The Orthodox faction of the Malankara church celebrated mass inside the St. Mary's Church at Piravom on Sunday morning under police protection as per a court order. The mass was led by vicar of the parish Fr. Scariah Vattakkatti. He was accompanied by two of his assistants.
Meanwhile, the Jacobite group, which has been holding the church until the police forcibly evicted them from its premises in accordance with a High Court directive, celebrated mass near the busy Piravom junction at a cupola as thousands gathered along the road. The mass was led by Fr. Varghese Panachiyil. No untoward incidents have been reported.
The celebration of the mass by the Orthodox group inside the Piravom church is the culmination of a process that started with the Supreme Court verdict of July 2017, which ended parallel administration and holding of services in the parishes under the Malankara church. Until now, the two factions celebrated mass taking weekly turns as decided by the district administration.
The stand off between the two groups for rights over the church had led to ugly scenes on Thursday. The police had to intervene and forcefully remove hundreds of Jacobite adherents, who had occupied the church for about two days.
While the Jacobite group occupied the church, the Orthodox group had put up a tent outside the church to hold prayers to protest the violation of the Supreme Court verdict.
‘Justice denied’
The Jacobite group described the action on Sunday as denial of justice. The group has maintained that it was being expelled from the church where it had a majority in terms of numbers.
However, the Orthodox group has maintained that it was not expelling any one from the church and that anyone, who believed in the 1934 constitution of the Malankara church, could attend the services and rituals at the church.
Published - December 30, 1999 02:35 am IST
