By Express News Service
KOCHI: The Patriarch of Antioch, who is the supreme head of Universal Syrian Orthodox Church, has written to the Catholicos of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church appealing to maintain peace in the Church. The letter was written in the background of the recent flare-up in the feud between believers of the Jacobite Syrian Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.In the letter addressed to Mar Baselios Paulose II on September 27, Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II said, “We have been continually praying and striving to see lasting peace established in our Church in Malankara.”Aphrem II said he was disappointed that the Catholicos of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the local synod did not accept his invitation for discussions which was in the spirit of the 2017 Supreme Court verdict. “From the above mentioned facts, we believe that it is abundantly clear that all spiritual authorities of our Jacobite Syrian Church in India should accept the Patriarch of Antioch appointed by Universal Synod and be in communion with him,” Aphrem II stated.
