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Here is some corrections to Fr. OP Varghese's detailed report on Kolenchery church issues.
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Fr. OP Varghese’s inventions |
A few contadictions |
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In the 7th century under the leadership of a merchant Thankan Mappilai from Kolencherry family (migrated from Kozhencherry), the parishioners belonging to the Kadamattom and Piravom Church built a Church in the name of
St Peter & Paul in this place previously called Elamkulam and began worship.
This is inscribed in the marble plaque placed on the front wall of the present Church. (See attached picture.) |
First time we are hearing of the great migration from ‘Kozhenchery’.
Not in the history books available at Kolenchery. |
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But in 1844 the Palakunnath Mar Mathews Athanasios, the Anglicanised Metropolitan, though originally ordained from Patriarch Alias III in 1842, was not given permission to enter this church. |
Mar Athanasios has entered Kolenchery Church- stories of his visit inherited through old Kapyars . My uncle Fr. OP Varghese seems to try to establish that Kolenchery parish avoided Patriarch faction even in 1844. Was there any Patriarch faction or Orthodox faction in 1844. |
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In 1876 parish representatives from the churches of Kolenchery and Kottoor participated in the Synod of Mulanthuruthy initiated by Pulikottil Joseph Dionesius. (A shrine of St. George was built at he South West of the present Kolenchery Church in the property belonging to the Kottoor Brahmins
in the 1 St Century which later became St. George Orthodox Parish Church,
Kottoor ). |
When mentioning Mulamthuruthy Sinod, the name of the President, Patriarch Pathrose III is the name to be mentioned. Fr. OP Varghese mention the name of Pulikottil Mar Dionesius only. Again trying to establish that members from Kolenchery attended a Synod initiated by an Orthodox Metropolitan only and no relation with Patriarch group. |
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On 10th November 1912 after the Holy Qurbana celebrated by the
Catholicose, a group of the parishioners lead by one of the priests Fr. Peter Kunnath created problems against the stay of the Catholicose in the Kolenchery church and he bid farewell to the church for ever. |
Saw a serious debate regarding the name of the priest from Kunnath family. Astonishingly, it was not Peter or Pathrose; the priest was Fr. Paulose Kunnath (and if somebody wants, they can call Paul Kunnath). Fr. OP Varghese should see that matters are true to facts and my good friends, never debate on unnecessary matters.
Another important historical truth; Mar Baselios Murimattathil left the church verbally saying,``I shall leave the church if my presence will result in the closure of my church’’He left his own church where he lived for 60 years. 93 years later, his successors insist that the church may remain closed till their Supremacy is established. That seems to be the difference between `own church’ and `somebody’s church’. Recall the story of Salomon and the child |
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In 1943 a great reception was given to His Holiness Baselios Geevarghese II and Augen Mar Thimothios Metropolitan of Kandanad Diocese in the
Kolencherry Church.
In 1943 the Kolenchery Church remained closed for 89 days in the months of May, June and July because of the fight between the factions |
Fr. OP should not have put separate numbers for 11 and 12. Item 12 was the result of 11. Readers please understand from 11 & 12 that factional fights were there during that times also and the Jacobite faction here is equally strong as our group.(How could I say the truth that they are the majority? After all I am still an Orthodox) |
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15 |
On 24th May 1959 the parish celebrated the Memorial Day of the late Catholicose His Holiness Baselios Paulose I in the Kolenchery church as
decided by the Parish Assembly.
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The parish assembly decided to celebrate the memory of Murimattathil Mar Baselios First and Elias III Patriarch of Manjanikara; the decision taken on the same day in a single motion; and both the memorial celebration have been conducting in our church till now. Even if the feast of Elias III Patriarch come upon the turn of Holy Qurbana by Orthodox faction priest, the Orthodox priest will conduct the special prayers and lead the celebrations. Fr. OP Varghese purposefully avoided the name of Elias III Patriarch in this contest to make a common opinion that the church was following an Orthodox set up from and during those times. |
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In 1965 Mor Paulose Philoxenos appointed Rev.Fr.John Kalappurackal asVicar and Rev.Frs.O.I.Paulose, M.V. Abraham as co-Priests in the Kolencherry
Church
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From 1965 to 1967, Fr. T.I. Pathrose Tamarachalil was the Vicar of the church.In September 1967, Fr. O.I. Paulose was appointed vicar by Mar Philexinos Paulose. In 1970, Fr. M.V. Abraham was appointed priest by Mar Philexinos. In 1973, Fr. John Kalapurackal was appointed Vicar by Mar Philexinos. When he quited the church, in 1975, Fr. O.I. Paulose was appointed vicar by Baselios Marthoma Mathews I. Since then, no parish assembly was convened in the Kolenchery church for the last 30 years. At least, the readers could understand our strength here at Kolenchery. Fr. OP Varghese should have collected the details more perfectly. |
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23 |
In 1976 Joseph Mor Pachomius assumed the charge of the Diocese of Kandanad and he put his seal and signature in the concerned Documents of the Kolencherry Church |
Mar Joseph Pachomios has never in his tenure of 15 years entered Kolenchery church. Mar Joseph Pachomios has never put his seal or signature in any official records of the Kolenchery church. If any such record books were taken out from the church office, or any such seal or signature is found on a record, blood shed would have been the result.
