Reflections of a Co-sojourner
Rev. Mathew Baby
Yet another milestone in the eventful life of Theodosius Thirumeni! I deem it a privilege to be able to pen a few words on this occasion. All human beings are by nature weak and fragile; but when one consciously accepts the fragility and the weakness, God bestows manifold blessings and His strength is made perfect through our human weaknesses to work for the establishment of His Kingdom on earth. Mar Theodosius is one such remarkable man who serves God in the His great task of remoulding the earth.
We are proud of the services he has been enabled to render to society at large and to the Church, as a priest and a bishop.
A priest with a difference
From childhood he had an affinity towards the great Mission of God. The circumstances of his child hood enabled him to an early awareness of the realities of the world. “I hail from a village in Kerala. I went to primary school was in Ashtamudy where I attended classes up to 5th. My neighbours were mostly Hindus. Ashtamudy being a peninsula, I had friends from Latin Catholic background also, who were mostly fishermen. The majority Hindu community helped me to understand their religion and religious practices. We have a Hindu temple next to our home. I had my early Sunday School Classes in Ashtamudy and later in Kottayam. During my college days I had occasion to be in Student Christian Movement and participated in Students’ Conferences.”
Ordained as deacon at the age of 23 he served Mumbai Parish till he completed 24 to be ordained as a priest. Rev. George Jacob was priest in Calcutta , Canada , and Kozhikode where he established close personal interaction with his parishioners through house visits.. This unique quality of maintaining relationships has been carried over the years in all simplicity and humility even though he has moved up the ecclesiastical ladder with large responsibilities and many calls on his time. He keeps in touch through e mail, letters, visits and calls. He adds beauty to all relationships and people remember him with gratitude and affection.
A Bishop who walks ahead of his time
The Rt. Rev Geeverghese Mar Theodosius is a pioneer who has taken his episcopal ministry to new heights. As Bishop of Kunnamkulam-Malabar Diocese, he paved the way for a fresh look at mission with a kenotic orientation. During that time the diocese had its initial struggles of growth and development. The geographical peculiarities, the landscape, financial constraints, developmental struggles and crises were hurdles in the path of mission and proclamation. But Thirumeni considered these obstacles as potential opportunities and avenues for the realization of mission. His innovative vision, ardent faith, fervent prayers, profound confidence has played a pivotal role in the mission history of the diocese.
During Thirumeni’s time, the places in Karnataka from Mangalore to Goa were under his Episcopal care. Thirumeni purchased land and plots to develop as mission centres and mission projects. The promising missions like Sirsi, Mundugod, Kumta, Honovar, Karwar,Ankola, Hubli, Dandeli, Sankeswar, Goa and Hangal flourished during Thirumeni’s tenure. Karnataka Mission Board came into existence during his time. Thirumeni took all the measures to organize and strengthen the mission activities at various places in the diocese. Thirumeni appointed achens to have local supervision over the evangelists at centre, zone, region, and diocesan level. Mission centres were brought under the supervision of centralized administration.
Mission conferences, Retreats, Refresher courses, Jhatras for the believers, Seeker’s conference, Age wise conferences for the believers, Evangelists feedback sessions were arranged at various parts of the diocese. Hostels were established to look after the poor and academically bright students and the children of Evangelists who work in villages. Marriage aid, education aid, medical treatment aid, home for the homeless, pain and palliative care, land for landless were given to the needy. Mission fund boxes were distributed to the diocesan members and the money was collected for the mission cause. People from other faiths were given due recognition and acceptance. Thirumeni took the lead in providing skills training and training in small scale industries. Challenging assignments given to achens and evangelists kept them awake and alert to the contextual realities. Thirumeni put special provisions in the Diocesan budget and organizational budgets.
Thirumeni conducted village surveys to assess their social needs and emergency concerns. He introduced various schemes to help the villagers to develop their innate resources and to mobilize the unused resources of the diocese. Due to the continuous mission awareness programs, the people of the diocese became mission conscious and committed their very lives for the cause of the Gospel and the kingdom.
In 2005 when he moved to the Chennai- Bangalore Diocese. Due to the geographical rearrangement South Canara is joined with this Diocese. The great experience he had at Malabar helped him to go in a fast pace in the arena of development. The projects aimed at sustainable growth and participatory in nature is picking up and more getting attracted towards this.
Trivandrum-Kollam Diocese also felt the difference when Mar Theodosius was the Diocesan bishop. The development of South Travancore mission fields are note worthy. South Travancore Agency for Rural Development (STARD) maintained at a high esteem at this time. The Parishes in the diocese enjoyed the great leadership of Thrumeni.
The Yuvajana Sakhyam (Youth Fellowship) is the most vibrant organization of the Mar Thoma Church . Sakhyam functions under the four basic principles; worship, study, service, and Witness. Thirumeni’s leadership to the sakhyam as its president for two consecutive tenures is a landmark in the history of Sakhyam. Thirumeni’s vision, hopes, and dreams about the youth of the church was always reflected in his sermons, activities and projects. Thirumeni’s leadership gave a new vigour and charisma to the youth movement of the church. Thirumeni tells “After becoming the bishop in the Church, I am leading so many young ones to the ministry. I try to motivate them through my life style and ministry. I help the seekers through my personal contact and prayer. I take interest in their lives and career. Some of them I help in doing their post graduate studies before joining for Theological Training. Some, I send them to the Mission fields for exposure and involvement”
The social wing of the MTYS, MYSDA has contributed a lot for the poor and needy. The MYSDA helped the poor and weaker sections of the people to have self employment schemes and thereby generated funds for their living. The ITP(Integrated Training Program) of the MTYS trained lot of youth in meaningful social living and witness. National and international youth conferences were arranged to build the spiritual morale of the youngsters. Ecumenical conferences, Young Evangelists conferences, Dalit conferences, and Ladies conferences were frequently arranged at various places. Mission to Parish programs were given supreme significance.
