Quilon (India) – Mar. Ivanios, the Jacobite Archbishop who, with his assistant bishop, was received into the Catholic Church by His Lordship Bishop Benziger of Quilon, India, recently, will retain the dignity of Archbishop by special consent of the Holy See. His Holiness Pope Pius XI has further declared him free to use the powers of his Sacred Orders and jurisdiction. The new Archbishop has also received the faculty or receiving into the Church 13 priests and one deacon, all monks of the congregation instituted by him while an Archbishop of the Jacobite Church.
The Jocobite Schismatics, a body dating from the break with the Holy See four centuries ago, count approximately 400,000 in the Malabar section of India. The step taken by Mar Ivanios, characterized as the greatest religious reformer of the sect, has created a profound impression and is expected by some to lead many conversions. New converts from Jacobitism will be under the jurisdiction of the two bishops just received. Jacobite priests who are married may be received as such though future candidates for the priesthood must take the obligation of celibacy.
Copyright: The Catholic Advocate (Brisbane), 11 Dec 1930
Quilon (India) — Mar Ivanios, the Jacobite Archbishop who, with his assistant Bishop (as previously reported), was received into the Catholic Church by His Lordship Bishop Benziger of Quilon, India, on September 20, will retain the dignity of Archbishop by special consent of the Holy See. His Holiness Pope Pius XI has further declared him free to use the powers of his Sacred Orders and jurisdiction. The new Archbishop has also received the faculty of receiving into the Church thirteen Priests and one Deacon, all Monks of the Congregation instituted by him while Archbishop of the Jacobite Church.
The Jacobite schismatics, a body dating from the break with the Holy See four centuries ago, count approximately 400,000 in the Malabar section of India. The step taken by Mar Ivanios, characterized as the greatest religious reformer of the sect, has created a profound impression, and is expected by some to lead to many conversions.
New converts from Jacobitism will be under the jurisdiction of the two Bishops just received. Jacobite Priests who are married may be received as such, though future candidates for the priesthood must take the obligation of celibacy.
Ernakulam, India. – Events immediately following the reception into the Catholic Church of Archbishop Ivanios, the Jacobite prelate, at Quilon, recently, bring ever nearer to realization the total conversion of the Jacobite community in Malabar, which numbers 350,000 souls.
The conversion of Mar Ivanios, Syrian Jacobite Metropolitan of Bethany, and the Jacobite Bishop of Tiruvella, Mar Theophilos, who entered the Church with him, was followed the next day by the reception of a community of Jacobite Sisters, numbering more than a dozen, and a Jacobite community of monks.
These conversions were followed by those of two Rambans, the next claimants to the Jacobite Bishoprics, and also some of the leading laymen. News of the conversions has spread like wildfire and has stirred the whole of Christian and even pagan Malabar.
The answer to the situation is directly to be found in the Bethany movement in the Syrian Jacobite Church of Malabar. Belief is expressed by many students of the matter here that the movement, plus the remarkable recent conversions, constitutes a blow from which the schismatic Jacobite Church cannot rally, and that eventually the whole group will come into the Catholic Church. In any case, it is held certain that many more leading Jacobites will now become Catholics.
This Bethany movement, started by Mar Ivanios when he was the Rev. P. T. Geevarghese, is taking the same lines as the Tractarian movement led by Newman in England.
Mar Ivanios Is Leader Mar Ivanios is the leader of the movement. He is a master of arts of the Madras university and was the principal of the M. D. seminary, leading educational institution of the Syrian Jacobites of Malabar. While serving in that post, he received the offer of a professorship in the Divinity college of Serampore, Calcutta. He accepted the offer and went to Calcutta. A number of Malabar students then were flocking to Serampore and with some of these he began to lead a sort of monastic community life.
Mar Ivanios was the most learned of all the Jacobite Bishops of Malabar. He is 47 years old, strongly built, and a born leader.
His great idea was to start an Ashram of Jacobite monks following the rule of St. Basil in Malabar. With the help of Protestant friends he bought about 400 acres of land far in the interior of Malabar. Three persons who desired to lead a monastic life were welcomed.
The monks led a very regular life. They completely abstained from flesh and fish and lived only on vegetables. They dressed in Hindu Sanyasi (Kavi) robes.
They were self-sacrificing, pious and learned and devoted themselves to infusing some spiritual life into the Jacobite Church, which was torn by all sorts of dissensions and litigations. They were greatly esteemed by the people. Mar Ivanios told me the other day that when he was a simple priest he sometimes spent the whole night hearing Confessions.
To raise the standard of feminine education Mar Ivanios took some Jacobite girls to Barisol, Calcutta, and placed them with the High Church Protestant Sisters. In due course these girls returned to Malabar and started the Order of Bethany Sisters. Some of them are highly educated and hold university degrees. They conduct schools, maintain orphanages and have a press of their own, the Bethany printing house, Tiruvella. Mar Ivanios has been their chaplain all through.
