Dear ICON friends,

It is with great deal of sorrow and indignation that I write about what I
witnessed at the Trikkunnath Seminary during the Orma Perunnal (Jan. 26-26) of
the four Church Fathers entombed there. I have been regularly attending the
memorial services there these last few years, and am sorry to say that the
Orthodox faithful show scant regard for the event, if the declining attendance
is any indication. So much so, our Bava Thirumeni, who led the services on the
first day, was constrained to publicly express his anguish and indignation over
the poor turn-out, particularly from among the clergy.

Now consider this. We call ourselves a “Global Church” having parishes all
across the globe. We have over 30 Metropolitans and around 1500 priests. We also
claim to be 2.5 million strong in terms of followers. But, every January these
last 10 years, when we are duty-bound to show up in reasonable strength at
Trikkunnath Seminary in order to stand up against the vile tactics and
intimidation of the Jacobites who come in droves, the so-called Orthodox
faithful prefer either to hide in their furrows or look the other way. Many are
content to watch the proceedings on TV and, being the arm-chair believers that
many of us are, indulge in offering free advice on how the songs could have been
sung in another tune or the prayers said by using a shorter version, and so on.

It is not my point that all the Orthodox faithful from around the world should
converge at Trikkunnath Seminary every Jan. 25-26. But what should one make of
the fact that many of the clergy from even the neighboring churches do the
vanishing trick on the Perunnal days? And what about the clergy of the Angamaly
Diocese, which has its Head Quarters at Thrikkunnath Seminary? Didn’t their
conscience prick when the supreme Head of the Malankara Orthodox Church was
personally leading the Perunnal services at Trikkunnath Seminary? And what
happened to the clergy and laity of the adjoining dioceses of Kochi, Kandanad
East and Kandanad West? What were the more pressing engagements they had on
these two crucial days (one was a public holiday) that made them skip the event
at Trikkunnath Seminary? Didn’t they realize that their mere presence in
sizeable number would have made a huge difference and boosted the morale of Bava
Thirumeni and others who are engaged in a battle for the survival of the Church
and also resisting the forces of evil and wickedness? Don’t they realize that
this is also a fight for justice, truth and righteousness?

These feelings might have weighed heavily in His Holiness’ mind on Jan. 25 when
he led the Dhoopa Prarthana at the tombs that he actually broke down while
saying the prayers. (This photograph had appeared in the next day’s newspapers.)
No doubt his position was no different from that of our Lord Jesus on the night
of His betrayal and capture when He saw His own disciples sleeping at a time
their Master was tearfully praying to the Father at Gathsamena. The Lord
pointedly asks Simon Peter, who was seen sleeping, why he could not stay awake
for Him even an hour.

The MOSC has over 30 members in the Holy Synod, but only three of them were
present at Trikkunnath Seminary on Jan.25. (H.Gs. Dr. Mathews Mar Severios,
Paulose Mar Pachomios and Yunanon Mar Policarpos). The next day, Policarpos
thirumeni was left to hold the fort all alone. It is time we as a Church
introspect on how we have come to such a pass. As I see it, there is this
absence of a conscious effort on the part of the Church leadership to mobilize
the faithful for events such as these. It is a sorry state of affairs that some
of the Thirumenis pursue their personal agenda once they become members of the
Holy Synod. There is no collective will, determination or commitment to stand
for the Common Agenda of the Sabha instead. If they had this, at least a third
of them would have made it a point to show up at Trikkunnath Seminary on
Jan.25-26. If they had other pressing engagements, the least they could have
done was to direct the clergy under them (in the neighboring Dioceses) to show
up in strength at Trikkunnath Seminary. Conversely, if the priests had
themselves taken the initiative to mobilize the faithful from their respective
parishes in the nearby areas, the attendance could have been in thousands. In
many of the nearby churches in Ernakulam district, there was hardly any
announcements made about the event during the preceding Sunday, let alone
mobilize the faithful. Sadly, many of them have different sets of priorities,
usually dictated by self-interest.

I am not making out a case that the Trikkunnath Seminary event is an occasion
for a show of strength or muscle-flexing, but kindly acknowledge that numbers do
count at places like this, as it is being closely monitored by the civil/police
authorities and the judiciary and watched by the general public through the
media. When the Jacobites show up in sizeable strength, the governmental
agencies and the general public should not be allowed to get the impression that
the Orthodox side is numerically weak or lacks in enthusiasm. It is this
pitiable situation, created by our own general apathy and lack of vision as well
as commitment that has emboldened the Jacobites to brow-beat and mislead the
authorities as well as the political class in Kerala and make them dance to
their wicked tunes. In a polity like the one we have in India, numbers, real or
imaginary, do matter in many areas. It is high time both the clergy and the
laity of our Church realize this simple, but unpalatable, home-truth.

With prayers for the Malankara Orthodox Church,
P.V. Mathew, Cochin