Malankara Orthodox Church Claims Pattanam as Sensational Site of St' Thomas at Public Meeting in New Delhi March 13, 2011 in the Presence of Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit and Parliament Members

http://www.orthodoxherald.com/2011/03/16/services-that-church-renders-are-invaluable-chief-minister-sheila-dixit/
Accession Date and Time 08-10-2011; 2.35PM




http://www.orthodoxherald.com/2011/03/11/reception-to-the-supreme-head-of-malankara-orthodox-church-in-delhi/ Accession Date and Time 09-10-2011; 4 PM
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http://www.malankaraorthodox.tv/KMG/delhi_speech_march_13_2011.htm
Accession  Date and Time  09-08-2011; 11.20. AM

Keynote Address by Fr Dr K.M. George( Principal, Orthodox Theological Seminary) at the  Public meeting “Malankara Orthodox Church in the New Millennium”, and Reception for  HH  Catholicos Marthoma Paulose II,  Tyaga Raja Stadium, March 13, 2011, New Delhi

 Today, as we gather together in the national capital of our nation, in the presence of some of the distinguished leaders of our country, let us in all humility give thanks to God Almighty and bless his holy name. For marvellous are the ways in which the ancient Orthodox Church of Malankara has been guided by divine providence for the last two millennia. From a rather small community, in the south west Malabar coast, of faithful and hardworking Christians, loyal to the country and friendly to the neighbours, the Church has now spread her wings far and wide over the face of the earth by this third millennium.

 The recent archaeological  findings of the remains of an ancient  city called  Pattanam near the ancient port of Kodungalloor in Kerala where the Apostle Thomas  is believed to have arrived are sensational. It has begun to unveil for us the great  confluence of cultures- Roman and Greek, Aramaic and Arab, Chinese and Persian- that took place in the spice country. The Indian Church was  founded in this setting of the dynamic interplay of  diverse cultures.

 Five hundred and thirteen years ago, precisely in 1498, when Vasco da Gama, the adventurous Portuguese navigator landed near Calicut in Kerala, the face of Asia began to change. That momentous event inaugurated the massive colonial era for India and the rest of Asia. The Christian community in Kerala founded by St. Thomas, the apostle of Christ, thousand five hundred years before that event, was the first in Asian history to bear the brunt of the colonial invasion. The Indian church was deprived of her  language and liturgy, her indigenous social customs, and her eastern spiritual ethos and autonomy for over half a century of direct Portuguese-Roman Catholic rule. But the indomitable Indian church rose in a historic revolt against the foreign yoke, in the celebrated pledge of Coonen Cross in Kochi in 1653. This culminating event, after a long struggle with  foreign domination, anticipated the beginning of India’s political movement for liberation and independence some two hundred years later.

Today, as we receive in the national capital the new head of the Orthodox Church of India, H.H. Baselius Mar Thoma Paulose II, we celebrate the freedom of the church and of the nation in humility and hope.

 Let me very briefly indicate some aspects of the hope that we cherish for the new millennium.

First, the Church has no model to follow except that of Christ who loved the world and who gave himself up for the world. So the Church’s involvement in any human field be it social, educational, or healthcare, is to transform the world to its pristine harmony and integrity, to redeem it. The strength of the Christian Church is to be perceived, as many do, not in the power of its institutions, nor its political clout, but in its capacity for compassionate and self-giving love to all humanity. Metropolitan Paulos Mar Gregorios of blessed memory, the renowned theologian, philosopher and spiritual leader, the first Orthodox bishop of Delhi, wrote on the occasion of the 50^th year celebration of the Orthodox presence in Delhi: “For the Orthodox, the true worship of God with genuine compassionate love for all is more important than dogma or creed. When there is a failure of love, there is the failure of the Church, for the Church’s main task is to manifest that love… Divisions and wars, oppression and exploitation, corruption and injustice – these are basic failures of love, whether in the Church or the lives of nations.”

 It is in this spirit that his successor, the present Metropolitan of Delhi, H.G. Job Mar Philexenos leads the social and charitable activities of the Diocese. In spite of his health problems, he dreams great dreams and ably brings together a team of competent lay people and clergy to implement his dreams. His new coadjutor bishop HG Dr  Yuhanon Mar Demetrius, well known biblical scholar, teacher and ecumenist, is God’s gift to the  Diocese to continue the  great work.

 Secondly, it is a privilege for the Christian Church to be closely associated with the life of our great nation.  The richness of our country’s cultural traditions, the diversity of its religious beliefs and practices, are unique in the world. Look at the  nations of the world, travel across the globe,  criss-cross the cultures of the earth;  you see that  India is truly incredible. Yes, the  Incredible India, as they say, the Atulya Bharat !

