The leader of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church uses the title Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan. The incumbent 'Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan' is Baselios Marthoma Mathews III.

History

The Catholicos of the East is an ecclesiastical title originally used for the patriarch of the Church of the East in Sassanid Empire from around 424. Since 628, the Maphrian of the East, who led the Syriac Orthodox Church in Sassanid territory also started claiming the title. The leaders of the Puthenkoor faction of the Saint Thomas Christians were called Malankara Metropolitans since the Coonan Cross Oath of 1653. In 1909 Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Abd-Allah II appointed Geevarghese Dionysius Vattasseril as Malankara Metropolitan. But later the Malankara Metropolitan who was at loggerheads with the Patriarch declared independence from the Patriarch. The Patriarch deposed him and appointed a new Malankara Metropolitan in his stead. In the meantime, the deposed former Patriarch Ignatius Abded Mshiho II arrived in Kerala in 1912 on the invitation of Dionysius. He, at the request of Dionysius, announced the relocation of the Maphrianate of the East to India and appointed Paulos Ivanios Murimattathil as the Catholicos of the East with the regnal name Baselios Paulus I. This triggered a lasting split the community and from then on, those who followed the Malankara Metropolitan was called the "Metran party" (later Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and followers of Patriarch and the new Malankara Metropolitan he appointed were called the "Bawa party" (later Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church).

Organization

Malankara Metropolitan

Malankara Metropolitan is the episcopal title given by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and Travancore State government to the head of the historic Malankara Church. The main responsibility for the secular administration of the Church rests with the Malankara Metropolitan. Powers of the Malankara Metropolitan is to convene and preside over committees such as the Malankara Association and the Managing Committee, and to act as Metropolitan Trustee to administer the common church properties in cooperation with the Priest and Laity Trustees.

Catholicos of the East

The Catholicos of the East is a primatial title that came into usage in the Malankara Church during the schism of 1912. The office of the catholicos, called the catholicate, was established by Patriarch Ignatius Abded Mshiho II, at the request of Dionysius Geevarghese Vattasseril, as a sign of jurisdictional independence from the reigning Patriarch Ignatius Abded Aloho II. Baselios Paulos I Murimattathil was the founding Catholicos of the Church. Their reasoning to its establishment was that the Malankara Church was under the Church of the East in ancient times and therefore, it can be seen as the only remaining Oriental Orthodox part of the Persian Church. Hence the Maphrianate or Catholicate of the East is to be present in India. The Catholicate of the East is autocephalous in nature and enjoys the right to administer the responsibilities of the Patriarch of Antioch in the Malankara Church as the Vicar of the Patriarch. The powers of the Patriarch that are delegated to the Catholicos include the consecration of bishops, presiding over the episcopal synod, canonization of saints, and consecration of the Holy Myron. The Patriarch remains superior to the Catholicos and retains his historical powers in the Malankara Church but he is expected to administer his powers only in conjunction with the Catholicos. An Indian Supreme Court ruling determined that the Patriarch of Antioch's power in the Malankara Church had reached a "vanishing point" following the catholicate's establishment.

List of primates

List of Malankara Metropolitans till 1934

List of Catholicoi upto 1934

List of Catholicoi of the East and Malankara Metropolitans since 1934

Primates after the 1975 schism

Footnotes