Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE Society
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| Founded | 2007 |
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| Founders | George Alexander, Boaz John, Deacon Subin Varghese |
| Type | Non-governmental organization, scientific and charitable society |
| Focus | Pan-Orthodox Christian unity, conciliar unification of the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches |
| Location |
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| Origins | Orthodoxy Beyond Limits |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
| Slogan | "The United Orthodox Christian Witness" |
| Website | theorthodoxchurch.info |
In India, the Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE Society (OCP) is a society for the promotion of Orthodox Christian unity and faith established under the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act of 1955.[1] Formerly known as Orthodoxy Beyond Limits, the society's name changed in 2010 and it was registered in July of that year.
OCP accords equal importance to Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches; according to its mission statement, it "firmly believes that both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches are the true heirs to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, which was the Church of the apostles and the Holy Fathers" and "Let us unite together, let us pray together and let us act together for the Unity of Orthodoxy."[2] The society's slogan is "The United Orthodox Christian Witness".
Contents
History
OCP began as Orthodoxy Beyond Limits in June 2007. Inspired by Kyriakose Thottupuram of Chicago, George Alexander, Subin Varghese and Boaz John formed the OBL forum. The forum website was founded by Mor Gregorious Gabriel of Trivandrum and Chorbishop Kyriakose Thottupuram in July 2007 in Chicago.[3] It was initially a forum for Orthodox Christian news encompassing the Byzantine and Oriental Orthodox Churches. A board, consisting of a chancellor, chairman, vice chairman and secretary, was constituted. In 2010, Orthodoxy Beyond Limits was renamed the Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE Society and registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act. K. C. Jacob became chairman, and a 10-member governing board was formed.
Structure
The OCP Society is registered as an NGO under the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955. An executive council is elected from the general body every three years. The council consists of a chancellor, chairman, vice-chairman, secretary, treasurer and five elected members.
The OCP delegate council consists of representatives from Orthodox churches worldwide. As advisers and ambassadors, they make recommendations to the executive council. A panel of advisers acts as correspondents and consultants of OCP, promoting its mission. OCP associates are external supporters without voting rights.
OCP has a number of departments: External Church Relations, Public Relations, Finance, Publications, Church Research and Studies, Charity and Social Welfare and Technical Support. Executive council and advisory board members, ambassadors and associates serve the departments as needed. The departments hire employees, also as needed. OCP members are Orthodox Christian professionals from a number of disciplines worldwide, representing Orthodox Churches, who contribute their time and resources. Membership is offered to practicing Orthodox Christians of the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches.
Activities
OCP Media Network
The OCP Media Network provides news articles, information on the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, resources on Orthodoxy and photographs of Orthodox churches. It is updated regularly with news, photos, articles and events from the Orthodox world, focusing on news and events from the Ethiopian, Chinese, Pakistani and Indonesian Orthodox Churches.
Meetings and visits
The OCP Society conducts visits, interviews and meetings with delegates from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church in Lebanon, the British Orthodox Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church. An OCP delegation visited the Brahmavar Orthodox community,[4] (a reunited Latin Catholic Christian community which is part of the Indian Malankara Orthodox Church) in November 2009. A report with a number of resolutions to the Holy Episcopal Synod of the Indian Orthodox Church was published online and contributed to the re-establishment of an episcopal diocese for Brahmavar after 87 years.
The OCP met[5] with Metropolitan Abba Seraphim and a British Orthodox Church delegation in February 2008, which helped the society forge relationships with the British Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. A meeting with the head of the Holy See of Cilicia and a delegation was held in 2010, paving the way to a meeting with the Syrian Orthodox delegation. In February 2011, an OCP delegation met[6] with a Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan delegation from the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch to Malankara and other pilgrims in Kerala to commemorate the 79th dukhrono (memorial feast) of Saint Ignatius Elias III of Manjanikkara. The OCP delegation consisted of Indian Malankara Orthodox Church members and members of the Syrian Orthodox (Jacobite) Church in India, the first official meeting of representatives of both churches since the schism between the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.
In October 2013 OCP Society secretary George Alexander made an official visit to Ethiopia, meeting with Ethiopian Patriarch Abune Mathias, Holy Trinity Theological College dean Abune Thimotheos and Ethiopian Orthodox Church developmental commission chair Abune Samuel. Alexander also met Greek Orthodox Archbishop Petros, archbishop of Axum and all Africa. The visit was organized by Jossi Jacob, a faculty member at Holy Trinity College in Addis Ababa. Alexander made an official request to the patriarchate to organize a second Addis Ababa Conferee in 2015 and interviewed Ralf Lee, a convert to the Ethiopian Church and a faculty member at Trinity College.
