Catholicos of the East

This article describes different viewpoints about the history and tradition associated with the ecclesiastical position called Catholicos of the East, a title used by Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches to denote the head of a Church or a dignitary of the highest order. This article focuses upon the Catholicos of the East in India where there is intense debate within local circles as to the nature and standing of the office. The first is from the perspective of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (Indian Orthodox Church.) The second, the viewpoint of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church and its local body, the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church.

Viewpoint of the Indian Orthodox Church (Malankara Orthodox Church.)

Catholicos of the East is the head of the Eastern Syriac Churches. Eastern Syriac Church includes the Assyrian Churches of Persia, the Chaldean Church and the Orthodox Syrian Church of India, which is also known as the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church or the Indian Orthodox Church. It is a tradition for these Churches to believe that Apostle St. Thomas was the first in succession of Catholicoi of the East. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to have "established" the Catholicate in 410, to administer to the spiritual needs of Christians in the area. The minutes of the Synod of Mar Issac, however, tell a different story. This synod was convened in 410, under the presidency of Mar Isaac, the Archbishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. It conferred the title "Catholicos" on the Archbishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and made him the head of the bishops of the east.

Christianity has had a significant presence in India since its inception in the early centuries. Church tradition holds that St. Thomas the Apostle initially brought Christianity to India in AD 52 and was martyred in Mylapore, a place in current Tamil Nadu state. Tradition holds that priests were ordained in seven localities. Pantaenus, the leader of the Alexander Theolgical school, visited India and found an active Christian Community there in 190 A.D.

Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan - Enthronment held on 31 October 2005, by the Metropolitans of the Holy Synod amidst Holy Eucharist at Parumala Church.

The chief primate of the Indian Orthodox Church is called "the Catholicos of the East, Catholicos of the Apostolic throne of St. Thomas, and the Malankara Metropolitan": two titles with separate responsibilities, but always held by the same individual in accordance with the constitution of the Church adopted in 1934.

As Catholicos of the East, he consecrates bishops for the Indian Orthodox Church, presides over the synod, declares and implements its decisions, conducts the administration on behalf of the synod, and consecrates the Holy Mooron (oil).

As Malankara Metropolitan, he is the head of the Malankara Church, the President of the Malankara Syrian Christian Association and the Managing Committee. The prime jurisdiction regarding the temporal, ecclesiastical, and spiritual administration of the Indian Orthodox Church is vested in the Malankara Metropolitan subject to the provisions of the Church constitution adopted in 1934.

The Indian Orthodox Church holds that the Catholicate was originally instituted by St. Thomas the Apostle, en route to India. The Synod of Markabata, presided over by Catholicos Dadyeshu, confirmed the Independence of the Persian church, dispelling any doubts. The Synod proclaimed:

"By the word of God we define: The Easterners cannot complain against the Patriarch to western Patriarchs; that every case that cannot be settled in his presence must await the judgement of Christ...(and) on no grounds whatever one can think or say that the Catholicos of the East can be judged by those who are below him, or by a Patriarch equal to him he himself must be the judge of all those beneath him, and he can be judged only by Christ who has chosen him, elevated him and placed him at the head of his church."

The church does recognize that the Catholicate was briefly brought under the Patriarchate of Antioch, during the Nestorian Persecution and reduced to the position of a 'Maphriyan,' roughly similar to an Arch-Metropolitan, or the Catholic post of "Major Archbishop."

Even after such reduction of the see, the conflicts between the Patriarch and Maphriyan resulted in the Council of Capharthutha in February 869. This assembly codified 8 canons dealing with the Patriarch and the Maphrian of Tigris. The canons are given below:

1. The bishops and the monks in the Mar Mathai's Monastery, should submit to and obey the Maphrian whose seat is in Tigris.

2. The Patriarch should not interfere in the administration of the Church in Tigris, unless when invited. In the same way the maphrian should not interfere in the Patriarchal See.

3. When the Maphrian is present along with the Patriarch of Antioch he should be seated immediately at the right hand side of the Patriarch. The name of the Maphrian shall be mentioned immediately after that of the Patriarch, in the liturgy; and he should receive the Holy Qurbana after, the Patriarch.

4. When a Maphrian is alive, a Patriarch should not be installed without his concurrence, otherwise, the orientals shall have the right to install the Maphrian by themselves. The question of who should perform the laying on of hands on the new Patriarch - ie, the Maphrian or the President of the Synod, shall be decided by four bishops, two each elected by the orientals and the westerners (Antiochan) respectively.

