Case: Moran Mar Basselios Catholicos And Another Vs. The Most Rev. Mar Poulose Athanasius And Others

2. In Malabar there is a Christian community commonly known as the Malakara Jacobite Syrian Christians. That community traces its origin to 52 A. D. when St. Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ came to Malabar and established the church there. In 1599 A. D. under the influence of the Portuguese political power on the West Coast of India the community accepted the Roman Catholic faith This affiliation, however, did not last long. At a meeting known as Mattancheri meeting held in 1654 the Roman Catholic Supremacy was thrown off and the Church in Malabar came under the authority of the Patriarch of Antoich who began to depute Metropolitans (Bishop) from Persia and Syria for ordaining Mrtropolitans in Malabar.This continued up to 1800 A. D. Between 1800 A. D. and 1842 A. D. the local Metropolitan ordained his successor. The last of the Metropolitans so ordained was Mar Cheppat Dionysius. In 1840 one Mar Mathew Athanasius went to Syria and got himself orained as Metropolitan by the then reigning Partiarch of Antioch. This is said to be the first instance of a Metropolitan being ordained by the Patriach himself.3. There were dispute between the Church Mission Society and the Malankara Jacobite Syrin Church over properties held jointly by them. These disputes were settled by what is known as the Cochin Award made in 1840. This award divided the properties between the two bodies and so far as the properties allotted to the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Cochin were concerned it provided that they should be administered by three Trustees, namely, (i) the Malankara Metropolitan, (ii) a Kathanar (i. e., priestly) trustee and (iii) a lay trustee.4. In 1842 Mar Mathew Athanasius returned to India but Mar Cheppat Dionysius refused to hand over charge to the former. In 1846 the Patriarch of Antioch set one Mar Kurilos the settle the dispute. Mar Kurilos adopted a novel way of setting the disputes. He excommunicated Mar Mathew Athanasius and appointed himself as the Metropolitan of Malankara. This he is said to have done by utilising certain blank papers containing the signatures of the Patriarch. Mar Cheppar Dionysius withdrew in favour of Mar Kurilos but Mar Mathew Athanasius persisted in his claim.In 1848 the Travancore Government set up what was called the Quillon Committee to settle the dispute. That Committee decided in favour of Mar Mathew Athanasius who, therefore, took over charge as Malankara Metropolitan. It appears that later on Mar Mathew Athanasius incurred the displeasure of the Patriarch who in 1865 excommunicated Mar Mathew Athanasius and ordained one Mar Joseph Dionysius, who had gone to Syria, as Metropolitan. On the return of Mar Joseph Dionysuis, however, Mar Mathew Athanasius refused to hand over charge to the former but continued in possession of his office and the church properties.5. In 1876 Patriarch Peter III came to Malabar. He called a meeting of the accredited, representatives of all the churches in Malabar which accepted the ecclesiastical supremacy of the Patriarch of Antioch. The said representatives met together in a Sunod called the Mulamthuruthu Synod under the presidentship of Patriarch Peter III.At that Sunod the Malankara Syrian Christian Association, popularly called the Malankara Association, was formed to manage all the affairs of the churches and the community. It consisted of the Malankara Metropolitan as thePresident and three representatives from each church. A Managing Committee of 24 was to be the standing working committee of the said Malankara Association During his stay in Malabar Peter III ordained 6 Metropolitans.6. In the same year Mar Mathew Athanasius died after having ordained his brother Mar Thomas Athanasius as his successor and accordingly the latter took possession of the church properties and began to act as the Malankara Metropolitan.7. On the 4th march 1879 Mar Joseph Dionysius claiming to be the proper person consecrated and appointed Metropolitan of the Jacobis Syrian Church and the President of the Malankara Association filed a suit (O. S. No. 439 of 1054) in the Zilla Court of Alleppey against Mar Thomas Athanasius and two other persons for the recovery of the church properties, movable and immovables, and other incidental reliefs. The most important point in dispute related to the authority of the Patriarch of Antioch over the Malankara Edavagi, i. e., the Syrian Christian Diocese of Travancore. Mar Joseph Dionysius asserted that the supremacy of the Patriarch consisted in his consecrating and appointing Metropolitans from time to time to govern and rule over the said Edavagai, sending Morone (the sanctified oil) for baptismal purposes, receiving Ressissa from the community to maintain his dignity and generally in controlling the ecclesiastical and temporal affairs of the Edavagai.Mar Thomas Athanasius contention amounted to a total denial of such alleged supremacy of the Patriarch. According to him the Patriarch could not claim, as a matter of right, to have any control over the Syrian Church in Malabar, either in temporal or spiritual matters and that as a high dignitary in the churches of the country where their Saviour was born and crucified the Malabar Syrian Christian community did venerate the Patriarch but that such veneration did not create any right in him to take the position that was claimed for him by Mar Joseph Dianysius.8. After various proceeding to which it is not necessary to refer the Travancore Royal Court of Final Appeal pronounced its judgment (Ex. DY) in 1879 and by majority of 2 to 1 dismissed the appeal of the defendant Mar Thomas Athanasius and confirmed the decree of the lower courts in favour of the Respondent Mar Joseph Dionysius.The paragraph 347 of the majority judgment summarised the conclusion as followsThe conclusion we have arrived at on the whole, are that the Respondents claim is not barred by limitation; that the Ecclesiastical Supremacy of the See of Antioch over the Syrian Church in Travancore has been all along recognised and acknowledged by the Jacobite Syrian Community and their Metropolitans: that the exercise of the supreme power consisted in ordaining, either directly or by duly authorised Delegates, Metropolitans from time to time manage the spiritual matters of the local Church, in sending Morone (Holy Oil) to be used in the churches in this country for Baptismal and other purposes and in general supervision over the spiritual government of the Church; that the authority of the patriarch has never extended to the government of the temporalities of the church which, in this respect, has been an independent Church; that the Metropolitan of the Syrian Jacobite Church in Travancore should be a native of Malabar consecrated by the Patriarch of Antioch, or by his duly authorised Delegates and accepted by the people as their Metropolitan to entitle him to the spiritual and temporal government of the local Church; that the Respondent had been so consecrated and accepted by the majority of the people and consequently had a perfect right to succeed to the Metropolitanship on the death of Mar Athanasius; that the appellant had neither been properly consecrated nor accepted by the majority thereof and