Cardinal Cleemis offers churches to beleaguered Jacobites

By Matters India Reporter

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 26, 2020: Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, head of the Syro-Malankara Church, has come to the aid of the Jacobite faction of the Syrian Orthodox Church that has lost its places of worship in a legal battle.

“With great joy, we are offering you the Syro-Malankara places of worship to conduct services until you have made your own alternative arrangements,” says a letter from the cardinal addressed to Joseph Mar Gregorious Metropolitan, the metropolitan trustee of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church.

The August 24 letter began by expressing the Catholic Church’s respect and love for the Jacobite Church, its leaders and the faithful.

“We are painfully aware of the recent anguish the Malankara Jacobite Church. We also pray for the Church before the Lord,” Cardinal Cleemis says.

The Jacobites’ decades-old feud with the Syrian Orthodox faction reached the climax on August 17 when the Kerala government took over the Jacobites’ mother church, the ancient Cathedral in Mulanthuruthy near Kochi, Kerala’s commercial capital.

The Mulanthuruthy church, built in 1200, has been managed by Jacobite faction, but the Supreme Court verdict of July3, 2017, gave its ownership to the Orthodox Church. The church is a fine example of Gothic architecture. The carvings, sculptures, symbolic icons and wall paintings, are a blend of Indian, West-Asian and European architecture. Most parishioners belong to the Jacobite faction.

The takeover was part of implementing a 2017 Supreme Court order that granted possession of more than 1,100 Jacobite churches to their rival.

The takeover of the Mulanthuruthy church was vehemently opposed by hundreds of Jacobites, led by their priests, who had gathered inside and outside the church from previous night. They locked the church gate from inside to prevent the police from taking its custody. Several priests and followers were reportedly injured in the police action.

Cardinal Cleemis’ letter expresses his Church’s dismay over the Jacobite Church losing its places of worship one after another.

The Syro-Malankara leaders recalled efforts by leaders of other denominations to mediate between the two factions to reach an amicable solution. However, such offers were rejected by the two factions.

Cardinal Cleemis, who is based at the Kerala state capital of Thiruvananthapuram, expressed regret over the Church’s failure to witness Christian brotherhood and fellowship in society as well as before the young generation.

“While we share your sorrow in losing places of worship we would not want your people be deprived of service because of the lack of churches,” the cardinal says and urged the Jacobite people to go to any church or chapel under his jurisdiction to conduct their prayers. “I have informed all Syro-Malankara bishops’ houses about his decision,” he adds.

The Syro-Malankara Church is the youngest of the Oriental rites in the Catholic Church, shares its roots with the Jacobite faction. It was established on September 20, 1930, as a result of the union movement under the leadership of Bishop Mar Geevarghese Ivanios, when it split from the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and entered into communion with the Catholic Church.

The Malankara Church first split in 1912, into the Jacobite and Orthodox groups. The two reunified in 1959, but the truce lasted only until 1973. Since then, the two factions have been engaged in battle over ownership of churches and their wealth. Attempts to settle ownership disputes out-of-court have often failed. Faction members have often clashed on the streets too, and both sides have taken custody of several churches depending on which one has local muscle power.

The Supreme Court had upheld the validity of the 1934 constitution of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church to govern the parishes under the Church. Although the court verdict came on dispute over the ownership of two churches, it impacted all other churches under the Jacobites. The court verdict had given an upper hand for the Orthodox faction, which has been governed by the constitution of 1934.