Both communities, of monks and nuns, took the three vows, an innovation in the Jacobite Church of Malabar.
The next move was to start churches directly dependent only on Bethany. Meanwhile Mar Ivanios had been consecrated Metropolitan Archbishop of Bethany and Mar Theophilos, a Bethany monk, had been consecrated Jacobite Bishop of Tiruvella. With the endless litigation, quarrels and dissensions in the Jacobite Church, the people were getting tired and they gladly welcomed these Bethany churches where they could worship God in peace. Fifteen Bethany churches have been started thus far and land has been acquired for fifteen more in different places. When Mar Ivanios was in Calcutta, he had occasion to read Catholic books. Slowly he gathered a collection of Catholic books. The spiritual books that he used for the monks and sisters were for the most part Catholic. His studies convinced him that the Jacobite Syrian Church taught no heresy. The Malabar even retains the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, Mar Ivanios said, contained implicitly in its prayers and rituals. The belief in purgatory is deducible, he said, from the many prayers for the dead. They believe in the existence of the angels and even of guardian angels. They admit, I was told by him, even the Primacy of the Patriarch of Rome, whom they call Rees Patriarchese (Head Patriarch). These studies convinced Mar Ivanios and Mar Theophilos that the Catholic Church was the True Church and that the Jacobite Church was a schismatic body. He then entered into direct communication with Rome through His Excellency the Apostolic Delegate and the Bishop of Quilon, requesting Rome to allow them the use of the Syrian Jacobite liturgy which they had been using for more than 300 church years.
After a careful examination into their priesthood and their liturgical books, Rome granted them the use of their rite and confirmed Mar Ivanios as Metropolitan Archbishop of Bethany and Mar Theophilos as Bishop of Tiruvella. They and those who join them will depend directly on Rome. Their future clergy will be unmarried.
Though all this was done secretly yet somehow it became known. Some four months ago the Vicar General of Bethany, unable to stand the sting of conscience any longer, left Bethany and became a Catholic of the Syro-Malabar Rite. Meanwhile the Jacobites were roused and they tried to put every impediment possible in their way. They tried to get Mar Ivanios entangled in litigation over the Bethany properties. He was then staying on in the hope of getting as many as possible to come away with him when he made an open declaration of his Faith. One day at the Holy Sacrifice he had the inspiration to leave all and follow the Master in poverty and want. The monastic possessions which he thought it prudent to abandon entirely are worth nearly 400,000 rupees. He called the monks and told them of his resolve to leave Bethany immediately, leaving them to follow any course they desired. Most of the monks decided to follow the Bishops. The Archbishop is now literally poor.
On their way they were met by a Hindu Nair gentleman who asked them the cause of leaving Bethany. On hearing their story he offered them his own house for a lodging and donated to them five acres of land to build the new Bethany Ashram. Leaving the monks and the Junior Bishop there, Mar Ivanios came to Tiruvella and took up his quarters close to the house of the sisters to encourage them and make arrangements for their reception. All the sisters without a single exception decided to follow Mar Ivanios.
On September 20, Mar Ivanios and Mar Theophilos were received into the Catholic Church at Quilon by the Bishop of Quilon, assisted by the Bishop of Changanacherry. This was followed by the other conversions noted above.
The Jacobite Church in Malabar had its origin in the middle of the seventeenth century. Many attempts at reunion have been made in the past, but they never succeeded.
Editor’s Note: Though the Jacobite Church of Malabar began in the seventeenth century, the sect goes back to the Monophysite heresy, condemned at Chalcedon in 451. Therefore, the fact that these people of India are found today with doctrines that are Catholic is a tremendous proof of the Apostolicity of our Faith.
Copyright: The Nebraska Register, Grand Island, Nebraska, Sun, Nov 16, 1930
Jacobites In India Are Stirred as Most Learned Prelates Come Over.
GENERAL EXODUS BEGINS
Besides Bishops, Nuns and Monks Are Embracing Catholicism.
By REV. JOSEPH C. PANJIKARAN, Ph. D., D. D.
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
Ernakulam, India, —
Events are following immediately upon the reception into the Catholic Church of Archbishop Mar Ivanios, the Jacobite prelate, at Quilon recently, bringing ever nearer to realization the total conversion of the Jacobite community in Malabar, which numbers 350,000 souls.
The conversion of Mar Ivanios, the Metropolitan of Bethany, and the Jacobite Bishop of Tiruvella, Mar Theophilos, who entered the Church with him, was followed the next day by the reception of a community of Jacobite Sisters, numbering more than a dozen, and a Jacobite community of monks.
