Thank you so much, Achen, for granting me this chance to say this on behalf of my family.
You have no idea how much it means.
Good evening, everyone,
A lot of what I have to say is of a personal nature. So, please, bear with me.
Joseph MarThoma Metropolitan, the Twenty First MarThoma, was my second cousin.
Before he was Joseph MarThoma, he was Joseph Mar Iraneus Suffragan Metropolitan.
Before that, he was Joseph Mar Iraneus Episcopa.
Before that, one PT Joseph Achen.
Even before that, if you can believe it, a long time ago, he was ‘Baby Achen’ to my Dad’s side of the family.
And before any of this, he was ‘Babychayan’ to my older cousins and me.
How is all this?
My Dad, and Thirumeni’s mother, were first cousins, two sisters’ children.
The two grandmothers, mine and Thirumeni’s, belonged to the Shangaramangalam Thyparambil family of Eraviperoor.
Thirumeni’s parents were, ‘Kadone pengal’ and ‘Lukochayan‘, to my Dad.
I have a habit of calling people even my Dad’s age, the way he addressed them, (eg. Koshykunju and Thankama, Eipechan and Kunjama, Mathaichan and Shoshakutty), thus, Thirumeni’s mother was ‘Kaodne pengal’ for me.
Their house, Palakunnath Kadone, was literally next to the Maramon Convention spot, so for years, this is where we’d be staying, when we went to attend the Annual February Convention.
The house with the grills across the front veranda. Remember it, like it was yesterday.
Even as a young girl, in many ways, I sensed these gatherings were more eagerly anticipated by ‘Kadone Pengal’ and Baby Achen, than by us.
There were 2 personality traits about the Metropolitan that were uniquely at the front and center.
One: what mostly those who came in close working relationship with him soon discovered: he was, more often than not, a tradition mold-breaker. We’ll get to that a bit later.
Second: what many, may not have been observant of: he was intensely loyal to family.
And ‘family’ was a very big tent for him, which included any and all, even distant blood relatives, their spouses, and, on, and on. And with his indefatigable energy, he kept up with them all, at all times possible.
It was, almost as though, these familial bonds meant more to him than it did to the individuals.
Whenever he was in the US, if he couldn’t visit in person, he’d call many of us, just to touch base.
To hear the testimonials of fellow church members, he had a gift for making everybody in his orbit, feel his one-to-one relationship with them was the most important to him.
My dad, being a family man himself, used to take me on these family visits as a youngster, which is what aided me to be in touch with faraway cousins.
Thirumeni, even as an Achen, was a frequent visitor to my house in Kattanam.
Any time, I mean every single time, he was traveling on the Kayamkulam-Punalur Road, sometimes on his way to the Adoor Aramana, he’d take that one mile off tracks, to visit with my grandmother, his grandmother’s beloved little sister.
So, it’s not anything out of the ordinary to say, he’d visit my mother in my brother Santosh and Siji’s house in Avon CT, more than once, one time in the Assisted Care facility even: the woman who received him on countless occasions, with coffee and tea, and meals, while he was visiting, his grand-aunt, all those years ago.
On one such CT visit, soon after Thirumeni entered the house, I, playfully, asked my mother, ‘Amma, do you know who this is?’.
Amma, who was fast losing her stellar, photostatic memory of names of people, and places, and historical facts and dates, took one look at the red cassock and said with a glee in her eyes, ‘Iraenus’.
Just one word.
For which Thirumeni replied with his characteristic wit, ‘hah, ethano kochamaku orma-yillenu arandu paranjathu, ithu ennekatil orma anallo’.
Then, thirumeni who had a certain self-deprecating humor about him, continued, ‘my name has changed several times over the years’, ‘peru eppol pala pravashyam mari-tundu’, now they just ‘call me’ all sorts of things.
Then, the Supreme Head of my Church, noticed the Bible that was always present next to Amma, (in fact, she died with it in her lap), and said with a grin, ‘vedapusthaka-thile karyangal vallathum ariyana-mengil, kochama-yodu chothichal mathi, ennodu chothikanda’.
Even after the passage of time, Thirumeni recalled Amma’s deeply-ingrained love for the Scripture.
KC Varughese Achen, our vicar at the time, was with us on this particular visit.
And in one of my perpetual ‘smart alec’ moments 😊, I asked Thirumeni, if he’d please, please, extend Achen’s stay here with us in Boston to one more year, knowing fully well the answer I’d get.
Thirumeni said, again jovially, I can’t do that, ‘ennepolum eduth kalayan ulla sramam anu, alukal’.
‘They want to, get rid of, even, me’.
In 1979, my most beloved Kattanam Appachen passed.
It was before there were mortuaries or embalming, and the dead had to be buried within the same day, practically before sundown.
Thiurmeni, from wherever he was stationed, rushed over, within hours, and conducted the funeral.
Thank you, Thirumeni.
