A Brief look at the life of Our Beloved Catholicos
Baselios Mar Thoma Mathews II who passed away
on 26th Jan 2006.
Facing
death with honesty and courage -
His
Holiness Moran Mar Baselios Marthoma Mathews
II born January 30, 1915 was Catholicos of
the East, Malankara Metropolitan, and 89th
successor to the Holy Apostolic Throne of
St. Thomas. His Holiness was born at Perinad
in Kollam District of Kerala, and had his
religious training at Old Seminary Kottayam
and also at Basil Dayara, Pathanamthitta.
Later he joined Bishop's College, Calcutta
for his B. D. Degree, and studied Theology
at the General Theological Seminary, New York.
H
 He
was ordained as Deacon in 1938 then as Priest
in 1941. It was during his stay at St. George
Dayara Othara that Father Mathews made a mark
as a devoted and an able priest of the Indian
Orthodox Church. On May 15, 1953 he was ordained
as a Bishop of Orthodox Church at the age
of thirty eight. As Metropolitan of the Diocese
of Kollam, he was responsible for its growth
and progress and the number of parishes almost
doubled within a short period. Several monasteries
and convents were started. A large number
of educational institutions and hospitals
were established. Several Colleges, Schools,
Hospitals and other service institutions were
established and administered under his direct
control and leadership.
It
was in 1980 that he was unanimously elected
by the Malankara Syrian Christian Association
as successor to the throne of Catholicos of
the East and Malankara Metropolitan. Due to
ill health and old age His Holiness voluntarily
resigned his position as the Supreme Head
of the Indian Orthodox Church on 29 October
2005.
Our
departed beloved Bava Thirumeni's life had
been a demonstration of faith lived out. We
must praise the way in which the Bava Thirumeni
had approached his own death with courage
and acceptance.
I
believe in these past few months, we've seen
an extraordinary 'lived sermon' for Christians
all over the world, about facing death with
honesty and courage; facing death in the hope
of a relationship which is not broken by death
but continues beyond it.
Bava
Thirumeni showed his character in the way
in which he met his death; clearly frustrated,
clearly suffering and yet at every point accepting;
facing his frailties and remaining courageous
and hopeful. I feel there's certain appropriateness
about the fact that he died between the Christmas
season and Great Lent - a time of the Church's
year which meant so much to him. It has been
a season in which he was able to convey his
message to the whole world describing God's
love by sending His only begotten son to save
us and that a Christian must lead a sacrificial
life as Christ died on the cross for redeeming
us.
It
was due to his excelling virtue, his teaching,
and his most vigilant zeal as shepherd of
his people, that he won the title Great. In
expounding the deeper mysteries of our faith,
the excellence of his teaching is so radiant
with the majestic richness of priestly eloquence.
His passionate devotion, in thought and feeling,
word and action, truth, harmony, and peace
for the welfare of the Orthodox Church must
be noted.
 He
was a true theologian and a diplomat. His
experiences greatly strengthened our Church
when he came into office. He was a man who
had lived through the toughest and most testing
times of the modern age. He was fully aware
of the fact that the Church has to be something
different from simply being an institution
of the modern secular society; that it has
to offer different values, virtues, and different
hopes to the believers. He was a defender
of Church unity. His passion for unification
of the churches, ecumenism, maintaining harmony
and peace among Christians should not be forgotten.
In doing these he showed something fundamental,
something distinctive about being a Christian
which is of huge authority.
The
wisdom, the wealth and scope of his teaching,
the loftiness of his mind, his unfailing charity-these
are the things which our Bava Thirumeni brought
to enhance the church and our faith in our
Almighty God. We feel it incumbent upon us
to highlight his high moral and ethical values
and his immortal merits. I am confident that
his blessed life in this world can be of great
spiritual value to us all, and increase the
prestige and promote the spread of our Faith.
Courtesy:
Rev. Fr. Alexander J. Kurien
Vicar, St. Gregorios Malankara (Indian) Orthodox
Church
Of Greater Washington
------------------------------------------------------------
|
