The Catholicos of the East is an ecclesiastical title originally used for the patriarch of the Church of the East in Sassanid Empire from around 424. Since 628, the Maphrian of the East, who led the Syriac Orthodox Church in Sassanid territory also started claiming the title.
The leaders of the Puthenkoor faction of the Saint Thomas Christians were called Malankara Metropolitans since the Coonan Cross Oath of 1653.[2]
In the meantime, the deposed former Patriarch Ignatius Abded Mshiho II arrived in Kerala in 1912 on the invitation of Dionysius. He, at the request of Dionysius, announced the relocation of the Maphrianate of the East to India and appointed Paulos Ivanios Murimattathil as the Catholicos of the East with the regnal name Baselios Paulus I. This triggered a lasting split the community and from then on, those who followed the Malankara Metropolitan was called the "Metran party" (later Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and followers of Patriarch and the new Malankara Metropolitan he appointed were called the "Bawa party" (later Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church).[5][6][7]
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church is a division of the Orthodox Syrian Church and the chief Primate of the Orthodox Syrian Church is the Patriarch of Antioch.[8]
The Orthodox Syrian Church of the East is an autocephalous branch of the Orthodox Syrian Church and the chief Primate of the Orthodox Syrian Church of the East is the Catholicos of the East aka Maphrian.[8]
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church is an autonomous metropolitan Archdiocese of the Orthodox Syrian Church of the East. The Primate of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church is called the Malankara Metropolitan.
The two titles, Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan, are with separate responsibilities, but have been always held by the same individual in accordance with the constitution of the Church adopted in 1934.
As Catholicos of the East, he consecrates bishops for the Indian Orthodox Church, presides over the synod, declares and implements its decisions, conducts the administration on behalf of the synod, and consecrates the Holy Mooron (oil).
As Malankara Metropolitan[9]., he is the head of the Malankara Church, the President of the Malankara Syrian Christian Association and the Managing Committee. The prime jurisdiction regarding the temporal, ecclesiastical, and spiritual administration of the Indian Orthodox Church is vested in the Malankara Metropolitan subject to the provisions of the Church constitution adopted in 1934.[10][11]
Baselius Marthoma Mathews III
Malankara Metropolitan
Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, vested in the ceremonial robes of the Malankara Metropolitan
The main responsibility for the secular administration of the Church rests with the Malankara Metropolitan. Powers of the Malankara Metropolitan is to convene and preside over committees such as the Malankara Association and the Managing Committee, and to act as Metropolitan Trustee to administer the common church properties in cooperation with the Priest and Laity Trustees.[12][2]
Catholicos of the East
"Catholicos of the East (Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church)" redirects here. For other uses of the title, see Catholicos of the East.
Baselios Marthoma Mathews III as Catholicos of the East
The Catholicos of the East is a primatial title that came into usage in the Malankara Church during the schism of 1912. The office of the catholicos, called the catholicate, was established by Patriarch Ignatius Abded Mshiho II, at the request of Dionysius Geevarghese Vattasseril, as a sign of jurisdictional independence from the reigning Patriarch Ignatius Abded Aloho II. Baselios Paulos I Murimattathil was the founding Catholicos of the Church. Their reasoning to its establishment was that the Malankara Church was under the Church of the East in ancient times and therefore, it can be seen as the only remaining Oriental Orthodox part of the Persian Church. Hence the Maphrianate or Catholicate of the East is to be present in India.[13]
The Catholicate of the East is autocephalous in nature and enjoys the right to administer the responsibilities of the Patriarch of Antioch in the Malankara Church as the Vicar of the Patriarch. The powers of the Patriarch that are delegated to the Catholicos include the consecration of bishops, presiding over the episcopal synod, canonization of saints, and consecration of the Holy Myron. The Patriarch remains superior to the Catholicos and retains his historical powers in the Malankara Church but he is expected to administer his powers only in conjunction with the Catholicos.[14] An Indian Supreme Court ruling determined that the Patriarch of Antioch's power in the Malankara Church had reached a "vanishing point" following the catholicate's establishment.[15]
1 2 3 M. P. Joseph; Uday Balakrishnan; Istvan Perczel (2014-05-30). Leustean, Lucian N. (ed.). Syriac Christians in India. Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century. Routledge. ISBN978-1-317-81865-6.
↑ Lossky, Nicholas; Bonino, José Miguez; Pobee, John, eds. (1991). "Oriental Orthodox Churches". Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement. Geneva: World Council of Churches. p.756-757.
↑ Kiraz, George A. (2011). Maphrian. Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Gorgias Press.
↑ SCI (2017):It may be that by this act of revival of Catholicate and the Kalpanas A-13 and A-14, the Patriarch is not denuded of the powers delegated by him to the Catholicos — assuming that these powers were not already possessed by the Catholicos and that they came to be conferred upon him only under A-13 and A-14 — yet, reasonably speaking, the Patriarch was, and is, expected to exercise those powers thereafter in consultation with the Catholicos and the Malankara Sabha (Association) — and, of course, in accordance with the 1934 Constitution. This was necessary for the reason (i) to avoid creating parallel authorities leading to conflict and confusion and (ii) the acceptance by the local people was a sine qua non for any Metropolitan or melpattakar in Malankara Church as provided in the Mulanthuruthy Synod (convened and presided over by the then Patriarch himself) and given a judicial sanction by the judgment of the Travancore Royal Court of Appeal aforementioned. Without removing the Catholicos in accordance with the canon law and the principles of natural justice, the Patriarch could not have purported to exercise unilaterally the powers delegated by him to the Catholicos under A-14.