therefore had no title to the Dignity and Office of Metropolitan; that the appellant possession of the properties of the Church and its appurtenances and the assumption of the office of Metropolitan have been wrongful since the death of Mar Athanasius, the admitted last Metropolitan and Trustee; that the Appellant should, therefore, surrender the insignia and office of Metropolitan of the Malankarai Syrian Jacobite church and give up possession of all the properties and moneys appertaining thereto which he now holds, to the Respondent who would assume and take possession of the properties etc. to be administered with two other Trustees as required by the Endowment Deed (Exhibit III) that the Respondents suit against the second Defendant, second Appellant, having no cause of action, should be dismissed; that the mortagage in favour of 3rd Appellant (7th Defendant) is null and void and should be cancelled : that the clerical errors in the Decrees if the Lower courts above noted should bea result of the aforesaid judgment (Ex. DY) Mar Joseph Dionysius came into possession of the office of the Malankara Metropolitan and of the church properties.9. Patriarch Peter III did not, naturally enough approve of that judgment and in 1892 issued a Kalpana or message (Ex. 172(b) addressed to the 24 members of the Synod appointed at Mulamthuruthu (presumably referring to the managing Committee of the Malankara Association) ordering that thenceforth Mar Joseph Dionysius had no authority to decide any matter in Synod and enter into any common affair of the Dioceses except Cochin or Quilon and authorising the 24 members to elect one of the Kasisas (Priests) as the President. It is not quite clear whether any effective action was taken on the Kalpana.10. In 1905 Abdul Messiah was the Patriarch of Antioch. The Sultan of Turkey withdrew the firman he had issued in favour of Abdul Messiah and issued a fresh Firman in favour of one Abdulla II. It was a matter of dispute whether there was a valid Synodical removal of Abdul Mesiah from the office of Patriarch.11. In 1907 one Mar Geeverghese Dionysius, whose name figures very prominently in the present proceedings, went to Syria and got himself ordained as a Metropolitan. In 1909 Mar Joseph Dionysius died. The Malankara Association elected and installed Mar Geeverghese Dionysius as the Malankara Metropolitan and as such he became thePresident of the Malankara Association and one of the trustees of the church properties. The other twoof Mar Joseph Dionysius, namely, Kora Mathan Malphan and C.J. Kurean, continued asof Mar Geeverghese Dionysius.12. In 1909 Abdulla II came to Malabar. He convened a meeting of the Malankara Association at the old Seminary of Kottayam and demanded that the said Association should accept and acknowledge the temporal authority of the Patriarch. The congregation, it is said, declined to comply with such demand and the meeting ended in confusion. Abdulla II thereafter visited the parish churches separately and attempted to get Udampadis (submisssion deeds) acknowledging spiritual and temporal supremacy of the patriarch and actually succeeded in getting them from some of the churches.Abdulla II started ordaining new Metropolitans who gave Udampadis to him. He excommunicated those who declined to do so and by issuing Kalpanas he enjoined the faithful not to have anything to do with them. In 1910 Mar Poulose Athanasius (the first plaintiff and now the first respondent) gave an Udampadi and he was ordained as a Metropolitan. Mar Geeverghese Dionysius, however, declined to submit and give any Udampadi. Accordingly in 1911 Abdulla II excommunicated Mar Geeverghese Dionysius whom he himself had ordained in 1907 and ordained Mar Kurilos as the Metropolitan of Malankara so as to make the latter automatically thePresident of the Association and trustee of the church properties.The other two trustees Kora Mathan Malpan and C.J. Kurean sided with Abdulla II and his new nominee Mar Kurilos. Mar Geeverghese Dionysius thereupon convened a meeting of the Malankara Association. That meeting declared the excommunication of Mar Geeverghese Dionysius invalid and removed Kora Mathan Malpan and C. J. Kurean from trusteeship and appointed two new trustees, namely, Mani Poulose Kathanar (the present second appellant) and one Kora Kochu Korula (since deceased).The said meeting also resolved to enquire into the real position of Abdulla II and Abdul Messiah and suspended the payment of ressissa to the Patriarch. Upon the Abdulla II in 1912 issued a Kalpana (Ex.9) enjoining that his supporters "should entirely keep aloof from these wolves (meaning Abdul Messiah and Mar Geeverghese Dionysius) and that you should not accept them in any way."13. At this stage, in 1912 , Abdul Messiah, whose Firman had been withdrawn by the Sultan of Turkey, came to Malabar. He declared the excommunication of Mar Geeverghese Dionysius by Abdulla II as invalid. In 1913 he issued a Kalpana (Ex.80) established the Catholicate in Malabar as it appeared to him that "unless we do instal a Catholicos, Our Church, owing to various causes, is not likely to stand firm in purity and holiness." By this Kalpana Abdul Messiah ordained Mar Poulose Basselios as the first Catholicos and also ordained three Metropolitans.This Kalpana further provided thusCatholicos, aided by the Metropolitans, will ordain melpattakkars, in accordance with the Canons of Our Holy Fathers and consecrate holy Morone. In your Metropolitans is vested the sanction and authority to instal a Catholicos, when a Catholicos dies. No one can resist you in the exercise of thisafter this Abdul Messiah left Malabar. The position at that time was that there were two rival groups in the Church who were represented by two rival sets of trustees, namely, (1) Mar Geeverghese Dionysius , and hisMani Poulose Kathanar (the second appellant) and Kora Kochu Korula (since deceased) and (2) Mar Kurilos and Kora Methan Malpan and C. J. Kurean , who had sided with Mar Kurilos.14. In 1915 both Abdulla II and Abdul Messiah died and in 1917 Elias became the Patriarch of Antioch. Mar Geeverghese Dionysius and his group contended that Elias had not been duly installed as no notice had been given to the Malankara Metropolitans. On the death of the first Catholicos Mar Poulose Basselios, Mar Geeverghese Philixinos was installed as the second Catholicos and in 1929, on the death of the latter, the present appellant Moran Mar Basselios was installed as the third Catholicos. Both these instailations were made by the local Metropolitans in terms of the procedure prescribed by the Kalpana (Ex. 80) issued by Abdul Messiah.15. In the meantime in 1913 the Secretary of State for India filed an interpleader suit (No. 94 of 1088) in the District Court of Trivandrum against (1) Mar Geeverghese Dionysius, (2) Mani Poulose Kathanar, (3) Kora Kochu Korula, (4) Mar Kurlios, (5) Kora Mathan Malpan and (6) C. J. Kurean for the determination of the question as to which of the two rival sets of trustees were entitled to draw the interest on the amounts standing to the credit of the Malankara Jacobite Christain Community in the British Treasury.The two rival sets of trustees filed written statements interpleading against each other. The suit was converted into a representative suit and defendant 7 to 41 got themselves impleaded