page_title: Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares
section_title: Martyr
hierarchical_section_title: Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares / Martyr
caption_attribution_description: English: Julius Mar Alvares Thirumeni Metropolitan Of Goa and Ceylon
context_page_description: Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares was initially a priest in the Roman Catholic Church in Goa. He joined the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church and was elevated to Metropolitan of Goa, Ceylon and Greater India in the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church.
context_section_description: Alvares embraced the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. He was excommunicated and persecuted. He was arrested, stripped of his episcopal vestments and taken through the street in his underwear to the police lock-up and placed into a filthy prison cell without a bed or chair. He was forcibly deprived of his cross and the ring, the episcopal insigne he was wearing. He was beaten and presented in the court. But the government could not prove the allegations and he was acquitted. After a few days, he was arrested again and charged with the offence of high treason, but again the Justice found him innocent. He was no longer allowed to use his episcopal vestments and wore a black robe. When he was persecuted, none of the Orthodox Church people were nearby because he had no support or person in Goa from the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.
caption: An older photo of Alvares
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