Dear all,
Regarding this faction fight, I have a few thoughts..I was brought
up in Bombay, for all I know and care, my home is Bombay, not
Kerala..but I belong to the IOC, and say proudly so...the Kakshi
fight really does not make much sense to me anymore, as I understand it now..
I understood it when Makarios Thirumeni said we were fighting for
establishing the validity of our priesthood etc, but not anymore
with the issues of temporal authority just not seeming to go away..
The elders always say that people outside Kerala do not know the
importance of this issue, since it does not affect them. They are so
right, it does not affect people like me directly, but am I not a
part of this church? Are my issues not the church's issues? Does the
church really mean only Kerala's issues, and not my concerns? Then
why is it that so much focus is laid on issues where people like me
do not care anymore, and no focus on issues where I feel the church
has a lot of catchup to do, like our mission in this world, for
instance..
Why dont we accept the reality that we as a church have grown out of
Devalokam and Kottayam and Kottarakara? There is no "outside Kerala"
diocese anymore, there are so many dioceses and people outside
Kerala, when will the church really grow out of Devalokam and Kakshi
politics?
There are so many churches locked out today. I say what is the great
harm in just giving these churches to the majority? Can we work out
a settlement like that? There is too much distance now between the
two factions to realistically hope for a long term unity, so let us
part ways - both factions are really one in faith, so whats the big
deal?
Where the majority is of the other faction, give that church to
them, where the majority is ours, we get the church, then both sides
make conscious efforts to try and live in peace - we have become a
laughing stock of the whole society..
All is not lost if we have to go to a Pathrkeese church for the rest
of our lives, the Qurbana is the same, the people are ours, they
just have more affection towards the Patriarch(who is not evil! as
we try to portray sometimes) and they have more affinity to the
throne of St.Peter, so what? St.Peter and St. Thomas were disciples
of the same Master, remember?
All is not lost if a person from the other side has to come to an
IOC for the rest of his life. The Qurbana is the same, the people
are not cunning(as some people would like to think) and our Bava is
not an evil man(as many on the other side seem to convey) we just
wish to stay a bit closer to the throne of St. Thomas.
[Well the dynamics change if we need the church not for the Qurbana
or the spiritual elements, but perhaps for politics and fame.]
Now for the issue of the responsibility of the Malankara
Metropolitan. We argue that the Malankara Metropolitan has the duty
to protect the property of the Malankara church [so saying we push
our Bava into all this]. Let us take a step back and rethink - who
is a Malankara Metropolitan really? He is the guardian of the
properties of the church whose Master is a man who
died naked on a cross!..The head of our church had no property!! He
had no clothes to cover his naked body while he breathed his
last..he had no place on this earth to take birth - Again, so who is
the Malankara Metropolitan? what property are we talking about?
The issue fades in the face of the truth!!
What harm will happen if some of this property goes with the Bava
Kakshi?(I remember MKK achen making a plea of this sort two years
ago on this forum) Better they take it and use it(remember they have
invested their hard earned money, sweat, blood and time into it too)
than a Marthoma church or a Protestant taking it(or it lying locked,
or we fighting eternally to get a church like Manarkadu, which is
ethically wrong)
Now the other argument about placing ourselves in your place..If
someone comes to my house and tries to take it, I will definitely
not allow it, but if I realise that it is my brother who is wanting
it, then maybe I will do some adjustments..
Just penning down some thoughts that came to mind, if I have
offended anyone, kindly forgive..
Regards,
Mathew Samuel,
Albany, NY
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianOrthodox/message/8653
Regarding this faction fight, I have a few thoughts..I was brought
up in Bombay, for all I know and care, my home is Bombay, not
Kerala..but I belong to the IOC, and say proudly so...the Kakshi
fight really does not make much sense to me anymore, as I understand it now..
I understood it when Makarios Thirumeni said we were fighting for
establishing the validity of our priesthood etc, but not anymore
with the issues of temporal authority just not seeming to go away..
The elders always say that people outside Kerala do not know the
importance of this issue, since it does not affect them. They are so
right, it does not affect people like me directly, but am I not a
part of this church? Are my issues not the church's issues? Does the
church really mean only Kerala's issues, and not my concerns? Then
why is it that so much focus is laid on issues where people like me
do not care anymore, and no focus on issues where I feel the church
has a lot of catchup to do, like our mission in this world, for
instance..
Why dont we accept the reality that we as a church have grown out of
Devalokam and Kottayam and Kottarakara? There is no "outside Kerala"
diocese anymore, there are so many dioceses and people outside
Kerala, when will the church really grow out of Devalokam and Kakshi
politics?
There are so many churches locked out today. I say what is the great
harm in just giving these churches to the majority? Can we work out
a settlement like that? There is too much distance now between the
two factions to realistically hope for a long term unity, so let us
part ways - both factions are really one in faith, so whats the big
deal?
Where the majority is of the other faction, give that church to
them, where the majority is ours, we get the church, then both sides
make conscious efforts to try and live in peace - we have become a
laughing stock of the whole society..
All is not lost if we have to go to a Pathrkeese church for the rest
of our lives, the Qurbana is the same, the people are ours, they
just have more affection towards the Patriarch(who is not evil! as
we try to portray sometimes) and they have more affinity to the
throne of St.Peter, so what? St.Peter and St. Thomas were disciples
of the same Master, remember?
All is not lost if a person from the other side has to come to an
IOC for the rest of his life. The Qurbana is the same, the people
are not cunning(as some people would like to think) and our Bava is
not an evil man(as many on the other side seem to convey) we just
wish to stay a bit closer to the throne of St. Thomas.
[Well the dynamics change if we need the church not for the Qurbana
or the spiritual elements, but perhaps for politics and fame.]
Now for the issue of the responsibility of the Malankara
Metropolitan. We argue that the Malankara Metropolitan has the duty
to protect the property of the Malankara church [so saying we push
our Bava into all this]. Let us take a step back and rethink - who
is a Malankara Metropolitan really? He is the guardian of the
properties of the church whose Master is a man who
died naked on a cross!..The head of our church had no property!! He
had no clothes to cover his naked body while he breathed his
last..he had no place on this earth to take birth - Again, so who is
the Malankara Metropolitan? what property are we talking about?
The issue fades in the face of the truth!!
What harm will happen if some of this property goes with the Bava
Kakshi?(I remember MKK achen making a plea of this sort two years
ago on this forum) Better they take it and use it(remember they have
invested their hard earned money, sweat, blood and time into it too)
than a Marthoma church or a Protestant taking it(or it lying locked,
or we fighting eternally to get a church like Manarkadu, which is
ethically wrong)
Now the other argument about placing ourselves in your place..If
someone comes to my house and tries to take it, I will definitely
not allow it, but if I realise that it is my brother who is wanting
it, then maybe I will do some adjustments..
Just penning down some thoughts that came to mind, if I have
offended anyone, kindly forgive..
Regards,
Mathew Samuel,
Albany, NY
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianOrthodox/message/8653
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