Closing and later history
When the Malankara Syrian Church split in 1975 [4] [6] the seminary's resident metropolitan bishop had been Angamali diocesan head of the Orthodox church body since the late 1960s. The seminary building, church and grounds ownership was retained by Malankara Orthodox Church. [5] Ownership was disputed in the aftermath and two years later, on 6 December 1977 the seminary and church were closed. [1] Malankara Orthodox metropolitans still reside in the seminary building. [5]
In 1997 Philipose Theophilose, a metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Church, died while staying at the old seminary building and was entombed next to the church. This tomb was later rebuilt as another room of the church building itself. [2]
Since the early 1980s Jacobite Syrian Christians in Aluva have worshipped in a rented building called Mass Hall not far from St Mary's Church. [2] In 1990 the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church opened the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Seminary in new buildings about 25 kilometres south at Udayagiri, Mulanthuruthy in Ernakulam. [7]
Mediation efforts to settle disagreements over the use of [8] have been unsuccessful. On 3 July 2005, one month and a half before the first anniversary of Mar Athanasius' canonization as a saint, local police were called to the closed church when violence broke out over the long-standing ownership dispute. A government lawyer's automobile was set on fire, priests and others were reportedly hurt and there were claims of police brutality. [9] In January 2009 the church had been closed for over 31 years when The New Indian Express, after speaking with a spokesman for the Malankara Orthodox church, reported that "the Orthodox faction was not averse to letting the faithful of both factions worship in the Church, but the top Church officials of the Jacobite faction cannot be allowed in." [1]
In January 2006, the Hindu reported that "A meeting of various groups under the Orthodox Church on Sunday at the seminary said that they would protect the seminary property at any cost and warned that the Government would be responsible for the fall out of anyone using force to enter the seminary premises." [10]
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (MOSC) also known as the Malankara Church and the Indian Orthodox Church, is an autocephalous (independent) church based in Kerala, India. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the oldest Christian communities in Asia. The church serves India's Saint Thomas Christian population. According to tradition, the church originated in the missions of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. The autocephalous Catholicos of the East and the Malankara Metropolitan, enthroned on the Apostolic Throne of St. Thomas, is the primate of the church. It employs the Malankara Rite, an Indian form of the West Syriac liturgical rite. It is a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church gained full autocephaly or independence in 1912, and remains in communion with the other five Oriental Orthodox churches, including the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, and the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church drafted and formally adopted a constitution in 1934, wherein the church formally declared the Metropolitan and the Catholicos of the East as one.
Ernakulam is a district of Kerala, India. Situated in the central part of the state. Spanning an area of about 2,407 km2, Ernakulam district is home to over 12% of Kerala’s population. Its headquarters is located at Kakkanad. Ernakulam district includes Kochi city, which is known as the commercial capital of Kerala. The district is famous for its ancient temples, churches, and mosques. The district includes the largest metropolitan region of the state, Greater Cochin. Ernakulam district is the highest revenue yielding district and the district with most number of industries in the state, and hence called the financial, industrial and commercial capital of Kerala. All these factors make Ernakulam district to contribute around 60% of the annual state revenue. It is the third most populous district in Kerala, after Malappuram and Thiruvananthapuram .. Ernakulam district also hosts the highest number of international and domestic tourists in Kerala state.
Malankara Metropolitan was a legal title given to the head of the Malankara Church Puthenkoor Christians, by the Government of Travancore and Cochin in South India. This title was awarded by a 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. Malankara Metropolitan is believed to reign it faithful from the Apostolic See of Saint Thomas. His Holiness Moran Mor Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II Catholicos is the present Malankara Metrapolitan on the Throne of st Thomas the Apostle.
Baselios Paulose II was the first Maphrian of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church.
Yuhanon Mor Philoxenos was a Syriac Orthodox bishop. He was the Bishop Emeritus of Malabar Diocese.
