75 Year Old Order of the Imitation of Christ (OIC) calls for Unity

The Order of the Imitation of Christ (OIC), has observed its 75th anniversary with a renewed call for their Churches´ unity.

Bishops of India´s three Catholic rites, the Orthodox Church and Protestant Church of South India joined in the jubilee celebrations of the Syro-Malankara Church´s only religious congregation.

Known also as Bethany Ashram, the OIC ended its jubilee celebrations Nov. 25 in Thiruvananthapuram, southern India.

The Syro-Malankara Church´s new administrator, Bishop Cyril Mar Baselios of Bathery, stressed Church unity to make Christ´s message meaningful in India.

OIC superior general Father Jerome Peedikaparampil told they had invited bishops of all Churches to final celebrations focused on ecumenism.

“All turned up except for our counterparts in the Orthodox Church. We pray and rededicate ourselves for the unity of the Churches,” he added.

The OIC was founded by Mar Ivanios, an Orthodox Christian, in 1919. When he joined the Catholic Church in 1930 to form the Syro-Malankara Church, a few Bethany members remained Orthodox.

The order´s Orthodox wing has 12 priests at their motherhouse at Perinad in Kerala´s Pathanamthitta district. The Catholic faction has 102 priests, 80 seminarians, 31 parishes and 32 institutions, Father Peedikaparampil said.

The two factions respect Mar Ivanios as their founder, who wanted the congregation to be Indian in all aspects, including dress.

Father Peedikaparampil said Archbishop Mar Ivanios made many sacrifices for Christian unity and asserted that the Syro-Malankara Church is “a living testimony of his charisma.”

The OIC superior general said their order was founded to work for the poor and live like Hindu “sanyasees” (ascetics). Bethany priests became the first Christian order in India to wear saffron clothes like Hindu hermits.

Among those who accepted Father Peedikaparampil´s invitation to attend the concluding function were Jacobite Bishop Abraham Mar Clemus of Chinjavanam and Church of South India Bishop Sam Mathew of Central Kerala.

An emotional Bishop Clemus predicted “Churches of Christ will one day become one,” urging participants to pray and work “that this may happen in our time.”

Bishop Peter Thuruthikonam of Vijayapuram Latin-rite diocese opened the year long celebrations in August 1993. The concluding function was opened by Cardinal Antony Padiyara, Syro-Malabar major archbishop of Ernakulam.

Father Peedikaparampil said the OIC built 78 houses for the poor in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu states in southern India, as part of the jubilee celebrations.

They also adopted 75 children to attend high school, and opened an orphanage for 30 children and a home for the aged in Kerala, during the jubilee year.