|
IHe saw the good days of
the Church from 1958 to 1971 when the Holy Church of Malankara
was united again after the famous Supreme Court verdict of 1958.
He saw also the unpleasant days of the Church since 1971 when
the Church was again rocked with the resurrected schism. AS head
of the Church he received another verdict from the Supreme Court
in 1995 establishing the legitimacy of the Catholicate and the
Constitution of the Church promulgated in 1934; which was
definitely a victory. However, it is observed that he could not
reap the benefits of this victory due to the uncompromising
position of the patriarchal faction. On many occasions, this
writer has observed, that the meekness and humility of His
Holiness were detrimental, because they prevented him from
taking decisive actions as an administrator. He was a kind and
compassionate father that he never wanted to inflict pain on
anyone, and so he sought ways that were diplomatic and
comforting rather than surgical. In this sense, his meekness was
his weakness. The monastic life that he embraced always reminded
him to be least punitive and offensive. Many people exploited
his meekness and took advantage of him. The results? The Church
could not harvest the fruits of peace despite the great Court
victory in 1995.
His Holiness will be remembered as a great pioneer in
establishing educational institutions within an ancient Church.
He believed in the social power generated by educational and
social institutions. Therefore, he mobilized his energy and time
in this direction. There are numerous collegiate, secondary and
primary institutions erected by him. In a society where
relevance is measured in terms of the strength of institutions
that support the community at large these establishments are
definitely lighthouses that declare the contributions of the
Orthodox Church in Keralam. Thousands of students are being
educated in these institutions, and thousand are employed in
various capacities and thus are supporting their own families
and the economic framework of the community. If we look for an
individual entrepreneur employing the largest number of
workforce, we may not find any other person but His Holiness.
There were critics about how these institutions were built; many
people were not happy about donations demanded for these
institutions. Once Metropolitan Eustathios of Niranam observed
in connection with a reception accorded to His Holiness, “People
generally consider His Holiness and me the most skillful in
fundraising. What I do is simply the job of a postman; I get
your contributions and give to the projects for which the funds
are raised. His Holiness is the wise entrepreneur, who invests
your funds in constructing and reconstructing our communities
where the members of those communities become beneficiaries of
his farsightedness as students, clients and employees”. Yes, an
enormous number of beneficiaries, beyond the denominational
lines, venerate His Holiness as their provider, father,
benefactor, mentor, adviser, healer, and spiritual master. In
the history of any Church in Keralam, there is no prelate or
community leader parallel to His Holiness in this respect.
His Holiness was regarded by other church leaders and community
leaders as the lighthouse of hope when there erupted community
disharmony within the pluralistic population of Keralam.
Catholicos-Patriarch Matthews I, his predecessor, delegated him
to lead the Christian community in Keralam when there arose a
crisis dismantling the unity between the Christian and Hindu
communities based on a proposed church-building at Nilakkal
which was said to be within domain and vicinities of the
Shabarimala Temple. Hindus vehemently opposed the project and
Christians were equally offended by the resistance from the
Hindu community. It was His Holiness, a Metropolitan then, took
the lead to diffuse the crisis and received the acclamation from
both sides and turned out a champion of concord among the
diverse people of Keralam. The Hindu community saw in him a
Mahacharya and Maharshi, who was totally Indian in culture
Moran Mor Matthews II was a great friend of all Christians,
whether Roman Catholics or Protestants. He maintained
extraordinary closeness to both of these denominations, although
there were critics about him being too charitable to them
sometimes. Both of these groups have a history of exploiting and
destroying the ancient Orthodox Church in Malankara. For
example, the Uniate Romo-Syrian Catholic hierarchies are still
stealing the sheep of the Orthodox Church, but His Holiness
showed his magnanimity by attending and addressing a
congratulatory gathering to honor their newly-consecrated bishop
at Trivandrum. The Church of Malankara did not really appreciate
this act of charity towards the Uniate Ivaniosites, because
there was no one like Archbishop Ivanios in the history of the
Church in Malankara, who inflicted the deepest wound on her.
Similarly, he was also graciously generous to the Syro-Malabar
Roman Catholic and the CSI and Marthomite communities that are
vestiges of western uncanonical and criminal encroachment into
the apostolic ancient Church of Malankara. He loved every human
being without reservation, fully understanding his role as a
high priest and community leader, who should treat everyone
equally beyond the boundaries of his own Church, often
forgetting and forgiving past deadly wounds.
He was never a politician, but attracted politicians of all
persuasions. The veneration that Mr. R. Bala Krishna Pillai of
Kottarakara had towards our Holy Father was always far greater
than his own spiritual children had. Mr. R. Bala Krishna Pillai
treated him like a father, and a great Rishi. One could watch an
adoring Bala Krishna Pillai in front of the mortal remains of
the Holy Father after his death. Great political leaders like K.
Karunakaran were his regular visitors. When the Church
celebrated his 90th birthday a year ago at Adoor all social,
political and religious leaders of Keralam surrounded him with
the acclamation of “Ad Multos Annos”. An unusual political
figure surprised the multitudes with his mesmerizing presence:
it was Mr. V.S. Achyuthanandan, the Marxist Communist opposition
leader of Keralam, who had no special reason to appease a
towering religious leader like His Holiness. Mr. Achyuthanandan
very well knew the extent of Holy Father’s charisma that
influences the Malayalee communities and the incomprehensible
aura that surrounds the person of the Holy Father. It was
striking to watch the 81 year Achyuthanandan, an unbending
Communist, painfully rushing through the crowd for kilometers to
the funeral site of His Holiness on the day of his entombment.