During Thirumeni’s time, Sakhyam had severe financial liabilities. Thirumeni’s unique leadership could solve this financial crisis and now the Sakhyam is well settled. Sakhyam publications, Mar Thoma Yuvadeepam and Ripples had wide circulation just because of Thirumeni’s special interest. Youth schools functioned systematically during his time. The outside Kerala activities of MTYS got special momentum under his leadership. Thirumeni had given personal and exclusive attention to the administration, programs, and projects of the MTYS. Moreover, Thirumeni’s personal relationship with the youth and ability to relate to the youth issues made him dear to the youngsters of our church.
The tenure of Thirumeni as the Diocesan Bishop of different Dioceses will be named as the Golden era of Development, Mission and Witness of the dioceses. Also as the president he kept the activists to the summit.
Uniqueness of Thirumeni
Mar Theodosius is one of the bishops who hardly smile yet he connects with both the young and the old in a peculiarly charismatic way. He is one of the few bishops of the Mar Thoma Church who has sat as the Bishop of the same diocese twice. The Mar Thoma Church is a Global church and has a vast number of diaspora Mar Thoma Christians at different places both in India and abroad. Thirumeni knows that in such a situation the Church has to be open and dynamic in meeting the needs of the people and set new trends in mission. He is industrious when it comes to mission work and gives his heart and mind for the task set before. He is sincere and ardent to his calling.
He maintains his relationships by keeping correspondence through emails and letters to all who have called on him. We can address him as a tech savvy bishop who is ready to use the modern day technologies such as LCD projector, laptop etc… for communicating with today’s generation.
He is a travelling Bishop. A bishop who travels in and out of his dioceses giving pastoral care to the people and the ministers who are serving there is true a shepherd to a travelling people. In my understanding and knowledge about him, Thirumeni makes it a point to visit the entire diocese at least once in a year which is an enormous task, considering the length and breadth of this vast diocese.
He is a missionary Bishop as he is pasturing one of the diocese which has more mission fields than any other diocese in the Mar Thoma Church . As a missionary bishop he takes special care to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the local people in their language and in their culture. At this moment it is has to be mentioned that due to Gods Grace and by the Spirit filled guidance of Thirumeni the parishes in the mission fields are almost equal to the parishes in the city and soon it will out number. For him mission was the core of his being, he writes, “Church is the body of Christ and the Mission belongs to God. The Mar Thoma Church is a highly liturgical at the same time highly evangelical church. We believe in proclaiming the Gospel so that everybody will get a chance to hear it. We believe in being witness to the Gospel. Every Christian to be truly Christian is called to serve God as an evangelist. It moves on to the local congregation with the same spirit. Evangelism is not to be done by a department but by a community. Mission is the whole proclamation of the whole Gospel by the whole people of God. The thinking that missions can be carried out by paying money is a wrong notion. What we need is people and community. in mission. The emphasis is not on activity but as life and its relationships. The Church is a community movement under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and sent forth into the world through the power of the Holy Spirit as the sign and sacrament of the Kingdom of God .”
He can be called as students Thirumeni. He took charge of the diocese during a time when large number of parents from Kerala especially from the Mar Thoma Community was sending their children for higher education in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. These students who for the sake of studies had either no access or very less access to a church for worship, spiritual growth and nurturing easily caught Thirumeni’s attention. Understanding the plight of the students and that of the parents, Thirumeni appointed student chaplains and student workers to look after the needs of this young migrant generation and give them spiritual guidance and counselling. This helped many students to remain connected with their religious faith and practices and also to unwind and learn in the new cultural milieu.
Working with him in the office was a stupendous experience, as his administrative capabilities can be called utmost perfect. He is a person who guards and goes by the constitution of the Church at any cost. He is very systematic and organised in administrative matters and in financial dealings. He is a bishop with accountability to all. Keeping the correct records of incoming and out going expenditure. He is very much meticulous in planning and allotting funds for the development. We can call him as a bishop with integrity and honesty.
It is only because of his hard work and systematic approach that he is able to raise funds for the missionary work within the diocese. Though the expression is not very out spoken he keeps the love and care towards the people works with him.
He can be termed as People’s Thirumeni. This is in terms of the new schemes which he had started seeing the condition of the people and the context in which they were living. He was able to initiate many participatory schemes for the people specially for children, specifically girls in the Marriage aid scheme, Education aid scheme etc. Due to his charismatic leadership and guidance almost 2500 children from the mission fields are getting financial assistance.
Thirumeni believes in prayer. He writes, “I believe in prayer. I know that God listens and answers. His ways may be different, but he answers. I place in prayer all by concerns and try to keep myself open so that the Lord would guide me. I don’t have high emotional expressions in my prayer or religious activities, I try to be serene and calm, knowing that the Lord has control over the situations. During my priestly ministry in parishes and now in Episcopal ministry in the Church, I depend on God for solutions to the problems I face. Hitherto the Lord has helped me in one way or other.”
He has a great regard for the Bible and says “Bible has a central place in my life and that of the Church. We want our faith to be Biblical. Our liturgies are Biblically sound. I understand Christ and the Trinitarian God through the Bible. It is the Word of God, it has sufficient material for the Salvation of the created order.” All these self expressions of the visionary Bishop helps us not only to understand his deep insights but also make us fall in love with him as we thank the Lord for such a wonderful person. In a nutshell the salient features of Thirumeni is that he is systematic, punctual, visionary, caring and techno savvy. He hates charity but loves the poor and maintains an exemplary rapport with all.