↑ SCI (2017). "K.S. Varghese vs St.Peter'S & Paul'S Syrian Orth.. on 3 July, 2017". Indian Kanoon. Retrieved 29 October 2024. This Court accepted the revival of the Catholicate on a threadbare scrutiny of the recorded facts and held that it was no longer open to the Patriarch or his followers to contend that the revival of Catholicate was not in accordance with the religious tenets and faith of the Syrian Jacobite Christian Church, and that the power of the Patriarch was reduced to a vanishing point due to revival of Catholicate. It was ruled that the power and authority of the Catholicos was affirmed in Kalpana A-13 and A-14 issued by the Pariarch and was re-enforced and enlarged in the 1934 Constitution. It was however noted that the Catholicos did at the same time not repudiate the spiritual supremacy of the Patriarch. It reaffirmed that he is the primate of the Orthodox Syrian Church.
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. It 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 Malankara Metropolitan or the Metropolitan of Malabar is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of the Malankara Orthodox Church. It evolved from the title of the sixteenth century East Syriac metropolitans of India who were also styled the Metropolitan of Malabar. Since the division among the Saint Thomas Christians following the Synod of Diamper, the title has been mostly employed in association with the West Syriac branch of the community, usually known as the Malankara Church, among whom the office of the Malankara Metropolitan became the continuation of the local dynastic Archdeaconate.
Gregorios of Parumala, also known as Parumala Thirumeni and Geevarghese Mar Gregorios, was a Metropolitan of the Malankara Church. Parumala Thirumeni became the first person of Indian origin to be canonised as saint. In 1947, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church declared Mar Gregorios as a saint, making him the first saint from India canonized by that church. In November 1987, the Syriac Orthodox Church canonized him as a saint.
Mor Baselios Thomas I was a Syriac Orthodox prelate who served as the Catholicos of India (Maphrian) and head of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Christian Church. Enthroned on 26 July 2002 by Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas in Damascus, Syria, he led the church through periods of ecclesiastical and social challenge until his death in 2024.
MorIgnatius Abded Aloho II Sattuf also Ignatius Abdullah ll Stephan was the Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1906 until his death in 1915.
The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church or the Syriac Orthodox Church in India, is an autonomous Maphrianate of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch based in Kerala, India and a part of the Oriental Orthodox Communion. It is administered by the Malankara Metropolitan, Gregorios Joseph, under the spiritual authority of the Catholicos of India, which has been vacant since the passing away of Baselios Thomas I, and, the Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius Aphrem II the supreme hierarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church.
The Catholicos of India, also known as the Catholicos of the East, Metropolitan of Malankara or Maphrian of the East, is the head of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, a maphrianate of the Syriac Orthodox Church, functioning within the Church at an ecclesiastical-rank second to the Patriarch of Antioch, and his name is commemorated in liturgy throughout the Syriac Orthodox Archdioceses in India and its diaspora. The position was renamed as Catholicos of India in 2002, in accordance with its actual jurisdiction.
Ignatius Abded Mshiho II was the Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1895 until his deposition in 1903.
Baselios Marthoma Mathews I was the primate of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, also known as Indian Orthodox Church. He was the 5th catholicos of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and 18th Malankara Metropolitan.
Geevarghese Dionysius Vattasseril, also Dionysius VI, Dionysius Geevarghese II or, popularly, Vattasseril Thirumeni, was a bishop of the Malankara Church and 15th Malankara Metropolitan. In 2003, Dionysius was canonized as a saint by the Malankara Orthodox Church, and his feast day is celebrated on February 23 each year. He is known as 'The Great Luminary of Malankara Church', a title which the Church bestowed on him in recognition of his contribution to the Church.
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.
Baselios Augen I was the 17th Malankara Metropolitan, the fourth Catholicos of the East in the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, and the first Catholicos of the East in the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church. He was the first Catholicos consecrated in a reunified Malankara Church, by the Patriarch of Antioch in 1964 but his tenure saw a second split in the Holy Church.
Baselios Marthoma Paulose II was the primate of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. He was ordained in 1973, consecrated in 1985 and enthroned as the 8th Catholicos of the Malankara Church and the 21st Malankara Metropolitan on 1 November 2010, succeeding Didymos I.
The Saint Thomas Christian denominations are Christian denominations from Kerala, India, which traditionally trace their ultimate origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. They are also known as "Nasranis" as well. The Syriac term "Nasrani" is still used by St. Thomas Christians in Kerala. It is part of the Eastern Christianity institution.
Geevarghese Mar Philoxenos aka Puthencavil Kochu Thirumeni was an administrator, orator and an advocate of Orthodox and the Catholicate of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of India. He served as Metropolitan of Thumpamon Diocese from 1930 to 1951.
Geevarghese alongside Varughese, Varghese, Verghese, Varkey, Varughis, and Vergis are Syriac–Malayalam variants of George in India. Geevarghese may refer to:
A sthathicon or susthathikon is an ecclesial document of official authorization and agreement, typically certifying the consecration of bishops in Syriac Christianity.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
