Drama over Patriarch invite to conciliatory discussion

Kottayam: The Orthodox Church faction has dismissed the latest moves for talks initiated by the Patriarch of Antioch as politically motivated in view of the Chengannur by-election.

“The Church authorities were not properly intimated about any discussions and even the letter for the purpose was not  addressed to the Catholica Bava, head of the Church,” said Orthodox Church Bishops’ Synod secretary and Kottayam auxiliary bishop Yuhanon Mar Diascoros.

“They made a dramatic move to invite us for the talks without any prior discussions on the issue. I doubt this was aimed at scoring political points on the eve of the  by-election,” he told this newspaper. 

“If the Patriarch wanted to hold  discussions with both the factions, he should first try to implement the Supreme Court verdict of July 3, 2017 in favour of the Orthodox faction and ask the Jacobite faction to uphold the administration of the Church assets on the basis of the constitution of 1934,” he said.

The synod meeting  on Wednesday did not discuss the visit of the 

Patriarch and no discussions will be held under his mediation, Mar Diascoros said.