in the suit as defendants and supported defendants 1 to 3. During the pendency of the suit Mar Kurilos died and Mar Poulose Athanasuis (the present first Respondent) who claimed to be the successor of Mar Kurilos as Malankara Metropolitans was added as defendant No. 42.16.issues were struck in that suit but it is not necessary for our present purpose to recount all the findings of the trial Court on all those issues. Suffice it to say that the District Judge found and held, amongst otherthat Mar Geeverghese Dionysius was the lawful Malankara Metropolitan and was recognised and accepted as such by the Malankara Syrian Church and as such had become a trustee of the Church properties. (Issue I)(ii) that the Patriarch had only a power of general supervision over the spiritual government of the Church but had no right to interfere with the internal administration of the Church in spiritual matters which rested only in the Matropolitan and that the Patriarch has no authority, jurisdiction, control, supervision or concern over or with the temporalities ofof Malankara (Issue III);(iii) that patriarch Abdulla II did make an attempt to secure authority over the temporalities of the Syrian Church when he visited Travancore in 1085 but that his attempts and pretensions in regard to the government of the temporalities of the Church were illegal and against the interest andof the Malankara Church and the community. (Issue V and VI)(iv) that Mar Geeverghese Dionysius was excommunicated by Patriarch Abdulla II but such excommunication was opposed to the constitution of the Malankara Church as laid down by the Synod of Mulamthuruthu and was cononically invalid and was still recognised and accepted as the Malankara Metropolitan by a large majority of Malankara Christian community. (Issues VII to XVII);(v) that defendants 2 and 3 (Mani Poulose Kathanar and Kora Kochu Korula ) had been elected by the community as trustees to cooperate with Mar Geeverghese Dionysius .(Issue XVIII);(vi) that 4th Defendant (Mar Kurilos) had not had elected and was not accepted and reconised as the Malankara Metropolitan by the community and was not competent to be a trustee. (Issue XIX and XX )(vii) that defendants 5 and 6 (Kora Mathan Malpan and C. J. Kurean) and been validly removed from the office of trustee and defendants 2 and 3 (Many Poulose Kathanar and Kora Kochu Korula ) and been validly appointed in their places. (Issues XXI and XXII) ;(viii) that defendants (Mar Geeverghese Dionysius, Many Poulose Kathanar and Kora Kochu Korula ) did not accept Abdul Messiah or deny the authority of Abdulla II over the spiritual supervision of the Church and they had not by such act become aliens to the faith or incompetent to be trustees. (Issue XXVII)(ix) that the 42nd defendant (Mar Poulose Athanasius, the present first Respondent) had not been canonically ordained or validly appointed as Malankara Metropolitan or as President of the Malankara Association. (Issue XXX to XXXIII);(x) that defendants 1,2, and 3, were entitled to receive payment of the interest inthese findings the learned District Judge passed a decree in favour of Mar Geeverghese Dionysius (Defendant 1), Mani Poulose Kathanar (Defendant 2) and Kora Kochu Korula(Defendant 3) as the lawful trustees of the church properties.17. The Defendants 5, 6 and 42 (Kora Mathan Malpan, C. J. Kurean and Mar Poulose Athanasius) appealed to the High Court. The principal questions urged in that appealWhat was the canon law binding on the Church and what were the power of the Patriarch under that law in regard to the excommunication of Metropolitan ;(2) Was the excommunication of Mar Geeverghese Dionysius by the Patriarch opposed to the canon law and the constitution of the Malankara Syrian Church as laid down by the Synod of Mulamthuruthu;(3) If the Patriarch was by himself competent to excommunication a Metropolitan, whether any procedure had been prescribed to be followed by the Patriarch before the power of excommunication could be exercised by him.(4) If no such procedure had been so prescribed, whether that power had been exercised in a manner consonant with the principles of natiral justice and with no corrupt motive; and(5) Whether the excommunication of Mar Geeverghese Dionysius wasFull Bench of the Travancore High Court pronounced judgment in 1923 which will be found reportedTrav LR 1 (A) and is marked as Ex. DZ in the present proceedings. In paragraph 80 at p. 74 of the Report the Full Bench held that Ex. 18 which was produced by the appellants was the correct version of the canon law which was treated and accepted as such by the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church. The conclusion arrived at by the Full Bench on questions 1, 2 and 3 were summarised in paragraph 124 of their judgment at pp. 114115 as followsOur conclusion on the questions 1,2 and 3 formulate for decision are :(a) That Exhibit 18, and not Exhibit A, is the version of the Canon Law that has been recognised and accepted by the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church as binding on it;(b) That under Exhibit 18, the Patriarch of Antioch possesses the power of ordaining and excommunicating Episcopas and Metropolitans by himself i.e. in his own right and that it is not necessary for him to convene a Synod of Bishops and proceed by way of Synodical action, in order to enable him to exercise these power, the person ordained being, of course, a native of Malabar and accepted by the people;(c ) That there is nothing in the Mulamthuruthu Resolutions Exhibit EL, which limits the powers possessed by the Patriarch under the Canon Law in matters of spiritual character, or which imposes restrictions on him in regard to the exercise of such powers; and(d) That no special forms of procedure are prescribed by Exhibit 18 for observance by Patriarch before he exercises his power ofafter an elaborate discussion of the relevant materials, the learned Judge in paragraph 264 at p. 212 recorded their findings on question 4 and 8 in the affirmative and held that in consequences Mar Geeverghese Dionysius had lost his status of Malankara Metropolitan and Metropolitan trustee. In that view of the matter they considered it unnecessary to express any opinion on the question whether Mar Geeverghese Dionysius had become a schismatic or alien to the Jacobite faith by the repudiation of Patriarch Abdulla II and the recognition of Abdul Messiah as Patriarch.They had that although the Malankara Association had the power to remove them the defendants 5 and 6 had not been validly removed inasmuch as the meeting which had removed them was convened and presided over by Mar Geeverghese Dionysius , an excommunicated Metropolitan and that the proceedings of that meeting having been ab initio void the defendants 5 and 6 continued to be trustees. In the result the Full Bench reversed the judgment and decree of the District Judge and directed that the money laying deposited in Court be drawn by the defendants 5 and 6 and by the person to be thereafter duly elected, appointed and consecrated as the Malankara Metropolitan .18. Mar Geeverghese Dionysius and his cotrustees applied under section 12 of the Travancore High Court Regulation 1099 for review of the aforesaid judgment of the Full Bench. That application was allowed but it was made a condition to