Also, since 1971, only two occasions a Metropolitan conducted Holy Qurbana in our church; 1 – in May 1997, Mar Severios entered the church and conducted Qurbana; this was by a secret mission arranged by a small group, with secret discussions with the Patriarch group at Kolenchery, local secret arrangements by Mr. P.M. PailyPillai, etc. No one except those involved in the secret plot knew the news; no issues resulted because of and just because of the secret arrangements we had with Patriarch group leaders. Don’t know whether Fr. OP Varghese know the matters, but Mar Severios Mathews know.
The second occasion is the Holy Qurbana by HH The Catholicos in 2002 December after the fasting strike. |
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In 1984, K.V. Thomas, the Trustee of the Church died and his children handed over the key to the court.
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Why the children handed over the keys to the court? Is it what normally happen in an Orthodox church? Was there not a vicar appointed by the Catholicos of Malankara? |
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According to the Supreme Court Verdict in 1995 Kolenchery Church also came under the provisions of 1934 constitution as far concerned with all its affairs. |
Why Kolenchery church alone? All the 1500 odd churches; and only Kolenchery and Kadamattom remain closed as if waiting to implement the order. |
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Following this verdict, the ruling group including 11 members of the previous managing committee along with the permanent priests of the church,
Fr.O.I. Paulose and Co-Vicar Fr. M.V Abraham assumed charge on 10-03-97.
Since Ichikottil Fr. Zechariah of the patriarch side was a temporary priest appointed by the court, he lost the possibility of continuance. |
Never, Fr. OP is wrong. The administration of the church was handed over to the members of the Managing Committee excluding the priests. The court receiver summoned the meeting of only the lay members as it was specifically mentioned in the order as to who all are to be called and power to be transferred. |
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After a compromise talk on 14-03-1997 two of the committee members Shri Cheria Pathrose and K.S.Varghese sworn allegiance before the Diocesan Metropolitan, Mathews Mar Severios through an affidavit. Hence they were
appointed as Trustees.
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They swore allegiance to the 1934 constitution. They were not appointed Trustees; according to 1934 constitution, trustees are not appointed by Metropolitans, they are elected by the Parish assembly. They both are just representatives of the Managing Committee to administer the church as per court order. Again Fr.OP try to give an image that Mar Severios executed as Edavaka Metropolitan. |
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On 31st March, 1998 the Munsif court issued a verdict favoring the
Metropolitan which reads" The 1st defendant (Mathews Mar Severios
Metropolitan)has got every right to take action against their priests and vicars....They want to maintain discipline in the church and proper administration in accordance with the constitution(1934)". |
Yes, there was a mentioning in a part of the order sheet as noted. But this was not a part of the order part. The order was only an injunction against Fr. Zachariah. This weakness as far as the Orthodox faction is concerned was specifically mentioned by the Hon. High court of Kerala, both Single bench and Division bench including Hon. Chief Justice that Orthodox faction got only a personal relief against Fr. Zachariah and no relief other than that (we had asked for orders to allow our priests to enter church and conduct mass with police protection) can be given. My church still cling on this mis interpreted order to keep our church remain closed. |
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38 |
On the basis of the above verdict of the court, on 1-04-1998 Fr, Zechariah Ichikottil was transferred to Manakunnam Mar Augen church from the Kolencherry church. Instead of him Fr. John Thenumkal was appointed as Co-Vicar in Kolencherry church. |
The transfer order was written on 31 March 1998, about 2 hours after the order was proclaimed (in an IA) in the munisiff court Permbavoor( not Supreme court or High court or District court). We did not have got the copy of the order. We were very very fast - implementing an order after 120 minutes after the order proclamation!!!. If that was our style 10 years back, the supreme court order of 1995 could have been implemented the same day or the next day!!!!!
