The Catholicos of India[4][5] also known as the Catholicos of the East, Metropolitan of Malankara[6], or Maphrian of the East[7][2] is the head[8][3] of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, a maphrianate of the Syriac Orthodox Church, functioning within the Church at an ecclesiastical-rank second to the Patriarch of Antioch,[6] and his name is commemorated in liturgy throughout the Syriac Orthodox Archdioceses in India and its diaspora.[7] The position was renamed as Catholicos of India[5] in 2002, in accordance with its actual jurisdiction.[9]
Following the death of Baselios Thomas I on 31 October 2024, the Catholicate of the East is vacant.[10][11]
The word is a transliteration of the Greek καθολικός (pl. καθολικοί), meaning “concerning the whole, universal or general”, a title that existed in the Roman Empire when the government representative in-charge of a large area was called 'Catholicos'. The Churches later started to use this term for their Chief Bishops.
'Maphriyono' (Maphrian) is derived from the Syriac word 'afri', meaning "to make fruitful", or "one who gives fecundity". This title may be used exclusively for the head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the East. From the mid-13th century and onwards, a few occupants of the Maphrianate were referred-to also as 'Catholicos', but the title never came into extensive usage.
In the 20th century, when the office of the Maphrianate under the Holy Apostolic See of Antioch was re-established in India, the chief of the local church assumed the title 'Catholicos of the East', but his jurisdiction was restricted to India in the East. Later, in the 21st century (2002), the Maphrianate was renamed to 'Maphrianate of India', and the Maphriano Assumed the title 'Catholicose/Maphriano of India' as per the constitution of the church in India, officially known as "Catholicos of the East" as the Syrian Orthodox Constitution.[12][5]
In the Syriac Orthodox Context, both Catholicose and Maphriano have the same meaning, and refer to the same office.[13]
When the office of the Catholicos of Selucia fell into the Nestorian heresy, St. Jacob Baradeus consecrated St. Ahudemmeh of Balad as "‘the Great Metropolitan of the East" in AD 559 to oversee the Miaphysite Orthodox community in Persia and outside the Roman/Byzantine Empire of which Malankara was a part of, functioning under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, later becoming known as the "Maphrian of the East" by the 8th Century. The Maphrianate was established in Tagrit, until the destruction of its cathedral in 1089. It then moved to Mosul, before it was abolished in 1860 by the Holy Synod of the Syriac Orthodox Church, presided by Patriarch Ignatius Jacob II.[14]
Patriarchal Centre in Puthencruz, Kerala, the headquarters of the Catholicate of India.
The origin of the Catholicate in India is filled with controversy. In 1912, the Malankara Metropolitan, Dionysius Vattesseril, was excommunicated by Ignatius Abded Aloho II. He went to the deposed Patriarch, Ignatius Abded Mshih II, and had him establish an autocephalous Catholicate. This formed the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. In 1955, following reconciliation talks with this faction, the Syriac Orthodox Synod decided to canonically re-establish the Maphrianate of the East. This culminated in the consecration of Augen I as Catholicos/Maphrian of the reunified church by the Episcopal Synod presided over by Patriarch Ignatius Jacob III. The church later split again in 1975, when the Catholicos claimed that the Malankara Church was independent, and the Maphrianate had hierarchical equivalence to the Patriarchate, and that the Patriarch had no authority in Malankara.[15] This caused the Syriac Orthodox Synod of 1975 to excommunicate Augen I which caused the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church to split from the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch.[16]
After the deposition of his predecessor, Baselios Paulose II was enthroned the Second Catholicose/Maphrian of Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, by Ignatius Jacob III. After Baselios Paulose II's demise in 1996 the office remained vacant for several years to accommodate reconciliation attempts, which were unsuccessful.
In 2002, the Catholicos Baselios Thomas I was enthroned by Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas to be the head of the Malankara Archdiocese of Syriac Orthodox Church in India known as "Jacobite Syrian Church". His Beatitiude's official title was made Catholicos of India, due to its jurisdiction was in India of the East. As a result, since the time of Baselios Thomas I, the title of the Catholocose/Maphriano was modified to Catholicose/Maphriano Of India of the East of Jacobite Syrian Church Constitution as the jurisdiction of India unlike his predecessor Baselios Augen I and Baselios Paulose II, who was titled Catholicose of the East though their jurisdiction was only India.[5][17] He functions at an ecclesiastical rank second only to the Patriarch, having the privilege to preside over the consecration of new patriarchs.
This Catholicate is headquartered at Puthencruz, Kerala, India. The Catholicos of India presides over the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Christian Association, the legal entity of Jacobite parishes in Malankara that unequivocally supports remaining within the Antiochian Patriarchate.
