Antioch Patriarch’s Church in India faces threat of split

(UCA news).

The metropolitan archbishop of Knanaya archdiocese debarred temporarily by the Patriarch of Antioch for alleged disobedience

An India-based Church group under the Patriarch of Antioch, the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church, faces the threat of a split after the patriarch suspended one of its archbishops for alleged disobedience.

Christians in the Church’s archdiocese based in Kottayam district in southern Kerala state are divided after Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Aprem-II suspended their Archbishop Severios Kuriakose, accused of defying the orders of the patriarch.

The suspension order of May 17 has divided around 50,000 Christians of the Malankara Syriac Knanaya Archdiocese at Chingavanam in Kottayam district, according to T. O. Abraham, the archdiocesan Knanaya Association secretary.

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