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“The greatest fact in the
story of man on earth is not his material achievements, the
empires he has built and broken, but the growth of his soul from
age to age in its search for truth and goodness. Those who take
part in the adventure of the soul secure an enduring place in
the history of human culture. Time has discredited heroes as
easily as it has forgotten everyone else; but the saints remain.
The greatness of H.H. Moran Mar Baselios Marthoma Mathews II is
more in his holy living than in his heroic struggles, in his
insistence on the creative power of the soul and its life-giving
quality at a time when the destructive forces seem to be in the
ascendant.”
I borrow the words of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan to pay tribute to one
of the most charismatic shepherd of the Indian (Malankara)
Orthodox Church and indeed of Christendom in the modern era. H.H.
Baselios Marthoma Mathews II, sixth Catholicos of the Indian
Orthodox Church and 89th Apostolic Successor of St. Thomas
departed from this world for his heavenly abode at 5.10 PM on
January 26, 2006 at Devalokam Aramana in Kottayam four days
before his 91st birthday. His mortal remains are interred at
Mount Horeb Monastery Chapel in Sasthamkotta. He was leading a
life of rest in the Devalokam Catholicate Aramana at Kottayam,
after relinquishing his official duties on October 29, 2005. |
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H.H. Mor Baselios was born
on January 30, 1915 at Perinadu near Quilon in Kerala as eldest
son of Puthusserazhikathu Puthenveetil Idikkula and Annamma.
Ordained as Deacon in 1938, as Priest in 1941, and then ordained
as a Bishop (Mathews Mor Coorilos) on May 15, 1953, H.H. was
enthroned as Catholicos of the East on April 29, 1991 at
Parumala Seminary following the abdication by the former
Catholicos H. H. Baselios Marthoma Mathews I. Prior to becoming
the Catholicos he was the Metropolitan of Quilon diocese for a
long time. Mor Baselios had his theological training at the
Kottayam Old Seminary and later at Basil Dayara, Pathanamthitta.
Then he did his Bachelor of Divinity [BD] at Bishop’s College,
Calcutta. He had advanced theological studies at the General
Theological Seminary, New York. Due to ill health H. H.
graciously relieved his authorities to his successor, the
current Catholicos and Malankara Metropolitan on Oct 31, 2005.
The life of His Holiness was a well-celebrated one and he lived
his life to the full, the richness of which touched the hearts
of millions and imprinted enduring mark on the history of
Christianity in India during the last fifty years. Being
anointed to the episcopate at a tender age of 38, Mor Baselios
guided the Indian Orthodox Church with diligence of a most
devoted shepherd for fifteen years from 1991 to 2005 in his
Apostolic struggle in the New World.
“With the Saints give rest,
O Christ, to the soul of Your servant and our father Moran Mor
Baselios Marthoma Mathews II where there is no pain, nor sorrow,
nor suffering, but life everlasting.”
+Tenny Thomas |
