Most. Rev. P.M.A. Metropolitan & ... Vs Moran Mar Marthoma

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Most. Rev. P.M.A. Metropolitan & ... Vs Moran Mar Marthoma Most. Rev. P.M.A. Metropolitan & ... vs Moran Mar Marthoma & Anr on 20 June, 1995 Supreme Court of India Most. Rev. P.M.A. Metropolitan & ... vs Moran Mar Marthoma & Anr on 20 June, 1995 Equivalent citations: 1995 AIR 2001, 1995 SCC Supl. (4) 286 Author: R Sahai Bench: Sahai, R.M. (J) PETITIONER: MOST. REV. P.M.A. METROPOLITAN & ORS. Vs. RESPONDENT: MORAN MAR MARTHOMA & ANR. DATE OF JUDGMENT20/06/1995 BENCH: SAHAI, R.M. (J) BENCH: SAHAI, R.M. (J) JEEVAN REDDY, B.P. (J) SEN, S.C. (J) CITATION: 1995 AIR 2001 1995 SCC Supl. (4) 286 JT 1995 (5) 1 1995 SCALE (4)1 ACT: HEADNOTE: JUDGMENT: J U D G E M E N T R.M. Sahai.J. When Lord Jesus Christ was asked by a youngman who was possessed of property what was the road to heaven, the Holy Bible records it in Chapter 19 of the New Testament - the Gospel According to St. Mathew thus. "16. And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17. And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/634316/ 1 Most. Rev. P.M.A. Metropolitan & ... vs Moran Mar Marthoma & Anr on 20 June, 1995 18. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19. Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 20. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 21. Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 22. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions". Turning 'away sorrowful', is the long and short of this litigation between two rival groups of Jacobite Christian Community of Malabar which has been going on for more than hundred years apparently for religious and spiritual supremacy over the Church but really for administrative control and temporal powers over vast assets which have accumulated out of 3000 star pagodas created in Trust in 1808 for charitable purposes by one Moran Mar Marthoma VI popularly called `Dionysius the Great'. This is the third round between the parties in this court, the two earlier being in 1954 and 1959. While deciding the appeal in 1959 this Court had observed that the dispute had been going on for a considerable length of time which has brought in its train protracted litigation involving ruinous costs. The effect of the decision was that for sometime both the parties resolved their differences by mutual adjustment, but `those who hoped - fondly, as events have proved, that the decision of the Supreme Court in Moran Mar Basselios Catholicos v. Thukalan Paulo Avira & others (1958 K.L.T. 721) = AIR 1959 SC 31 and the reported reconciliation following upon that decision would give the quietus to the litigation, prolific, prolonged and ruinous, arising out of the faction in the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church between what is known as the Patriarch's Party on the one hand and what is known as the Catholicos' Party on the other, counted without the resourcefulness of those entrenched in and of those covetous of positions of power, and we dare say, of profit, and of those who, for one reason or another, have a vested interest in the continuance of the dispute,' [Raman Nayar, J. in Appearl Suit No. 269 of 1960 decided on 3rd April 1964]. How the much negotiated peace and quiet arrived at by written adjustments worked out by issuing letters from both the groups was shaken even before expiry of 15 years since the judgement was delivered by this Court in September, 1958 and what leld to filing of numerous suits eight of which were consolidated by the Additional. District. Judge but were heard and decided by a learned Single Judge of the High Court, as they were transferred under orders of this Court, and were ultimately decided in appeal and cross objections by the Division Bench giving rise to these appeals and various legal issues including whether the suit under Section 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure was maintainable, effect of Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 and whether the decision in earlier suit filed by the appelants operated as res judicata can be, better, appreciated if the history Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/634316/ 2 Most. Rev. P.M.A. Metropolitan & ... vs Moran Mar Marthoma & Anr on 20 June, 1995 how the Malankara Church came to be established, what is its nature and how the two groups Patriarch of Antioch and Catholicos came to be formed leading to internecine struggle and litigation may be noticed in brief. The adversorial duel between the two rival groups has assumed so much of publicity that it has found place even