Jacobite Church leaders to visit Beirut

Issues facing the Church in Kerala to be discussed

A delegation of leaders of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church will travel to Beirut in Lebanon early next month on an invitation from Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, universal head of the Church, to discuss various issues facing the Jacobite Church in the State even as a meeting of the synod of bishops of the Church, scheduled for Saturday to consider an auxiliary for Catholicos Baselios Thomas I, was called off.

A spokesman for the Jacobite Church said that the two key decision-making bodies of the Church — Working Committee and the Managing Committee — had recommended on October 9 that an auxiliary could be appointed to help Catholicos Baselios Thomas I, who is aged, in the administration of the Church. The recommendation was that the elected auxiliary could be considered the successor to the Catholicos.

While the synod of bishops was expected to discuss the appointment of an auxiliary in Puthenkurisu on Saturday, the meeting was called off against the background of the invitation from the Patriarch to the senior Church leadership.