To single out certain names, Kochumon Mani Mathew, Jiju and Gita Varghese, and Neethu Korah, from our Carmel Church were part of that ‘family tent’ I mentioned earlier.
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None of this is to minimize the controversies he provoked during his tenure as the High Priest of The Church.
Which brings me back to my Point One.
He fully well knew he was ‘controversial’.
My uncle Thampipapen passed in 2009.
Not too long after, Thirumeni who was in NY on Church business, traveled to Boston to visit with my cousin Rejini and Monachen, in Franklin MA.
There, he offered up a 5-minute devotion.
One thought that has stayed with me, from that day, he said, ‘surayn asthamichu kazhinjum, chakra-valathil velichum undu’.
‘Even after the sun has set, there’s still light on the horizon’.
Thank you, Thirumeni.
Later on, I was chatting with him in the living room, (what else does one do with the Head of the Church, right? 😊), while Rejini was busying herself in the kitchen.
There was a bit of a ‘role reversal’ going on here.
Rejini was Martha, serving the Lord, whereas, I was, in this case, the older ‘busybody 😉’, sitting, not at the foot, but very close to, in Malayalam, the Jesus’ ‘Karthavinte Prathi Purushan’.
Thirumeni, on his own, brought up the subject of a young woman, who was divorced, and she was now seeking to remarry, and the Church wouldn’t issue the necessary papers.
As a last resort, her family approached Thirumeni, whereupon, he issued them the voucher, and she was subsequently married.
I still have no idea who he was talking about.
He said he took a lot of ‘flak‘ for this bold act, it grieved him immensely, but to quote him, ‘when I see her face now, and see how happy she is, that is all I care about, and I know I made the right decision‘.
Thank you, Thirumeni.
Story Two: we were visiting with a since-gone, Carmel parish member in an assisted care facility, with a few other Church friends, a couple of years ago, where she recanted a similar story.
This story is not private, she was happily sharing it with all those of us in the room. I’m certain she’d have shared it now.
Years ago, she, while being employed in Madras (Chennai), fell in love with a Hindu man, a Brahmin, and as we can conjure up, this was years ago, and there was no way she could marry in the Church.
As it would turn out, one PT Joseph Achen, was, the Vicar of the Chetpet MarThoma Church, and her Godsend.
He officiated the ceremony for her, with a few of her husband’s family in attendance, but none, not a single person, from her family.
Thank you, Thirumeni.
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In spite of all these departures from established norms, it’s time to distinguish the solid fact, Thirumeni was 102% an champion of the Institution.
Yohanon MarThoma, the first Metropolitan in my earliest memory, was a traditionalist to his core.
It was his dearest desire to see another Episcopa from the ‘Palakunnathu’ family.
The way my memory serves, Joseph MarThoma would be the Fourth Metropolitan of the Church from the Palakunnathu family, since the inception of the Navee-karanam movement, (The Reformation Event in the Malankara Church), that commenced in 1835, along with Abraham Malpan Palakunnath, the Founder of the movement, who has since come to be known as the Martin Luther Of The East.
Even as we knew him as Baby Achen, it was ‘common’ knowledge, he’d become a Methrachen ‘someday‘.
His biggest promoter, mentor, and advocate, was none other than Yuahnon MarThoma. A protege of sorts.
For sure, Thirumeni was cognizant of the enormity of that legacy he was entrusted with, and he carried it well, to his last day.
He may have broken a few Institution Rules along the way.
He proverbially ‘reached across that isle’ to those in different Christian denominations, and differing faiths, in remarkable and genuine ways, and was equally loved back for it.
Following the Commandment of the ONE we are trying to follow, TO LOVE, is never easy.
He never broke that First Law.
It was a very fine balancing act at times, and he struck it artfully.
Thirumeni was affirmed in his application of the Scripture.
And he had the courage of his convictions.
He knew Romans 8, and knew that, Nothing, no Principality, and no Angels, could separate him from the Love Of Jesus Christ.
Let me recite my all-time favourite memory verse, Roma Lekhanam (as my Dad would call it) 8:38, 39: (and I can only do this in Malayalam): ….”marana-thino, jeevano, doothan-marko, vazchakal-ko, adhikarangal-ko, eppol-ullathino, varuvan-ullothino, uyarnthino, azhathino, mattu yathoru srishtiko, kartha-vaya kristhu-yeshuvil-ulla daiva snehathil ninnu, enne ver-thirupan kazhivilla ennu jnan urachirikunnu”.
He ran an amazing race. he kept steadfast faith.
He’s claiming that Prize From The One, as we speak.
Thank You, Thirumeni. You just marked the End Of An Era.
Somehow, I feel assured, that The Sabha is in good hands with a beloved Theodosius Thirumeni at its helm.
Rest With God, dear Babychayan.
And say ‘hello’ to your Kunjunju Ammachen for me.
Blessed Saturday…
mercy
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mercy's musings 