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Gregorios Abdul Jaleel | |
---|---|
Metropolitan of Jerusalem | |
Born | Mosul, Iraq |
Died | 27 April 1681 North Paravur ,India |
Venerated in | Syriac Orthodox Church Oriental Orthodox Christianity |
Major shrine | St. Thomas Jacobite Syrian Church, North Paravur |
Feast | 27 April |
Mor Gregorios Abdal Jaleel Bawa (died 27 April 1681) was the Syriac Orthodox Bishop of Jerusalem from 1664 until his death in 1681. He is chiefly remembered for his 1665 mission to India, by which he established ties between the Malankara Church and the Syriac Orthodox church of Antioch. [1] He is venerated as a saint by his church. [2] [3]
Abdal Jaleel was born in Mosul, Iraq. In 1653 he was ordained metropolitan bishop for the Ameed (Diyarbakir) diocese in Turkey by the Patriarch Ignatius She'mun. In 1664, he was elevated as the Metropolitan of Jerusalem with the title Gregorios. He traveled to India in 1665 to the ordination of Thoma I, archdeacon of the Malankara Nasrani community. He was the delegate of the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church to Kerala Syrian Christians. [1] He died in India in 1681, and his remains are interred in the St. Thomas Church at North Paravur. On April 4, 2000, Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I declared Mar Gregorios Abdal Jaleel a saint. [4] [5]
Thomas Christians are popularly and traditionally called Syriac Christians, a term associated with their use of liturgical rites of Syriac Christianity. The name Syriac came to refer to those Christians that were using various Syriac Rites at the very beginning of Christianity. The Syrian Christian label was also attached to the Churches in Syria, which was submitted to the ecclesiastical authority of the Church of Antioch in the ancient capital of Roman Syria. It was referred to as the Syrian Church in the epistle of St. Ignatius (the third Patriarch of Antioch), to the Romans in AD 107.
The Saint Thomas Christians were in communion with the Syriac Orthodox Church and Maphrianate of the East [6] until their encounter with the Portuguese in 1599. [6] .These portuguese influences have later resulted in serious rifts and portuguese tried to cut down the relationship between Saint Thomas Christians and Syriac Orthodox Church [6] . Saint Thomas Christians were organized as a Church served by priests ordained from the Pakalomattom clan chosen by Apostle Thomas, foreign bishops under Syriac orthodox church and with a hereditary local chief called Arkadiyokon or Archdeacon [6] even before portuguese arrival
In the 16th century the overtures of the Portuguese padroado to bring the Saint Thomas Christians into the Roman Catholic Church led to the first of several rifts in the community and the establishment of Pazhayakūr and Puthenkūr factions. Since that time further splits have occurred, and the Saint Thomas Christians are now divided into several Eastern Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, and independent bodies, each with their own liturgies and traditions. [7] [8]
After the Coonen Cross Oath incident [6] , Archdeacon Parambil Thoma was ordained as bishop by the laying on of hands by twelve priests. This was considered necessary in view of the extraordinary circumstances. Appeals were sent to Patriach of Antioch of Syriac orthodox church and they send Gregorios Abdul Jaleel Bawa of Jerusalem to solve this issue [6] . Meanwhile, the Eastern Catholic faction was led by Bishop Parambil Chandy, supported by Kadavil Chandy Kathanar and Vengūr Givargis Kathanar. [9]
Gregorios reached Ponnani, then an important port on the South West coast of India, in 1665. The 'Travancore State Manual' Vol II Page 187, records the arrival of Gregorios as follows - "Two years afterward, in 1665, the position of the Archdeacon Thomas altered by the arrival on this coast of a Bishop named Gregory, Patriarch of Jerusalem sent by the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius XXIII the quarter whence had come Ahathalla, thirteen years previously".
Knowing the prevailing political climate, he traveled further south by land in disguise until he came across some Syriac Rite Christians from the North Paravur church. He revealed his identity showing them the sthathikon from the Patriarch of Antioch. They led him to their church and sent word to others. The Archdeacon and many people rushed to the place to welcome the Bawa. Soon after, Gregorios canonically ordained the Archdeacon as Metropolitan Thoma I. Together, they traveled to various churches affirming the Orthodox faith and traditions. In 1670 March Gregorios and Thoma I together ordained Thoma II as the second Malankara Metropolitan.[ citation needed ]
An important encyclical by Gregorios dated 5th Kumbam 1668 gives us a record of the Malankara Church during the period. Referring to the Synod of Diamper, it says "Most of the early records on the faith and history of the Malankara Church prior to the arrival of Portuguese were destroyed in the aftermaths of the Synod of Diamper. They did this in order to establish a new chapter in Malankara. The ultimate aim of the Synod was to transform the Syriac Rite Christians into the Roman Catholic fold by use of force and in this process, they managed to destroy all the earlier records. The support of Portuguese military and the local Kings made their task much easier." [10]
The relics of Mor Gregorios are preserved at St. Thomas Church, North Paravur which include his vestments, a golden cross, a golden chalice, a paten set, and an Trulia worn by Mor Gregorios. The holy 'Arulikka' has 12 partitions of which 11 contain the relics of saints and the twelfth partition in the middle contains a piece of the cross on which Christ was crucified. The Chalice and Platen are still used in the Holy Qurbana celebrated on the feast of Mor Gregorios. The relics are ceremoniously taken out and exhibited for public veneration on the feast day.