These conversions were followed by those of two Rambans, the next highest in rank to the Jacobite bishops, and also some of the leading laymen. News of the conversions has spread like wildfire and has stirred the whole of Christian and even pagan Malabar.
The answer to the situation is to be found directly in the Bethany Movement in the Syrian Jacobite Church of Malabar. It is believed by many students of the matter here that the movement, plus the remarkable recent conversions, constitute a blow from which the entire Jacobite Church cannot rally, and that eventually the whole group will come into the Catholic Church. In any case, it is held certain that many more leading Jacobites will become Catholics.
This Bethany Movement, started by Mar Ivanios while he was the Rev. P. T. Geevarghese, is taking the same lines as the Tractarian Movement led by Newman.
Mar Ivanios is Leader
Mar Ivanios is the leader of the movement. He is a Master of Arts of the Madras University and was the principal of the M. D. Seminary, the leading educational institution of the Syrian Jacobites of Malabar. While serving in that post, he received the offer of a professorship in the Divinity College of Serampore, Calcutta. He accepted the offer and went to Calcutta. A number of Malabar students then came flocking to Serampore and with some of these he began to lead a sort of monastic community life.
Mar Ivanios is the most learned of all the Jacobite bishops in Malabar. He is 47 years old, strongly built and has a tender and winning personality. His great idea was to start an Ashram of Jacobite monks following the rule of St. Basil in Malabar.
With the help of Protestant friends he began his Ashram at Mulanthuruthy, near Trichur, in 1910. The members of the Ashram devoted themselves to prayer, study and manual labor. The movement spread rapidly and the number of inmates increased steadily.
The Ashram was affiliated to the Jacobite Church in 1913 and Mar Ivanios was made its head. The members took a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience.
The movement attracted considerable attention throughout Malabar and even beyond. There was some opposition from a section of the conservative Jacobites, but the movement continued to grow.
In 1925, Mar Ivanios was consecrated a bishop by three bishops of the Assyrian Church of the East. This consecration was not recognized by the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch and a controversy arose.
Mar Ivanios and his followers contended that their rite and liturgy were more akin to those of the early Church than those of the present Jacobite Church. They also emphasized the importance of a closer union with the Catholic Church.
Negotiations for reunion with Rome were opened in 1927 and these negotiations culminated in the recent submission of Mar Ivanios and his followers to the Pope.
The submission was made on March 20, 1930, and was accepted by the Pope on April 18th of the same year. Mar Ivanios was received into the Catholic Church on May 6th.
The conversion of Mar Ivanios and his followers is a momentous event in the history of Christianity in India. It is believed that it will pave the way for the reunion with Rome of the entire Jacobite Church.\
Copyright: The Tablet, Brooklyn, New York, Sat, Nov 15, 1930
Madras (India) — A remarkable ceremony, important in the missionary history of India, took place on September 20, when Mar Ivanios, Jacobite Archbishop, and his Assistant Bishop, Theophilus, were received into the Catholic Church by His Lordship Bishop Louis Benzinger, O.C.D., Bishop of Quilon.
The Jacobites, who number approximately 400,000 in Malabar, South India, were profoundly impressed by the conversion.
Mar Ivanios was formerly Metropolitan of the Bethany Congregation of Jacobite Monks, of which he was the founder. Rumors of his trend to Rome had been persistent for some time, but the formal announcement was not made until August 24 when Mar Ivanios addressed a vast congregation of Jacobites assembled at Bethany from all parts of Southern Travancore.
A public meeting was held after the Mass at which the Archbishop explained at length how he was forced to relinquish Jacobism and become a Roman Catholic by the dictates of his conscience, and by the consideration of his soul’s salvation.
After his formal leave-taking, the Bethany institutions were closed, and the Metropolitan, his Assistant Bishop, and the Monks left the headquarters of the Order for Thiruvella. It is reported that only very few of the Monks of the Order will remain within the Jacobite fold.
Mar Ivanios is regarded as the greatest religious reformer that the Jacobite Church in Malabar has had during its four centuries of existence. As a simple Priest, he was grieved at the state of affairs in the Jacobite Church, and left his post as Principal of the M.D. Seminary High School for higher theological studies, with a view to devoting his life to the spiritual reformation of his fellow-Jacobites.
He organized the Bethany Monks and an auxiliary Congregation of Sisters, and instituted an apostolate of the press. During his intensive apostolic work, his doubts of the Jacobite position increased until his transition to Rome. His conversion is expected to have great influence among the Jacobites of Malabar.
The Jacobite Syrian Christians date from the year 1663 when, with the idea of having their own indigenous bishops, they broke away from the Portuguese missionaries. Their history since has been a series of schisms, mutual excommunications, and quarrels.
Catholic missionary work among them is successful, sixteen Priests and approximately 3,000 people having joined the Catholic Church in recent years.
