Mar Severios to be next Catholicos

Episcopal synod of Orthodox Church proposes his name unanimously

September 16, 2021 05:54 pm | Updated 06:14 pm IST - KOTTAYAM

The episcopal synod of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church on Thursday unanimously decided to propose Mathews Mar Severios as next Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan. An official declaration on his nomination as head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church is likely after a meeting of the managing committee here on Friday.

The synod met at Devalokam, near here, with senior Metropolitan Kuriakose Mar Cleemis in the chair. It was attended by all 24 metropolitans of the Church.

A meeting of the Malankara Syrian Christian Association, considered the parliament of the Church with proportional representation of the laity and priests from over 1,500 parishes of the Church across the world, is expected to formally elect him to the post at Parumala on October 14. He would succeed Baselios Mar Thomas Poulose II, who passed away in July this year

Mathews Mar Severios is the Metropolitan of the Kandanad West diocese, besides holding additional responsibility of the dioceses of Malabar from July 2019 and Idukki from December 2019. He had served as secretary of the episcopal Synod and was assistant to Paulose 11.

Beginnings

Born to Mattathil Cheriyan Anthrayose and Mariamma at Vazhoor, near here, on February 12, 1949, he was ordained as deacon in 1976 and priest in 1978. He was consecrated as metropolitan on April 30, 1991. He had a postgraduate diploma in theology from the Leningrad Theological Academy (1979) and a doctoral degree in the Christology of Philoxenos of Mabbug from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome (1984).

In 2016, he revised his doctoral dissertation and it was published by Lit Verlag in 2020 with the title Word Became Flesh: The Christology of Philoxenos of Mabbug .

His pastoral and administrative engagements include innumerable charitable trusts. He is the founder of 17 charitable organisations run by the Kandanad West diocese. He had guided several theological postgraduates and researchers from various denominations through the Federated Faculty for Research in Religion and Culture of Serampore University.

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