Thiruvanthapuram: The talks initiated by the cabinet sub-committee to resolve the row between the Jacobite and Orthod-ox factions of the Malan-kara Syrian Church remained inconclusive here on Thursday.
Though a joint meeting with both factions was planned, the Orthodox group did not attend it. However, later a delegation of the Orthodox Church met Industries Minister E. P. Jayarajan, sub-committee convener, in his official residence.
The members are Reve-nue Minister E. Chand-rasekharan,Transport Minister A.K. Saseend-ran, Ports Minister Ramachandran Kadann-appally and Water Resou-rces Ministe Krishnank-utty . It was formed in the wake of the law and order issues which started after the Supreme Court verdict giving the Orthodox faction control over 1,100 parishes and their churches.
Mr Jayarajan said after the meeting that the talks will continue. The efforts were to implement the Supreme Court judgement in its essence without creating conflicts, he said.
The court’s verbal observation that the chief secretary will be put behind bars was not part of the judgment, he said.
The Jacobite faction wanted the dispute to be considered not merely as a legal issue but also as one related to faith and deal with it accordingly. They hoped for a solution soon.
The Orthodox Church representatives said that if the government did not act positively, they would again approach the Supreme Court with a contempt of court petition.
Mr Jayarajan would conduct another round of discussions with them after meeting the representatives of the Jacobite faction.
The Supreme Court had upheld the 1934 Malan-kara Church guidelines and ruled that 1,100 paris-hes and their churches should be controlled by the Orthodox faction.
The disputes started in early 20th century when the then Malankara metropolitan appointed his successor without the Patriarch's blessing. This divided the Church into two groups often leading to violence.
The Catholicate independent from the Holy Apostolic See of Antioch was established under the leadership of Vattas-seril Divanyasius with the help of ex-communicated Abdul Messiah wh-ich started the division in Malankara Church.
In 1906, a Jacobite synod or the Government of Turk-=ey dismissed Patriarch Abdul Messiah and installed Abdalla in his place. In 1909, Patri-arch Abdalla visited Mal-abar claiming his power on the temporalities of the Church as well. However, Mar Dionysius VI challenged the claim of the Patriarch.
