Patriarch bats for peace again

KOCHI: Patriarch of Antioch, Mar Ignatius Aphrem Karim, has reiterated his desire to bring peace to the Malankara Church in Kerala pointing out that there was no reason for those who followed the same customs and faith remained divided when churches following different customs were joining hands in this era of Ecumenism.

Mar Aphrem made the statement during a reception given to him by the Malankara Jacobite Archdiocese of the US and Canada at East Hanover in New Jersey on Friday.

The Patriarch asked both the Jacobite and Orthodox factions in the Malankara Church to make sacrifices to achieve peace. The statement, meanwhile, brought further pressure on Orthodox Church head Catholicos Baselios Paulose II, who is also on a visit to the US, to reciprocate to the gesture.

Earlier, the attempts by peacemakers in the Church for a meeting between the Patriarch and Catholicos Baselios Paulose II in the US did not succeed. But the Malankara Sabha Samadhana Samithi has not lost hope with its activists in the US pressing for peace in the Church. Mar Aphrem has granted appointment to Samithi leaders Sam K. Mathew and Babu C. Thumpayil to meet him on Tuesday.

Mar Aphrem, who was in the US as part of a mission to end the wars in Syria and Iraq, was earlier given a warm reception at Mar Ephrem Cathedral, Whippany. Later he was taken in a procession to East Hanover where he got a welcome in traditional Kerala style.