The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (MOSC) on Tuesday termed unfortunate the criticisms raised by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against the Orthodox faction in connection with the church dispute.
In a statement, Episcopal Synod secretary Yohanon Mar Diascoros also accused the Chief Minister of taking a biased stance on the issue.
“It is so unfortunate that the Chief Minister, who has the constitutional responsibility to implement the Supreme Court judgment, acted as a spokesperson of a faction.
Like never before, the Chief Minister has also paved the way for other church factions to intervene in the internal affairs of a church. Any attempt to keep the church dispute alive to make political gains will be resisted collectively,” he said.
The Metropolitan also regretted that the Chief Minister had chosen to trust without an inquiry the figures presented by one section regarding the membership position in the parishes.
Further, he also dismissed Mr.Vijayan’s statement on the cemetery issue.
“The Orthodox Church has never prevented the cremation of any of the parish members in the churches under its control. The church was ready to cremate the dead bodies with all due honours but it was the Jacobites who had used those occasions to force the entry of some of the banned priests into the parishes. We have only insisted on conducting the funeral in the presence of the Vicar who was legally entitled,” he said.
Holding that the Orthodox church would rather expect the Chief Minister to make responsible statements by taking into account the various aspects of church disputes.
