Sharpening its attack on the government against the proposed attempts to resolve the Malankara Church dispute through legislation, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church on Wednesday termed the approach of the government towards the issue as unfortunate.
Accusing the Jacobite faction of unleashing a propaganda campaign, Fr. Johns Abraham Konat, official spokesperson of the church, said the Orthodox Church always looked to settle the issue amicably.
“The Orthodox Church has never ousted any believer from any of the parishes and we will not do it in future as well. Our only demand is that the parishes should be governed in accordance with court orders,” he said in an official statement.
He said the Supreme Court had made it amply clear that parishes or their property could not be divided on the basis of majority. “The court has ruled that the property and churches of the Malankara Church are a trust and will remain a trust forever. It is unfortunate that attempts are being made to enact laws against it,” he said.
The other day, Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, came out in the open against the government's decision to seek public opinion on a draft legislation Bill to resolve the Church dispute.
A few months ago, all parishes under the Orthodox Church had adopted a resolution calling for rejection without consideration a draft law that “aimed to overturn the Supreme Court ruling by upholding only the illegal and unilateral demands of the separatist faction”.
