Relavence of Catholicate,yesterday,today and tomorrow-Part III

A Futaristic Vision

Any establishment has to pass the test of time.Catholicate in India undobtedly passed that test.A century old establishment is here to stay.Greatest proof of the statement is the presence in India itself two other prelates claiming the same title.H.B.Basaliose Thomas I can at best be described as a Mafriana,but H.B likes to be described asCatholicose only.Patriarchs of Antioch had consistantly held the view that there is no need for a Mafrianate or Catholicose in India.Two sucessive patriarchs,H.H.Yakoob III and Zachaus I  were forced toordain two Mafrianas who describe themselves as Catholicose.It is said that the Snathicon of Thomas I Mafriana states that he is the Catholicose for the society with headquarters at Puthan Cruz.As far as the Catholics are concerned,the official stand of Vatican is that there is no Catholicose in India under Pope.Basalius Clemmis is only an Arch Bishop according to Vatican.But this prelate also likes to be described as Catholicose.The Catholic Church has declared in no uncertain terms that Catholicose is a titile that can be used only for the Patriarch of Rome ie the Pope. The Canonas passed in Udayamperoor states that anyone claiming the title other than Pope shold be excommunicated!!!!Imitation is the best form of admiration,hence knowingly or unknowingly,the Society in Puthan Cruz and the Malankara Rite has admiration for the Catholicate despite the stated positions of their Global churches.

Catholicate today has come to be the symbol of MOC and MOC has aqured a global presence,not only physically,but also in terms of its deapth in Theology,Christian Ethos and Intelectual Class.The unfortunate feuds within the Church has blemished the image of the Church a bit,but the stand of enduring suffering will brighten the image sooner than later.Mission work not aimed at conversion has been taken note of by the discerning sections of the society.

But there are challanges a plenty.Catholicate has to emerge as a spiritual powerhouse of the Church.Administrative and non-spiritual workload of the head of the Church should be shared by panels of experts in the respective fields.These panels should assist the Holy Father in decision making on matters other than spiritual.Services of compatent Bishops should be available to the Holy father in the issues concerning the Church as a whole.Hangers on and sychophants should be done away with.

Theology in Indian context should get proper attention.The correct historical and spiritual ethos of pre-Potughese era should re emerge.This could lead to better understanding between churches sharing the common heritage of St.Thomas.While a complete re-unification of St.Thomas Christians maynot be practical,there are many areas where co-operation is possible.Catholicate should be the driving force on such a move.That, to me,is the greatest relavence of Catholicate for the future.

Relavence Of Catholicate-Yesterday,Today And Tomorrow Part II

Current Reality

 

In order to take stock of the current reality,one has to start from the arrival of Palakkunnathu Mar Athanasiose in Malankara and developments thereafter.Palakkunnathu Methran played a double game,when it suited him he played the role of Malankara Methran following the traditions of MOC and when it suited him wore the mantle of reformist(meaning move the Church to Protestant faith)

Like all who play double game,he got exposed to the majority of the Church not very long after.The result was ordination of Mar Dionysus V ,the second Malankara Methran from pulikkottil family.He had an unenviable task.The Church and its resources,support of the Government were all with Palakkunnathu.Pulikkottil Thirumeni with the shrewdness that was his greatest asset,fought a valiant battle to save the Church from deviation in faith.Due to the existence of Royal Proclamation in favour of Palakkunnathu,he had to ally with the Patriarch of Antioch in the battle.The synod of Mulanthuruthy passed resolution accepting the Patriarch of Antioch as the spiritual Head of MOC,which is Historically and factually incorrect.Although the Royal Court Judgment did not accept the claim of the Patriarch for Temporal powers,great damage was done to the individuality and self determination rights of MOC.

