Scholar Extraordinary
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Scholar Extraordinary Liju Cherian The first death anniversary of one of the greatest theologians of the Indian Church and a renowned scholar of international repute, late Dr. V.C. Samuel (1912-1998) was celebrated in November last. An ecumenical stalwart, Dr. V.C. Samuel (Samuel Achen for Father for many) passed away last year, unnoticed, except for a few obituaries. A long time resident of Bangalore, he was a man of outstanding accomplishment. He was of the view that the Indian Church should have an Indian identity, not that of any other Church – be it Eastern of Western. Among his numerous works, Fr. Samuel raised fundamental question regarding the identity of the Indian Church as a whole, particularly the Indian Orthodox Community. Dr. Samuel was deeply rooted in the Indian Orthodox Church. He was born into a middle class Syrian Christian family, Edayil, at Omallur, Pathanamthitta district of in Kerala, on April 6, 1912, as the fifth of six sons and three daughters. Dr. Samuel played a pioneering role in making Oriental Orthodox Christology intelligible as well as acceptable to others. He found that his Church was affiliated to Syrian Orthodox Church which struck him as paradoxical. His reasoning was “how could a Church be of India and Syria at the same time?”. He studied and mastered Syriac, but wondered why the Malankara, over the years had failed to evolve a liturgy in Malayalam, the language spoken in Kerala where the majority the Malankara Church members live. With this authenticity of the church in question, Dr. Samuel set himself to study its history. He probed deeply into the legitimate status of his own church in the comity with of churches of the world. Dr. Samuel was a delegate of the Malankara Orthodox Church at three of the famed General Assembly of the World Council of Churches at Evanston (USA), in 1954, New Delhi in 1961 and Uppsala (Sweden) in 1968. The New Delhi Assembly voted him as a member of the Councils Faith and Order Commission and he went on to hold the position for 23 years till 1984. During his tenure, he took an active part in a number of study projects of the Commission and discusses issues raised from an Oriental perspective. Most of these papers have been published under the auspices of the WCC. Father Samuel was a brilliant student in school, despite his ill-health; he completed his schooling with high distinction. He did his primary education in a school founded by his father E.I. Cherian, in his own village. He joined the Union Christian College Aluva, in 1944, as a Priest, 13 years after he had completed his high school studies! Later he followed the regular University programmes of academic discipline. He did his B.A with Philosophy and Psychology, as major from the Travancore University in 1948. With a gold medal. He went on to complete his M.A in Madras Christian College of Madras University in 1950. He completed his theological studies from United Theoplkogical College, Bangalore and obtained the B.D. degree of Serampore University. He secure in Master of Sacred Theology (STM) degree in 1954 from Union Theological Seminary New York and PhD from Yale University in 1957 with distinction, having specialized in the History of Christian Thought. His participation in the Faith and Order Commission of WCC, for 23 years was as an advocate not of Orthodoxy alone but of the larger unity of the Church, now divided in to Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Churches. He felt that the advance of these three traditions towards unity requires an awareness and that it should be opened to change. From 1959 to 1987, he wrote and published 10 book, papers and articles dealing with Christina Theology and Churfch History. Among all his works the book The Council of Chalcedon Re-Examined 91977) is worthly of mentioned. In this, he was able to aptly represent the perspective of the Orthodox tradition in opposition to the Council of Chalcedon to which he belongs. A need was felt to recognize for the Samuels long contributions to the Church and Society, through a foundation. Three months after the death April, 1999 Dr. V.C. Samuel Foundation came into being its first meeting held in Pathanamthitta in Kerala. The foundation was set up to propagate Fr. Samuels’s achievements and researches in Christology, Theology and History and Hindu Philosophy for the advancement of unity among the Churches and for interfaith harmony nd amity in society. The Foundations primary objective was to realise his ambition for the oneness of and fellowship among the Malankara Churches and fulfill his wish for autonomy and in the indigenization of Indian Churches. The foundation also decided to establish a V.C. Samuel chair in universities on the contributions he made to the History, Christian Theology and Hindu Christian Thought and comparison. Dr. Samuel was a distinguished historian of repute and he is quoted by many whenever Christian history is dealt with. He was simple and unassuming and humble. Till his last breath he was in continuous search of knowledge. This dedicated Priest of the Malankara Orthodox Church passed away at the age 86. Throughout his life, he was in close fellowship with the growing community of the Orthodox Christians. The Christian community can look back with pride at the pioneering services rendered by this multifaceted personality● (Excerpts from the SUNDAY HERALD of DECCAN HERALD daily, May 14, 2000, Bangalore) .