Tension prevailed for several hours at St. Mary’s Jacobite Syrian Church at Piravom (Valiapally) near here on Monday after six members of the Jacobite faction of the Malankara Church threatened to jump from the church building if the police attempted to take over the church with a view to implementing a Supreme Court verdict handing over control of the churches under the Malankara Church to the Orthodox faction.
However, the police calmed the protesters, including about a thousand of them who locked themselves inside the church along with Catholicos Baselios Thomas - I and several senior bishops. The police quickly persuaded two of the protesters to come down though four others came down only later.
A Jacobite faction spokesperson said the Catholicos and bishops Joseph Mar Gregorios, Kuriakose Mar Theophilos, and Mathews Mar Yuvanios were leading the church members in prayer when police came to take over the church.
In large numbers
The Jacobite church members gathered in large numbers outside the church after the gates were locked from outside.
Hundreds of Jacobite Church members, including women, blocked the police party at the church gate before the police dropped the plans to enter the church.
On Saturday, a prayer group was formed inside the church even as the district administration appealed for calm and reconciliation between the factions.
Differences
The Syrian Orthodox Church, commonly called the Malankara Church, has been divided between the Orthodox and Jacobite factions over issues related to administration and control of the churches.
The apex court in 2017 upheld the 1934 constitution of the Malankara Church that permitted authority over the churches to the Orthodox faction. However, addressing a press conference on Monday after the tensions abated, the Catholicos said the State government must take the initiative to hold conciliatory talks.
