I wrote an open letter to Rt. Rev Geevarghese Mar Athanasius, bishop of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, which was also posted on my Facebook wall. Rev Kurien George, a senior priest of the Mar Thoma Church has sent me a letter in response to my letter to the bishop. Excerpts from the letter are published here: Dear Philip, I am sure you will remember me from our college days. We also had the good fortune to meet each other briefly when I had a chance to visit Delhi a few years back. I had the opportunity to read your article regarding Athanasius Thirumeni on Facebook. It was really a joy to read it for the easy literary style and the contents, but more so because you have stood up for something that you believe is the truth. I write this to you with the hope that you would post it on Facebook. I am also aware that by this letter being posted, I will be opening up a barrage of negative options as the grapevine will start to operate to douse out its implications. As is the general trend in any institution or organization where sycophancy and politicking are practiced, you can be sure that the phones will start buzzing as the qualitative aspects of this letter as well as the audacity of its contents prick people at inconvenient points of life. I have never practiced it, but having worked in the secular field I am well aware of the modus operandi used by unscrupulous people to cut a man down to size. I have also seen it practiced in the church and its feeder organizations. The easiest way to bring a man down is to hit him on the moral or ethical sensitive points that will numb his abilities to respond. I would like to take anticipatory bail on this matter and reflect that no one needs to try to bring me down using these or any other tactics as I believe that as the Psalmist says, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” achens and thirumenis (or, for that matter, any religious leader from any religion) included. Moreover, bringing me down will only add to the list in the Epistle to the Hebrews chapter 11. The extent of the sinfulness and deceit will vary from person to person but the truth is known only to God. Also, it would be hypocritical for me to say that, ‘I am holier than thou,’ and, honestly speaking, I do not have the courage to throw the first stone, even though I know for a certain that I have not come close to doing most of the things that the so-called divines have been practicing. An example would be a simple interpretation of the command, ‘Thou shalt not kill’. You do not have to really murder someone to kill a person. There are a hundred and one ways to kill a person without biologically killing him. This is done by our ‘holy persons’ with so much ease and proficiency. The other aspect is that we persons of the cloth have the ability to resurrect some at our will and pleasure, if we are appeased with the right flavours. I have tried very hard not to be this image of the man in the cloth and I do believe that I have mostly succeeded. You can consider this part of my letter as a self-expressed confession that has the Divine absolution since that is the promise we live with, in and through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Also, as I have confessed above that I am a sinner, I can add that I am nevertheless a sinner who loves God and His son Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, so far be it that I make my sinfulness an excuse to keep quiet and allow the house to burn down, fearing my sinful state will be exposed. It would be a good exercise for many defenders of the present state to discredit the truth I am speaking about even by discrediting or punishing me. Fact is that if a sinner like me can confess, I believe that there is salvation in the church, as also for the church. This letter should be an eye-opener for many similar and worse sinners to publicly confess and start a trend that says that the emperor is really naked. I do not want to appear a revolutionary in and through this letter. I am not one, and this letter is neither a poster for malcontents nor a fertilizer for radicals. I am merely hopeful that this piece will help to make our church a better experience of the Kingdom of God. Generally, I would have kept quiet as I have done all these years and gone about doing my business of ‘being the leaven’ in the small way that I can be, in my own quiet corner. As a psychologist I am happy with the work I do, and having tasted the backlash of what happens when you work at something pioneering, (as is well experienced by me in my work in the red light area and the Panvel Mission Center -- may those who were involved take note, though I do not want to rake up old quarrels) I believed that working quietly was the best thing to do. My research in the field of psychology and the grace I have received in using it for the benefit of those around me is enough payback for me. Also, research does not have enemies, only plagiarists (which is tolerable as I believe that no one can claim a monopoly on ideas but honesty is definitely at stake!). However, now I am clearly convinced about one thing and that is something like what Mordecai told Esther, “if you keep quiet now...” I am not trying to cut my nose to spite my face, nor is this to expose the nakedness of the church, but I do believe that if that which has to be “spoken about from the rooftops” as our Lord said it, is not addressed then we are mere cowards. My boss in the secular field used to say, “Kurien, do not make waves,” but I say why not, not only make waves? In fact, I would say that even a tsunami will not save us from our present evil predicament if we keep quiet. There may be some who sincerely believe that these matters should be discussed in the proper forums and not in public. However, I would like to reiterate the basic truth that the Mar Thoma Church is not the private fiefdom of either one or a few, but the church of the Universal Living God (part of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church), and God does not do anything in hiding. Let us remember that confession is not a private matter (though for some situations private confession is called for when it can affect the lives of others), as it is a matter of sinning against God and man (humanity). Therefore, the church (its leaders and members) needs to publicly confess and repent as Israel did in the Book of Kings. Also, for those who think that it is better to continue sinning in private and keep a ‘dry-cleaned’ appearance for public consumption, let us face the truth, “only the naive and ignorant would say that the emperor’s clothes are beautiful when he is in reality naked for all to see,” and sooner than later the inner degeneration will stink sufficiently even for those with the most insensitive noses. Let me remind each one of us that we have reached that state. We can masquerade in our priestly clothing as sheep, but the wolf in us is visible to all who have eyes to see. If the ones who are giving us accolades and praises are keeping this quiet, it is only because they have their ulterior motives as much as we have, but God is not fooled. Here let me coin a new term for the present state of the church: we generally suffer from the personality disorder of spiritual bipolarity, and anyone who knows anything about mental illness can understand this, and some of us definitely suffer from spiritual as well as mental antisocial personality disorder (a little bit of research will help us to understand the symptoms associated with these terms). The culture today is subsumed with corruption, and the people of the church or its leaders are not immune to this. Power can only corrupt absolutely and the great distinction between the powerless man on the cross and the powerbrokers that we are today, is a very visible one (we are the ones who have used His life themes to encroach on the eternal humility for selfish gains). In addition, the deep chasm that separates the ‘Man’ from ‘men’ is so shamefully visible. On the one hand, you see the ‘hapless’ ‘half naked’ lonely Man on the cross and on the other you see the well-fed, fashion-designed men with great sonorous voices, the rich and powerful entourage, making shameless claims from the pedestal of His grave. Whom are we fooling? No wonder Swami Vivekananda, a true man of God, spoke of ‘Churchianity’ as against ‘Christianity.’ Rt. Rev. Geevarghese Mar Athanasius Episcopa has chosen to be with the lonely Man on the cross, and “I can see how lonely you are...” but the Gethsemane of faith reflects the truth of the Gospel and so I would say to Thirumeni, “let your loneliness be the magnet for others to follow...if today, then so much better and if, may be not today but at some other distant date... then too God be praised”. Yours etc Rev. Kurien George
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 08:35:06 +0000
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