in the Encyclopedia of Religion. It may be prefaced with brief observations about the Christian religion and the Church. Religion is founded on faith and belief. Faith emanates from conscience and belief is result of teaching and learning. Christianity is `a religion that traces its origins to Jesus of Nazareth, whom it affirms to be the chosen one (Christ) of God' [Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 5, Page 693]. `It is embodied both in its principles and precepts in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, which all denominations of Christians believe to be a Divine revelation, and the only rule of faith and obedience' [Faiths of the World by James Gardner, Volume 1, P. 516]. It is `a historical religion. It locates within the events of human history both the redemption it promises, and the revelation to which it lays claim' [The Encyclopedia of Religion, Volume 3, p. 348]. `In its origin Christianity is Eastern rather than Western. Jesus was a Palestinian Jew, and during the early, formative centuries of the church's life the Greek and Syriac East was both numerically stronger and intellectually more creative than the Latin West. Christianity came to India many centuries before it reached Europe as it is believed that St. Thomas, one of the original apostles of Jesus Christ, visited India in 56 A.D. and found the first Christian settlement in the South' [Religion in India by Dr. Karan Singh]. In A.D. 37 Apostolic See at Antioch was established by St. Peter to whom the stewardship of Church was entrusted by Lord Jesus Christ. It took root in Kerala within 20 years of the epoch making events in Jerusalem, the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. St. Thomas, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ visited India in A.D. 51/52 and established 7 Churches in the Malayalam speaking parts of South India. They are known as Malankara Jacobite (or orthodox) Syrian Church, "Malankara" means "Malayalam speaking" `The two Syrian Orthodox Churches in Syria and India, along with the Egyptian (Coptic), Ethiopian, and Armenian Churches, belong to the group of Ancient, or Oriental Orthodox, Churches, wrongly called "monophysite". Their Christology is essentially the same as that of the Eastern Orthodox related to the patriarchate of Constantinople. They affirm the perfect humanity as well as the perfect divinity of Christ, inseparably and unconfusedly united in the divine-human nature of the person of Christ' [Encyclopedia of Religion, Volume 14, page 227]. Jacobite Church is, `a name which the Syrian Church assumes to itself. When the Syrian Churches are interrogated as to the reason of this name they usually allege that they are the descendants of Jacob' [Faiths of the World by James Gardner, Volume II). `Known to the West as Jacobites (after Jacob Baradeus, c. 500-578, the reorganiser of the West Syrians and Egyptians in the sixth century), the Syrian Orthodox Church is found mainly in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, India, the United States, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Sweden. In 1985 the total number of Jacobites, including 1.8 million Indians, was about 2 million, in two separate jurisdictions -- one with Patriarch Ignatius Zakka as head in Damascus, Syria and the other with Catholicos Mar Thoma Mathews I as head, in Kottayam, Kerala, India' [Encyclopedia of Religion, Volume 14 p. 227]. The word `church' refers both to the Christian religious community and to the building used for Christian worship' [Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 5 page 739). The Christian religion is one, but, `Christians differ greatly in their beliefs about the nature of the church' [Encyclopedia Britannica, Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/634316/ 3 Most. Rev. P.M.A. Metropolitan & ... vs Moran Mar Marthoma & Anr on 20 June, 1995 Volume 5, page 739] which was, `originally applied in the classical period to an official assembly of citizens.... In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament (3rd-2nd centuries B.C.) the term ecclesia is used for the general assembly of the Jewish people especially when gathered for a religious purpose such as hearing the Law (Deut. ix, 10, xviii, 16; etc.) In the New Testament it is used of the whole body of believing Christians throughout the world (e.g., Matt.xvi, 18), of the believers in a particular area (e.g. Acts v, 11) and also of the congregation meeting in a particular house - the "house- church")' [Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 5 page 739].
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