A Living Faith

As in the other Eastern Churches, the Orthodox faith is founded in a harmonious understanding of the Bible, the Liturgy and the life and work of the Fathers if the Church.

Starting with the Apostles of Christ and their direct disciples like Ignatius of Antioch, Clement of Rome and Polycarp of Smyrna, the Fathers include other pre-Nicene Fathers if the second and third centuries like Clement of Alexandria, Irenus of Lyons and Hermas, the author of The Shepherd.

The Fathers of the three Ecumenical councils-the Synods of Nicea (325), Ephesus (381) and Constantinople (431)-as well as the Fathers who lived and taught during the period 300-450 AD, even if they were not present at these councils, are among the founders of the Orthodox Faith. They include Mar Athanasius, (ca 296-373) Mar Baselios (ca 330-379) Mar Gregorios Nizanzen (329-389) Mar Gregorios of Nyssa (330-395), Mar Cyrillos (died 444) and Mar Ivanios (St John Chrysostom, died 407). Of this period 325-451, mention must be made of Alexander of Alexandria, Mar Didymus the Blind, Mar Theophilos of Alexandria, Mar Eustathius of Antioch, Mar Eusebius of Caesarea, Mar Kurillos of Jerusalem, and Mar Dioscoros of Alexandria.

Many of these names are commemorated in the intercessory prayers (thoob-den) of the Eucharistic Liturgy, the last of them, remembered in the fifth thoob-den, is Mar Jacob of Edessa (died 708) and Mar Isaac of Nineveh (died 700). Without attempting an exhaustive list of the Fathers of the Church, the great ascetic tradition of the monastic fathers like St Antony, St Pachamios, St Makarios, St Simeon Stylites, and St Ephrem must be emphasized as a bedrock of the Orthodox Faith.

The articles of the faith, based on the conclusions of the three great councils of the Early Church, are contained in the Orthodox Creed, an essential part of the daily prayers of the faithful.

The Ethos of the Church

The witness of the Orthodox Church is a quiet one. It is founded more on a life of worship, of love and of service than on preaching and proselytizing. This worship-orientation is its basis for all thought and action as well as the reason for its survival through recurrent terms of trial.

For the Orthodox, tradition is ever alive and is indeed the witness of the Holy Spirit, His unceasing revelation of good tidings. For the living members of the church, tradition is not so much an outward historical authority as the continual voice of God, not just the voice of the past but the call of eternity. There is no better guarantee for the members of the church that they are following the right path than for them to preserve the organic unity with the saints, the holy men and women of the past generations who are known to have lived in communion with the Holy Spirit. The principle of apostolic succession upheld by the Orthodox Church has to be grasped in this light, as a living bond between successive generations of church members, preserving the unity of faith and life, in spite of the constant flow of time.

It is this concept of unity in which the individual voluntarily merges his or her life in the wider fellowship of the whole body that has helped the Orthodox to preserve the truth of the Christian revelation. The identification with the familial community, rather than discipline through centralized authority, is the life-breath of the church. From this flows communitarian ethos of the church and the fine balance achieved between democratic functioning and Episcopal maturity. The role of the bishop is to sanction in the name of the church an action performed by the Holy Spirit, expressed as the unanimous will of all the members of the church, present and invisible, gathered to celebrate the Eucharist. This principle sustains the democratic orientation of the Orthodox community, indeed of all Eastern Churches.

The Constitution of the Orthodox Church in India (which has retained the traditional name, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church) was brought into force on 26 December 1934, with some amendments made later in1951 and 1967.

Article 4 defines membership of the church: ?All men and women, who have received Holy Baptism and believe in the divinity of the Holy Trinity, the incarnation of the Son, the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father, the Holy Church, and the application of the Nicene Creed, three-in-all, the divine inspiration of the Holy Traditions, the intercession of the Mother of God and the Saints, the commemoration of the departed ones, the administration of the seven sacraments and the canonical observances like fasting, and have accepted the obligation to observe them, will be members of the Church.

The Structure of Governance

The Constitution defines the institutional structure of the Church for preserving its integrity and autonomy and for administering its spiritual, ecclesiastical and temporal functions. It upholds the historical tradition that the Patriarchate of Syria and the Catholicate of the East freely function, each in its own sphere, mutually respecting and not interfering in each others domain. The church is self-governing under the ethical and spiritual guidance of its ecclesiastical head.

The representative basis of self-governance is assured at all the three levels__the parish, the diocese and the church as a whole. The Parish Assembly of all its members elects the Managing Committee each year from among the lay members. The vicar, appointed by the Diocesan Metropolitan is the joint-steward, together with the elected lay trustee of the assets of the parish, and presides over the managing committee and the parish assembly.

Likewise, the diocese is administered through the Diocesan Council representing all the parishes. It is presided over by the Diocesan Metropolitan and assisted by the Diocesan Secretary.At the apex, the Church has a representative Association, by the traditional name of Malankara Syrian Christian Association. It consists of the priest and two lay elected by each Parish Assembly. The Church Managing Committee is drawn from among the members of the Association. The Catholicose, as the Malankara Metropolitan, presides over the Association and the Managing Committee. Those prelates having administrative charge of a diocese are vice-presidents of the Association.

The Catholicate in India

“I am the good shepherd: The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” John 10:11

This verse, recited at the consecration of the Catholicose, echoes the essence of the Christian calling, personified by him. The Catholicose is the supreme head of the Orthodox Church in India. The present Catholicose is the 89th chronological successor to the Catholicate of the East founded by St. Thomas the Apostle in Seleucia, later revived in Tigris and relocated in 1912 in Kottayam.

The prime jurisdiction regarding the temporal, ecclesiastical and spiritual administration of the church is vested in him, in his capacity as the Metropolitan of the Malankara Archdiocese. He is the trustee of the central assets of the Church, together with two elected co-trustees, a priest and a lay member of the Association.

The Malankara Metropolitan, as all Metropolitans, is elected by the Malankara Association and approved by the Holy Episcopal Synod. The Catholicose presides over the Holy Episcopal Synod which is the supreme authority in all matters concerning faith, order and discipline in the Church.

H.H.Baselios Marthoma Paulos IInd is the supreme head of this church. H.H is the Catholics and Malankara Metrpolitan.

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