Discussing Osthathios Thirumeni

At the time of the passing away of the Jewel of the Malankara Orthodox Church(on Feb 16 2012)

All of us are only coming to terms with the loss of His Grace[HG] Dr. Geevarghese Mar Osthathios Thirumeni (as a bishop of the Church is addressed). We will all truly miss him only in the coming years, when we don't hear the one voice of love anymore as we again tie ourselves in knots over different issues within and outside the Church.

I wanted to highlight couple things about Thirumeni, which I hope we can take up in true Christian spirit. If we truly love this beloved shepherd as we say we do, we will not ignore his words. His thoughts should be discussed, debated, his ideas developed, maybe even filtered, so that the Church can interpret, explain
and help give context to Mar Osthathios's message for the coming generations.

Two topics come to mind immediately, which I know are not in tune with the generally accepted mainstream theology of the Church.(Being the radical thinker that Mar Osthathios was, it is most appropriate HG's words give us food for thought)

Mar Osthathios was for a more even distribution of wealth

1) Osthathios Thirumeni preached that it is a sin to be rich in a poor society. He envisioned a classless society. He said "Capitalism is demonic while socialism is Christian". While we can understand what Thirumeni is trying to say, working as he was in the midst of people in abject poverty, these views taken out of context can prove dangerous, if for example, many years down the line, someone uses these words to paint Christ as socialist (in its extreme sense) etc. We do know that socialism and capitalism both has its flaws and virtues. How does the Church leaders and thinkers today view Thirumeni's words? How can we develop these thoughts to help explain Thirumeni's mission and message?

Was this what Mar Osthathios envisioned?

2)Osthathios Thirumeni preached about a One Religion of Love, which includes all faiths, so to say. I know this was discussed some bit on this forum in the past. We must understand that Thirumeni had been a very very passionate Gospel worker from his early days. Fr. M.V. George was a gifted convention speaker for many many years, in an era where convention speakers were not common; he was a radical thinker and a progressive leader, passionate to sow the seeds of the Gospel. St. Paul's Mission Center, Sneha Sandesham etc were all Thirumeni's initiatives to further the gospel work in India. While love was obviously a
major theme always for Mar Osthathios, only in the last 10 years or so of Thirumeni's earthly life did we see him as a prophet of love. (Thirumeni himself talks of these as different stages of HG's life). Love cannot be separated from the Gospel, yet there is something more in Mar Osthathios's vision that needs to
be explained. So what changed? How did the passionate Gospel worker become convinced that all ways lead to God? Is that a natural progression? Perhaps debating and discussing this can gain insight into this beloved father's thinking.

Finally, I hope we create a sustainable process to ensure all of Thirumeni's projects gain even more strength now that Thirumeni is not with us bodily. It will be a tragedy if we see that a few years down the line, the mission aspect of the Church is neglected. We have come this far in mission and charity work by the drive of one person mainly (supported by many warriors who worked inspired by this man). But for sustaining it for the future, we need more than individual initiatives, we need to make it part of the system somehow. Brainstorming on how to do this will be a good start and worthy tribute to this beloved son of the Holy Church.

Src: ICON