Orthodox factions at odds after Jacobite installation in Kerala

Members of the rival Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church filed a suit in a Kerala court, seeking to declare the Jacobite installation null and void.

Catholicos Baselios Joseph I was installed as the head of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church in India on 30 March.

Archbishop Abraham Mor Severios led the enthronement ceremony at St Athanasius Cathedral at the Puthencruz Patriarchal Centre, near Kochi city in the souther Indian state of Kerala.

He was joined by delegates from the Patriarch of Antioch, including Archbishop Daniel Kleemis of Beirut, Archbishop Timotheos Matta Al-Khouri of Homs and Archbishop Boutros Al-Kassis of Aleppo. Hundreds of people attended the two-hour ceremony.

Officials delivered the patriarch’s message appointing Baselios Joseph as the new Catholicos, and the clergy and faithful chanted Axios (“You are worthy, we accept you”) three times as a symbol of recognition.

Earlier, after arriving in India from Beirut where he had been anointed Catholicos of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church by Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II on 25 March, Baselios Joseph I visited the tomb of his predecessor Catholicos Baselios Thomas I.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed his greetings to the newly-installed Catholicos and to the Jacobite Syrian Church, saying that “in various fields of the Church, the Catholicos has shown remarkable excellence. I wish the Jacobite Syrian Church continued progress under his leadership.”

The newly-appointed Catholicos was given a grand reception in the evening at a public meeting, where federal minister George Kurien inaugurated congratulations to him.

Meanwhile, members of the rival Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church filed a suit in a Kerala court, seeking to declare the Jacobite installation null and void. The petition was listed for hearing on 2 April.

The Malankara Church’s filing cited a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the 1934 Constitution of the Malankara Church and explicitly rejected any attempt to create a parallel management system under the pretext of the spiritual supremacy of the Patriarch of Antioch.

The petitioners sought a court order restraining the newly-installed Catholicos from functioning in any capacity within India.

Indian Orthodox object to installation of rival church’s Catholicos

Indian Supreme Court demands Orthodox factions obey ruling

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