the admission of the review that, on the rehearing, the findings recorded,(i) as to the authenticity of Ex. 18 (the then appellants version of the Canon Law), (ii) as to the power of patriarch to excommunicate without the intervention of the Synod and (iii) as to the absence of an indirect motive on the part of the Patriarch which induced him to exercise his powers of excommunication, must be taken as binding. The appeal was then reheard by a Full Bench on the basis of that order.19. After rehearing the appeal the Full Bench pronounce its judgment in 1928 which will be found reportedTrav LR 116 (B) and is marked as Ex. 256 in the present proceedings. Chatfield C.J. , held in paragraph 32 of his judgment at p. 182 of the Report that no enquiry was held into the conduct of Mar Geeverghese Dionysius who was never placed on his defence or apprised of the charges against him or given any opportunity of defending himself and as such his excommunication was invalid and he continued to be the Malankara Metropolitan and as such the Metropolitan trustee and therefore, the meeting which removed defendents 5 and 6 was validly convened by a competent Metropolitan .To the same effect were the findings on this point of Joseph Thaliath , J. at p. 204 and of Parameswaran Pillai, J., in Paragraph 48 of his judgment at p. 250. Learned Advocate for the then appellants fell back on the case that quite irrespective of the validity of the excommunication Mar Geeverghese Dionysius and hiscould not be permitted to act as trustees for the Jacobite Church as they had rendered themselves aliens to the faith by reason, amongst others, of their repudiating the lawful Patriarch Abdulla II and accepting unlawful Patriarch Abdul Messiah and by upholding the Catholicate.It was contended on the authority of the decision of the House of LordsChurch of Scotland v. Overtoun, 1904 AC 515 ( C ) that Mar Geeverghese Dionysius and his adherents had set up a new Church effectively freed from the control of the Patriarch and that if he and hiswere allowed to act as trustees they would divert the trust funds of the former Jacobite Church to the use and benefit of a new and strange church.Chatfied, C.J., at pp.negatived this contention with the followingobjection to the trusteeship of defendants 1 to 3 does not seem to have been stated in this form in the written statements of defendants 4 to 6 and 42. In any case it is not contended that the appointment of a case it is not contended that the appointed of a Catholicos is a thing which is in itself forbidden and to work for which is a sign of disloyalty to the church.In the Canon "of Nicca" is given on both Exhibits A and XVIII there is express provision for a great "Metropolitan of the East" who was to have power like the Patriarch to consecrate Metropolitans in the East. All that can be urged against the 1st defendant therefore is that hewith one who was not a valid Patriarch when the latter was doing act which could only be done by a Patriarch or at the worst that he caused this unlawful Patriarch to do such acts. It is conceded by the defendants that if Abdullah had done these acts there would have been no objection.Therefore the whole matter resolves itself into a personal dispute between two claimants to the Patriarchate in which it is said, the 1st defendant deserted the Patriarch who had created him Metropolitan and supported his rival. Such conduct might amount to an eccelesiastical offence for which the offender could be deprived by his ecclesiastical superior but it could not be an offence for which the civil courts could try him or express any opinion as to hisdown on the same page the learned Chief Justicethe circumstances it cannot be said that the church to which the defendants 1 to 3 belong is a different church from that for which the endowment now in dispute was made . Therefore no question of any loss or forfeiture of trusteeship by the by the 1st defendant irrespective of Exhibit L or of any threatened diversion of trust funds canThaliath, J., disposed of this point at pp.of the Report in the followingit is for the ecclesiastical tribunal to pronounce whether a person is guilty of an ecclesiastical offence, and what the consequences are if one is found so guilty. The decisions of secular courts with respect to ecclesiastical matter, by the very nature of things cannot be very satisfactory. We have also to consider the probable inconvenience that will result from the temporal courts determining whether a person is guilty of any declaration made by proper ecclesiastical tribunals.If we are now to enquire into the alleged offence of schism of the 1st defendant , it will come to this. Every time the , trustee applies for the interest on the trust fund, there will be some people who are members of the Jacobite Church, to object to the payment of interest, on the ground that the Metropolitan cannot act as the trustee of the Church, since according to them, he is guilty of some heinous ecclesiastical offence or other. And every time, a fresh suit will have to be instituted to decide the question.For these reasons, it seems to me that the better policy for temporal courts to adopt will be not to enter into such questions as long as there has been no pronouncement on the subject made by the ecclesiastical authorities. There has been no such pronouncement in the present case. Hence I have to find this point also against thePillai, J., expressed his views in paragraph 50 of his judgment at p. 251 which runs as followsI have considered this aspect of the case very carefully and have come to the conclusion that there is no substance in this contention. The 1st defendant has not denied the authority of the Patriarch of Antioch and therefore he remains the Metropolitan Trustee of the Malankara Church and he claims to draw the money on behalf of that Church. At best, what he did was, when Abdulla and Abdula Messiah both claimed to be the Patriarch of Antioch, he acknowledged the latter as the true Patriarch in preference to the former. If he was wrong in this he has committed a spiritual offence for which his spiritual superiors might punish him in a proper proceeding. This court has nothing to do with his spiritual offence. " 1904 AC 515 ( C ) referred to in this connection by Sir C.P. Ramswami Iyer, has no bearing upon the facts of this case.The Full Bench, therefore, uphold the decision of the learned District Judge and confirmed his decree. Accordingly Mar Geeverghese Dionysius and hisas the lawful trustees became finally entitled to withdraw the money deposited into Court.20. Within two weeks after this decision was pronounced Mar Julius Elias, the Patriarchs delegate who was in Malankara at the time and who has figured as P.W. 17 in the present proceeding issued an order (Ex. 165) Suspending Mar Geeverghese Dionysius for having " committed several grave offence against the Holy Throne of Antioch and the faith and practices of the Holy Church and repudiated the authority of the ruling Patriarch.In view of the raging disputes between the two sections of the community resulting in acute dissension in the church an attempt was made to restore goodwill and amity and to bring about a compromise and at the instance of Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India, Patriarch Elias visited Malabar in 