Judgment

S. R. DAS, CJI. : In order to appreciate the points urged before us in this appeal it is necessary to briefly narrate some facts which will bring out the genesis of the controversy that has been going on between the two rival sections of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Christian community for a considerable length of time and which has brought in its train protracted litigation involving ruinous costs.

2. In Malabar there is a Christian community commonly known as Malankara 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 Christian 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 Mattancherry Meeting held in 1654 the Roman Catholic Supremacy was thrown off and the Church in Malabar came under the authority of the Patriarch of Antioch who began to depute Metropolitans for ordaining Metropolitans in Malabar. Later on the Patriarch himself also ordained Metropolitans for Malankara. Thus in