A delegation of leaders of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church will travel to Beirut in Lebanon early next month on an invitation from Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, universal head of the Church, to discuss various issues facing the Jacobite Church in the State even as a meeting of the synod of bishops of the Church, scheduled for Saturday to consider an auxiliary for Catholicos Baselios Thomas I, was called off.
A spokesman for the Jacobite Church said that the two key decision-making bodies of the Church — Working Committee and the Managing Committee — had recommended on October 9 that an auxiliary could be appointed to help Catholicos Baselios Thomas I, who is aged, in the administration of the Church. The recommendation was that the elected auxiliary could be considered the successor to the Catholicos.
While the synod of bishops was expected to discuss the appointment of an auxiliary in Puthenkurisu on Saturday, the meeting was called off against the background of the invitation from the Patriarch to the senior Church leadership.
No such tradition
Church sources said that the Jacobite Church has no tradition nor does its constitution permit the appointment of a designated successor to the Catholicos. These and other issues will be in focus when the Church delegation meets the Patriarch in Beirut next month, sources added.
The delegation from the Malankara Church will include Joseph Mor Gregorios, Metropolitan Trustee; Thomas Mor Themotheos, Synod Secretary; Kuriakose Mor Theophilus, media cell chairman; Geevarghese Mor Athanasios, head of the Simhasana churches; and Geevarghese Mor Koorilos, bishop of Niranom.
Allegiance to Patriarch
The meeting of the Jacobite Church working and managing committees early this month had reiterated that under no circumstances would it end its allegiance to the Patriarch of Antioch. There would be no compromise on the point and the court verdicts of 1958, 1995 and 2017 had reiterated the role of the Patriarch as the head and the Malankara Church, which is part of the global Syrian Church.