1931. Elias, however, died in Malabar before he could effect any settlement.After Elias death Mar Geeverghese Dionysius on the 7th March 1932 wrote a letter (Ex. 65)to the Metropolitan in Syria warning them that if notice was not given to the Malabar Metropolitans before the election of the successor to Elias, they would not recognise the Patriarch so elected without notice. In 1933 Ephram was elected as Patriarch of Antioch without, it is said, any notice to the Malabar Metropolitans. Mar Geeverghese Dionysius and his supporters did not recognise Ephraim as the duly installed Patriarch.22. In 1934 Mar Geeverghese Dionysius died. A meeting of the Malankara Association was called at M.D. Seminary. Invitations were issued to all the churches to attent to meeting. Three months before the meeting was held, Patriarch Ephraim issued in Kalpana (Ex. Z) to the effectwho believed in and supported the Catholicos were aliens to the Church and that none of his followers, Metropolitans, priests, deacons and people, shouldwith them or join in any worship pertaining to thethe meeting was held in December 1934. At this meeting the first appellant Moran Mar Basselios was elected Malankara Metropolitan in the place and stead of Mar Geeverghese Dionysius and Ex. AM was adopted as the Constitution of the Church. As a counter measure the first Respondent Mar Poulose Athanasius and other Metropolitans on his side convened a meeting of the Malankara Association at Karingasserai, Notice of this meeting, it is said, was not given to all the churches which supported the first appellant Moran Mar Basselios.This meeting was held in August 1935. At this meeting the first Respondent Mar Poulose Athanasius was elected Malankara Metropolitan and the twoof Mar Geeverghese Dionysius ,namely, the second appellant Mani Poulose Kathanar and E.J. Joseph were removed from the office of trustee and the second respondent Thukalan Poulo Avira and one Joseph Kathanar were appointedof the first respondent Mar Poulose Athanasius.23. It was in these circumstances that in 1938 the first and the second Respondents, namely, Mar Poulose Athanasius and Thukalan Poulo Avira Puliathu and the said Joseph Kathanar filed in the District Court of Kottayam a suit (being O.S. No. 111 of 1113) against the first and the second appellants, namely, Moran Mar Basselions Catholicos and Mani Poulose Kathanar and the said E. J. Joseph. It is out of the suit that the present appeal has arisen and it is necessary, therefore, to analyse the plaint in some details.The properties claimed to belong to the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church and which have to be administered by three trustee, namely, the Malankara Metropolitan, a clergyman and a layman to be elected by the church are mentioned in paragraphs 1 and 2 of the plaint. The salient facts summarised above as constituting the background of the present dispute are concisely set forth in paragraphs 3 to 12 of the plaint. Reference is then made in paragraph 13 and 14 of the plaint to the meeting said to be meeting of the Malankara Association and said to have been held at Karingasserai in August 1935.It is alleged that at that meeting the first plaintiff was elected as the Malankara Metropolitan and the second and third plaintiffs were elected respectively as the clergyman trustee and lay trustee and that the second and the third defendants had been removed from trusteeship. In paragraph 15 is formulated the plaintiffs claim to be in possession of the church properties. In defendants allegedly founded on their election as the Malankara Metropolitan and trustee at a meeting of the Malankara Association said to have been held in December 1934.It is alleged that the last mentioned meeting was not convened by competent persons nor was due notice given to all the churches. In paragraph 22 it is stated that for reasons mentioned therein below and more particularly specified in paragraph 26, the first defendant was disqualified and unfit to be the Malankara Metropolitan. The reasons set forth are five in number and each of them is characterised as amounting to a denial or repudiation of the authority of His Holiness the Patriarch of Antioch.The contentions formulated in paragraph 23 to 25 are that the acts and pretensions referred to in paragraph 22 constituted heresy and that the first defending as well as the second and third defendants who were supporting andwith the first defendant had become ipso facto herein and alien to the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church .Paragraph 26 of the plaint runs thusthe defendant and their partisans have voluntarily separated themselves from the ancient, Jacobite Syrian Church and have constituted for themselves, a new church called "Matankara orthodox Syrian Church." According to the belief and doctrines of that Church, such functions as, consecration of Morone, ordination of Metropolitans, granting of staticons and allotting Edavagais towhich are exclusively within the powers of His Holiness the patriarch could be done by the first defendant and others, without any recourse to His Holiness the Patriarch.Further it is provided, that Ressissa, which is due to His Holiness the Patriarch, may be paid to the person holding the dignity of Catholicos of the said Church. In short, this act which provides for the permanent constitution of the said Church without any connection with His Holiness the Patriarch and in repudiation and negation of him, as well, constitutes heresy. The defendants have no right to claim membership of the ancient Jacobite Syrian Church . For these reason also, the defendants have become disqualified and unfit to be the trustees of or to hold any other position in, or enjoy any benefit from, the Jacobite SyrianConstitution referred to above is Ex. AM which is said to have been adopted at the said meeting of December 1934. The rest of the allegations in the plaint need not be scrutinised in detail except that it may be noted that in paragraph 35 the plaintiffs claimed to maintain the suit not only as trustees but also in their personal capacity as member of the community.The plaintiffs claimed that they be declared the lawful trustees, that the defendants be declared to have no right to retain possession of the church properties, that the defendants be compelled to surrender and the plaintiffs be put in possession of the said properties, that the defendants be directed to pay meson profit and render accounts of their administration and of the rents etc. realised by them and that the first defendant be restrained from doing any act as Cathalicos of Malankara Metropolitan and the defendants. 