H.G. Thomas Mar Makarios thirumeni's Letter to ICON on Faith, Traditions and Expanding our Church in the Western Society

Occasionally, the Moderators consult members of clergy and laity on various matters for additional information, clarification or both. Six years before HG's car accident near London, HG e-mailed to ICON (Then IOIF-Indian Orthodox Internet Forum) in response to an e-mail by one of our Moderators. The Moderator's e-mail, and HG's reply sent on January 11, 2002 are reproduced below. (Some names have been edited out, but the content is kept intact.)

-Moderators, ICON

Letter from ICON Moderators to HG Dr. Thomas Mar Makarios

Your Grace,

Pardon me for taking the liberty to write to you directly. I'm one of the Moderators of the IndianOrthodox Internet Forum. I hope Thirumeni is familiar with our forum as a network of our Church members all over the world. The purpose of this mail is to get some additional information from Thirumeni to help us educate ourselves about a particular topic.

Recently Rev. Fr. xxx of xx wrote to us introducing himself as a "priest recently accepted to Malankara Orthodox Church by Metropolitan Makarios." We remember similar claims before by some others also, and the reactions and concerns raised by many members. We would like to bring to your attention some of those concerns:

-It appears that Fr. xx belonged to another foreign Church, which probably didn't share our faith or practices. What are the criteria for accepting such priests to our Church? Did they meet the eligibility requirements normally met by our priests?

-Our Church has strong ties to our culture and traditions. How will such foreign priests adapt to our expectations?

-Such priests will have the same privileges as the traditional priests. However, will our parishes like the Bronx Church or the Philadelphia parishes accept such a priest as its Vicar?

We hope Thirumeni will enlighten us on the circumstances and the right approach to this issue.

Humbly requesting Your Grace's prayers and support,

xxx

For Moderators, IOIF.

Reply from HG Dr. Thomas Mar Makarios

Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 12:02:27 -0500
From: Bishop Makarios
Subject: greetings
To: xx

Blessings to xx

Dear xx

Thank you for your email. I appreciate the fact that you directly raised this issue to me. Your approach is admirable because many others who without enquiring to get the facts are simply interested in making criticisms. I also want to congratulate you for promoting the IOIF which serves as a worldwide forum for our people to express their ideas, concerns and hopes.

In the case of any priest who expresses a desire to come into our Church before he is accepted into the Church, we give him opportunity to attend our Qurbana for a period of time to make sure that his desire is a genuine one. We also make thorough checks on his ordination status and take the necessary and required steps to make up for any possible deficiency. We also make sure that he becomes thorough in celebrating the Holy Qurbana. For this purpose we usually send him to the Very Rev Dr. Kurian Thottupuram, CorEpiscopa for a considerable length of time.

Regarding their acceptance by our people and parishes,the following facts are noteworthy:

1. The first non-Malayali from the West who joined our Church was a deacon from the Russsian Orthodox Church. He became a regular attendee at the Bronx St. Mary's Church in the late seventies or early eighties. The congregation loved him and the vicar Fr. A. K. Cherian recommended that I should accept him into the Church which we did at a short ceremony in the Bronx Church. Cherian Achen also recommended that he should be ordained to priesthood.

2. Our Malayali congregation in Seattle, WA is served by an non-Indian priest (who I ordained as a priest). Their relationship is much better than some of our other congregations who are served by Malayali priests.

3. Fr. Michael Hatcher was the first non-Indian priest I ordained from the Western society. He went to Kottayam and celebrated the Holy Qurbana in English at the Old Seminary Chapel in the presence of the late Paulose Mar Gregorios, myself, seminary professors and students. After the Holy Qurbana, Gregorios Thirumeni congratulated Fr. Hatcher and admired him for the flawless way he celebrated the liturgy. Bava Thirmeni (Mathews I) invited him to attend the Managing Committee meeting where he garlanded him and made a short speech welcoming him to the Church.

4. Fr. Hatcher and the other priests attend our Family-Youth conferences every year and our younger generation flocks to them for counseling and the sacrament of Confession. Our youngsters who were born, raised and educated in this society can better communicate with these priests than anyone from Kerala.

So, I strongly feel that for the future of our younger generation and the stability of our future Church in this country, it is important and inevitable that we do everything possible to adjust and accommodate ourselves in the a Western society without sacrificing the fundamentals of our faith and traditions.

Regarding your concern about our culture and traditions, I would like to make the following points:

1. It is very important that we do not make any compromise in matters of faith - which we will not.

2. We also are keen to preserve the time-honored traditions of our Church - which we will. In fact, those priests who I ordained or accepted into the Church are paying more attention to our Indian traditions, sometimes even in minor matters. The only achens who wear their black robes and the traditional hats which our priests wear while they travel are achens who belong to the Western society. They are known in their American communities as achens and their wives as kochammas where they are also very strict in observing their canonical responsibilities like timely prayers with their families. Also remember that once the first generation passes away, it may not be very realistic to expect that our second generation (born and brought up here in the West) will be inclined to keep some of our traditions exactly the way we did it or do it in Tiruvalla or Chengannur or Kottayam. And also, in the light of the fact that inter-racial marriages are becoming more frequent and popular, it may not be very realistic to believe that our community in America will be a carbon copy of our community in Kerala. In fact, our church in Kerala in the twentieth century is not a carbon copy of the Church in the 10th century.

Hope this is a satisfactory response to your concerns. Wish you a blessed 2002.

With blessings and love,

Makarios Thirumeni