5. The Archdiocese of Kurdu, Beth-Sabdaya and also Najran, provided, the Arabs agree to it, shall vest with Tigris administration.

6. The mutual excommunications between the orientals and the Antiochans shall be withdrawn.

7. A final decision was taken about the three bishops consecrated by the Patriarch in the see of the Maphrian.

8. A bishop excommunicated by the Maphrian shall also be considered as excommunicated by the Patriarch.

One can see just how much authority the Patriarch had over the East Syriac Church from these canons, even though the Maphrian probably swore allegiance and obedience to the Patriarch at the time of his ordination. Such oaths were interpreted in the context of these canons. There was no way the Patriarch could practically exercise authority over the Maphriyan's see.

According to one of the most famous Maphriyans, Mar Gregorios Bar Ebraya (Bar Hebraeus), Apostle Thomas is the first in the Apostolic succession of the East. Bar Ebraya did believed that the Eastern Church was an integral part of the Antiochian Church, due to the historical context of the time in which he lived. He did, however, vigorously defend his rights, as dictated by the church canons. In 1238, the West Syrians installed Mar Philexnos as Patriarch without the concurrence or participation of Bar Ebraya. When Patriarchal delegates arrived at his monastery with apologies, he refused to receive them, rebuking them for their neglect of the canons. The Church in India and the Syriac Church of the East in Persia remained in one faith for many years. In 431, the Council of Ephesus condemned the teachings of Nestorius, who was the Patriarch of Constantinople. After the Ecumenical council of Ephesus, a significant portion of the Church in Persia adopted Nestorian teachings concerning the nature of Christ.

In 544, Theodosius, the Patriarch of Alexandria, ordained Bishop Mar Jacob Baradaeus for the expansion of a Syriac Church weakened by Byzantine persecution subsequent to the Council of Chalcedon. In 559, Jacob visited the east and consecrated a Catholicos for Orthodox Christians who accepted the Council of Ephesus and rejected the Council of Chalcedon. Mar Jacob himself was ordained a general bishop by Patriarch Theodosius of Alexandria.

The Church believes that this Catholicate, which is in the succession of Apostle Thomas, was re-located to India in 1912 due to the efforts of Ignatius Abdul Masih II, the Patriarch of Antioch and Vattaserill Mar Dionysius, the Malankara Metropolitan. Since the Indian church was under the Ancient Catholicate of Persia, and can be seen as the only remaining part of the Persian church, it is logical for the Catholicate to reside in India.

There have been six Catholicoi in direct succession since establishing the Catholicate of the East in India. The Catholicos has jurisdiction over the dioceses and churches in most parts of India as well as in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, South Africa, Persian Gulf nations, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

The Indian Orthodox Church view is that the Catholicate of the East is autocephalous and in the legitimate succession of St. Thomas the Apostle. This term "throne of St.Thomas" used by the Catholicos is a reference to the church's apostolic origin and heritage. It is not a title that was recently coined by the church. Indian prelates have used it for centuries. For example, the Vatican codex 22 written in Cranganore,1301 AD mentions "Mar Jacob, Bishop Metropolitan, prelate and ruler of the Holy See of the Apostle St. Thomas, namely, our ruler and (the ruler) of the entire Holy Church of the Christians of India." Again, in 1830, when Chepaud Mar Dionysius gave Mar Coorilos of Thozhiyur an Encyclical, it proclaimed that it was ``From Metropolitan Philipose, known as Dionysius, shepherd to the lambs and ewes of Christ in Malayalam under India, father to the Jacobite Christian community, and seated on the throne of our blessed apostle St Thomas?" In light of such evidence, claims that the Thomasine title was "recently fabricated" by Indian Orthodox leadership is ridiculous. Indeed, it is amazing to see to what lengths the Syrian Orthodox Leadership went to crush this title, which in itself demanded the Malankara Church's autocephaly. In the brief peace and unity of 1958, Letters of mutual acceptance were exchanged between the Patriarch and the Catholicos. When the church was unified, all Metropolitans of the Patriarchal group handed in letters of obedience to the Catholicos of the East. The letter of one of them, Paulose Mar Philexinos, mentioned that "I solemnly submit that I will follow the canons of the Church, the Constitution in force, and the directions of Your Holiness.."

