KOTTAYAM (UCAN): An archdiocese of the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church in Kerala, India, which falls under the Patriarch of Antioch, is facing a split following the suspension of Archbishop Severios Kuriakose of Knanaya for alleged disobedience.
The suspension of Archbishop Kuriakose on May 17 by Patriarch Ignatius Aprem-II has divided the around 50,000 Christians of the the Malankara Syriac Archdiocese of Knanaya at Chingavanam in Kottayam district, according to T. O. Abraham, the secretary of the Knanaya Association.
At a May 21 emergency meeting, the archdiocesan members declared the suspension of their Metropolitan illegal. “The patriarch has only spiritual powers and no power to deal with temporal matters, including dismissing our Metropolitan,” Abraham claimed.
Some Church leaders said that Archbishop Kuriakose’s consent to convene a special session of the Knanaya Association to amend its constitution, allegedly to curtail the patriarch’s powers, provoked the suspension. Others also noted the archbishop’s constant disobedience and attempt to curtail the patriarch’s authority with the help of the association led to his suspension.
The proposed amendment seeks to downgrade the patriarch from supreme leader to spiritual leader and make Archbishop Kuriakose the lifetime head of the Indian diocese.
Those opposed to the amendment complained to Patriarch Ignatius, who in turn ordered the archbishop to cancel the special meeting and “publish it in newspapers and inform him about it,” according to Elias Zachariah Parrel, a former secretary of the Knanaya Association.
Zachariah said on May 23 that the archbishop did not comply “in a convincing way” and was suspended for disobedience.
“The majority of the believers in the archdiocese are with their suspended archbishop, and he will continue in the office,” Abraham insisted.
Those supporting the archbishop challenged the patriarch’s suspension order in a local court in Kottayam on May 18, and the court temporarily stopped its implementation. After a detailed hearing, the court will decide on the legal validity of the suspension order on May 25.
The Kerala-based Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church has some 20 dioceses in India and abroad, with at least 15 are in Kerala. They function under the leadership of a Catholicose based in Kerala, who pledges allegiance to the Patriarch of Antioch. The current Catholicose is Aboon Mor Baselios Thomas I.
The Archdiocese of Knanaya has three auxiliary bishops under its archbishop and enjoys functional autonomy with its distinct constitution, approved in 1950 by the Church and the Patriarch of Antioch.
