Protesters prevent Orthodox priest from entering Kothamangalam church
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Kochi: The Mar Thoma Church at Kothamangalam witnessed tense scenes on Thursday as hundreds of people gathered in front of the church to prevent a priest of the Orthodox Syrian Church from offering holy mass.
Hundreds of Jacobite church followers comprising women and priests assembled at the church and blocked the entry of Fr Thomas Paul, the appointed vicar of the Orthodox faction, who had reached the place with a high court order to offer holy mass.
Fr Paul had sought police protection to celebrate mass at the church, which has been effectively controlled by the Jacobite faction.
The police forcefully shifted away the protesters but the priest could not enter the church. Many of the protesters were arrested but hundreds still remain on the church premises, staging a demonstration. Fr Paul was shifted from the area following mounting protests.
Later, he returned to the church but protesters again prevented him from entering.
The Orthodox Church said that the protests in front of the church were "mysterious". The Jacobite followers were violating the court order, the church said.
Baselios Thomas I, the primate of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, said that the church would not forsake its properties. He said that the people's patience was not infinite and the church would cooperate with any compromise talks initiated by the government.
He said that he reached Kothamangalam after he came to know that undeserving people were trying to enter the church.
Fr Thomas Paul reached the church amid tight security two days after the Kerala High Court dismissed a petition filed by the Jacobite faction against the Muvattupuzha Munsif Court order granting police protection to him.
Jacobites claimed majority of the devotees living in the parish belong to their faction, while Orthodox Church followers are very less in numbers.
Fr Paul alleged that the protest by Jacobite followers and clergy were in violation of the court order.
Recently, a famous church in Piravom, controlled by the Jacobite faction, had witnessed high tension as police entered the premises to implement last year's Supreme Court order giving control of the church to the Orthodox faction.