1 to 3 restrained from functioning as trustees.24. The defendants have filed their written statement denying the contentions of the plaintiffs. In particular they deny that they were guilty of any act of heresy or that even if they were, they ipso facto ceased to be members of the Church. Paragraphs 22 to 26 are denied in paragraphs 36 to 36 of the written statement. It is averred that there were not two different churches or two kinds of faith and that the defendants had not established a separate church and not separated from the Jacobite Syrian Church.They deny that the meeting said to have been held at Karingasserai in August 1935 was convened by competent persons or was held on notice to all churches. The contend that the said meeting was invalid and the first plaintiff was not validly elected Malankara Metropolitan and the second and third plaintiffs had not been validly elected trustees.It is also pleaded in paragraph 45 of the written statement that it was the plaintiffs and their partisans who had been, from 1085(:1910 AD) contending that the Patriarch had temporal power over the properties of the church, that the Patriarch had the power, acting by himself, toexcommunicate and ordainMelapattakaren (Bishop), that only the Patriarch might consecrate Morone (Holy Oil), that the canon of the church is the book which was marked as Ex. 18 in the suit of 1913 and that the Catholicate had not been validly established and that by thuswith and opposing the Malankara Church the plaintiffs had voluntarily separated themselves and had ceased to be members of the Church.In paragraph 46 of the written statement an alternative plea is taken that the plaintiffs and their partisans had lost their rights, if any, to the church properties by adverse possession and limitation. The defendants contend that in the premises the plaintiffs had not title and were not entitled to maintain the suit.25. The allegations in the written statement are denied and the averments in the plaint are reiterated in the replication filed by the plaintiffs. It will suffice to refer only to paragraph 32 thereof which is as followsThe allegations, in paragraphs 42 to 45 of the written statement, are denied. The defendants are barred by reason of res judicata, from contending, in disregard of the findings, in the final decision, in O,S. 94 of 1088 and the judgment of the Royal Court of Final Appeal, concerning the faith and practices of the Malankara Church the power of the Patriarch over it; and, the canons governing it. These contentions, in paragraph 45 of the written statement, are not available to the defendants, as they had been raised and found against in the said suits.Whatever might have been the views developed among the members of the community, during the controversy, in O.S. 94 of 88, the decision in the case binds people of all shades of opinion. The contention is not acceptable, in law, that the right of any party may be lost, or, other rights may accrue to any other party, on the strength of the positions adopted, by them, during the said controversy. The facts relied on for such a position are neither correct nor acceptable. It is not true to say that alterations have been made in theclarifications called "pleading" which are in the nature of interrogatories and answers thereto have been filed by the parties but they need not be referred to at this stage.26. Not less than 37 issues have been raised on the pleadings. Of them issues 1 and 2 raise the question of the validity of the respective titles of the three plaintiffs, namely, that of the first plaintiff as the Malankara Metropolitan , and that of the second and third plaintiffs as the trustees of the Church properties and the validity of the Karingasserai meeting of August 1935 and issues 6 and 9 question the validity of the M. D. Seminary meeting of December 1934 at which the first defendant was elected as Malankara Metropolitan and the second and third defendants were electedof the first defendant.Issues Nos. 11,12,15,19 and 20 were as followsIs the patriarch of Antioch, the ecclesiastical head of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church or is he only the supreme spiritual head ?(a) What is the nature, extent and scope of the Patriarchs ecclesiastical or spiritual authority, jurisdiction, or supremacy over the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church ?(b) Is the Patriarch acting by himself or through the Delegate duly authorised by him in that behalf, the only authority competent to consecrate Metropolitans for Malankarars ? Or is the consecration a Synodical act in which the Patriarch acts and can act only in conjuction with a Synod of two or more Metrans?(c) Whether "Kaivappu" or "the laying on of hands" which is a necessary and indispensable item in the consecration of a Metropolitan should be by the Patriarch or his duly appointed Delegate alone or can it be done by the Catholicos also?(d) Is the Patriarch alone entitled to and competent to consecrate "Moron" for use in the Malankara Church? Or is the Catholicos also entitled to do it?(e) Whether by virtue ofcustom accepted by the Malankara Church and rulings of Courts, the Holy Moron for use in the Malankara Churches has to be conseceated by the Patriarch?(f) Is the allocation of Dioceses or Edavagais in Malankara a right vesting solely in the Patriarch and whether before exercising jurisdiction in any Diocase the Metropolitan ordained and appointed by the Patriarch (by issuing a Stathicon) has only to be accepted by the people of the Diocese? Or is the allocation of Edavagais, so far as Malankara is concerned not a right which the Patriarch or Catholicos or Malankara Metropolitan has or has ever had, but a right which vests and has always vested in the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Association?Whether a Metropolitan, before he can exercise jurisdiction in any Diocese in Malankara, must have been either elected for the office before ordination by the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Association duly convened for the purpose or accepted by the same after ordination?(g) Is the Patriarch the sole and only authority competent to ordain and appoint the Malankara Metropolitan? Is the issue of a Stathicon or order of appointment by the Patriarch either before selection or election by the meeting of the church representatives or after such election or selection essential, or acceptance by the Jacobite Syrian Association sufficient?(h) what is Ressisa? It is a contribution which the Patriarch and Patriarch alone is entitled a levy as a matter of right? Or is it only in the nature of voluntary gift which may be made to or received by the Patriarch and Catholicos?(i) Has the Patriarch no temporal authority or jurisdiction or control whatever over the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church? Or whether, as the ecclesiastical head, he could exercise and has all along exercised temporal authority by awarding such spiritual punishment as he thinks fit in cases of mismanagement or misappropriation of churchDo all or any of the following acts of the 1st defendant and his partisans amount to open defiance of the authority of the Patriarch? Are they against the tenets of the Jacobite Syrian Church and do they amount to heresy and render them ipso facto heretics and aliens to the faith?(i ) Claim that the 1st defendant is a Catholicos?(ii) Claim that he is the Malankara Metropolitan ?(iii) Claim that the 1st defendant has authority to consecrate Moron and the fact that he is so consecrating?(iv) Collection of Ressisa by the 1st defendant?15. (a) Have the 1st defendant and his partisans voluntarily given up their allegiance to and seceded from the Ancient Jacobite Syrian Church ?(b) Have they established a new Church styled the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church?(c)Have they framed a constitution for the new Church conferring authority in the Catholicos to consecrate Moron, to ordath the higher orders of the ecclesiastical, hierarchy, to issue Stathicons allocating Dioceses to the Metropolitans and, to collect Ressisa?