Kochi: The supreme head of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, who is based at Antioch in Turkey, has asked his bishops in India to transfer all properties they have acquired in their as well as in their family members’ names.

In what is seen as a move to curb bishops amassing wealth, Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II also asked the Indian prelates to register such properties in the name of the Church, reports The Indian Express.

The April 12 letter says the patriarch has received several complaints that the Indian bishops have acquired properties such as schools and charitable institutions in theirs as well as their family members’ names.

Church observers say the patriarch’s move could intensify the tussle between him and the Catholicos, regional head of Jacobite Syrian Christian Church in India.

The two Church leaders are reportedly on loggerheads especially after a lay organization in the Indian Church alleged the bishops have amassed personal wealth, using their religious position.

The Jacobite Almaya (lay people) Forum has welcomed the patriarch’s decision. The forum had protested “ill practices” in the Church, especially wealth amassing by bishops. The lay leaders had also complained that the Church has had no budget or account auditing since 2002.

The patriarch’s letter asserts that the Church leaders have to respect the constitution and traditions.

Almaya Forum leader Paul Varghese alleged that the Catholicos and their nominees have been amassing personal properties.

Aphrem II, who will turn 51 on May 3, became the 123rd Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch on May 29, 2014, in Damascus. Before his election to the patriarchate, he was Archbishop for the Eastern United States of America, and was known as Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim.

It was the Kerala-based Catholicos of Eastern Syrian Church Beatitude Baselios Thomas 1 who had presided over the election and the installation ceremonies.

The patriarch was India for 11-days in February 2015 for his first pastoral visit to the country that has some 2.5 million members.

The Jacobite community in India had donated more than 7 million rupees to the patriarch last year to assist refugees fleeing war-torn Syria.

It was the Catholicos who had collected the amount.