|
The Indian Orthodox Church (also known
as Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Orthodox Syrian Church of the
East), is a prominent member of the Oriental Orthodox Churches family.
The Church traces its origins to St. Thomas the Apostle, who came to
India in AD 52. St Thomas preached the gospel, established 7 parishes in
Kerala in Southern India and ordained priests. Christian writers and
representatives of the Churches, from the 4 th century refer to the
evangelistic labors of St. Thomas in India, during the first century.
Official name of the Church- Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church- can be
explained as: ‘Malankara' is another name for Kerala, ‘Orthodox' is the
category of Christian faith and tradition it follows (distinguishes it
from the Roman Catholic and Protestant faiths), and ‘Syrian' comes from
the Syriac language which was the liturgical language of the church for
centuries. The church which St Thomas established remained as a strong
community within Kerala for 19 centuries, without expanding itself to
other parts of India. From the early parts of the 20 th century, as many
people migrated to other parts of India, parishes started coming up all
over India. As a result, the Church is presently known as Indian
Orthodox Church. Now the Church has dioceses and parishes in most parts
of India as well as in other parts of the world where Keralites are
migrated.
Administration
The Church has its head quarters at Kottayam, Kerala. The present
head of the Indian Orthodox church is H.H. Didymos I. The official
title of the head of the Church is "the Catholicos of the East
seated on the throne of St Thomas and the Malankara Metropolitan".
The Church is ruled and governed by the Church Constitution of 1934.
True to the orthodox Christian tradition, the Indian Orthodox Church
employs an administrative system which is a perfect blend of episcopacy
and democracy.
The Church is divided into 25 dioceses with a bishop heading each
diocese. The Malankara Syrian Association is the parliament of the
Church which is a body of bishops and elected laity and clergy
representatives from all the parishes. This Association meets on special
occasions to take important decisions pertaining to the entire church.
The Association also elects a Managing Committee for carrying out
administrative activities on behalf of the Association. The number of
laity members of this committee is double that of the clergy, which
indicates the participative nature of laity in church matters. The
Episcopal Synod comprising of all the Bishops of the church is the
authority regarding Faith, Order and Discipline. The Synod is also
responsible to install the Catholicos designated by the Association.
Faith and Liturgy
The Church, though modern in its vision and outlook, keeps the
traditional Orthodox faith and liturgy. It accepts the first three
Ecumenical Synods. In earlier days, the liturgy used by the Church was
adopted from the Persian Church, which had to be abandoned at the
Portuguese compulsion at the end of 16 th century. The liturgy now in
use is the translation of the Syrian liturgy adopted from the Antiochian
Orthodox Church in the 17th century. Today the Church uses Malayalam as
liturgical language in Kerala, respective local languages in other parts
of India and English in outside India.
The Indian Orthodox community inherited many aspects of Indian
civilization and they are as any other member of any other community in
India, in their customs, manners and life style.
History
Since the Old Testament times Kerala had trade relations with West Asia.
These trade routes later enabled Christianity to reach Kerala that the
Apostle Thomas preached the Gospel to the locals (which included Jewish
settlers in Kerala), baptized many, ordained priests and founded seven
churches. These seven villages became epicenters of Indian Christianity
and other parishes started evolving from these seven mother parishes.
The Persian Connection
The Indian Church came in contact with the East Syrian Church, possibly
from the 4 th century. In 5th century, the Church of Persia came to its
own. The Catholicos with his seat at Seleucia-Ctesiphon began to be
called Patriarch. In 486 AD, the Persian Church officially accepted a
resolution in its Synod to recognise Nestorius as a Saint and Church
Father. However, this decision was not accepted by a minority, who
acknowledged a Catholicos at Tagrit in northern Mesopotamia as their
spiritual head in 629 AD.
There is evidence that in the 8th century, the Indian Church had its
Archpriest known as “The Metropolitan and the Gate of All India”, a
title adopted apparently under Islamic influence. The Vatican Codex 22,
written in Cranganore in 1301 gives the title as “The Metropolitan of
the Throne of St. Thomas and of the whole Church of Christians in
India.”
The Indian Church maintained its autonomous administration. The Church
of Persia had a tradition of acknowledging the autonomy of Churches in
its communion abroad. The church in Kerala continued as an
administratively independent community till the first century.
The Portuguese period
The priests who came during the Portuguese invasion were eager to bring
the Indian Church into communion with Rome. In the Synod of Diamper in
1599, the assembly to representatives from churches was forced to give
up the relationship with the Patriarch of Persia and accept Pope of Rome
as the head. But people revolted and the result was the Coonan Cross
Revolt (Oath) of 1653. The Portuguese tried to put it down using force,
but did not succeed. Then, Rome entered the field directly through its
Missionaries and section of people went back to Roman loyalty.
The Archdeacon and a majority of the Christian population stood for the
autonomy of the Indian Church. In spite of the serious difficulties
imposed by the ruling Portuguese, they were determined to conserve the
independence of the Church. But the Portuguese were successful in
causing a division in the united church in India.
