July 13, 1998

The century-old feud between two factions of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in the state flares up again with a row over the possession of a chapel.

By M G Radhakrishnan

The strain was showing on 60-year-old Easo Ninan's face. For three days and nights, he had been sitting in front of his church with a group of 100-odd men and women chanting prayers and shouting slogans. This emotionally charged group led by priests belonged to the Patriarch faction of the three million-strong Malankara Orthodox Syrian Christian community of Kerala. The protest was aimed at preventing the rival faction -- the Catholicos group -- from taking over St Mary's Orthodox Church at Kattachira near Kayamkulam in Alappuzha district.

The issue flared up when on June 19, the Kerala High Court ordered that the Catholicos faction be allowed to conduct its prayers inside the church's chapel -- which had been locked for 23 years due to the dispute -- and Ninan and his fellow protestors were expecting their rivals to arrive any moment. The Patriarch faction, with 150 families, was dominant in the parish. Therefore anticipating resistance, the court had ordered police protection to the Catholicos faction to enter the church. On June 22, as slogans and prayers rent the air, Ninan, unable to bear the stress, collapsed and died on the spot following a massive heart attack.

The bitter standoff between the two groups of the Orthodox Church continues, reviving old enmities created by the century-old feud, which seemed to be tapering off in the past few years. Essentially, the dispute has been over allegiance to the supreme authority in the community. While the Patriarch faction traditionally owes allegiance to the Patriarch of Antioch -- at present Ignatius Zakka 1 who is based at Damascus, Syria -- the other faction considers the Kerala-based Catholicos of the East, currently Moran Mar Baselius Marthoma, its head. The links Syrian Christians have with Antioch dates back to 325 a.d. when the first general council of all dioceses in the Christian world (attended by Christians from India also) entrusted the Patriarch of Antioch with jurisdiction over the Malankara (meaning "Malayalam speaking community on the Malabar coast") Christians, including the right to ordain the metropolitan of Malankara, also known as the Catholicos of the East. However, in the early 19th century the then Malankara metropolitan appointed his successor without the Patriarch's blessing, triggering the emergence of two warring sections. Since then the community has been riven with disputes, legal and otherwise, often leading to violence.

A peace agreement on issues concerning the community, signed in 1958, was violated in 1970 when both factions began appointing metropolitans/Catholicos without each other's consent. Though a minority in the parish, the Catholicos group -- which dominates the Malankara community -- has always considered St Mary's Church its own as it was purchased for Rs 5,000 in 1972 by the then metropolitan of the Kollam diocese who belonged to the Catholicos faction. In 1976, this faction built a new chapel for the church but it could not be opened for consecration due to stiff opposition from the Patriarch group. This led to the church being put under a receiver. Meanwhile, the Patriarch faction continued to conduct mass and other services at an old chapel nearby from where the rival faction was kept away.

The recent high court judgment, on an appeal by the Catholicos faction, directed that the new chapel be opened and mass and other services from the old chapel be shifted to the new one. Tension escalated on June 27 when the 50-year-old thatched chapel which was being used by the Patriarchs was demolished following the court-appointed receiver's report that the"dilapidated structure" could collapse. "It was a deliberate attempt by the receiver to placate the Catholicos faction," alleges Father Roy George, a vicar belonging to the Patriarch group. An accusation flatly denied by T.N. Vijayan, the receiver. "I have only truthfully reported the condition of the chapel which was bad," he says.

Now the Patriarch faction has demanded holding of elections to the church's managing committee, The court had also directed this in its order. Says Alex George, a member of the recently-formed Patriarch Action Council's managing committee, of his rival group: "They are interpreting the court order selectively and delaying the elections. A church should be maintained and run by the members of its parish. We have a majority in the parish and will win the elections, so the Catholicos faction has been deliberately delaying it." This is refuted by the vicar of St Mary's Church, Father Johns Eapen, who belongs to the opposite camp. "Elections will be held in a month's time when the electoral rolls are completed," he says.

The higher leadership of the Catholicos faction is in no mood to relent. "Whatever be the consequence, we will have to take over the church which the court has recognised as our rightful property," says Father P.M. John, diocese secretary of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. But the Patriarchs are adamant on thwarting the entry of their rivals into the church. Says Father Abraham Mannarikode, chairman of the action council: "Come what may, we will not allow the Catholicos group to do it."

The police fear an eruption of violence if the issue is not settled immediately as disputes between the rival factions over ownership exist in many other churches in Kerala. Some believe that the Patriarch group is in fear of disarray now with many of its members and priests, including a couple of metropolitans, moving closer to the other group following a landmark judgement by the Supreme Court in 1995 which called for a resolution of the conflict in the community. The apex court, while reiterating the Patriarch's supreme spiritual authority, also categorically recognised the authority of the Catholicos in the community's temporal affairs. Says D. Babu Paul, additional chief secretary of the state and a leading member of the Patriarch group, who has been advocating reconciliation between the rival camps: "Fresh rounds of conflict would only harm the interests of the community. Extremist fringes in both the camps should be isolated and the spirit and letter of the apex court's judgement have to be respected. In the St Mary's issue too, the Patriarch group should not stand against law".

With members of the Patriarch camp flowing in from other parts of the state to join the blockade and courting arrest, tension is palpably mounting in the area. The Catholicos faction too has threatened to call in its supporters to enforce a blockade. If a compromise is not reached, the court battle could spill into the streets. Kerala's Christian-dominated central and southern parts may face a law and order problem which the state Government will find difficult to contain considering the religious overtones of the crisis. That will be a pity considering that the Orthodox Church has in all these years of conflict largely refrained from taking up the sword.

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