Mor Severios Abraham is a Syriac Orthodox bishop. As of 2013 Mor Severios Abraham is the Metropolitan of Angamali region of the Angamali Diocese and Abbott of Mor Gabriel Dayaro. He is the senior-most metropolitan in the malankara church.
The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Christian Church also known as the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, or the Syriac Orthodox Church of India, is an autonomous Oriental Orthodox Church based in the Indian state of Kerala, and is an integral branch of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. It recognizes the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Ignatius Aphrem II seated in the Cathedral of Saint George, Bab Tuma, Damascus, Syria, as its Supreme Head. It functions as a largely autonomous unit within the church, under the authority of the Catholicos of India, Baselios Thomas I. Currently, this is the only church in Malankara which has a direct relationship with the Syriac Christians of Antioch, which has continued from after the schism and they continue to employ the West Syriac Rite Liturgy of Saint James. The faction of the Malankara Church that gained autocephaly in 1912, became the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (MOSC), also known as the Indian Orthodox Church, and are an autocephalous (independent) church in the Oriental Orthodoxy communion.
"Naheero" Mor Themotheos Thomas is the Metropolitan of Kottayam Diocese and Secretary to the Holy Episcopal Synod of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church. Mor Themotheos Thomas was ordained as the Metropolitan of the Outside Kerala Diocese on 3 January 1991 by Mor Baselios Paulose II Catholicos of the East .
Catholicos of India is an ecclesiastical office in the Syriac Orthodox Church, the head of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church in Kerala, India. He is the Catholicos/ Maphrian of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church an autonomous body within the Syriac Orthodox Church, and functions at an ecclesiastical rank second to the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch. The jurisdiction of the Syriac Orthodox Catholicos is limited to India and Indian diaspora, although he is often invited to preside over Syriac Orthodox functions abroad. The current Catholicos of India is Catholicos Baselios Thomas I, who was consecrated in 2002.
Catholicos of the East is an ecclesiastical title used by Eastern Churches. The term "Catholicos" is derived from the Greek word Katholikos (Καθολικός), meaning "Universal Bishop".
Athanasius Paulose, popularly known as 'Valiya Thirumeni', was the Metropolitan bishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in India for nearly four decades. He is now referred to as Saint Athanasius.
Akaparambu, or Akapparambu is a village in the Ernakulam district of Kerala, India near the Cochin International Airport and south of the town of Angamaly. The people are mostly Saint Thomas Christians, but there are many Hindus and other religions who all live together in peace and mutual respect. Recent thuggish attacks on two of the Christian churches by mentally challenged outsiders are being dealt with seriously by the authorities.
Sir Dr. Mor Athanasious Eliyas is a Syriac Orthodox bishop. As of 2012 he was the President of Antiochean Faith Movement in India and Vicar General of the St. Athanasius Cathedral at the Puthencuriz.
The Saint Thomas Christian denominations are traditional Christian denominations from Kerala, India, who trace their 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.
Mor Gregorios Jacobite Students' Movement (MGJSM) is the student wing of Malankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church. It is the oldest Christian student organization in India. The Headquarter of MGJSM is located at Malankara Syrian Orthodox Theological Seminary of Ernakulam District in Kerala.
E. A. E St. Mary's Soonoro Syriac Orthodox Church, Meenangadi, is a Marian Pilgrim center of Syriac Orthodox Church located at Meenangadi in Wayanad district. The Church is under E.A.E Arch Diocese,(Malayalam: പൗരസ്ത്യ സുവിശേഷ സമാജം) the first missionary association of Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, 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 Center", and in 2018 church celebrated its Diamond jubilee. It is the first church that started 8 Day Lent in Malabar Region.
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 from ancient Peshitta text to Malayalam (വിശുദ്ധഗ്രന്ഥം) for the first time. This is the official bible used by Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church.
Athanasius Paulose was the First Metropolitan of Evangelistic Association of the East. He was consecrated as Metropolitan in 1973.
St.Mary's Church Thrikkunnathu, Aluva, was founded in 1880 by Metropolitan Ambatt Mor Coorilose Geevarghese of Malankara Church.