(d) Do these functions and rights appertain solely to the patriarch and does the assertion and claim of the 1st defendant to exercise these rights amount to a rejection of the Patriarch.(e) Have they instituted the Catholicos for the first time in Malankara ? Do the above facts, if proved, amount to heresy?19. (a) Have the plaintiffs and their partisans formed themselves into a separate Church in opposition to Mar Geeverghese Dionysius and the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church ?(h) Have they separate themselves from the main body of the beneficiaries of the trust from 1085?20. I Do the following acts and claims of the plaintiffs constitute such separation?(a) (i)The claim that Patriarch alone can consecrate Moron?(ii) That the Oanon of the Church is Ex. XXIII in O. S. 94?(iii) That the Catholicate is not established?(iv) That the Patriarch by himself can ordain andMetropolitans?(b) Have the plaintiffs been claiming that the Patriarch has temporal powers over the Church?(c) Have they been urging that Mar Geeverghese Dionysius was not the Malankara Metropolitan ?(d) Have they made alterations in the liturgy of the Church?(e) Has the 1st plaintiff executed an Udampady to the Patriarch conceding him temporal powers over the Jacobite Syrian Church and its properties?(f) Have the plaintiffs been acting against the trust?II. Have the plaintiffs and their partisans by virtue of the above acts and claims become aliens to the church and disentitled to be trustees or beneficiaries of the church and its properties?"27. The suit was heard by the District Judge who by his judgment delivered on the 18th January 1943 held, amongst other things, that the acts and conduct imputed to the defendants did not, for reasons elaborately discussed by him, amount to heresy or schism or to voluntary separation from the church and that in any event, according to Canon law, there could be no ipso facto going out of the Church in the absence of a decision of an ecclesiastical authority arrived at on proper notice to and after hearing the person accused of heresy or schism.He further held that although the plaintiffs and their adherents, by taking up the position which they had adopted in 1085 (: 1910 A. D.) and persistently maintained up to date, had unlawfully and unjustifiably created a split in the Church and been guilty of schism, nevertheless the plaintiffs could not be said to have become aliens to the Church or formed a separate Church as they had not been punished with removal orand consequently they had not lost their rights in and to the Church properties as members of the Malankara Church and as beneficiaries.The learned District Judge came to the conclusion that the Karingasserai meeting of August 1935 had not been convened by competent persons and that as the defendants and their partisans were still members of the Church it could not be said that notice of that meeting had been given to all the churches and that consequently the proceedings of that meeting culminating in the elections of the first plaintiff as the Malankara Metropolitan and of the second and third plaintiffs as trustees were not valid or binding on the defendants and their partisans.The learned Judge also held that the M. D. Seminary meeting of December 1934 wherein the elections of the defendants took place was convened by competent persons and that invitations to that meeting had been sent to all churches. In the result, the learned District Judges come to the conclusion that the plaintiffs were not entitled to maintain the suit which was, therefore, dismissed accordingly.28. Being aggrivating the said judgment of the trial Court the plaintiffs appealed to the High Court of Travancore. That appeal (being appeal No. 1of 1119) was heard by a Full Bench of that Court consisting of Krishnaswamy Iyer C.J. and Nokes and Sathyanesan JJ. and on the 8th 1946 was allowed by a majority of the Judges, the Chief Justice dissenting, Nokes and Sathyanesan JJ. held that by adopting the written constitution (Ex. AM) the defendants had repudiated the fundamental principles and tenets of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church and had established a new church and had thereby voluntarily separated from and ceased to be members of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church .They further held that as the defendants had voluntarily gone out of the Church before the Karingasserai meeting of August 1935 they were not entitled to receive any invitation for the said meeting and accordingly the said meeting was validly convened, for notices were given to all churches entitled thereto. The majority judges held that the plaintiffs had been validly elected as trustees and as such were entitled to possession of the church properties. They accordingly allowed the appeal and passed a decree for possession and other reliefs in favour of the plaintiffs.29. On the 22nd August 1946 that is to say, within a fortnight after the High Court judgment was pronounced ,the defendants filed a petition for review of that judgment on the ground that it contained several mistakes or errors apparent on the face of the record and that in any event there were sufficient reasons for the rehearing of the appeal. At this date Sathyanesan J. had reverted to his substantive post of a District Judge. Not less than 92 grounds were set for the in the petition of review.In February 1947 an affidavit affirmed by Sri. E. J. Philipose who was one of the Advocates for the respondents was filed stating that the statement made by Nokes and Sathyanesan JJ. that the respondents Advocate conceded that the plaintiffs had not left the Church and that they were as good members of the Church as anybody else were inaccurate, incomplete and misleading. Along with that affidavit were produced two letters written to the deponent by his leading Advocate Sri. T. R. Venkatrama Sastri whose signature was duly proved by him as genuine. The application came up for ex parte hearing in March 1947 before the Chief Justice, Nokes and Krishnaswamy Pillat JJ. and orders were reserved.In April 1947 Nokes J. retired. On the 4th December 1947 an order was made directing a notice to issue to the respondents to show cause why review should not be granted. The said petition came up for hearing before a Full Bench of three Judges. The learned Advocate for the respondents raised a preliminary point to the effect that as one learned Judge (Nokes J.) had retired could not be maintained, and submitted that the application should, therefore, be dismissed in limine.That preliminery point was referred to a Bench of five Judges and was rejected on the 29th June 1949. The court of Review thereafter took up the hearing of the application on its merits. The petitioners for review confined their objections to fifteen grounds. The Court of review on the 21st December 1951 rejected all of them and dismissed the application holding that there was no error apparent on the face of the record and that there were not sufficient reasons for the hearing of the said appeal. The High Court having declined to grant a certificate under Article 133 of the Constitution, the defendants applied for and on the 14th April 1952 obtained special leave of this Court to prefer this appeal. The appeal has now come up before us for final disposal.

