Priests, laypeople clash inside Kerala church over old property dispute

Priests and laypeople from two rival Syrian Christian communities clashed inside a church in southern India's Kerala state shortly before Sunday Mass on Aug. 9, prompting police to register criminal cases against 22 people, including priests. The violence at St. John's Bethlehem Church in Piramadom, near Muvattupuzha town in Ernakulam district, was captured on social media and television footage. Priests in liturgical vestments and cassocks were seen confronting and attacking one another near the altar, while members of the congregation also exchanged blows and threats. Police registered separate cases after the two sides filed complaints against each other. The charges include rioting, unlawful assembly, criminal trespass, voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt using dangerous weapons or means, and criminal intimidation.No arrests had been made as of Aug. 11. Police have barred members of both groups from entering the church to prevent further violence. The confrontation erupted when Father Abin Abraham, a priest of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, accompanied by a group of Christians, entered the church citing a recent order from a subordinate civil court that they said entitled them to take possession of it, according to police and eyewitnesses. They said they intended to celebrate Sunday Mass and take control of the church. They were confronted by Father Lalmon Thambi Pattarumadathil, the parish vicar, and members of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, who have been in possession of the church, sources said. The Orthodox side maintains that the church belongs under its administration in accordance with the court order. The Jacobite side, however, says it holds the church under an earlier order issued by a lower civil court. Rony Varghese, a trustee of the Orthodox church, said his priest and fellow Christians went to the church "with a valid court order" but were attacked. "We were acting in good faith as law-abiding citizens" and approached them with a second-level civil court order that asked them to "hand over the church they had kept under their custody for many years due to a wrong order" of the lowest civil court, Varghese told UCA News on Aug. 11. The Jacobites should "have approached a higher court to challenge it instead of attacking our people," he said, adding that they will continue the legal process until they get "justice." A member of the Jacobite Church, who does not want to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the press, blamed the Orthodox group for the latest confrontation. "If they wanted to enforce the court order, they should not have forced their way into the church when Mass was about to begin. They should have served the order through legal channels, giving us an opportunity either to comply or appeal" in a higher court, he told UCA News on Aug. 11. The latest confrontation is part of a century-old dispute between two branches of the Malankara Syrian Christian tradition in India's Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, which recognizes the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, which is self-governing. Both were once part of a community that developed through the historical ties between Kerala's ancient Christian community and the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch. They first split in 1911 but reunited in 1934 under an agreed constitution and recognized the Catholicos of the East as their common head. They split again in 1973, with each side taking control of church properties in areas where it had greater support. The Jacobite Church remains under the spiritual authority of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, whose patriarch is based in Damascus, while the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church has its own Catholicos based in Kerala. The dispute over church properties has continued ever since. In a landmark judgment in 2017, India's Supreme Court ruled that under the 1934 constitution that both groups agree on, the Kerala-headquartered Orthodox Church has the governing power over all parishes and properties of the Church. The Jacobite side has resisted the transfer of many churches, maintaining that it represents the majority in several areas.