The Antiochene Connection
The Malankara Christians who sought to preserve the Church's freedom
appealed to the various Christian centres of the East, for restoring its
Episcopal succession. The Antiochene Syrian Patriarch responded and sent
the bishop Mar Gregorious of Jerusalem, to India in 1665. Meanwhile, the
Archdeacon was declared as the Metropolitan of the Church, in the name
Mar Thoma, by twelve senior priests laying hands on him. Bishop
Gregorious confirmed Mar Thoma in his Episcopal rank and both of them
worked together to organise and strengthen the church.
Marthoma I was followed by a series of Metropolitans with the same name.
This tradition continued till 1816 when Mar Thoma IX was replaced by Mar
Dionysious II.
The Indian Orthodox Church maintained its autonomy and Episcopal
succession intact. Under the metropolitans, the Church established
systematic education for clergy, taught faith to the laity and
instructed its members to properly celebrate the liturgical services.
The association with the Antiochene Patriarch was without any idea of
formally submitting to his jurisdiction, but only for an overall
spiritual supervision and of keeping to a friendly relation.
Co-operation with the C. M. S.
By 1795, the British had established themselves in South India. During
the time of Col. Monroe, who was the British Resident in Kerala,
Pulikottil IttoopRamban expressed interest in founding a Seminary for
training clergy for the Church. The Resident supported him and the
Seminary was founded in 1815. In 1816, Ittoop Ramban became a Bishop by
the name Mar Dionysious II.
Since then, a co-operation between the Orthodox Church and the C. M.S.
of the Anglican Church was carried on. It was proved to be unsuccessful
and was called off in 1836. But this caused further rifts in the Church
and a minor fraction joined the Anglican Church. Yet another section of
people who were influenced by the protestant ideologies of the C. M. S.
disowned the liturgy and practices of the Church and tried to bring in
reforms. After about 50 years of conflict, the reformists had to
withdraw and organise themselves as the Mar Thoma Syrian Church. But the
majority of the Church vowed to conserve the traditions and liturgical
practices.
Authority of the Patriarch of Antioch
The conflict between the church and the reformists grew serious during
the 19th century. Thus the church appealed to the Antochene Syrian
Patriarch for help. In 1875, Patriarch Peter III came to Kerala. In the
next year, the Patriarch held a synod of church representatives at
Mulanthuruthy, which adopted a number of resolutions, including an
admission that the church would continue in the communion of the
Patriarch and the Syrian Church of Antioch. However, the Patriarch tried
to see in these decisions, more than what the Indian Church really
wanted to acknowledge.
There was a litigation in court, between the party that favoured the
reforms and those who were against it. It came to an end in 1889, with
the judgement of the Royal Court of Appeal, the then highest court of
Kerala. The judgement was in against the reformists and the verdict
admitted that since the middle of the 18th century, the Patriarch used
to exercise an overall spiritual supervision over the Malankara Church
and he had a right to claim it.
But Patriarch Peter III was not satisfied and wanted to establish
himself as the head of Malankara Church in both spiritual and temporal
matters. His successor, Patriarch Mar Abdullah II pressed for the same.
He visited Kerala in 1909 to establish his authority. But the Church
under Metropolitan Mar Dionysious VI of Vattasseril stood against it.
This led to a sad division in the church, since 1911, between fractions
that supported the Patriarch and the Malankara Metropolitan.
Establishment of Catholicate in Malankara
In order to preserve the autonomy and to set up a sustainable system,
the Church decided to establish a Catholicate in India. This was quite
natural in the growth and evolution of the Church to have a Catholicate
like its sister churches.
Patriarch Peter III was succeeded in 1895, by Mar Abdul Messiah. By a
state interference, he lost his position in Turkey and was replaced by
Mar Abdullah. The Canonical Senior Patriarch Abdul Messiah offered to
come to the assistance of Malankara Metropolitan Mar Dionysious. In
1912, he came to Kerala and on 15th September, at St. Mary's Church
Niranam, established the Catholicate of the East. Catholicos is an
ecclesiastical dignitary, who is equal in rank with the Patriarch,
though the later is considered as first among the equals(primus
interparees)
Constitution of the Church Adopted
The Malankara Syrian Christian Association of 1934 adopted a
constitution for the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Various
amendments have been made to it since then.
In the history of ancient Christianity, the Churches were independent in
their geographical regions, like Galatian Church, Corinthian Church,
Philipian Church, etc. All the orthodox churches are autonomous and they
known by their national identity like Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Russian
Orthodox Church, Rumanian Orthodox Church, etc. In recent history, when
Eritrea became an independent country from Ethiopia, the Orthodox Church
in that region also became a separate entity known by the name Eritrean
Orthodox Church. Being the spirited sons of a great country which fought
against colonialism for years, the members of Indian Orthodox Church is
also committed to fight against any attempt on its autonomy.
Despite several schisms, the Indian Orthodox Church remains a stronghold
of Oriental Orthodoxy in the Subcontinent. The Church takes an active
role in various ecumenical activities at national and international
levels. It is a member of the World Council of Churches. Famous
theologians such as Mar Paulose Gregorious, Mar Geevarghese Osthathios,
and Rev. Fr.V.C. Samuel, who contributed a lot to the negotiations
between the Oriental and Byzantine churches, belong to this church. |
