Malankara Orthodox Metropolitan Zacharias Mar Theophilus dies in Kozhikode, Kerala, India

The Rev. Fr. Alexander J. Kurien, deputy associate administrator of the office of US government-wide policy in Washington DC, has publicly mourned the death of Zacharias Mar Theophilus, Metropolitan of the Malabar diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. The metropolitan’s death was reported in Kozhikode on Tuesday.

Remembering the metropolitan, Kurien said the church had lost a prominent hierarch known for his great and long service to the people of God.

Kurien also recalled a friendship that began in 1987 and grew through repeated visits to St. Gregorios Indian Orthodox Church of Greater Washington DC and to the metropolitan’s residence. “Already at that time, the unforgettable Metropolitan Theophilos distinguished himself for his deep piety, service to his people, his ecclesiastical ethos, and the special love he had for the sacred services of our Orthodox liturgical tradition,” he said (Colossians 3:23, a life of faithful, long service in the church’s work).

Zacharias Mar Theophilus, also known as M.C. Cherian Achen, was born on September 16, 1952, to M.P. Chandapillai and Achamma Chandapillai at Manjanamkuzhiyil, near Kallupara, Thiruvalla. The source says he grew up as a devout Orthodox Christian at St. George Orthodox Church in Chengaroor. After high school in Kallupara, he studied at Marthoma College in Thiruvalla for his undergraduate degree, completed a Master of Arts at Kerala University, and then joined the Orthodox Theological Seminary.

His further training included a Bachelor of Divinity and a Master of Theological Studies from Serampore University, and study at Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York for a Doctor of Ministry. He received the order of deaconate from the late Yuhanon Mar Severios Metropolitan in 1977. On May 15, 1991, the late Dr. Philipose Mar Theophilos ordained him to the priesthood.

The metropolitan is closely associated with Mar Gregorios Orthodox Christian Student Movement (MGOCSM), the students and youth mission wing of the Malankara Orthodox Church. According to the source, he was elevated as Ramban with the title Zachariahs by Basalios Mar Thoma Mathews II on August 7, 2004, at the Devalokam Catholicate Aramana Chapel. The source also states that the Malankara Christian Association elected him bishop at Parumala Seminary on June 10, 2004, and that he was consecrated a bishop on March 5, 2005.

On December 2, 2006, he was enthroned as Metropolitan of the Malabar diocese. The ceremony was conducted by Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan Baselius Mar Thoma Didymus I at St. George’s Orthodox Cathedral in Bilathikulam. Later, a public meeting to felicitate the newly enthroned metropolitan was inaugurated by Jose Baby, Deputy Speaker of the Kerala Assembly. Aryadan Mohammed, MLA, gave the keynote speech, and the senior-most Metropolitan of the Church, His Grace Geevarghese Mar Osthathios, delivered the benedictory address.

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