Geevarghese Ivanios

Archbishop Geevarghese Mar Ivanios,Servant of God, OIC (September 21, 1882 – July 15, 1953), born Geevarghese Panickeruveetil, was a Christian bishop and the founder of the Bethany Ashram order of monks.

Childhood

Panickeruveetil was born in Mavelikkara, India, on September 21, 1882 to Thomas Panicker and Annamma Panicker. He had his early education in protestant and government schools. From 1897 he attended M. D. Seminary High School, Kottayam. In 1899 he completed his matriculation education before which he received minor orders (of clerical life) on September 20, 1898.

Deacon

He was ordained deacon by Pulikkottil Mar Dionysius on January 9, 1900, he then continued his studies at CMS College, Kottayam and obtained a bachelor's degree in Economics and Indian History from Madras Christian College. In 1907 he took a Master's Degree (MA) with distinction from the same college. On his return from Madras he was appointed principal of his Alma Mater, M.D.Seminary High School. During this time he lead various schemes for the renewal of the Malankara Church. He organized basic church communities, commenced Bible conventions, because of this he was popularly entitled "Koodasa Semmasan" (Deacon of Sacraments).

Priestly Life

He was ordained to the priesthood as P.T. Geevarghese on Sept. 15th 1908 by Vattasseril Mar Dionysius. Geevarghese was popularly known as M A Achan, as he was the first priest with a MA degree in Malankara.. At the same time he took the initiative to empower the Malankara Church with hierarchical autonomy. He became instrumental to erect catholicate for the Malankara Church on September 5, 1912

Professorship in Serampore

In 1912 Vattasseril Mar Dionysius received an invitation to attend a conference at Calcutta. Mar Dionysius selected Fr. Geevarghese to accompany him to Calcutta to attend the conference. At the conference they met Dr. Howels the principal of Serampore College who requested the Metropolitan to avail the service of Geevarghese as the professor of the College. The Metropolitan permitted Geevarghese to take up the task. He made use of this opportunity to educate the Malankara Youth. About 20 young people from Kerala reached Calcutta for higher education.

Serampore: A Turning Point

At Serampore Geevarghese got more time for prayer and contemplation. He came across the writings of St. Basil on Manasticism. Basilian monastic vision had a great influence on him. Besides the visits to the Sabarmati Ashram of Gandhiji and Santiniketan of Rabindranath Tagore gave him a new vision of Indian Sanyasa (Manasticism). These experiences made him to reflect upon starting an order of missionaries to carry out the task of evangelization in India. Slowly the residence of Geevarghese and his followers at Serampore turned became an Ashram (Monastery), and they began to live a sort of religious life according to the monastic rules of St. Basil, adapting them to Indian culture. As he accepted this as his way of life, he resigned from the Serampore College.

Foundation of the Bethany Ashram

On his return from Calcutta, Geevarghese looked for a location to establish an ashram. One of his friends E. John Vakeel donated hundred acres of land at Mundanmala, Ranni-Perunadu, Kerala at the meeting place of the rivers Pampa and Kakkatt. The place was thickly filled with thorny bushes and herbs. Geevarghese and his followers built a small thatched hut made out of the branches of trees and bamboo. This turned to be the first Ashram in Malankara on August 15, 1919. He prayerfully searched for a name for the Ashram and opened the Bible and he got the word "Bethany". He meditated upon it and came to the conclusion that it is an apt name for a religious order which upholds both contemplation and action. Eventually the Bethany Ashram became a place of pilgrimage and spiritual experience. Spiritual retreats and discourses were given by Geevarghese especially in the Passion Week. Geevarghese envisioned the Ashram also being a shelter for the poor and the marginalised. Along with the Ashram he started a house for the orphans.

While at Serampore Geevarghese was thinking of the empowerment of the Syrian Christian women through education. To realize this ideal he took initiative to give education and training to the selected group of young girls with the help of the Epiphany Sisters of England working at Serampore. He founded the Bethany Madhom (convent) for the women religious in 1925.

Bishop of Bethany

It was decided by the Malankara Synod to ordain Geevarghese as the bishop of Bethany. He was ordained a bishop of the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church by Catholicos Beselios Geevarghese I on May 1, 1925. He received the name Geevarghese Mar Ivanios. After the consecration there was a meeting to felicitate Mar Ivanios. In this meeting Mar Ivanios expressed his desire that the church might become one flock under one shepherd.

In 1926 a synod of Bishops was held at Parumala. The synod authorized Mar Ivanios to open negotiations with Rome for communion with the Catholic Church inorder to establish peace in the Malankara. In the mean time, the civil court's decision on the litigation for a large sum of money (Vattippanam) was declared in favour of the Malankara Orthodox Church. This event led the Malankara Orthodox Church to step out from the endeavour of communion with Rome.

The Historic Event of Ecclesial Communion

Mar Ivanios continued the efforts of communion. Finally the dream of communion with the Catholic Church came true. On September 20, 1930 Mar Ivanios made the catholic profession before Bishop Aloysius Maria Benziger OCD, the Bishop of Kollam along with Mar Theophilos, the Sufragan Bishop of Bethany, Fr. John Kuzhinapurath OIC, Deacon Alexander Attupurath OIC and Mr. Chacko Kiliyileth. Thus a miniature of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church was formed. Most of the members of both the Bethany orders united with the Roman Catholic Church establishing the Eastern Catholic sui iuris Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in India.

Establishment of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Heirarchy

In 1932 Mar Ivanios made a historic pilgrimage to Rome and he met Pope Pius XI. Mar Ivanios received Sacred Palium. He also participated in the thirty second Eucharistic Congress held at Dublin,Ireland. There he met Mr. G.K. Chesterton, who addressed him 'The Newman of India'. Chesterton describes Mar Ivanios as follows, "The dignified Indian gentleman, who represented this faroff triumph in the Orient, had changed his neighbours by bringing them back in to the Roman Communion."

In 1932, Mar Ivanios was named the Archbishop of Trivandrum and received the pallium from Pope Pius XI, becoming the first metropolitan of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. Because of his theological-pastoral insights and his attempts at reunion of the Malankara Church with the Pope of Rome, Mar Ivanios is often nicknamed the "Newman of the East". Archbishop Mar Ivanios passed away on July 15, 1953.

Mar Ivanios College was founded at Bethany Hills outside Trivandrum in 1949: it was affiliated to the University of Travancore, which became part of the University of Kerala.

Archbishop Mar Ivanios was declared Servant of God (Daivadasan) on 14 July 2007, the day prior to the 54th anniversary of his death. The proclamation was read by Catholicos and Major Archbishop Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis at St. Mary's Malankara Syrian Catholic Cathedral in Trivandrum, India. He is the first member of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church to be so designated.

Sources

• "His Grace Most Rev. Geevarghese Mar Ivanios O.I.C."; Bethany Ashram website, retrieved January 10, 2006
• "Archbishop Ivanios (Giovanni) Giorgio Tommaso Panickerveetil"; Catholic-Hierarchy.org; retrieved January 10, 2006
• Fr. Thomas Inchakkalody, Archbishop Mar Ivanios (2 Vols.), Kottayam, 2006.
• L. Moolaveettil, The Spiritual Life of Mar Ivanios, Kottayam, 1977.

External links

• Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
• Syro-Malankara Catholic Church - alternative site built by Malankarites