Battle over Malankara Orthodox Syrina Church intensifies

Kottayam, Sep 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) The ongoing factional feud in the , Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, is all set to take a turn for the worse after a sub-court , here asked the district authorities to hand over the church to the Orthodox faction.

At this church there are over 4000 members who owe their allegiance to the Jacobite faction, while the Orthodox faction has very few members.

While the Orthodox faction welcomed the new directive, the Jacobite faction, which has been running this church, has threatened that if such a thing happens, they will fight it tooth and nail.

A non-Catholic Christian community in Kerala, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, has two factions - the majority Orthodox, who have their headquarters in Kottayam, and the Jacobites, who consider the Patriarch of Antioch in Beirut (Lebanon) as their supreme leader.

The community first split into Orthodox and Jacobite in 1912, but came together in Kottayam for a brief period between 1958 and 1970, following a Supreme Court ruling. Since 1970, they have been at war over church control.

After decades spent in trial, the apex court in its final verdict in 2017, gave the Orthodox faction the right to administer 1,100 churches and parishes under the Malankara Church and said there was no ground for the Jacobites to claim any of the churches.

Consequent to this, the Orthodox faction has been taking control over churches hitherto run by the Jacobite faction.

While the Jacobite faction tried their best to keep with them their famed churches, the respective administration, took over the church and handed it to the Orthodox faction.

And the last nail in the coffin of the Jacobite faction came on Friday with the sub-court order regarding handing over the most treasured and loved church of this faction and the subsequent emotional outbursts of theirs.

Senior priest of the Jacobite faction, K.Kuriakose said it's true that the sub-court has given a new order , but to get the orders from the court it will take a few days.

"But, by then, 'they' (Orthodox) are up in arms. At no cost will we lie low and we will not give away anything. Come what may, this is our church. At the moment peace prevails in and around this famed church. What must be noted is that around 50 per cent of those who come to this church are Hindus and Muslims. There should be no attempt to disrupt peace which prevails at the place where the church is located," said the priest who had served at the famed church in the past.

But speaking to IANS senior bishop of the Orthodox faction Yuhanon Mar Diascoros Metropolitan said everybody has to abide by the verdict of the Supreme Court.
"The apex court on five different occasions starting from 1958, 1995, 2002, 2017 and 2018 had ruled the same thing on the same case and hence the law of the land have to be adhered to. We, when I say we, I mean both the Orthodox and Jacobite members, should be one. We will never oust a single member from any of the churches, that's not in our scheme of things. We all should move together and we will do that," said the senior bishop.

The bishop said they expect the Kottayam district administration to do the needful in the latest court directive.
"There is a meeting called by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan where three bishops from the two Churches will take part on Monday. This meeting was scheduled in the previous week, but had to be postponed following Covid," added the bishop.

The coming days will reveal on how the district administration will handle the taking over of St Mary's Church.

Source: IANS