Court's reasoning:
In other words, the old appeal, if restored by this Court on this appeal, will by the combined operation of section 8 of Ordinance II of 1124 and section 8 of the Act of 1125, be an appeal pending in the High Court of the United State. Under our present Constitutionhas become a Part B State and under Article 214 the High Court of the United State of TravancoreCochin has become the High Court of the Part B State of TravancoreCochin and shall have the jurisdiction to exercise all the jurisdiction of and administer the law administered by the High Court of the United State. Such appeal must, accordingly, be disposed of under section 25 of the last mentioned Act.That section does not require any confirmation of the judgment passed on the rehearing of the appeal by the Maharaja or Rajpramukh or any other authority. Assuming, however, that the appeal, if restored, will have to be governed by section 12 of the Travancore High Court Regulation (IV of 1099) even then the provisions of section 11 would have to be applied "as far as may be" and it may well be suggested that the portion of section 11 which requires the confirmation by the Maharaja will, in the events that have happened, be inapplicable. In our opinion, therefore the preliminary objection cannot prevail and must bealready observed, out of the 99 objections taken in the grounds of review to the judgment of the majority of the High Court only 15 objections were urged before the High Court on the hearing of the application for review. Although most of those points have been referred to by learned counsel for the appellants, he mainly stressed three of them before us. We now proceed to examine these objections.Turning to the affidavit and the letters and the ground No. 17 of review it is quite obvious that the defendants had not given up their contention, upheld by the District Judge, that the plaintiffs had been guilty of the acts and conducts imputed to them. What the learned Advocate for the defendants did was to accept the Canon law as interpreted by the District Judge, namely that nobody goes out of the Church without the verdict of an ecclesiastical authority, whether the acts complained of amount to acts of heresy or to the establishment of a new church so as to make the persons who are guilty of such conduct aliens to the faith.If the majority Judges took the view that such was not the Canon law and that the same acts and conduct may have an ecclesiastical aspect in the sense that they amount to heresy punishable as such and may also amount to a voluntary separation from the church which is not an ecclesiastical offence and does not require the verdict of any ecclesiastical authority to place the guilty person out of the church then it was clearly incumbent upon the majority Judges to consider whether the acts and conduct of which the plaintiffs had been found guilty had actually been committed by them and whether such acts and conduct also had the dual aspect, namely, amounted to an ecclesiastical offence requiring excommunication and also to a voluntary separation which not being an ecclesiastical offence did not require an ecclesiastical verdict to place a guilty person out of the pale of the Church. This, on the face of the judgment, the learned Judges failed todo not consider that the contention of the learneded. Issue 20 (1) contains several charges against the plaintiffs and even if charges (a) and (b) have been referred to in the majority judgment, the charges (c), (d) and (e) have certainly not been dealt with. As to the temporal power of the Patriarch the District Judge held in paragraph 58 of has judgment that the Patriarch had no temporal authority or jurisdiction or control over the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church and its temporalities and that the power of general supervision over spiritual Government conceded to the Patriarch in Ex. DY did not carry with it by necessary implication the right to interfere in the administration of the temporalities and properties of the Church.The decision to the contrary in 41 Trav LR 1 (FB) (A) cannot be regarded as having any bearing after that judgment was set aside subject only to three points as herein before mentioned. It does not appear that the majority Judges considered whether the plaintiffs imputed full temporal power to the Patriarch or the limited one as conceded to him in Ex. DY and if they did impute to him full temporal powers whether they had departed from a fundamental tenet of the Church. They do not also appear to have considered whether, if the plaintiffs originally pleaded themselves to the tenet of full temporal power of the Patriarch and thereby departed from a fundamental article and such departure involved their having become aliens, any subsequent change in their attitude by limiting it as in Ex. DY would make athe defendants had not gone out of the Church by asserting that a Catholicate had been established, that the Catholicos can ordain Metropolitans and consecrate Morone than they should have considered whether by denying these assertions the plaintiffs had not gone out of the Church. This they failed to do.They could not properly decline to go into the question of fact on account of the admission of the defendants Advocate that the plaintiffs remained in the Church. Such admission at best was an admission as to canon law and the decision that the defendants had voluntarily gone out of the Church even in the absence of an ecclesiastical verdict necessarily implies that the concession made by the defendants Advocate requiring an ecclesiastical verdict as a condition precedent to voluntary separation also was obviously wrong and an erroneous concession of law made by the defendants Advocate could not be relied upon for saving the plaintiffs. The facts, therefore, thatNo.11 filed in the High Court by the defendants does not appear to have been pressed makes no difference. In our opinion for reasons stated above, this head of objection raised by the learned Advocate for the Appellants before us isand the judgments of the majority Judges are vitiated by an error of a kind which is sufficient reason within the meaning of the Code of Civil Procedure for allowing the review.The above discussion, in our opinion is quite sufficient for the purpose of disposing of this appeal and it is not necessary to go into the several other minor points raised before us. In our opinion the appellants have made out a valid ground for allowing their application for review. We accordingly allow this appeal, set aside the judgment of the High Court and admit the review. As the different points involved in this appeal are intimately interconnected we direct the entire appeal to be reheard on all points unless both parties accept any of the findings of the High Court. The cost must follow the event and we order that appellants must get the costs of this appeal before us and of the application for review before the High Court41. We need hardly add that the observation that we have made in this judgment are only for the purpose of this application for review and should not be taken or read as observations on the merits of the appeal now restored and to be reheard by the High Court.