History of the
Catholicate in India
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History of the Catholicate in India |
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Catholicate in India
On May 21, 1964, the office of the Catholicate for the Church in India was opened according to a resolution of the Holy Synod of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church held at Kottayam, South India. The Synod was presided by H. H. Mor Ignatius Ya`qub III, the late Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and attended by all the bishops of the Syrian Orthodox Church in India along with three bishops from the Far East who had accompanied His Holiness on his apostolic visitation to India. Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, who later became the successor to Patriarch Ya`qub III in the Apostolic See, was one of those three bishops. This synod held in India under the Patriarch, officially declared that the headquarters of this Catholicate should henceforth be in India and that its jurisdiction should be limited to India and to the East of India only.
Thus Mor Awgen became the 1st canonically ordained Catholicos of the East, for the Syriac Church in India. The enthronement ceremony was led by the Supreme pontiff His Holiness Ignatius Yakub III, the Patriarch of the Apostolic See of Antioch & All the East. The Metropolitans from Far East, America & India assisted His Holiness. Mor Awgen led the Church in India for more than a
decade after which a schism that surfaced again in the Indian Syriac church with a section declaring independent from the Patriarchate of Antioch, compelled the Universal Synod to elect and install a new Catholicos.
On 7th September 1975, as per the Synod decision, the Patriarch H.H. Ignatius Yakub III of the Holy Apostolic See of Antioch & All the East elevated Mor Philoxinos Paulose as the Catholicos for the Church in India and as a successor to the ancient Maphrianate. Thus he assumed the office with the title ABOON MOR BASELIOS PAULOSE II. (the earlier Maphriyono with the name PAULOSE lived in the 8th century)
After the demise of Catholicos Mor Baselios Paulose II, the office of the Catholicate remained vacant for almost six years. Metropolitan Mor Dionysius Thomas who was elected as the Catholicos-designate by the Association of the Church in December 2000 was elevated as the Catholicos in July 2002 by the Patriarch of Antioch & all the East, H.H. Ignatius Zakka I. On his enthronement the new Catholicos was given the name 'MOR BASELIOS THOMAS I'.
Catholicos & his responsibilities
The Catholicos ordained for the Indian Church in the recent past is given the title ‘Catholicos of India’ in accordance with his actual jurisdiction. It is the duty of the regional Synod of the Church in India to choose the Catholicos and have to inform the Supreme Pontiff, the Patriarch of Antioch. The Patriarch then install the Catholicos with assistance of the Metropolitans of the Universal Church.
In Episcopal dignity the Catholicos ranks second to the Patriarch, and as His Holiness’s deputy, preside over the provincial Holy Synod. He and all the clergy of the faithful in India pledge loyalty to the Patriarch of Antioch & All The East, the supreme authority of the Syriac Orthodox Church throughout the world.
Besides being the administrative head of the Church in India, it is the responsibility of the Catholicos to represent the Indian Church in the Universal Synod and lead the ceremonies, when it is specially convened for the election and enthronement of a new Patriarch. In 1980, the late Catholicos H.B. Mor Baselios Paulose-II led the Patriarchal enthronement ceremony of H.H. Ignatius Zakka I Iwas in Damascus and in 2014 it was his successor Catholicos Mor Baselios Thomas-I who led the Patriarchal enthronement ceremony of H.H. Ignatius Aphrem II.
The present presiding Catholicos (Maphriyono) of India is Mor Baselios Joseph, installed as regional head of the Church in India on 25th March 2025. The headquarters of the Malankara Catholicate is at Puthencuriz, Cochin.
The Maphriyono's from Far East who came to India as missionaries
1. Mor Baselios Yeldho (d.1685, entombed at the Marthoma Church, Kothamangalam)
2. Mor Baselios Sakralla III (d.1764, entombed at the Marth Mariam Church, Kandanad)
The Catholicos's of the Syrian Christian Church in India
1. Mor Baselios Geevarghese (1958-1964)
2. Mor Baselios Augen I (1964-1975) - First Canonically enthroned Catholicos of India
3. Mor Baselios Paulose II (1975-1996)
4. Mor Baselios Thomas I (2002-2024 )
5. Mor Baselios Joseph (enthroned on 25th March 2025)
Sacred tomb of Mor Baselios Yeldho (d. 1685)
at Marthoma church (Cheriapally), Kothamangalam
© MSCR - Malankara Syriac Christian Resources
