Patriarch Yacub III- Kalpana No.203/70 Translation

Syrian Patriarchate                                                                    Patriarchate of Antioch

Of Antioch and All the East                                                      and All the East

Damasus, Syria                              [Emblem]

No.203/70

To His Excellency our brother Baselius Augen I, Catholicos of the East. My respectful (greetings).

After the respectful and brotherly kisses and the enquiry about your well-being we say:

1. In your letter that we have received a few days ago, I was very much surprised to read the words: “The Throne of Saint Thomas, the Apostle.

Firstly, since the establishment of the Catholicate in the fourth century, none of the Catholicoi or the Maphrians ever used this title.

Secondly, Saint Thomas the Apostle had never founded any throne to be called ‘Throne of Saint Thomas the Apostle’, for he was not a priest as it is evident from the Gospel of Saint John 20:21-24. As he was not a priest, how did he become a high priest? As he was not a high priest, how could he found a throne? Therefore none of the early writers mention that he had founded the Catholicate throne. As Your Excellency have acknowledged in the confession of faith that you had made in 1932, the Synod of Nicea had confirmed the Catholicate of the East (page 4).

Thirdly, even the Nestorians who had usurped the Catholicate of the East in the fifth century do not relate it to Saint Thomas the Apostle, or to the ‘Throne of Saint Thomas’. But they had related it to Mar Mari, disciple of the Evangelist Addai and they spoke of the ‘Throne of Mar Mari’.

Bar Hebraeus writes: “ Until the time of this Timothy (Nestorian Catholicos of the 9^th century), bishops of the Country of Persia (that is Rewardshir) used to be dressed in white as the secular priests and to eat meat and to take wives, and not to be submitted to the Catholicos of Seleucia. They used to say: ‘ We are the disciples of the Apostle Thomas; we have nothing to do with the throne of Mari”.

Fourthly, in the beginning of the second part of the Ecclesiastical History, Bar Hebraeus speaks of Saint Thomas the Apostle; not as the one who had founded the Catholicate of the East, but only as the first one who evangelized the region of the East. Similarly, the names that follow him do not belong to his ordination, but from the “ fabric” of the Nestorians, as all the historians of our day witness.

Fifthly, we have ordained you not for the Throne of Saint Thomas the Apostle, but for the Catholicate of the East. Therefore you have no authority to change this title, lest you will fall into heresy.

2. It has been informed that at the time of the ordination of priests and deacons, our beloved Metropolitans do not instruct them in the promise of the ordination to be obedient also to the Patriarchate of Antioch, the general head of the Church, as it is written in the true amalogia that was used in the days of Bar Hebraeus.

Therefore our good will persuades us to ask your brotherhood to warn the Eminent Metropolitans about this great error that they were following during the division in the Church. In order to see this truth, read the amalogia written by Mar Ivanios, who was in Malabar with the Catholicos Eldo, which will be found in the Library of the Marthomites in Thiruvalla.

Therefore the Catholicos of the East is not outside the jurisdiction of the Apostolic See of Antioch, but rather he is its Tahlupa in the regions of the East, as the Patriarch Mar Athanasius Gamollo has demonstrated when he ordained Mar Marutha of Tagrit.

He says in his letter to the monks of Mar Mathai: “ There shall be a head for the bishops of Assyria, Arabia and the various regions of Persia for the ordering of the Church. (Therefore) we ordain Mar Marutha of Tagrit, Metropolitan from the Arabs, as the head and the general ruler of all the bishops who have been named and of their regions and eparchies, in order to represent our person and office, according to our tupartito , that is instruction”. (Read the Chronicle of Michel the Great, which will be found in the house of late Mr K.K.Lukose, page 413).

That is why you have said in the first ‘canon’ of your (constitution): ‘The Church of Malabar is a part of the Syrian Orthodox Church, submitted to the authority of the See of Antioch’. By all means you remember what you have written in your confession of faith in 1932. Regarding this subject you have written: ‘ I think that those who have created and follow the Catholicos, do not seek to be separated from the communion of the Patriarch. But they have simply created a Catholicos. By all means this is under the Patriarch’ (page 4).

Again you have said: ‘ The Antiochian See is truly ancient and glorious that all others, and it is the head of this people. Even if the Church of Malabar receives a Catholicos, it will never be separated from the See, but it will accept for ever the Patriarch as the supreme head of this people (page 10).

3. Sometimes we have read in the News Papers and the publications about the name of the Church. But they speak simply of ‘the Orthodox Church’, without (the word) ‘Syrian’, which is the true name of the Church.

4. Your brotherhood knows very well the decision that you have made in the Synod (met) before your consecration as Catholicos, regarding the churches in Kuwait and in other places. We are sorry to say that the priests are appointed to these (churches) and the Metropolitans visit them without our knowledge. This is against that decision.

Therefore we inform your beloved brotherhood that these issues disturb the functioning of the Church as   before. With your knowledge these should be corrected. Henceforth we cannot tolerate such things. If these perversities are not corrected, the Church will be again divided. Therefore it will not be because of the Semites – as it was formerly said- but because of the Malabarians who perverted peace and by the unpleasant contention in the Church.

We greet our apostolic blessings to our beloved and esteemed Metropolitans and clergy and the people who are with you. The inhabitants of the Patriarchal house kiss your hands and ask for your prayers. We remain.

The grace of the Lord be with you.

Our Father who art in heaven etc.

Ignatius Yakub III                                                                                    Damascus

Patriarch of Antioch and all the East                                                        27-6-70.