 

As the battle for defending Orthodox faith succeeded,but the price was very heavy-the individuality and self determination rights.Establishing Catholicate in India caught the attention of the think tank of MOC at that time(Konattu Mathen Malpan,Fr P.T.Geevarghese(later Mar Ivaniose of Bethany,Elanjikkal John Vakkil etc). Co-operation of the Patriarch of Antioch was necessary for getting this materialised as the Canonas of the synod of Mulanthuruthy had made declarations contrary to facts and History.Therefor the Church requested the then Patriarch of Antioch for establishment of Mafrianate in India.Mafriana was a position in Syrian Orthodox Church which was created for the benefit of Syrian church followers located within Persian Empire.After the Persian Church accepted the Theology propagated by Nestore,the mafrians started claiming to be Catholicose.So both the positions were used synonymously . By establishing a Catholicate/Mafrianate in Malankara,the Church leaders tried to regain the Autonomy and individuality of the Church.The Church would be free of having to satisfy the whims and fancies of the Patriarch for getting Bishops ordained from time to time.Naturally,Patriarch of that time Mar Abdul Masiha turned down the request in strongest possible words.It is an irony of history that same prelate became instrumental in establishment of Catholicate in India.It can be interpreted as an act of the Lord for protecting MOC.If Abdul Masiha agreed for establishment of Mafrianate at the time when the first request was made,MOC would have  been saddled with a Mafrianate only,not a fullfledge Catholicose.
Attempts by the Patriarch to grab temporal powers in MOC was resisted by two of the greatest Malankara Metropolitens-Dionycious V(Pulikkottil) and Dionycious VI(Vattasseril).As long as the MOC was united,these attempts were not sucessful.But the difference of views between Vattasseril Thirumani and his co-trustees gave the Patriarch the kind of break he was looking for.This culminated in the Patriarch issuing a Kalpana ex-communicating Vattasseril Thirumeni.This act of Patriarch triggered a split in the Church .The think tank of the Church again started working on establishment of Catholicate in order to prevent such humiliations on the Church in future.The conditions in SOC at that time was helpful.There were rival claiments to the position of Patriarch of Antioch-Mar Abdul Masiha and Mar Abdulla.Although Mar Abdul Masiha had to leaveTurkey due to the withdrawal of Firman(official recognition of Turkey rular to the religious functionary),he still had his claim on the position of Patriarch . Such situations have happenned in many Churches at different points of time.
Mar Abdul Masiha agreed to co-operate with the consecration of the 1st catholicose in Malankara.Catholicate and mafrianate in Middle east had ceased to function centuries ago. MOC had every claim to revive it due to the relationship with the Persian Church prior to 16th Century.The Malankara Methrans always were considered to be successors to the Throne of St.Thomas .So the Catholicate became a reality defacto and dejore. MOC gained their self determination rights,continuity to the  Episcopal order,and pride in the tradition of St.Thomas.

There were many occations when the Church leaders put up Catholicate on the negotiating Table for the sake of peace in the Church.There were occations when it was mooted that Catholicate can be sacrifised on the alter of Peace in the Church.But the lord of the Church who gifted this position to the Church ensured that the Catholicate stayed and gained more and more strength.With the Malankra Methran position also getting merged with that of Catholicose,the institution gained more strength as the spiritual and temporal head of the Church.A row of great men of spiriyual authority holding the post for nearly a centuary,Catholicate gained strength with passage of time.Today,it is the fulcrum on which the MOC is moving.Personality of the incumbent is influancing the history of the Church.Hence Catholicate is more than part of the History.It is a force that influences History

Relavance ofCatholicate Yesterday,Today and Tomorrow

Historical Relavence

As the Catholicate in India reached the historical land mark of 100 years,it is time to take a hard look at the historical relevance of this establishment.I intent to write 3 postings,one looking at the past second in relation to the current realities,and third from a futuristic point of view.this posting is from a historical point of view.

Origin of Catholicate was in Persia,in the early centuries of Christianity.St.Thomas,one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ was the founder of Christianity in India and Persia.The Church developed in Persia more or less on the same lines as in the Roman empire,only difference being that unlike in the Roman empire,the Church in Persia did not undergo persecution during the early phase.The Persian rulers were tolerant up to a point in time,to be precise,till Emporer Constantine accepted Christianity and made it the official relegion of the Empire.Persian rulers suspected that the Christians of the Persian Empire will become loyal to Rome due to this devolopement.

