The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church on Saturday came down heavily on the Syriac Orthodox Church head, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East Ignatius Aphrem II, for his purported remarks about the Supreme Court’s ruling on the control of parishes under the Malankara Church.
In a statement here on Saturday, Yuhanon Mar Dioscoros, synod secretary of the Orthodox Church, held that the Patriarch’s statement effectively foreclosed any possibility of negotiating peace between the two factions of the Malankara Church. “The Patriarch has not just publicly called the Supreme Court ruling insignificant but also maintained that the order could not be adhered to. The statement is nothing short of a battle cry,” he said.
Holding that the statement amounted to questioning the authority of the country’s rule of law, he urged the Patriarch to clarify why his faction kept on approaching courts at different levels over and again. He called on the Patriarch to consider whether it was proper for a person of his stature to cast aspersions on a country’s rule of law after going there as state guest.
Pointing out that the Supreme Court had long back attempted a peaceful negotiation of the issue, he accused the Patriarch faction of wasting that opportunity and coming up with a new constitution instead.
“Why the Patriarch, who sheds tears for the the Kattachira church, sought to ignore the forcible occupation of churches by the Patriarch faction and the denial of right to worship to a section,” he asked.
‘Call for separation’
The statement questioned the actual intentions of the Oriental Orthodox Unity in attempting to broker a deal between the two factions and held that the organisation had the right to intervene only in case of disputes related to belief.
Reiterating the Church’s commitment towards ensuring peace, it also noted that the Patriarch’s exhortation to protect belief by establishing new parishes and other institutions amounted to a call for separation.