Another thing about the transfer order, Fr. OP Varghese was present at Meempara Aramana when the order was written; myself, writing correction was also there; Should I write the whole story?? |
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The above act of the District authorities were questioned in the High Court and through the Court's direction they have handed over the key back to the Vicar Fr. O.I. Paulose on 17-6-1998. |
Keys were handed over to Fr.O.I.Paulose not because he was the vicar; only because he was the custodian of the keys at that time; the church was closed on 18 April 1998 and that week as per rotation of charge, the turn was that of Fr. O.I. Paulose and his kapyer with whom normally the keys are kept handed over the keys to him and thus fortunately the Keys of the church came to our hand. |
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Though they went for an appeal questioning this Verdict of the District, court their appeal was rejected by the High Court on 23-03-20000 ratifying the prohibition order to Fr Zachariah Ichikkottil. A further appeal over the verdict of the High court was filed by Fr Ichikkottil in the Supreme Court, which also rejected it, on12-07-2000 ratifying the decisions of the District Court and of the High Court.
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It is true that the High court rejected the appeal. In the supreme court, the appeal was filed, but later Fr. Ichikottil withdrew the appeal to give an appeal in High court. The supreme court allowed him to withdraw the appeal mentioning his above request. But not only Fr. OP Varghese, even our church leaders and our Metropolitan still claim that the Supreme court has given positive orders in favor of Mar Severios Mathew and that has to be implemented. What happens is that , everyone hearing this always tell us that you first go and implement the Supreme Court orders in favor of Mar Severios and then go for conciliation. Dear friends, please be informed that there is no such order from the Supreme court in favour of Mar Severios. |
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Even though the church was opened on the basis of the discussions with the sub-committee of three Ministers from the Kerala UDF Government on 17th December 2002, the church was again closed after one day's worship since the patriarch side broke the agreements. |
The ministers who were members of the Sub committee say that the understanding was broken by Orthodox faction; so do the media people who were present there. The Jacobite faction still agrees to implement the Cabinet Sub Committee decision, a decision taken as a result of talks between the Ministers and the Orthodox leaders including HH The Catholicos, Church Secretary, Trustee, Managing committee members etc;( The decision was just informed to the Jacobite faction leaders over phone) even now. Again, now our church leaders will not allow to implement the decision. Dear leaders, is it not clear that we had violated from the agreement? At least the Orthodox population of Kolenchery believes that. |
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In order to get the verdict of the Kolencherry church executed,
execution petition has been submitted in Munsif Court. |
I bet; Fr. OP Varghese, No such suit or petition has been submitted to any court by any one from Kolenchery church or regarding Kolenchery church. Also, how could we give such a petition? 1. We don’t have an executable order. 2. Verdict has been cone on an IA in a suit; no original suit (OS) have been finally heard or orders given |
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There was no consensus regarding the opening of the church till 10-July-2005. Even though there were many discussions conducted by the duly appointed Orthodox Church leaders including the Catholicos designate H.B.Thomas Mar Thimotheos, the Priest Trustee Rev.Fr.Dr.O. Thomas, Association Secretary Dr. Alexander Karakkal of the Malankara Church with
the Chief Minister and District Collector and DSP. But on 10-07-2005, Muvattupuzha R.D.O unjustly braked the lock of the closed church and opened
it. And on 12-07-2005,he gave permission to the patriarchal sympathizers to enter the church and they conducted their worship from 6 AM till 9 AM. This is a challenge to the Law and order and irreverence to the Supreme
Court verdict. Against this, Orthodox members of the parish submitted a writ petition in the High court, in which the Ernakulam District authorities were made defendants. Their prayer in the suit is to get the Kolenchery Church fully under the authority of Dr. Mathews Mar Severios, the Metropolitan of the Diocese of Kandanad
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There was a result in the consensus talk; this was proclaimed by the District collector at 11.15 pm at the Collectors camp office at Ernakulam before the media; all TV channels gave flash news within seconds; Visual media and press reported the matter in the next days news with high priority, lakhs of people saw it; Mar Themothios Thomas, our Catholicate designate, Dr. Mathews Severios, Fr. O. Thomas, Dr. Karakkal, All Joint Council members, SP of police, 3 DYSP s, CI and SI of Police, Sub Divisional Magistrate of Muvattupuzha, Tahsildar etc. were present.
