{"id":474,"date":"2015-11-24T12:17:26","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T06:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ovsonline.in\/?p=474"},"modified":"2015-12-18T11:50:50","modified_gmt":"2015-12-18T06:20:50","slug":"st-geevarghese-mar-dionysius-vattasseril","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ovsonline.in\/?p=474","title":{"rendered":"St. Geevarghese Mar Dionysius Vattasseril"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong>
\nSt. Geevarghese Mar Dionysius Vattasseril, Malankara Metropolitan, was a bright light for the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church that illumined during her dark and tumultuous times and possessed the vision to bring the Church triumphantly from the bonds of foreign oppression.\u00a0 Thirumeni dedicated his entire life to secure the freedom and welfare of the Holy Church.\u00a0 His Grace faced many troubles and obstacles as well as received constant physical and verbal abuse via threats and physical attacks as he courageously led the Church to her independence.\u00a0 He confronted the dangers and obstacles directly responding with vigor, strength and remarkable conviction and confidence in God\u2019s justice and plan, which was a product of his continual fasting and prayer. God protected Thirumeni throughout his life whether in Kerala or abroad as he sought the freedom of the Church from foreign powers.\u00a0 His great triumph lay in the ability to unite the entire Church, both the priests and laymen to follow his lead.\u00a0 He was incredibly gifted in many fields, a multifarious genius.\u00a0 He was a spiritual leader, a theological educator, scholar of languages, literature and traditions.\u00a0 He was a dignified, valorous and noble personality with a remarkable commanding power.<\/p>\n

Early Life<\/strong>
\nSt. Dionysius was born to his parents, Joseph Vattasseril of Mallappally and Eliamma Kolathu Kalathil of Kurichy on 31st October 1858.\u00a0 Following his elementary education at C. M. S. Middle School in Mallappally he completed his high school education from C. M. S. High School, Kottayam. In 1876, while still a high school student, he was ordained as a sub deacon by H. H. Moran Mar Pathrose Patriarch.<\/p>\n

Life in the Church<\/strong>
\nDn. Geevarghese studied at the Orthodox Theological Seminary (Old Seminary or Pazhaya Seminary), Kottayam for four years thereby undergoing his theological training.\u00a0 Dn. Geevarghese soon became a great Syriac scholar under the careful tutelage of St. Gregorios of Parumala, who taught him at Seminary.\u00a0 In 1879 Dn. Geevarghese was ordained as a full deacon and in 1880 he was ordained as a priest by St. Gregorios.\u00a0 By 1880, Fr. Geevarghese had become an authority in the Syriac, Church History, Faith and Doctrine, the Church Fathers, and Theology.\u00a0 In recognition of his incredible expertise in Syriac and theology he was designated as Malankara Malpan.\u00a0 He spent his spare time reading, studying, and thinking which translated to his many renowned writings such as \u201cDoctrines of the Church\u201d.\u00a0 He also used his scholarship to edit and publish the order of Church worship to be used by the ordinary faithful for meaningful participation in worship.\u00a0 He was appointed as Principal of M. D. Seminary, Kottayam as he was both a great scholar and administrator.\u00a0 In 1903, he was blessed as a Ramban (monk).\u00a0 He also served as the Manager of Parumala Seminary.\u00a0 In 1908 he was consecrated as H. G. Geevarghese Mar Dionysius Metropolitan and served as the Assistant Malankara Metropolitan.\u00a0 The next year he became the Malankara Metropolitan and served and led the Church in that capacity until his departure from this life in 1934 when he and the Church triumphed in establishing the official constitution of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.<\/p>\n

Legacy<\/strong>
\nH. H. Moran Mar Baselios Geevarghese II Catholicos of blessed memory remarked in the speech at the burial of Vattasseril Thirumeni, \u201cWhen we look at the highest solemn position held by Vattasseril Thirumeni and his deep and firm faith in God, he seemed similar to Moses who led the sons of Abraham from the captive land of Egypt to the promised land of freedom and happiness.\u00a0 There is no doubt about it.\u00a0 Moses had spent his entire life for the freedom of his people but he could not enter the Promised Land.\u00a0 He was only able to see the Promised Land from a distance.\u00a0 Likewise the Moses of the Malankara Church has also watched the freedom of his Church from a distance\u201d.\u00a0 Vattasseril Thirumeni was a good orator who was well aware of the importance of the vitality and moral persuasiveness of words when delivering the speeches to the faithful.\u00a0 Spiritually, he was transformed by Christ and bore no scars from sin.\u00a0 His humility and withdrawal from the praise of this world kept many from seeing the incredibly pious and faithful life that Thirumeni lived.\u00a0 In addition to not publicizing his own spiritual advancement he also avoided spiritual hypocrisy and arrogance throughout his life.\u00a0 Prayers and fasting were the pillars that were Vattasseril Thirumeni\u2019s spiritual foundation.\u00a0 He faced all the challenges with the power he had gained through his valued spiritual life.\u00a0 In addition to the liturgical hours of prayer, Thirumeni spent much time in private prayers and silent meditations behind closed doors and away from the attention of people.\u00a0 In spite of his busy schedule, he was also able to focus on three to four lessons from the Holy Bible everyday.\u00a0 Despite Vattasseril Thirumeni\u2019s literal application of Christ\u2019s instruction to pray in private and not for others to see, many recognized that His Grace was a living saint amongst them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction St. Geevarghese Mar Dionysius Vattasseril, Malankara Metropolitan, was a bright light for the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church that illumined<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-departed-spiritual-fathers","category-saints"],"yoast_head":"\nSt. Geevarghese Mar Dionysius Vattasseril - ovsonline.in<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Malankara Church, Malankara Indian Orthodox Church News, True Faith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ovsonline.in\/?p=474\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St. Geevarghese Mar Dionysius Vattasseril - 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