The Perunal (Malayalam) or Dhukrono (Syriac) of Mor Gregorios Bava is celebrated for 4 days starting from 24 April every year and culminating on the 27th. During these days, the North Paravur is declared as a festival area by the Kerala government considering the large flow of pilgrims. Thousands of pilgrims from different parts of Kerala, mostly from the northern part of Malankara, travel by foot covering many miles to reach the tomb every year.
The Feast of Mor Gregorios Abdal Jaleel is also celebrated at Elanjikal Palli in Niranam on 28 April.
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.
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 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.
The Synod of Diamper (Udayamperoor Synod) (Malayalam: ഉദയംപേരൂർ സൂനഹദോസ്, romanized: Udayampērūṟ Sūnahadōs), held at Udayamperoor (known as Diamper in non-vernacular sources) in June 1599, was a diocesan synod, or council, that created rules and regulations for the ancient Saint Thomas Christians (also known as Mar Thoma Nasranis) of the Malabar Coast, a part of modern-day Kerala state, India, formally subjugating them and downgrading their whole Metropolitanate of India as the Diocese of Angamale, a suffragan see to the Archdiocese of Goa administered by Latin Church Padroado missionaries. This synod also introduced forced Liturgical Latinisation and the eschewal of local practices and beliefs, leading to a significant ecclesial protest by Saint Thomas Christians known as Coonan Cross Oath and a subsequent schism in the mid-17th century.
The Coonan Cross Oath, also known as the Great Oath of Bent Cross or Leaning Cross Oath, was taken on 3 January 1653, in Mattancherry, by a significant portion of the Saint Thomas Christian community in the Malabar region of India. This public declaration marked their refusal to submit to the authority of the Jesuits and the Latin Catholic hierarchy, as well as their rejection of Portuguese dominance in both ecclesiastical and secular matters.
The West Syriac Rite, also called the Syro-Antiochian Rite and the West Syrian Rite, is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturgy of Saint James in the West Syriac dialect. It is practised in the Maronite Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syriac Catholic Church and various Malankara Churches of India. It is one of two main liturgical rites of Syriac Christianity, the other being the East Syriac Rite. It originated in the ancient Patriarchate of Antioch. It has more anaphoras than any other rite.
Mar Thoma I, also known as Valiya Mar Thoma and Arkkadiyakkon Thoma in Malayalam, and referred to as Thomas de Campo in Portuguese, was the first native-born Metropolitan bishop of the Malankara Church in the 17th century. He was the last Archdeacon of the undivided St. Thomas Christians of Malankara.
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 and Catholicos-Elect, Gregorios Joseph, under the spiritual authority of the Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius Aphrem II the supreme hierarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church.
The Malankara Church, also known as Puthenkur, is the unified body of Saint Thomas Christians using the West Syriac Rite who claim origins from the missions of Thomas the Apostle. This community, under the leadership of Thoma I, opposed the Padroado Jesuits as well as the Propaganda Carmelites following the Coonan Cross Oath of 1653, which was taken to resist Western Catholic influences.
Saint 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.
The Malankara Rite is the form of the West Syriac liturgical rite practiced by several churches of the Saint Thomas Christian community in Kerala, India. West Syriac liturgy was brought to India by the Syriac Orthodox Bishop of Jerusalem, Gregorios Abdal Jaleel, in 1665; in the following decades the Malankara Rite emerged as the liturgy of the Malankara Church, one of the two churches that evolved from the split in the Saint Thomas Christian community in the 17th century. Today it is practiced by the various churches that descend from the Malankara Church, namely the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, and the Malabar Independent Syrian Church.
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.
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.
Martha Mariyam Cathedral or St. Mary's Church is a prominent Valiyapally of the Syriac Orthodox Church situated in Kothamangalam town in the Ernakulam district of Kerala, 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.
St. Mary's Jacobite Syrian Soonoro Cathedral, or Angamaly Cheriyapally, is an ancient Jacobite Syrian church located in Angamaly. Founded in 1564 by Archdeacon Giwargis of Christ, it is one of the most prominent and ancient Syriac Orthodox churches in Kerala. In the seventeenth century it was the residence of Archdeacon Thomas Parambil, who eventually got consecrated as bishop Mar Thoma I following the Coonan Cross Oath in 1653. It was initially the seat of the Archdeacon and later the Marthoma methrans, the local heads of the Malankara Church and hence held an important position in the church for several centuries.
Malankara Syriac Knanaya Community are part of the larger Knanaya community who are descendants of an endogamous ethnic migrant group of Syriac-Jewish Christians who arrived and settled in Kerala in the 4th or 8th century.
Saint Coorilos Paulose of Panampady, also known as Kochuparambil Thirumeni, or Panampady Thirumeni, was Malankara Metropolitan of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church in India from 1911 until his death in 1917. He was canonized in 2008 by Ignatius Zakka I.
Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Delegates of India or the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal delegate to the India is the representative of the patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, who is sent to India to guide and administer the church, or on special occasions, as the representative of the Holy See of Antioch.
Saint Thomas Jacobite Syrian church, also known as Paravur Cheriyapally, is a Syrian Orthodox church located in North Paravur, India. This church was constructed in AD 1566 in the midst of the seven bazaars of Paravur town by the parishioners of the ancient Kottakkavu Paravur Valiapally. The church houses the tomb of famous Syrian Orthodox prelate Gregorios Abdul Jaleel and has staged consecrations of various prelates of the Jacobite Syrian Church since then.