H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios, 43, is a member of St. George Orthodox Church, Puthoor, Kollam diocese. He hails from Vattakkattu family, Puthoor, and is the fourth son of late. Y. Daniel and.Chinnamma Daniel. He has completed his B.Sc (Kerala University), LL.B (Bangalore University), GST (Orthodox Theological Seminary, Kottayam), BD (Serampore University), M.Th (St. Peter's Pontifical Institute of Theology, Bangalore), Diploma in Biblical Geography (Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Jerusalem) and Research Study in Old Testament (Federich Alexander University Germany). HG is currently pursuing Doctoral Research in the Old Testament at the St. Peter's Pontifical Institute of Theology, Bangalore. In 1995, H. H Baselious Mathews II ordained him to the priesthood. With an impressive resume and a string of achievements, H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios is now a faculty for the Old Testament at the St. Thomas Orthodox Theological Seminary, Nagpur. He is the author of one book in Malayalam.

Interview with H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios

ICON: Congratulations on being elected to the Episcopal office. Whom do you credit your success with?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: It is not my success, purely a divine call

ICON: What will be your message for aspirants who missed the bus at the association, as well as at various stages of the process?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: Dedicate oneself absolutely to the mission of God in the present capacity. Positions and responsibilities will come before us in its time.

ICON: His Holiness the Patriarch of Antioch is now visiting Malankara. If given an opportunity for an audience with him, what will be your one message?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: May His Holiness be kind enough to initiate the Malankara Church in the path of peace rather than widening the gap. It is the first and foremost thing in witnessing Christ in the pluralistic context of India.

ICON: The relations between the two factions in the church seem to be at their nadir. Do you the see the prospect for a reunion, ever?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: Yes, Church should unite. I strongly believe it is the will of God.

ICON: Can you suggest some unilateral confidence building measures from the Orthodox Church that will help in lowering the temperature and help facilitate a meeting of minds?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: Sincerely we have to work for not to flair up new issues. While keeping the bilateral talks in the top levels we have to initiate confidence-building process among the believers to mitigate the spirit of rivalry to the new generation

ICON: The Malankara Orthodox church seems to be always in the news for the wrong reasons. Is this because we are not presenting ourselves well, or do you think there's room for introspection?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: Both the reasons are to be considered.

ICON: The Catholicate will be celebrating its 100th anniversary of relocation in 2012. Where do you see the Catholicate in the next 100 years?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: The Church should grow more in mission spirit.

ICON: The Old Seminary will be celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2015. Isn't it a shame that such an ancient institution of learning appears content to conduct examinations for its aspiring Orthodox priests based on the syllabus prescribed by the Protestant Serampore University? What will be your remedy?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: It is not a big issue, Serampore is a reputed university internationally accepted. This connection helps our students to pursue our students for higher studies. It also helps our students to have an ecumenical spirit. We have enough freedom to fix our years of study and teach Orthodox Theology in the Serampore system.

ICON: Where do you see our seminaries in the next 100 years?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: Seminaries should be center of academic excellency, and a center of spirituality.

ICON: One or more of you stand the chance of being appointed to North America. The Orthodox Church in North America is blessed in having a sizeable number of US-born youngsters who have heeded the call of God's ministry. Yet many of them, after completion of their seminary courses, are forced to stand in the sidelines because the church is unable to appoint them to an office. How will you reach out to them?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: It is worth to make use of the services of the US born members by appointing them along with the present Vicars. I believe other Orthodox churches in America are making use of this possibilities in their Parishes in order to cater the needs of the locally born members.

ICON: There exists a cultural rift in North America between India-born and US-born members. The former are on a nostalgia trip and cling on to traditions (including the language of divine service) for their moorings. The latter are drifting day by day away from the church, unable to make the connection. How will you handle the situation?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: Same as above

ICON: Continuing this chain of thought, are you in favour of prescribing a retirement age for bishops? If so, what would be the ideal age for retirement? How will the church utilize the services of its bishops, post-retirement?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: It is ideal to retire at the age of 75. The service after retirement can make use of in spiritual centers, retreat homes and Places like Parumala.

ICON: There's a perception among the laity that our bishops lack financial transparency. How will you remedy this perception?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: Should keep proper accounts for all financial transactions.

ICON: One or more of you will be appointed to dioceses with control over churches in the Gulf. The faithful in the Gulf are seething at the endless stream of donation-seekers thronging their churches at any given moment. How will you address their grievance that the church is exploiting them solely as a source of funding with little or no concern for their spiritual welfare?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: When we compare with a local parish in Kerala, I think the Gulf Parishes get more attention from Bishops and Priests for their spiritual needs.

ICON: In the Gulf too, there exists a cultural rift between India-born and native-born members. The latter seems to be more comfortable in the milieu of a personalised Christianity characterized by prayer meetings and witnessing. How will you reach out to such lost sheep?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: The new generation priests are equipped enough to cater the needs of the native-born members.

ICON: Coming to Indian dioceses outside Kerala, with religious fundamentalism on the boil, how will you drive home the message that ours is the original and ancient church of India with its cultural moorings intact?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: In outside Kerala we need a different ecumenical strategy uniting all the traditional churches together to oppose religious fundamentalism

ICON: Do you think the tradition of a monastic life has died down in the church? How do we revive it and offer laymen a chance to recharge their spiritual batteries through access to monasteries?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: It is necessary to revive our Monastic orders.

ICON: Our understanding is that there are no theological or Biblical restrictions against women having voting privileges at the parish, diocesan and Malankara Association levels. What measures will you take to help revise our constitution and provide equal status to women?

H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebios: I strongly believe women participation in the apex administrative bodies should be justly represented.

ICON: Thank you HG for taking time to explain your views and vision to ICON members. We are grateful to you and our prayers are with you as you re-dedicate yourself to assume this most important responsibility.

~ICON Moderators