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Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan

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Not to be confused with Catholicos of the East or Malankara Metropolitan.
Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan
Catholicos Baselios Marthoma Mathews III
Location
CountryIndia
Information
First holderThoma I as Malankara Metropolitan,

Baselios Paulose I as Catholicos of the East,

Baselios Geevarghese II as (Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan)
DenominationMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church
RiteWest Syriac Rite
Established1653 (by Thoma I - Malankara Metropolitan)
1912 (by Patriarch Ignatius Abded Mshiho II - Catholicate of the East)
CathedralMar Eliyah Cathedral, Kottayam

The leader of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church uses the title Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan. The incumbent 'Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan' is Baselios Marthoma Mathews III.[1]

History

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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 1909 Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Abd-Allah II appointed Geevarghese Dionysius Vattasseril as Malankara Metropolitan. But later the Malankara Metropolitan who was at loggerheads with the Patriarch declared independence from the Patriarch. The Patriarch deposed him and appointed a new Malankara Metropolitan in his stead.[3][4]

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]

Organization

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  • The Church is in the Oriental Orthodox family following the Orthodox faith of the three Ecumenical Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople and Ephesus.
  • 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

Lineage of Catholicos

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Main article: List of maphrians
  1. Baselios Paulos I (1912-1913)
  2. Baselios Geevarghese I (1925-1928)
  3. Baselios Geevarghese II (1929–1964) also Malankara Metropolitan from 1934[12][13]
  4. Baselios Augen I (1964-1975)
  5. Baselios Marthoma Mathews I (1975–1991)
  6. Baselios Marthoma Mathews II (1991–2005)
  7. Baselios Marthoma Didymus I (2005–2010)
  8. Baselios Marthoma Paulose II (2010–2021)
  9. Baselios Marthoma Mathews III (2021-)

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ http://mosc.in/catholicate
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Attwater, Donald (1937). The Dissident Eastern Churches. Bruce Publishing Company. p. 272.
  4. ^ Brock, Sebastian P. (2018). "Thomas Christians". In Beth Mardutho (ed.). Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Gorgias Press. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ "The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church". Catholic Near East Welfare Association. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  7. ^ Attwater, Donald (1935). "The Malankarese". The Catholic Eastern Churches (1937 revised ed.). Bruce Publishing Company. p. 197.
  8. ^ a b "Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Constitution" (PDF). 1934. The Malankara Church is a division of the Orthodox Syrian Church. The Primate of the Orthodox Syrian Church is the Patriarch of Antioch.
  9. ^ "1934 constitution(മലങ്കരസഭ ഭരണഘടന)". Archived from the original on 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  10. ^ "The Catholicate of the Malankara orthodox Syrian Church |".
  11. ^ "The Constitution of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church" (PDF). 2006-11-23 [1934-12-26]. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-07-09.
  12. ^ "In 1958 Supreme Court of India declared Baselios cI is the rightful Malankara Metropolitan (Samudayam Suit)".
  13. ^ "His Holiness Baselios Geevarghese II, the Third Catholicos of the East in Malankara (1929–1964) |".
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