A Time To Refresh Our Pledge Of Loyalty To The Throne Of Antioch

By Dr.Paul Samuel, Trivandrum

It is indeed a matter of pleasure for the faithful of the Syrian Orthodox Church to celebrate the Jubilee of its Supreme Pontiff, HH Mor Ignatius Zakka Iwas.

Our Lord Jesus Christ consecrated our Holy Church upon the firm rock St: Peter. It is written by our Holy Fathers that when Christ asked to his disciples “ Who am I?” St: Peter answered “You are the son of the Living God’. This answer from St: Peter was not a spontaneous one. Rather, his soul ascended to the Heaven to get this answer from the Holy Father. St: Paul who knew this wrote in his Second Epistle to Corinthians that he knows a person who has ascended to Third Heaven where inexpressible words are there not to be uttered by human tongue. St: Paul was referring to St: Peter (2Corinthians 12:2). Such was the magnificient moment when Christ proclaimed the consecration of Holy Church and St: Peter the Chief of Apostles was the foundation of it. The lineage of this foundation stone continues in this modern era through Apostolic tradition handed over by the preceding Prince Patriarchs to HH Zakka Iwas. For us our beloved Moran is St: Peter himself guiding his sheep in the green spiritual pastures.

The inception of the Church was not an incidental one. Nor was it just an accident in the history of mankind. In this modern world where people want to see Christianity and Ecclesia as two different entities (Christianity as a religion where everyone believes in Christ and Ecclesia only as an institution or organization of the Christians), very few realise that without Ecclesia or Holy Church Christianity wouldn’t have survived. Holy Church is the Bride of Our Lord and so it becomes our Mother. That’s why St: Kuprianose says ‘ For those without Holy Church as mother, cannot have God as their father. If only those outside the Ark of Noah survived the flood,will those outside Holy Church get salvation’. Christianity and all its tenets found its way till this present century through the Holy Church. This is a fact which the neo-Christian fellowships forgets and they bring Holy Bible to oppose or misguide the faithful regarding the very existence of the Holy Church. They forget that the Holy Bible was given in its true form to the world by the ancient Holy Church.

The inception of the Church was symbolically represented in the Old Testament by Patriarch Jacob, who saw in his dream angels ascending and descending the ladder to Heaven. Upon awakening, he erected a stone, consecrated oil upon it and offered sacrifice to God. This way he symbolized the great sacrifice and inception of Holy Church. This Old Testament incident was not a miracle; rather it was the will of God. Church is the place where earth meets heaven. That’s why in our songs we sing ‘the names of those people that are written here, will be written in Heaven also and for whom offerings are done here in the Church , they are lucky indeed’.

The rituals of this ancient Church which is also called as the Mother of All Churches, dates back to the Apostolic times. The Annaphora of Mar Yakoub or St:James, brother of our Lord is the first of all Annaphoras and it was taught to him by Our Lord himself by word of mouth. Later St: James wrote,’ I have neither added nor omitted anything to it’. He was the one who taught other Apostles also. In this way Jacob, the brother of Jesus revealed the real principle, which was only symbolized by Jacob, the Great. So Mar Yakoub laid the foundation of the rituals of the Holy Church under the guidance of Our Lord. This legacy has passed on to us till this century and Syrian Orthodox Church boasts about this Annaphora being used in Holy Qurbono till to-date unchanged unlike any other sister churches.

The history of Syrian Orthodox Church is not a simple one. It is rightly mentioned- Catholic Church is a church of utility , where as Syrian Orthodox Church is a church of suffering. It was never a bed of roses for the laity and clergy alike. And when Church faced a severe crises , a new ‘Moses’ was raised from among the Syrians and his name was Mor Yakoub Burdono.Under him ,the Church flourished like rising of a phoenix. Crusades and religious persecution followed in the history with bitter memories smelling blood of faithful in Middle East and rest of the world. But the Church never perished, thwarting the plans of evil forces.

In this modern world also , Church is amidst trials and tribulations. But for the true faithful who consider that the path to heaven is narrow and the door is small, they are toiling for the Church with everlasting perseverance and sincerity. For these millions of faithful world around, they are under the Throne of St: Peter or Throne of Antioch and all the East. And this throne is the everlasting spring of blessings to the spiritual barreness and worldly worries.

The people at Malankara are indeed blessed to be under this Throne and its Patriarch ever since its introduction to Christianity and to the official declaration of Council of Nicea which stated this region to be under St: Peter’s successor. This throne has been the source of priesthood, its sacramental rights and guidance-both temporal and spiritual for the faithful at Malankara. We are blessed to be called as Jacobites, since Patriarch Jacob of Old testament symbolized the inception of Church, Mar Yakoub, brother of Jesus laid down the principle of Queen of Sacraments and Mar Yakoub Burdono raised it from the evil hands. And this name has been truly given to us by God himself. Moran who heads the Church is our leader and our High Priest

On this occasion of the jubilee of our beloved Moran, lets once more refresh our allegiance to the Throne of Antioch. Lets pledge we won’t sacrifice the Church for any petty bribe, rather we will sacrifice our own lives for the glory of Church. Lets pledge we will uphold the tradition and faith of this ancient Church without altering it and our attitude will be like that of Mar Yakoub, brother of Our Lord who stated he hasn’t added or omitted anything to what Christ has taught. Lets pledge we will pass it on to the next generation as we have got it from the Apostles through generations. Lets pledge we will guard our mother-Our Church from the evil forces at any cost. Lets pledge ourselves that we will serve the Church selfless in the years to come.

Lets pray to God to grant our beloved aboon good health and sufficient strength to guide his sheep.

Lets pray to God to grant our beloved aboon good health and sufficient strength to guide his sheep.

Long live HH Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka Iwas

Shubaho L’laho
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Volume 1. Issue 10.
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