On 1 February 2014 an OCP Society delegation received Coptic, Armenian, Indian and Ethiopian Orthodox Church representatives at an Indian Malankara Orthodox Church ecumenical conference, urging greater Oriental Orthodox unity and the creation of a permanent secretariat for administration. In May 2014, Alexander was invited to speak at a Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy mass-media conference in Thessaloniki. He urged unity between the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches and called for an international Orthodox mass-media centre. An OCP Society delegation met with Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch on the Apostolic Throne of St Peter in Antioch and All East, in Puthenkurish (headquarters of the Syriac Orthodox Church in India) on 7 February 2015.
Projects
In 2013, the society's executive council approved two projects. The Metropolitan Alvares Julius Research Project (MARP) aims to publish research about Alvares' life and mission.[7] The Orthodox Christian Educational Institutions project, introduced in May 2013, is an online effort to catalogue Orthodox Christian higher educational institutions worldwide. Related areas, such as Byzantine studies, Coptology and Armenian, eastern Christian and Hellenic studies are also included.
Rediscovery of Orthodox community
In September 2012, MARP chief coordinator Ajesh T. Phillip found Orthodox Christians of St. Gregorius of Parumala in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.[8] An OCP delegation visited the community the following month and published information about their faith, history and living conditions.
Philip rediscovered the Chempatty church, founded in 1890 and belonging to the Independent Catholic Rite of the Indian Malankara Orthodox Church, in 2013. The church was lost in 1956-57. In December 2013 Philip and Metropolitan Dioscoros Yuhanon of the Chennai diocese of the Indian Malankara Orthodox Church visited the community and church in Chempatty and met with its caretakers. The OCP Society planned a new mission and chapel in the area.
Rediscovery of cathedral
In December 2014 MARP rediscovered the lost Cathedral of Alavres Julius in Colombo, once the main church and headquarters of the Latin-rite Indian Orthodox Malankara Church. The church had missions and congregations throughout South India, Sri Lanka, portions of Northeast India and abroad.
Although the church building is in good condition, only a handful of members remains. Eight to ten Sinhalese Independent Catholic (Sinhalese Orthodox) families are currently members of the church; others have joined nearby Roman Catholic parishes.
Members of Our Lady of Good Death Church depend on the nearby Roman Catholic priest for liturgical and spiritual needs. The OCP Secretariat announced plans to research its constitution, present status and historical connection to the Malanakra Orthodox Church.
Publications
The OCP published its first book, on Orthodox Church management, in 2008; a copy is in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church National Sunday School Library. In 2014, the society published their first pan-orthodox book: Collected Writings on Orthodox Christianity: Various Aspects of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches. OCP members contribute articles to national and international print and web media. In addition to Collected Writings, the society has published Orthodox Church of the East in the Twenty First Century: Challenges and Opportunities and The Orthodox Dilemma.
Eritrean campaign
The society advocates for the Christians of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church and their third Patriarch, Abune Antonios, and OCP Secretary George Alexander wrote an article entitled "Detained Patriarch, Persecuted Christians and a Dying Church". The society observed Save Eritrea, three days of fasting and prayer, and its activities have received support from Metropolitan Abba Seraphim and the British Orthodox Church. In May 2014 the OCP Media Network released a photo of Abune Antonios under house arrest, the most-recent update on the leader of the Eritrean Orthodox Church.
Charity
The society's department of charity and social welfare has reached out to the needy since its founding in 2007, with funding in India for education and health needs. The OCP Foundation was begun in 2014 to honour individuals, organize human-resources-development activities, event management and sponsorship and to foster inter-orthodox cooperation and dialogue.
Ecumenism
The OCP Society maintains cordial relations with non-Orthodox churches. In 2015, OCP secretary George Alexander met with prelates of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches and visited churches and convents in Sri Lanka.
Administration
- Chancellor: Kyriakose Thottupuram of Chicago
- Chairman: Lejit George (2007–2010), K. C. Jacob (2010–present)
- Vice-Chairman: Subin Varghese
- Secretary: George Alexander[9]
- Treasurer: Abraham P, Koshy
- Executive council: Thomas P. John, Mariamma Jacob, Boaz John, Soney Cherian, Jacob Mathew
- Representative churches: Coptic Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Church (Church of Greece) Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and All East, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch and All East, Armenian Orthodox Church, Indian Orthodox Malankara Church, Serbian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church, Romanian Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America, Indonesian Orthodox Church - Ecumenical Patriarchate
References
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External links
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- 2007 establishments in India
- Christian organisations based in India
- Eastern Orthodox ecumenical and interfaith relations
- Eastern Orthodox organizations established in the 21st century
- Organisations based in Kerala
- Organizations established in 2007
