malayalam. This is the official bible used by Syriac Orthodox Church in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athanasius Paulose II</span>

Athanasius Paulose was the First Metropolitan of Evangelistic Association of the East. He was consecrated as Metropolitan in 1973.

<i>Sthathicon</i> West Syriac Christian church document

A sthathicon or susthathikon is an ecclesial document of official authorization and agreement, typically certifying the consecration of bishops in Syriac Christianity.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Constitution (1998).
  2. "Jacobite Syrian Christian Church". JSC News- Official News Portal of the Church. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2021. In the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, the Patriarch of Antioch & all the East is the spiritual supreme, but the temporal powers of the local Church in India rests with an association, elected from among the representatives of Parishes of Malankara, and is to be administered under guidance from its Chief prelate, the Catholicos of India.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Patriarch Zakka I: The SOC At a Glance". syriacorthodoxresources.org. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  4. 1 2 SOC (1998). Syriac Orthodox Church Constitution. His Beatitude The Catholicos ranks second after the Patriarch within the Syrian Orthodox Church hierarchy. He is elected only by the Metropolitans under the jurisdiction of the Catholicate See. They must obey him, so must the priests, deacons and all the people within the Syrian Orthodox Archdioceses in India. At his ordination, he is proclaimed: Mor Baselius... (his personal name is added here). His name shall be proclaimed throughout the archdioceses in India during the Holy Mass and canonical prayers, after the name of the Patriarch and preceding the name of the Archdiocese Metropolitan. His name should be mentioned also at every Syrian church where he attends prayer. His title is: His Beatitude Mor Baselius... Catholicos of the East and Metropolitan of Malankara.
  5. "India – Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch". syrianorthodoxchurch.org. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  6. "Catholicate of the East". syriacchristianity.info. Retrieved 26 June 2021. In 2002 the office of the Maphrianate was renamed 'Catholicos of India' in accordance with its actual jurisdiction
  7. "Catholicos Baselios Thomas I vests the new metropolitan trustee Joseph Mar Gregorios with the symbol of the post at Puthenkurisu on Wednesday. H. Vibhu". The Hindu. 28 August 2019.
  8. "Catholicate of the East". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2008.
  9. "Malankara Jacobite Syrian Christian Network". Archived from the original on 30 August 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  10. Alexander P. Varghese (2008). History, Religion, Vision and Contribution to the World · Volume 1. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. ISBN   9788126909032.
  11. Enthronement of the Catholicose of the East
  12. Syriac Orthodox Constitution
  13. Syrian Orthodox Constitution Article Freedom
  14. Mulanthuruthy Padiyola
  15. "Catholicate of the East". catholicose.org. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2008.
  16. Brief History of The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch in India
  17. Enthronement of the Catholicose of the East Catholicose Mor Baselios Paulose II was officially elected as the Malankara Metropolitan of the Jacobite Syrian Church

Sources