Zacharias Mar TheophilusCoimbatore: Dr Zacharias Mar Theophilus, the Malabar Metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, was interred in the Kristhu Shishya Ashramam at Thadakam in Coimbatore on Thursday. The funeral rites were led by Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II, the Catholicos of the East.
Hundreds of people gathered in the ashramam to pay their last respect to the metropolitan bishop. A large crowd from Chengaroor, the birthplace of the bishop, was present at the ashramam.
The metropolitan’s mortal remains were taken to the ashramam from Kozhikode on Thursday morning in a huge procession. He died on Tuesday in a hospital in Kozhikode, where he was undergoing treatment for cancer.
Zacharias Mar Theophilus was laid to rest in a tomb on the northern side of the chapel’s altar.
Bishops and priests of the Orthodox Church attended the two-hour long funeral service. Yuhanon Mar Dioscoros, Alexios Mar Eusebius, Abraham Mar Ephiphanios, Gabriel Mar Gregorios, Mathews Mar Theodosius, Geevarghesee Mar Coorilos, Yuhnon Mar Policarpos, Joseph Mar Dionysius, Yakob Mar Elias, Abraham Mar Seraphim, Geevarghese Mar Yulius and Joshua Mar Nicodimos attended the service.
Former chief minister Oommen Chandy, M K Raghavan MP, Veena George MLA, Justice J B Koshy, Fr M O John, M G George Muthoot, Fr Thomas Kurian Thazhayil and Fr Mathews Vattiyanikkal also paid their last respect.
Zacharias Mar Theophilus is the third Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church to be interred outside Kerala. The first Metropolitan, the Goan Alvarez Mar Yulios, was buried in the St Mary’s Orthodox Church in Panjim in Goa in September 1923. When Dr Stephanos Mar Tevodosius died on November 5, 2007, he was buried in the St Thomas Ashramam at Bhilai in Chhattisgarh.
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