Thrissur Orthodox Diocese

History

The diocese was formed in 1982 with parishes in Thrissur and Palakkad districts. At the time of the formation of the diocese there were 32 parishes and 26 priests. Initially Baselius Paulose II, Catholicos of the Patriarch faction was in charge of the diocese. During his time a property of 1.5 acres was purchased in Peechi for the diocesan headquarter. Later then metropolitan of Angamali diocese Thomas Mar Dionysius was given additional charge of the diocese. He got the present plot at Mannuthy where the diocese headquarters of the diocese is built in exchange of the land in Peechi. After few years then metropolitan of Kochi diocese of the patriarch faction, Thomas Mar Osthatheos was given additional charge of the diocese in the place of Mar Dionysius. In 1990 November, the diocesan general body elected Rev. Fr. Rajan John Murimakil, a priest of Kandanadu diocese who was studying at Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago as the metropolitan candidate. He was consecrated on 23 December in Damascus by Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Patriarch of Antioch. The first metropolitan with independent charge of the diocese assumed the office on 26 December 1990. The present diocesan headquarters was completed in 1995. The consecration of the headquarters was done on 20 July 1995

The final verdict of the Supreme Court on church dispute opened the door for reunification of the Church, which was divided for over two decades. On receiving the details of the Court Order, the General Body of the diocese was summoned and it was unanimously decided that the diocese should accept the decision of the court and a request to the Patriarch be sent that a bull be issued for the unity of the Church. The bull was received on 1 August 1995 asking the leadership to work towards the unity of the Church and, if required, the patriarch was willing to relinquish his position and leave for wilderness. However, a group in the leadership was not willing to abide by the order. The bull of the patriarch was not published in Angamali diocese. A committee was formed with Thomas Mar Dionysius Metropolitan to work with Orthodox faction and formulate details of the unification of two factions. After five sittings, and when the draft document was almost ready, Thomas Mar Dionysius walked out of the meeting. Then the patriarch sent another bull asking the leaders to make sure that the unity was established before 28 February 1997. But nothing happened. The Patriarch invited all the bishops of the patriarch faction to Damascus for discussion. Only three bishops including Yuhanon Mar Meletius of the diocese, attended the meeting. In the meantime the diocesan general body again met and reiterated the earlier decision for the unity of the Church. The Priests and the spiritual organizations also met independently and appealed to the patriarch to execute the decision of the Supreme Court. But hurdles were made by some of the leaders and unity was further delayed. Again and again clarification questions were filed in the Supreme Court by some of the leaders to prolong the execution of the process of unity. As the court was committed to the cause of unity, it gave its final order to conduct a joint Malankara Association with representatives of both parties with the retired Supreme Court Judge Mr. Malimath as the observer. The meeting was held at Parumala and more than one hundred parishes from the erstwhile Patriarch faction and all of the former Catholicos faction participated in the meeting. The Association declared all the participating bishops as the bishops of the Malankara Orthodox Church as directed by the court and Baselios Mar Thoma Mathews II, the Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan of the East as the lawful Malankara Metropolitan.

The patriarch faction conducted a parallel meeting at Puthencruz near Ernakulam and formed a new Church called Jacobite Syrian Christian Association Church with Thomas Mar Dionysius as its head. The Supreme Court of India accepted the report of the observer and declared the Association Meeting held at Parumala as the legal association of the united Church and as the association envisaged by the court in its order in 1995. The Managing Committee elected by the association later met and recommended to the Catholicos to assign dioceses to the metropolitans. Yuhanon Mar Meletius was given the charge of Thrissur diocese with 42 Churches in the diocese. After the association meeting the new Church took over by force many of the Churches that were in the list of Thrissur diocese as their Churches. New cases were initiated to get these Churches back to the Orthodox Church and few orders were issued by various courts to this effect. Elanadu St. Mary's and Peechi St. George were completely released by the court and other cases are pending. Later the Synod of the Church entrusted him with several other responsibilities. One among them was, president of the Orthodox Christian Youth Movement of the East which he held for 7 years from 2002 to 2009.

Institutions And Mission

The diocese has one Upper Primary School at Valkulambu in Palakkadu district and a Study center at Chuvannamannu, near Thrissur. The diocese runs a community development project called "Anveshi, Thrissru" which helps people to help themselves. The diocese has a mission in Burbank, near Los Angeles, CA in USA with 300+ families of Mediterranean region origin. For the last several years the diocese has been in continuous struggle to make the unity of the Church a reality.

Headquarters

The headquarters of the diocese is at Mannuthy. Address: Gedseemon Orthodox Bishop's House, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala, INDIA. 680651. Tel. +4872371039. The house was built by help from people of the Church at various parts of the world under the leadership of Yuhanon Mar Meletius Metropolitan. A small parish worships in the chapel in the diocesan headquarters. Due to lack of space a new plot was purchased adjacent to the headquarters building and a new chapel is constructed. The chapel is named "St. Mary's Unity Chapel". It symbolizes the Church unity efforts of the diocese.