In a speech thereafter, the same Mar Philexinos said "We shall remain under the banner of the Catholicate till the moon and stars last. This Catholicate will exist for all time to come. May God Almighty be pleased that we all will stand united under the leadership of this Catholicos who graces the throne.I do not mean political or temporal matters. We have now the privilege of witnessing for our Lord unitedly under the stewardship of one Head. May this unity serve as a signal to all other Churches of India to fall in line under this common Father. We, Metropolitans, will hand in hand serve under the Holy throne of the Catholicate."

Mar Philexinos later led the schismatic Jacobite group that again broke away from the unified church, and was ordained as Paulos I, the first rival Catholicos.

In the exchange of letters, Geevarghese stated that he was "seated on the Throne of the East of Apostle St. Thomas." The Patriarch made no objections at that time. Later, during the reign of Mar Baselios Augen, the Catholicos attended the Oriental Orthodox Conference in Addis Ababa, at which the same Patriarch, Ya'kub was present. The Catholicos was addressed as "The catholicos of the ancient see of St. Thomas." Again, there was no objection from Patriarch Yakub. Later, when Augen sent a letter to the Patriarch, in which he named himself as "Catholicos of the apostolic throne of St.Thomas," the Patriarch responded:

"...Sometime before your communication I was astonished to read another letter carrying the title `the throne of St Thomas'. Truth be told, ever since the Catholicate was established in the 4th century CE, no catholicoi or Maphryan has ever used such a title. Second, the apostle St Thomas has never founded any throne that can be referred to as the throne of St Thomas. As is clear from the Gospel according to St John (20: 21- 24), St Thomas had not been ordained a priest. Without being even a priest, how did he become a high priest? Without being a high priest, how did he establish a throne??"

The Indian church felt the Patriarch had defied the very Priesthood of St. Thomas in his efforts to deny the Indian church it's Apostolic heritage. This claim that "St.Thomas had not been ordained a priest" would be condemned as rank heresy by any Orthodox circle. It is to be noted that the various sources within the Syriac Church have claimed afterwards that the Patriarch did not necessarily reflect the views of the church in that statement.

According to the view of the Malankara Orthodox Church, the Malankara Jacobites Church is a schismatic group which separated in 2002 with a new constitution adopted in the same year against the constitution of 1934. The head of the Malankara Jacobite Church was elected without the permission of the Malankara Association, the largest assembly of the Malankara Church which consisted primarily of lay and priest representatives from Indian Orthodox parishes. The schism started as early as 1970 when Patriarch Yakub III tried to intervene in internal administrative affairs of the Malankara Church and appointed a Syrian delegate violating both the constitution and canons of the Church. A legal entity was organized as the Malankara Jacobite Church by the Syrian delegate and Jacobite bishops who did not accept the Indian Orthodox view. It is disturbing to note that a new trend among Syriac scholars, possibly as a result of closer association with the Roman Catholic church, is to address their primate as "Prince Patriarch of Antioch," and their Church as the "Universal Syriac Orthodox Church." Articles that contain teachings incredibly similar to the Roman Catholic doctrine of Petrine supremacy such as this one andthis one have also begun to surface and are being passed off as "Orthodox" teachings. When the original Persian Catholicate was reduced to Maphriyana and brought under the 'jurisdiction' of the Syrian Patriarch, many Maphriyanas were ordained to the Patriarchate.

Lineage Of Catholicos

The Universal Syriac Orthodox Church's view

Preface

The Universal Syriac Orthodox Church is a mother Church in Christendom.^[1] The ancient seat of its Patriarchate, Antioch, was the third most prominent city in the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus. As the Acts of the Apostles records, Christians were first so labelled in Antioch. The Apostles Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and their disciples spent considerable time teaching there. The church historian Eusebius reports how Peter consecrated a successor in Antioch before travelling to Rome. This succession is believed to continue to the present, although the Patriarchal seat has been moved several times.

The Church continued through the time of Constantine I and beyond, sending missionaries into Asia Minor, Persia, India, and even to the border of China. Syriac Christianity has had direct, verifiable influence in Southern India from at least the 4th century, supported by missionary activity and jurisdiction over "all the East" granted by the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. St. Thomas the Apostle, the first missionary to India, is venerated as India's Patron Saint.

As outlined below, the term Catholicos began to be employed in the church for a local hierarch with expanded territorial authority. "Catholicos" means "universalist" or "generalist."