The local congregations had leaders who were called Episcopas or Kassisas(both the terms at that point in time were of the same meaning-leaders of the local Church).But with the spread of Christianity in many locations,Episcopas in the main Cities and towns gained  administrative control over the Churches in nearby villages and Diocese set ups came into being.At that time also,there was no central authority/administrator for the Church for the whole empire.Any contact with the Church in the Roman empire was not possible due to the hostility between the two empires.The Persian Church used Chaldean dialect of Syriac language.

Over a period of time,Christianity was recognised as the second religion of the empire(first being Zoroastrianism,the religion of Sun worshippers,now followed by Parsi community in India).Importance of the Episcopa at the Capital city of the Empire increased due to this prelate being the authorised Church leader to deal with the Empire on religious issues.Slowly the Prelate at the Capital City became the defacto head of Persian Church.This was followed by the prelate being designated as Catholicose,meaning "of the whole world".(each empire at that time used to refer to themselves as the "world".)

As St.Thomas is the founder of the Church in Persia and India,the Bishops deputed from Persian Church were the spiritual heads of the Church in India.The Christians in India regarded the Catholicose of Persia as their spiritual  and titular head ,although they never had an oppertunity to see their spiritual and titular head in flesh and blood.The Bishops deputed by the Catholicose administered such of those sacraments which needed a Bishop(Episcopa).However such discharging of duties by the Episcopa was only at the suggestion of Archdiackhon,who was the real administrator of the Church,althoug in the hirarchy of priesthood he was only a KASSISA.Malankara Nazranis held the Archadiackhon in high esteem.  One of the causes for  the revolt of Koonan Cruz was the attempts by  the Roman Church to belittle the Arckhadiackhon to the point of extinction.One of the reasons why the Church had to submit to the Roman rule was the difficulty faced in getting across to India Bishops from Persia.

The start of relations with Syrian Church in the 18th Centuary was aftar exhausting all efforts to get the continuity of High preasthood from other Orthodox Churches in the Middle East.The authority of Bishops from outside further weakened as the position of Arckhadiakhon was elivated to that of a Bishop as a result of Koonan Cruz.Situation changed with Palakkunnathu Mar Athanasios got himself ordained as a Bishop ,without the mandate of the Parish Church representatives(PallyPrathip  urusha Yogam).The royal prclamation issed by the Maharaja of Travancore in favour of Mar Athanasiose stated that the claim of this bishop to be the head of Malankara Church as his being ordained by the Patriarch of Antioch.This possibly could have been due to the influence of British Resident in Travancore who was more powerful than the King himself.The Rsident had a vested interest in making Mar athanasius as the Head of malankara Church ,the hidden aganda being Prtestanisation of MOC

Events subsequent to this devolopement saw attempts by sucessive Patriarchs of Antioch to colonise the Malankara Church.The need for establishment of Catholicate in India became more and more necessary due tio subesquent devolopements.I will deal with those devolopement in the next post.

It is in this background that the entity of Catholicose in India needs to be viewed.It is a symbol ofthe Historic relatioship with the Persian Churchwhich was also founded by St.Thomas.The Bishops from Syrian Orthodox Church tried to portray Persian Church as Nestorians and hence heritics.MOC at that time didnot have the theological or historical understanding on the issue.Hence the relationship became something they prefered to underplay.But the fact is that the Theological hairsplitting debates in the middle east didnot trouble MOC which followed the teachings of St.Thomas which they termed as Marthomayude Margavum Vazhipadum Even after the Bishops from SOC started their work in Maklankara,it took a couple of Centuries for them to force the west syrian forms of worship on MOC.If one goes through the liturgical changes in MOC it will become clear that the MOC faithfuls were exteremely reluctant to give up the Chaldian Syriac Liturgy.