Again, we watched the crowd that attended the funeral! It is
estimated that more than a million people viewed his mortal
remains seated on the Patriarchal throne and received his
invisible blessing. Who among the religious leaders in Keralam
had such a farewell! In the history of Keralam, no religious
leader ever received a State Funeral; His Holiness was accorded
with this honor. He was great when he was alive, but was even
greater after his demise. He was unique while he was living, but
he was uniquely singled out after his passing away.
This writer has personally witnessed the spiritual fervor of His
Holiness even when he was into his nineties. He officiated in
the Holy Week services at St. Gregorios Church at Bellwood near
Chicago. He took his fasting all the way to 3.00 PM. He stood
all the time during the services, which this writer, who is only
old enough to be his son, could not observe. I wondered at his
perseverance in still observing all the prostrations required
for Holy Week services! How many of our prelates, or priests, or
monks could observe such penitential practices diligently and
fervently as he did when he was ninety or ninety-one! Yes, his
religious observances were fruits of his monastic and ascetic
practices for over seventy-five years. He was not forced into
them, but he voluntarily embraced them to spiritually tune him
up and to identify with Christ through self abnegation,
mortification and charitable acts, all for the love of God.
He did tell me several times what he had endured at the
Monastery of Othara. Several days, he did not even receive a
grain of rice for food. He cooked the jackfruit that was
provided by a tree on the courtyard of the monastery, which was
indeed a poor source of nutrition. He became so lean and pale,
lacking hemoglobin in his blood. Occasionally, God brought some
visitors, who might bring some rice and other provisions. The
members in the monastery can use them up so fast. Again, the
kitchen pantry was empty. But God provided. Often they could not
afford a normal Malayalee lunch or supper; instead they often
just had only a bowl of boiled rice cereal with a side dish of
tapioca or jackfruit. Many monastic aspirants came under the
novitiate of Fr. Matthews, but a good number of them left the
monastery being unable to understand the theology of extreme
poverty. But Fr. Matthews never quit. He was slowly climbing the
ladders of sanctity and monasticism accepting joyfully the
ordeals and rigor of ascetic life. From the depravity
experienced in the monastery he became spiritually richer day by
day. It prepared him even for a more austere life. Catholicos
Givargis II noticed the sublime monastic virtues of Hieromonk
Matthews, and cherished a special predilection for him; and that
is why he was consecrated a bishop at the age of thirty-eight,
even without the consensus of an association, which he secured
before assuming the administration of the Metropolitanate of
Quilon.
In the Indian tradition there three ways one can achieve moksha,
or emancipation. They are the ways of Bhakti or piety, Gnana or
knowledge, and Karma or action. One of these ways is sufficient
for anyone to achieve self-emancipation or moksha. To put in
Christian terms, one of these paths would take to salvation. In
other words, people have different aptitudes and temperaments,
but one of them would be more predominant in any person. When a
person has a strong aptitude is for securing deep spiritual
knowledge, he would receive moksha through the path of
knowledge. When a person has a strong aptitude for deeper
spiritual contemplation, he would receive moksha through the
path of spiritual exercises like prayer and contemplation. When
a person has a strong aptitude for working for others, he would
receive moksha through the path of action. If a person possesses
all these three aptitudes he has achieved self-realization as
some one who has exemplified humanity, which is the ultimate
mark of total humanity, and when he exemplifies humanity through
these threefold path, he becomes a god. In other words,
exemplification as a human being is the starting point of one’s
divinity.
When we think of Holy Father Matthews II, he had the aptitudes
for all these three ways (margas), and he definitely must have
achieved perfection through these three paths. Definitely he has
exemplified humanity, and has become a god. But Christianity is
totally opposed to the concept of man becoming a god. But there
is a biblically sound Christian theology that emphasizes a
process called theosis or deification where humans become
god-like.
Teilhard de Chardin, a great paleontologist and Jesuit thinker,
who was mistakenly misunderstood by the Roman Church, says that
we remain as animals until we reach Christ through convergence.
Convergence is another theological way of embracing evolution,
which Teilhard de Chardin, as a paleontologist, could not
oppose. For Chardin Christ is the ultimate form evolution,
towards Whom everything from inert matter to rational humans
tend to converge. Christ is the example of real humanity, where
humanity and divinity are proportionately combined. Our vocation
is to become Christ-like so that we can become fully human
beings. Although we cannot become Christs in the fullest sense,
we can become humans in the fullest sense when we become
Christ-like. When this convergence with Christ takes place a
person becomes a SAINT according to Christian theology.
The fortieth day after one’s passing away is considered a
milestone in the eternal plan of God for a human soul. Orthodox
theology has patristic credence for a special memorial on the
fortieth day after one’s passing way as it was on the fortieth
day after His death and resurrection that Jesus the Lord
ascended into heaven. Therefore, a fortieth day memorial has the
cogency of tradition in view of the ascension of Jesus. Although
it is not a dogma of faith, it is believed that the souls of the
departed still linger around vicinities of their earthly abode
for another forty days after their death, and are assumed into
the paradise to pre-taste their heavenly reward. That is why the
Church offers liturgies, prayers and acts of charities on their
behalf for their glorification.
On the fortieth day after the demise of Holy Father Matthews II
all the Churches under the Catholicate of the East conducted
special services for the repose of his soul and also prayed to
the Holy Father for his intercession for the members of the
Church.
Thousands consider Moran Mor Matthews II a saint as his life was
striving after perfection and after becoming Christ-like. Holy
Father, may your prayers protect us. We also offer our prayers
for your glorification and sanctification.
Most Holy Father, may your memory be eternal! |
