Major Archbishop Issac Cleemis Thottunkal of Trivandrum
OFFICIAL WEB SITE - Syro Malankara Catholic Church
Posted on 05/30/2007 1:46:53 PM PDT by NYer
Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) met on May 28 with Major Archbishop Issac Cleemis Thottunkal of Trivandrum, The Indian prelate was visiting Rome for the first time since becoming the head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.
In paying tribute to the Syro-Malankara Catholic tradition, Pope Benedict said that he was "most grateful" to the Indian archbishop for his "eager wish to 'see Peter.'"
Archbishop Thottunkal was named in February to head the Trivandrum archdiocese, and thus the leader of the world's 500,000 Syro-Malankara faithful. Pope Benedict noted: "The precious heritage of your ecclesial tradition was placed in the hands of your Beatitude through the act of canonical election conducted by the Fathers of the Syro-Malankara Synod." The Pope offered his prayers for the welfare of the Eastern Church, and said that fidelity to the Syro-Malankara tradition "will enable the whole Church to benefit from what, in his manifold wisdom, 'the Spirit is saying to the churches.'"
The Syro-Malankara Church boasts a heritage stretching back to St. Thomas the Apostle, whose missionary activity reached to the subcontinent. The "Thomas Christians" eventually became Nestorians, affiliated with the Assyrian Church. But when Catholic explorers from Portugal colonized India, European missionaries restored ties with the Holy See. During the 17th century, Indian Christians, resentful of the Portuguese influence which they felt was destroying their Assyrian tradition, left the Catholic Church. However, they did not re-establish their relationship with the Assyrian church. Instead, when the Syrian Orthodox patriarch offered to take the Indian Christians under his care, they agreed--at the price of adopting the Syrian liturgy, and leaving behind their Assyrian heritage.
The resulting Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church was itself split early in the 20th century, and one group of bishops sought to be reconciled with Rome. By the middle of the century the trickle had become a flood, and the Syro-Malankara Church was growing rapidly. Today the number of Syro-Malankars is approaching 500,000--nearly all of them living in the Indian state of Kerala.
In 2005, Pope John Paul II (bio - news) raised Archbishop Cyril Mar Baselios Malancharuvil of Trivandrum, the head of the Syro-Malankara Church, to the title of Major Archbishop. His death in January 2007 led to the appointment of Archbishop Thottunkal.
OFFICIAL WEB SITE - Syro Malankara Catholic Church
Preserve Eastern traditions, replace Western traditions.
Kewl. The little girl I sponsored in India (with CNEWA) as Syro-Malankara Catholic. After 10 years, she was able to leave the children’s home and go back to live with her mother.
That’s a very distinguished looking major archbishop!
Beautiful indeed but the term I would use is reverent. Thanks to a fellow freeper who videotaped the Syro-Malankara Divine Liturgy on EWTN, I now have a copy of that liturgy and have watched it over and over again. You may recall that Fr. Mitch Pacwa was invited by Bishop Mar Thomas (all of the bishops adopt the name 'Thomas' in deference to the saint who brought this liturgy to India) to assist with that liturgy by virtue of the fact that Fr. Mitch is bi-ritual - Latin and Maronite Rites. Like the Syro-Malankara, the Maronite Catholic Church retains Aramaic, the language of our Lord, for their liturgy.
Even now, watching that video, I become engrossed in the 'Qadeeshat' - the Trisagion. Their chant of this prayer has a different tonality from that in the Maronite Church but the language and words are identical.
Holy God! Holy Mighty One! Holy Immortal One! - Have mercy on us.
This is an ancient prayer. Some attribute it to St. Joseph of Arimathea and the words he would have spoken when taking our Lord down from the cross. This prayer is found in all of the Eastern liturgies but only small traces remain in the Latin Mass of Good Friday. That is, until our Lord appeared to St. Faustina and gave her the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy. He asked her to culminate these prayers with the Trisagion. In so doing, the Trisagion has now spread to the Western Church. Our Lord must appreciate this prayer very much. In the Maronite liturgy, the priest chants the Trisagion facing the Tabernacle and then makes a profound bow while the congregation responds with the words: "Itraham Alein!" "Have Mercy on Us!" It is so truly moving to watch a priest bow profoundly before our Lord - be it in the Tabernacle or in the Monstrance or on the altar following the Words of Institution. Genuflection is reverent but profound bowing (accompanied by all assembled) moves the soul.
I pray that EWTN will, with time, offer the liturgies of the other Eastern Catholic Churches, so that Catholics can better appreciate the origins of their Church and develop a better appreciation of these magnificent liturgies that have been preserved over the centuries.
BTW - like the Syro-Malankara Church that traces its origins back to St. Thomas, the Maronite Church traces its liturgical origins back to St. Peter, the Bishop of Antioch. To this day, each Maronite Patriarch assumes the name of 'Peter' at his elevation.
This is a photo taken of Patriarch Mar Nasrallah "Peter" Sfeir with Pope John Paul II. The Patriarch is also a Cardinal but is past the age of 80.
Wonderful! See my post #7.
Thanks! Very informative.
**Preserve Eastern traditions, replace Western traditions.**
It needs to work both ways! For us Romans our tradition is to kneel and to use the Latin language. Our tradition also is for statues.
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