Over time, eastern and western Syriac traditions developed. East Syriac Churches which continue to employ the title "Catholicos of the East" include the Assyrian Churches of Persia and the Chaldean Church.

Two factions of the Oriental Orthodox Church in India, the Orthodox Syrian Church of India (which is also known as the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church or the Indian Orthodox Church) and the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church (Jacobites) also employ the term "Catholicos" for their leaders.

Both of these groups are Western Syriac in liturgy and ethos. The Indian Orthodox is autocephalous. The Jacobite faction is in close hierarchical association with the Patriarch of Antioch, the supreme head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church.

Origins and development of the Catholicate in India

H.B. Baselious Paulose II, the canonically ordained former Catholicose of the East, consecrating Mar Severios Zakka as H.H. Ignatious Zakka I, the current Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. 14 Sept 1980, Damascus - Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church

Public consecration of Thomas Mar Dionysius as Baselious Thomas I, Catholicose of India (seated) by the Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatious Zakka I Iwas, and the universal episcopal synod. 31 July 2002, Damascus - Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church

This ordination and subsequent ecclesiastical succession was not accepted by the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, although some Malankara faithful chose to become "Indian Orthodox" over time. A reconciliation movement gathered momentum in the 1950s and culminated in the consecration of Mar Augen I by the Universal Bishop's Synod presided over by the Patriarch Ignatius Jacob III, canonically establishing the Catholicate as the spiritual and temporal head of the Church in India under the Holy See of Antioch (1964) as it had been. The camps later split again in 1975 with Augen I favoring autocephaly and "Thomasine" hierarchical succession. See Mar Augen's oath of office along with pictures of his ordination below.

The Catholicate of the East was continued with the consecration of Mor Baselios Paulose II by Patriarch Jacob III in 1975. After Mor Baselios Paulose II's demise in 1996 the office remained vacant for several years to accommodate reconciliation attempts, which were unsuccessful.

In 2002 Baselios Thomas I was consecrated by Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas to be the local head of all Syriac Christians in India. Though most often called Catholicos of the East, his official title was made Catholicos of India. due to the region of his jurisdiction. He functions at an ecclesiastical rank second only to the Patriarch, having the privilege to preside over the consecration of new patriarchs. The Catholicos is welcomed brotherly alongside the Patriarch at ecclesiastical and ecumenical functions, and hosted the Patriarch during a state visit to India in 2005.

This Catholicate is headquartered at Puthencruz, Kerala, India and functions in a similar manner to the Indian Orthodox Catholicate within India. The Catholicos of India presides over the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Christian Association, the legal entity of Malankara parishes that supports remaining within the Antiochian Patriarchate. This entity, recognized by the High Court of Kerala, was formed in 2002 to guard against Indian Orthodox hierarchs claiming the property of parishes where Jacobite parishioners are the overwhelming majority.

The Catholicos is not authorized to consecrate Holy Mooron independently. The jurisdiction of the Jacobite Catholicos is limited to India only, although he is often invited to preside over Jacobite functions abroad.

The Syriac Orthodox Church believes it is the mother Christian church in South India and that the Indian Orthodox Church is a schismatic faction. The Indian Orthodox Catholicate remains under excommunication for dividing the church - leading to numerous legal actions, boarded churches, and broken faith experiences.^[4] The claim of autocephaly and Thomasine succession is especially onerous since both camps accept that Jacobite Petrine Patriarchs were involved in maintaining Indian ecclesiastical leadership, and as noted in both "viewpoints," it was a deposed Antiochian Patriarch that initially established the non-canonical Catholicate. To underscore the point, the Supreme Court of India unequivocally declared that the Indian Orthodox Catholicate is part of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church and is not autocephalous in 1995. The current constitution of the Indian Orthodox Church (1934) continues to acknowledge the Patriarch of Antioch as that group's supreme head.

Concluding points

Each of these primates administer approximately 2 million faithful. The Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, including the Indian Orthodox Church, includes perhaps 2.5 million members worldwide.

Other churches employ the title "Catholicos," most notably the Armenian Orthodox Church and the Georgian Orthodox Church. Two Catholicoi of the Assyrian Church (arguably the direct successors of the Catholicate created in Seleucia) exist, one based in Baghdad, Iraq and one in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

The Eastern Catholic counterparts of these Churches also employ the same title and rank.