His
Holiness Mar Dinkha IV Welcomes Malankara Catholicos to the
United States
His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, Catholicos-Patriarch of
the Assyrian Church of the East officially welcomed the
Malankara Catholicos to the United States. Being the first pastoral
visit to his flock in the U.S., His Holiness Baselios Marthoma
Didymus I visited his American parishes from 15 to 20 July,
2006. The various dioceses and communities of the Malankara
Orthodox Church had officially requested the Assyrian Patriarch
to welcome their Catholicos from his see in Kottayam, South
India to the United States.
His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, Catholicos-Patriarch of
the Assyrian Church of the East officially welcomed the
Malankara Catholicos to the United States. |
The
Catholicos had arrived in Chicago on Saturday, July 15 and
was officially received at a public meeting held on Sunday,
July 16, 2006 at the Dominican University in River Forest,
Illinois. Not only where there metropolitans of the
Malankara Church present, but prelates and clergy from the
Assyrian Church of the East, Greek Orthodox Church, Roman
Catholic Church and the Serbian Orthodox Church were also
present, in addition to numerous state senators and government
officials.
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The
official public meeting was inaugurated at 1:30 pm, before
which all the clergy, prelates, Catholicos and Patriarch
processed in pomp to the meeting hall. After numerous
messages of felicitations were read from the president and
other state officials, His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV gave the
official inaugural address welcoming the Catholicos to the
United States. The Patriarch’s message covered
various aspects of the Church’s daily life and governance. His
Holiness particularly touched upon the foundational belief
that all Christians must learn to respect and love each other. The
Patriarch spoke in this regard, stressing the inter-relatedness
of Christian love and the service of the Gospel: “Every
Christian, without regard to ecclesiastical affiliation,
is bound by his or her vocation to remain faithful, and lovers
of God and mankind and respect one another. They are
to furthermore be obedient to the voice and commandments
of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, as revealed
in the life-giving Gospel.”
The
86-year old Catholicos delivered the final message, thanking
all those present for their warm welcome, and most especially
His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV for his official welcome message. Cor-bishop
Kuriakos Thottupuram closed with a vote of thanks to His
Holiness Mar Dinkha IV for his presence and willingness to
officially welcome the Catholicos on behalf of the Malankara
Orthodox Church in the U.S. The cor-bishop also touched
upon the history of the Church, noting the close ties which
existed between the St. Thomas Christians of South India
and the apostolic see of Mar Addai & Mar Mari at Seleucia-Ctesphon,
occupied by the present-day Assyrian Patriarch.
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It is worthy of noting that St. Thomas Christians of
South India enjoy St. Thomas as the apostle who arrived
in India and spread the Gospel in 52 A.D. They were
under the jurisdiction of the Catholicos-Patriarch of the
Church of the East until the arrival of the various Western
missionaries in Kerala, particularly the Portuguese Catholic
missionaries in the late 15th and early 16th century. These
Christians still hold to and esteem the Aramaic language
of our Lord, though they use the vernacular Malayalam tongue
for their services. At present, the headquarters
of the Assyrian Church of the East is in Thrissur, South
India, and is presided over by His Beatitude Mar Aprem,
Metropolitan of the Church of the East, under whose jurisdiction
there are some 40 priests, 40 parishes and 35,000 faithful.
View
the photos of this event. |
