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Catholicos of the East is an ecclesiastical title used by Eastern Churches. The title Catholicos, or "universal leader", is used in several Eastern Christian churches and implies a degree of sovereignty and autocephaly. The designation "Catholicos of the East" originated in the see of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital of Persia, center of the Church of the East since the early days of Christianity in Persia. In the Church of the East, also known as the Nestorian Church, "Catholicos of the East" was one of the titles borne by the Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, who was the designated Patriarch of the Church of the East. It is still used in two successor churches, the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East, the heads of which are known as Catholicos-Patriarchs. Later, in the seventh century, the minority Syriac Orthodox Christians who lived in Persia began using the title for its ''Maphrian'', who was originally the head of the Syriac Orthodox Christian community in Nestorian-dominated Persia. This office ranked second in the Syriac Orthodox church hierarchy after the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, until it was abolished in 1860. Saint Thomas Christians were administratively under the single native dynastic leadership of Arkadyaqon (East Syrian term for an ecclesiastical head with extensive administrative powers, deriving from Greek αρχιδιάκονος = archdeacon) and liturgically it was a part of the Church of the East centered in Persia.()() It was not necessary for the Malankara Church to oppose or adhere to Nestorianism as they were outside Roman and Persian empires and the Royal Cheran or Pandiyan kings never interfered in matters of their faith. The indigenous Eastern Church of Malabar/Kerala followed the faith and traditions handed over by Apostle St. Thomas and most of the early churches were named after St. Mary. During the period of Colonialism (i.e., from the 16th century), the Portuguese Jesuits began deliberate attempts to annex the community into the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, and in CE 1599 they succeeded in their attempt through the infamous Synod of Diamper. Resentment against these forceful measures led the majority of the community under their Arkadyaqon Thomas to swear an oath never to submit to the Portuguese, known as the Coonan Cross Oath in 1653. It prompted the Portuguese to call the native Malankara Nazranis consolidated under the Arkadyaqon as ‘Puthenkootukar’ (new traditionlists) and the Roman supporters as ‘Pazhyakootukar’ (old traditionalists) to hide the new Latin hierarchy introduced in Malabar. In fact, Latin rites introduced in Malankara by Aleixo de Menezes, the Catholic Archbishop of Goa, was much more strange and embarrassing than West Syrian rites for Malabar Christians who were genetically accustomed with Syrianism of Asiatic Christianity. The Dutch East India Company defeated Portuguese for the supremacy of spice trade in Malabar in the year CE 1663. Malankara Nazranis used this opportunity to escape from Latin persecution with the help of Dutch East India Company. The Dutch brought Bishop Gregorios Abdul Jaleel of Jerusalem of West Syrian Antiochean Church in their trading vessel in CE 1665. Thomas Arkadyaqon who was consecrated as Mar Thoma I forged a relationship with the West Syriac Orthodox Church and gradually adopted West Syrian liturgy and practices. The church is theologically and traditionally a part of the Oriental Orthodox communion of churches. The Indian Orthodox Church accepts the Miaphysite Christology of St Cyril of Alexandria and uses the Malankara Rite, a local variant of the West Syrian Rite. The members of the Church are known as Malankara Nazaranis or Marthoma Suriyanis.In the 20th century the title "Catholicos of the East" was resurrected in the context of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the ancient Indian church founded by the Apostle St. Thomas which is in communion with other Oriental Orthodox Churches. Contention over the foreign Patriarch's claim to secular authority over the Indian Church, its dioceses and parishes led to a rift in the community, leading the Malankara Metropolitan along with prominent clergymen and laymen to request the Patriarch Ignatius Abdul Masih II to arrive at Malankara in 1912.In 1912, a synod led by the Patriarch Ignatius Abdul Masih II, who had been controversially deposed by the Ottoman government,()() consecrated Evanios as Catholicos of the East, under the name Baselios Paulose I.but patriarch was not deposed by the holy synod. The Patriarch consecrated the Metropolitan Paulose Mar Ivanios as Baselios Paulose I, Catholicos of the East on the Apostolic Throne of St. Thomas. The events divided the church into two factions, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, led by the Catholicos, and the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, who supported the Patriarch. In 1934, the Malankara Syrian Christian Association, which is the parliament of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church decided that the titles Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan should be vested in the same person. Ever since, the Supreme Head of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church holds the title Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan. In 1958 the church was reunited. Following the Supreme Court verdict, the dissident faction which supported the Catholicism agreed that the patriarch would be the supreme head. In 1964, after the death of Baselios Geevarghese II, the Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Ya`qub III, as an expression of friendship came to India. The Patriarch then consecrated Metropolitan Augen Mar Themotheos as Baselios Augen I, Catholicos of the East. However, in 1973, Nor Baselious Augen began to claim that he was sitting on the throne of St. Thomas and that he was the supreme head of the Indian Church. The patriarch sent a letter to him to condemn this teaching, Augen refused. The Patriarch excommunicated the Catholicos because he would not condemn his heretical teaching. In response Baselios Augen I just ignored the Patriarch and claimed that he was still the legitimate Catholicos. The split survives to this day, with the faction supporting the Patriarch being known as the Jacobite Syrian Church and the faction supporting catholicose known as Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. At present, the seat of the Catholicos of the East/Maphrian of the Syriac Orthodox Church is situated in Puthencruz Kerala and he is the head of the Jacobite Syrian Church. The Jacobite Syrian Church is part of the Syriac Orthodox Church and has believers with 1.9 million members and The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, also known as the Indian Orthodox Church, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church centred in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the churches of India's Saint Thomas Christian community, which has origins in the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century The spiritual regional head of the church is the Catholicos of the East and The spiritual regional head of the church is the Catholicos of the East the temporal head over church assets is the Malankara Metropolitan. Since 1934, both the titles vest in one person. The official title of the head of the Church is the "Catholicos of the East and the Malankara Metropolitan". Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II was enthroned as Catholicos of the East on 1 November 2010 at Parumala Church by the Holy Synod, the 91st Catholicos of the East in the lineage of Apostle Thomas, the eighth after reinstatement in India, and the twentieth Malankara Metropolitan.and the church have 2 million members. ==The title ''Catholicos of the East'' during the early Christian era== Catholicos is the title of the primates of various Apostolic churches traditionally used outside the Byzantine empire. The word "Catholicos" means "Universal". The Catholicos of the East is the head of the Eastern Syriac Churches. Eastern Syriac Church includes the Assyrian Churches of Persia, the Chaldean Catholic Church, and the Orthodox Syrian Church of India, which is also known as the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church or the Indian Orthodox Church. It is a tradition for these Churches to believe that Apostle St. Thomas was the first in succession of Catholicoi of the East. The Syriac Orthodox Church says that it established the Catholicate in 410. The minutes of the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (also known as Synod of Mar Isaac), convened in 410 AD under the presidency of Mar Isaac, the Archbishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon disagree with this, saying that it conferred the title "Catholicos" on the Archbishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and made him the head of the bishops of the east.〔Malankara Sabha Vijnana Kosham (Church encyclopedia); published 1991, Old Seminary〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Catholicos of the East」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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