If they all are lying and Fr. OP Varghese alone is speaking out the truth, what can I say??
The church was open as per the consensus talk. It was broke open just because the Orthodox faction leaders outside Kolenchery (not the people or leaders of Kolenchery parish) withdrew from the consensus agreement overnight.
Regarding the case in High court, last week the High Court took the matter and had argument for about 25 minutes. The Government submitted before the High Court the initiation the Joint Council has taken in the Kolenchery church issue; and that the District administration has initiated a series of conciliation talks with the Joint Council and the heads of Both churches. Finally the court asked the Government to settle the issue through the conciliation talks. If there was an order favoring Mar Severios, will the court direct to settle the issues by conciliation? |
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CONCLUSION.
In the light of the above historical truths and Court verdicts, it is not
possible to accept the unnecessary demand of the patriarch side for
conducting worship in the church. It is fully under the control and
jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of the Diocese of Kandanad West Dr. Mathews Mar Severios. |
Shall I edit the word ` Historical truth’?
Kolenchery church, in its history of the last 100 years, was under the administration of Orthodox Metropolitan for 14 years, 1958-1972; a period when the whole of church enjoyed the fruits of church unification.
From 1876 Mar Ivanios of Murimattom was the metropolitan; HG administered the church but a fact to be noted was that his supremo was the Patriarch. In 1912, when he became the first Catholicos of Malankara, the Jacobite faction of the Kolenchery faction quited him from the church. As in item 11 and 12 above, whenever we tried to bring our Metropolitan to church before 1959, the church was closed due to law and order problem. From 1972 no metropolitan has entered the church except as mentioned in item 23 above. The last appointments to the church was done by Paulose Philexinos later Mar Baselios Paulose II of Muvattupuzha. They were Fr. O.I. Paulose(1965), Fr. M.V. Abraham(1970), and Fr. John Kalapurackal(1967).
No transfer were possible from the seventies as it was not decided which metropolitan was the legitimate incumbent to the post of Diocesion Metropolitan. Fr. John Kalapurackal of Patriarch faction died in 1986 and Fr. Zachariah of Patriarch faction was appointed by court. Fr. O.I.Paulose died in 2000. Fr. M.V. Abraham still continues. If the church was under an Orthodox rule alone, why this happen? Later in 1998, when our Metropolitan mar Severios tried to transfer a priest, the church was closed.
If these are the true facts, please read Fr. OP Varghese’s ‘conclusion’ again and conclude yourselves. |
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Overlooking this circumstances, a few orthodox members (11) of the Kolencherry Church, out of
some selfish motives, joined with the Patriarch sympathizers of the
Kolencherry Church gave birth to a so called "Joint Council". In
revolutionary strikes and public meetings in the style of the political parties in Kerala they tried to get the Kolencherry Church opened for worship including the patriarch parties without the due appointment or permission from the diocesan metropolitan whose rights for the same are approved by the Apex Court of this country. |
The Joint Council consist of 5 orthodox members, 5 Patriarch members and myself the Co-ordinator. Total 11 and not 11 orthodox members. The Joint council was formed in a Public meeting at Kolenchery, attended by parishnioers of both factions, and jointly chaired by Mr. P.M. George, the Secretary of the church since 1966 (Orthodox faction member) and Mr. K.S. Varghese, Managing Committee representative functioning the duties of Trustee (Jacobite faction member). We never claim that we are the official representatives of the church, but later on the parishioners and the General public labeled us as the only Joint committee to speak about Kolenchery church as in fact we are the first committee elected by a joint meeting of Kolenchery Parish since 1971.
Another simple question: - a challenge - can any one from Kottayam or the so called church leaders summon a meeting of Orthodox faction members of Kolenchery parish and arrange to present at least 10% attendance of such a meeting summoned by the joint council? Till the answer is ‘no’, the Joint Council will be in the fore front; and till now the answer is a big ‘NO’ |
Dear friends, you may thing that why this Orthodox man is speaking as if from the Jacobite faction. Whenever we try to say some truth, it may sound like that we are a rebel. All facts given above are true and can be convinced by documental proof except Item 4.
The joint Council have only one request, If any one can convince us or the administration or the parishioners that there is an executable court order in favour of Mar Severios regarding Kolenchery Church, we will lead the implementation process; if no such order is there, kindly allow us to continue as per status quo till we get a reasonable good order.
Rgds,
KM
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