The Catholicos is not authorized to consecrate Holy Chrism independently without Permission of the Patriarch because of Hudaya Canon(Accepted only the Manuscript either not catholic canon or Malankara orthodox Church canon is called the Paris canon) of the Holy fathers. The jurisdiction of the Syriac Orthodox Catholicos of the East in India only, although he is often invited to preside over Syriac Orthodox functions abroad as an Indian, officially Catholicos of the East as per Syriac Orthodox Church Constitution.[18]
Mor Baselios Paulose II, the 2nd Catholicos of the East after its reestablishment in India.H.H Patriarch ordains the lawfully elected Catholicos and approves the election of all Metropolitans under the Catholicate See.
According to the Hudaya Canon of Syriac Orthodox Church.
His Beatitude shall celebrate the Holy Eucharist. Otherwise the Patriarchal locum tenes shall preside over a liturgy with all Metropolitans joining the service during the inauguration of the elected Patriarch.[3]
According to the 2002 Constitution of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, his title became "Catholicos of India"[1]
Baselios Thomas I was enthroned as the Maphrian/Catholicos Metropolitan Trustee and of Syriac Orthodox Church by Ignatius Zakka I, Patriarch of Antioch.
^"Jacobite Syrian Christian Church". JSC News- Official News Portal of the Church. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2021. In the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, the Patriarch of Antioch & all the East is the spiritual supreme, but the temporal powers of the local Church in India rests with an association, elected from among the representatives of Parishes of Malankara, and is to be administered under guidance from its Chief prelate, the Catholicos of India.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ abSOC (1998). Syriac Orthodox Church Constitution. His Beatitude The Catholicos ranks second after the Patriarch within the Syrian Orthodox Church hierarchy. He is elected only by the Metropolitans under the jurisdiction of the Catholicate See. They must obey him, so must the priests, deacons and all the people within the Syrian Orthodox Archdioceses in India. At his ordination, he is proclaimed: Mor Baselius... (his personal name is added here). His name shall be proclaimed throughout the archdioceses in India during the Holy Mass and canonical prayers, after the name of the Patriarch and preceding the name of the Archdiocese Metropolitan. His name should be mentioned also at every Syrian church where he attends prayer. His title is: His Beatitude Mor Baselius... Catholicos of the East and Metropolitan of Malankara.
^ abThe Service Book of the Holy Qurbono. Malankara Archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church in North America. 2017. p. 80.
^"Catholicate of the East". syriacchristianity.info. Retrieved 26 June 2021. In 2002 the office of the Maphrianate was renamed 'Catholicos of India' in accordance with its actual jurisdiction
^Kiraz, George. "Maphrian Catholicos [Syr. Orth.]". Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Maphrianate in India. The establishment of the Maphrianate in Malankara is intermingled with much controversy. The Malankara Metropolitan Dionesios Yawsep requested its formation from Patr. Peṭros IV in 1875–77, and repeated the request from his successor Patr. ʿAbdulmasīḥ II around 1902, but the latter strongly refused. After ʿAbdulmasīḥ II was deposed and replaced by ʿAbdullāh II, the request was made again by the next Malankara Metropolitan Dionysios Giwargis from ʿAbdullāh II. By this time, there existed in India two parties, a patriarchal faction which desired to remain under the jurisdiction of the patr. , and a metropolitan faction which called for an autonomous and sometimes autocephalous church. In 1912, the deposed ʿAbdulmasīḥ II consecrated Baselios Pawlos I of the metropolitan faction as Maphrian. Pawlos I was succeeded by other local Maphrians consecrated by bishops of the same faction. The Patriarch and his faction did not recognize the Maphrianate. In 1958, both parties came together and Patr. Ignatius Yaʿqub III recognized the incumbent Maphrian. In 1964, the patr. himself consecrated the next Maphrian, Baselios Augen I for both parties. The peace was short-lived, and by 1975 the situation deteriorated. Yaʿqub III withdrew recognition of the Maphrian and consecrated in his stead Baselios Paulose II from the patriarchal faction. Since then, two lines of Maphrians exist in India.
Constitution (1998). Syriac Orthodox Church Constitution. His Beatitude The Catholicos ranks second after the Patriarch within the Syrian Orthodox Church hierarchy. He is elected only by the Metropolitans under the jurisdiction of the Catholicate See. They must obey him, so must the priests, deacons and all the people within the Syrian Orthodox Archdioceses in India. At his ordination, he is proclaimed: Mor Baselius... (his personal name is added here). His name shall be proclaimed throughout the archdioceses in India during the Holy Mass and canonical prayers, after the name of the Patriarch and preceding the name of the Archdiocese Metropolitan. His name should be mentioned also at every Syrian church where he attends prayer. His title is: His Beatitude Mor Baselius... Catholicos of the East and Metropolitan of Malankara.
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