29th July - On this day in the year 1889, Ramban Alvares was raised to the order of Episcopate and consecrated as Metropolitan to the diocese of Ceylon, Goa and India (excluding Malabar) by His Beatitude Joseph Mar Dionysius V (Pulikkottil II) Thirumeni, St Gregorios of Parumala, His Grace Paulose Mar Athanasios (Kadavil) Thirumeni and His Grace Paulose Mar Ivanios Thirumeni (later His Holiness Baselios Paulose I Catholicose) and given the title of Mar Julius at the Old Seminary, Kottayam.
Pulikkottil II Thirumeni mentions of an event which happened in Goa while he (then as Youseppu Achen) was heading to Turkey with regards to his ordination. *
The ship in which Youseppu Achen and group were travelling made a stopover at the Goa port. Youseppu Achen took permission of the captain to get off the ship and buy some groceries/food from the market for the onward journey. After a misadventure at a community pool, he went to the cathedral church (Roman church). Since he was acquainted with few workers/coppersmiths who used to come to Kozhikode and Ponnani for trade purposes; he was hoping to meet some of them after the Holy Mass and seek their help/guidance for the onward journey. Achen waited till the Holy Mass got over. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to find any of those workers, and dejected, he went in search of a marketplace to buy some food.
I think on that day when Pulikkottil Thirumeni was witnessing the Holy Mass, his heart might have greatly desired to see the flame of the Orthodox faith burn in this part of the country. Hungry and amongst strangers- he was looking for coppersmiths in Goa; but in God’s great providence, Thirumeni was blessed with a caring shepherd in the person of Blessed Alvares Thirumeni. On that day, Youseppu Achen was able to satiate physical hunger but he had to wait in prayers for the spiritual cause. Roughly two decades later, in Blessed Alvares Thirumeni, Pulikkotil Thirumeni’s prayers to satiate the spiritual hunger for the cause of communities outside Kerala was answered.
*(At the invitation of His Holiness the Patriarch of Antioch and with the consent of the Malankara Church, Youseppu Kasheesha (later Mar Dionysius V Thirumeni) travelled to Turkey, alongwith Mattummel Geevarghese Kasheesha and Koothoor Thaarappan, to be ordained as Metropolitan. This travel was necessitated by the fact that the Malankara Church needed an able leadership to safeguard its faith and counter the tirade of heterodox teachings and practices that were creeping in.)
May the prayers of the saintly fathers be our refuge always.
In Christ,
Rincy John
Ref: (Translated from Malayalam)-Oru Paradeshayathrayude Katha, His Beatitude Joseph Mar Dionysius V, Pgs 43. Kamat, P.P., (2014). The Goa-Ceylon religious connection: a review of the ‘The Indian Cry’ of Alvares Mar Julius, Archbishop of Ceylon, Goa and India. Sabaragamuwa University Journal, 2013, V. 12 NO. 1 pg-71.
Image from R to L-Blessed Alvares Thirumeni,St Gregorios of Parumala, His Grace Paulose Mar Athanasios (Kadavil) Thirumeni, His Beatitude Joseph Mar Dionysius V (Pulikkottil II) Thirumeni, His Grace Paulose Mar Ivanios Thirumeni (later His Holiness Baselios Paulose I Catholicose) and Mar Abd Esa/His Grace Rene Villate Mar Timotheos**
**- Fr Dr Joseph Cheeran addresses as Mar Timotheos in Malankarayude Suvarna yugashilpi and WJ Richards addresses as Mar Abd Esa in The Indian Christians of St. Thomas, 1908.
Pulikkottil II Thirumeni mentions of an event which happened in Goa while he (then as Youseppu Achen) was heading to Turkey with regards to his ordination. *
The ship in which Youseppu Achen and group were travelling made a stopover at the Goa port. Youseppu Achen took permission of the captain to get off the ship and buy some groceries/food from the market for the onward journey. After a misadventure at a community pool, he went to the cathedral church (Roman church). Since he was acquainted with few workers/coppersmiths who used to come to Kozhikode and Ponnani for trade purposes; he was hoping to meet some of them after the Holy Mass and seek their help/guidance for the onward journey. Achen waited till the Holy Mass got over. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to find any of those workers, and dejected, he went in search of a marketplace to buy some food.
I think on that day when Pulikkottil Thirumeni was witnessing the Holy Mass, his heart might have greatly desired to see the flame of the Orthodox faith burn in this part of the country. Hungry and amongst strangers- he was looking for coppersmiths in Goa; but in God’s great providence, Thirumeni was blessed with a caring shepherd in the person of Blessed Alvares Thirumeni. On that day, Youseppu Achen was able to satiate physical hunger but he had to wait in prayers for the spiritual cause. Roughly two decades later, in Blessed Alvares Thirumeni, Pulikkotil Thirumeni’s prayers to satiate the spiritual hunger for the cause of communities outside Kerala was answered.
*(At the invitation of His Holiness the Patriarch of Antioch and with the consent of the Malankara Church, Youseppu Kasheesha (later Mar Dionysius V Thirumeni) travelled to Turkey, alongwith Mattummel Geevarghese Kasheesha and Koothoor Thaarappan, to be ordained as Metropolitan. This travel was necessitated by the fact that the Malankara Church needed an able leadership to safeguard its faith and counter the tirade of heterodox teachings and practices that were creeping in.)
May the prayers of the saintly fathers be our refuge always.
In Christ,
Rincy John
Ref: (Translated from Malayalam)-Oru Paradeshayathrayude Katha, His Beatitude Joseph Mar Dionysius V, Pgs 43. Kamat, P.P., (2014). The Goa-Ceylon religious connection: a review of the ‘The Indian Cry’ of Alvares Mar Julius, Archbishop of Ceylon, Goa and India. Sabaragamuwa University Journal, 2013, V. 12 NO. 1 pg-71.
Image from R to L-Blessed Alvares Thirumeni,St Gregorios of Parumala, His Grace Paulose Mar Athanasios (Kadavil) Thirumeni, His Beatitude Joseph Mar Dionysius V (Pulikkottil II) Thirumeni, His Grace Paulose Mar Ivanios Thirumeni (later His Holiness Baselios Paulose I Catholicose) and Mar Abd Esa/His Grace Rene Villate Mar Timotheos**
**- Fr Dr Joseph Cheeran addresses as Mar Timotheos in Malankarayude Suvarna yugashilpi and WJ Richards addresses as Mar Abd Esa in The Indian Christians of St. Thomas, 1908.
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