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 1840 the then reigning Patriarch of Antioch personally ordained one Mar Mathew Athanasius who had gone to Syria for the purpose.

3. In 1808 a trust for charitable purposes was created by one Moran Mar Thoma VI, popularly called Dionysius the great, by investing 3,000 Star Pagodas with the British Treasury at Trivandrum on interest at 8 per cent., per annum in perpetuity. The trust property in dispute consists of this amount & the accretions thereto. It appears that a Society called the Church Mission Society & the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church had come to jointly hold certain properties including this trust property. Disputes arose between the Church Mission Society and the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church with regard to such properties. Those disputes were settled by what is known as the Cochin Award made in 1840. This award divided the properties between the two bodies and so far as the properties allotted to the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church were concerned, it provided that they should be administered by three trustees, namely, (i) the Malankara Metropolitan, (ii) a Kathanar (that is priestly) trustee, and (iii) a lay trustee.

4. In 1876 Patriarch Peter III came to Malabar. He called a meeting of the accredited representatives of all the churches in Malabar which accepted the ecclesiastical supremacy of the Patriarch of Antioch. The said representatives met together in a Synod called the Mulunthuruthu Synod under the presidentship of Patriarch Peter III. The proceedings of that meeting were recorded in writing, a copy of which is marked Ex. F. o. At that Synod the Malankara Syrian Christian Association, popularly called the Malankara Association, was formed to manage all the affairs of the churches and the community. It consisted of the Malankara Metropolitan as the ex-officio President and three representatives from each church. A managing committee of 24 was to be the standing working committee of the said Malankara Association.

5. On March 4, 1879 one Mar Joseph Dionysius claiming to be the properly consecrated Metropolitan of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church and the President of the Malankara Association filed a suit (O. S. No. 439 of 1054) in the Zilla Court of Alleppey against one Mar Thomas Athanasius who claimed to have been ordained by his brother Mar Mathew Athanasius as is successor and two other persons who claimed to be the Kathanar an lay trustees for the recovery of the church properties. Mar Joseph Dionysius asserted that the supremacy of the Patriarch consisted in consecrating and appointing Metropolitans from time to time to govern and rule over the Malankara Edavagai, sending Morone (the sanctified oil) for baptismal purposes, receiving the Ressissa from the community to maintain his dignity and generally in controlling t