Kochi: The Supreme Court has criticized factions feuding over the control of St Peter’s and St Paul’s Orthodox Church, Kolenchery, noting that faith gets wedged between the office of Catholicos and the Patriarch. In fact an effort is being made to take over the management and other powers by raising such disputes as to supremacy of Patriarch or Catholicos to gain control of temporal matters under the garb of spirituality. The court called on the two factions, the Jacobites and Orthodox, to settle disputes on a common platform. The legacy of the Malankara Church has to be retained, including the property.
No group or denomination by majority or otherwise can take away the management or the property as that would tantamount to illegal interference and usurpation of its properties. It is not open to the beneficiaries to change the nature of the Church, its property and management. The only method to change management is to amend the Constitution of 1934 in accordance with law.
The court observed: "Both factions, for the sake of the sacred religion they profess and to preempt further bickering and unpleasantness…ought to resolve their differences... if necessary by amending the Constitution further in accordance with law… any attempt to create parallel systems of administration of the same Churches resulting in law and order situation, leading to even closure of the Churches, cannot be accepted.
"By questioning the action of Patriarch and his undue interference in the administration of Churches in violation of the 1995 judgment, it cannot be said that the Catholicos faction is guilty of repudiating the spiritual supremacy of the Patriarch. The Patriarch faction is to be blamed for the situation which has been created post 1995 judgment. The property of the Church is to be managed as per the 1934 Constitution. The judgment of 1995 has not been respected by the Patriarch faction, which was binding on all concerned." the judgment said.
The court observed that the Church and the cemetery cannot be confiscated by anybody. It has to remain with the parishioners as per the customary rights and nobody can be deprived of the right to enjoy the same as a parishioner in the Church or to be buried honourably in the cemetery, in case he continues to have faith in the Malankara Church.
The property of the Malankara Church, in which is also vested the property of the parish churches, would remain in trust as it has for the time immemorial for the sake of the beneficiaries and no one can claim to be owners thereof even by majority and usurp the Church and the properties.