It is now that the mono-cultural western world begins to speak about religious pluralism as if it is a new discovery, but our country has lived, and lived well, that reality for ages. The Orthodox Church rejoices in this great diversity and subscribes fully to the ancient principle of “sarva dharma samabhavana.” As our prophetic Orthodox bishop Metropolitan Geevarghese Mar Osthathios continues to teach, we believe in the conversion  of minds, and not of religion – in manasantharam and not in mathantharam. The millennium policies of the Church are to be governed by these principles.

 Thirdly, what is the mission and the task of the Church in this unique setting? Is it simply to bargain for the bits and pieces of the political pie? Is it to seek exclusive privileges on the basis of some numerical minority status? The answer is an emphatic no from the Christian perspective. The Church has to exercise its critical prophetic ministry towards governments and authority structures whenever any citizen in this country is deprived of his or her constitutional rights and not  simply when Christians are in trouble. The Church, by its very nature, is called upon to work together with all people of goodwill to improve the quality of freedom and democracy that we enjoy today, to give voice to the voiceless, and to listen to the cry of the poor, so that every man and woman in this country should enjoy equal rights, freedom and dignity gifted by God.  This is nothing but what Jesus announced at the beginning of his earthly ministry. (Luke 4:18). 

 Fourthly, India and China are generally perceived by others to be emerging superpowers. Some of the richest of the world, according to the Forbes Magazine’s latest count, are from our country. But we Indians, we know the other side – the inside story: the incredible poverty and misery of millions of own our brothers and sisters. St. John Chrysostom, 4^th century father of the Church and the fiery prophet of social justice, spoke about the two altars of the Church: the one on which  we offer the holy sacrifice of praise and  thanksgiving, the holy Qurbana, and the  other, the altar is that of the poor, the homeless, the disabled, all those who are oppressed and marginalised   of our society. It is with them and for them that the Church worships the living God. These two altars need to be set up side by side, even to be constantly exchanged with each other.

 Fifth, according to recent statistical surveys, our country of over one billion people have the largest number of youth nationwise. While rich nations of the world are now desperately aging, it is certainly a boon for our country to have young adults constituting the significant  chunk of the  population. The Church’s future priority,  therefore, is to give adequate care for the youth- both boys and girls, their proper education and employment, their training in human values, and the channeling of their creative energy for the common good.

 Our new Catholicos, H.H. Baselius Mar Thoma Paulose II, himself coming from a solid background of pastoral work among the youth and students of the Mar Gregorios Orthodox Students Movement, raises high hopes for the Church’s policies favouring the emerging young generation.

 Sixth, the Orthodox Church’s care for Mother Earth through various environmental policies and programmes is already mapped out by the Church’s Ecological Commission. Nature, long enduring the injuries inflicted on her by  our industrial- technological- consumerist culture, has now begun to strike back. We have a great Indian tradition of respecting nature, since every trace of it can manifest the chaitanya  of the divine. This goes very well with the Indian Orthodox Church’s sacramental understanding of God’s creation.

 Here is a major question for our nation as well for Indian religious communities regarding the dialectic of environment and  development:

India and China  together, with their 2.2 billion people, constitute one third of present day humanity. If these huge populations simply imitate the greedy, competitive and consumerist culture of the west in the name of progress we will end up in terrible catastrophe simply because that model is not a sustainable one for over two billion human beings, let alone the rest of Asian population.

The question is: are we able to propose a new paradigm, a new model of development, a more sustainable human lifestyle, more in common with our own Gandhian model than with the exploitative, profit-oriented, globalised market model. This question is crucial for the future of our nation and of all the peoples of Asia. Ultimately the test is:  can we all share the gifts of God, the resources of Mother Earth in  justice and peace,  with gratitude and mutual respect, with care  and love  for our future generations.

 Seventh, the Church is called to be a peacemaker in the world. Our society is  becoming increasingly violent and insecure, especially for women and children, for the less powerful and the older generation. No measure of high-tech and high-cost security systems can counter the surging spectre of  violence that is endemic to globalized societies. Pope Benedict XVI in his brand new book on the life of Jesus says “Violence does not build up the Kingdom of God, nor the kingdom of humanity.” We can unequivocally say that the Church’s urgent task is to collaborate with all people of goodwill, and with appropriate government agencies to uphold the rule of law, rights of every citizen, especially  women and children, and human dignity and welfare of all. This sets an important millennium goal for the Orthodox Church.

 To conclude, it is generally perceived that the great overarching western civilization of the last millennium is fast declining. People all over the world look up to Asia for leadership. Here again is the challenge for the Asian church, numerically small as it may be, and particularly for the Indian Orthodox Church with its positive experience of centuries of living with the tolerant and benevolent Indian religious traditions.

 The biblical vision of “new heavens and a new earth where justice dwells” and our unshakeable faith in the  One who “makes everything new” are the driving force for the Church to outline the contours of a new civilization- a civilization of love and human dignity, of  peace, justice and care for God’s creation.

 God bless our nation. Namaste. Jai Hind.