Tiruvalla: Thousands of people from different religions on Tuesday paid their last respects to a top bishop of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Churchd of Malabar.

Dr Zacharias Mar Theophilus, Suffragan Metropolitan of the Church, died at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapurm two days ago. He was 77.

The funeral rites were held on December 29 at the St Thomas Mar Thoma Church, Seminary Hills in Tiruvalla, where the Church has its headquarters.

Mar Thoma Metropolitan Joseph Mar Thoma led the funeral service and all bishops of the Mar Thoma Church concelebrated.

The Mar Thoma Church mourned the death of the suffragan metropolitan and described him as an “outstanding visionary with deep concern for the sick and the suffering.’’

Philipose Mar Chrysostum, Metropolitan Emeritus; Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan, head of the Mar Thoma Church, and Baselius Mar Thoma Paulose-II, Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan paid tributes to the departed Church leader.

Among political leaders who paid tributes were Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, former finance minister of Kerala and Kerala Congress (M) leader K.M. Mani, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha P.J. Kurien, Forest Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash, Labour Minister Shibu Baby John, Member of Parliament N.K.Premachandran and Kerala state legislative assembly members Mathew T. Thomas, K. Sivadasan Nair, Raju Abraham, and Chittayam Gopakumar.

The septuagenarian prelate died of brain hemorrhage in a hospital where he was admitted after falling ill on board a plane from Muscat, Oman.

He was born as Oommen Koruth on August 29, 1938

and studied theology at the Leonard Theological College, Jabalpur in 1966 and at the Princeton Theological Seminary in the USA in 1974.

He earned his doctorate in Missiology in 1976 from the Boston University.

During his theological studies at Princeton and Boston he was also the vicar of the Mar Thoma congregations in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.

In 1966, he became a priest of the Mar Thoma Church and in 1980 he was consecrated as a bishop.

Bishop Theophilus, who became a Suffragan Metropolitan of the Church in 2004, was a trained teacher. He taught in the schools of the Mar Thoma Church and held the post of principal of the Mar Thoma Residential School in Thiruvananthapuram, the Kerala state capital.

As a priest, he has served in many parishes of the Church in Kerala, and as a bishop, he led many dioceses, including the Malaysia – Singapore – Australia and North America-Europe dioceses.

He has served on the executive committee and the central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the executive committee of the Christian Conference of Asia.

“He made immense contributions to the Church and the ecumenical movement in various capacities,” said WCC general secretary Reverend Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

Discribing the Suffragan Metropolitan as an “exemplary minister of the Gospel of Christ,” Dr Tveit in a condolence message noted that “His episcopal ministry was marked by a remarkable commitment and an ability to respond to the spiritual and social needs of his context as evidenced by his contributions to the strengthening of the mission work in the dioceses that he ministered.’’

Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, condoled the death and said the Mar Thoma prelate had made lasting contributions to the unification of Churches and the Kerala society.

Among the many mission and social projects Mar Theophilus initiated as a diocesan bishop was to build more than 2,050 houses for the homeless which was considered one of the unique contributions in the history of the Christian community in the country.

Rehabilitation of beggars in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, helping cancer patients and the downtrodden were some of the concerns closer to his heart.

Hi ecumenical contributions in national and international levels are noteworthy. He served as the president of the National Missionary Society of India, Bible Society of India, Kerala, Auxiliary, World Mission of India, Ecumenical Christian Center, Bangalore and Theological Literature Society, Kerala.

He also served as the secretary of the Nilackal Ecumenical Trust of all Episcopal Churches in Kerala, and member of the Ecumenical Meeting of bishops, Friends of the Focolare Movement and member of the Ecumenical Solidarity Visit to Sudan.