The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church should explore the option of establishing
Patriarchates at the Metro cities of Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi. The
Patriarchates should come under the Holy See of the Catholicos based in
Kottayam.

With sub-national identity becoming the order of the day, it is advisable to
establish one diocese each for each Indian State. Of course, there can be a
single diocese for the northeastern States. These dioceses in each region _ say
north, south, east, and west _ should be brought under the respective
Patriarchates.

This, I hope, will go a long way in establishing the identity of the Malnkara
Church as a pan-Indian Orthodox Church.

The Synod _ of course the Malankara Association also _ may think about
electing and consecrating a Metropolitan each for the new dioceses.

Appropriate amendments may be brought in the consitution of the Church to
sever all links with the Antiochean Patriarch and to establish the Malankara
Church as an autonomous and autocephalous one. The Church may be renamed as The
Orthodox Church of India.

The present tendency of seeing the Catholicate, established/re-established in
Malankara in 1912, as a continuation of the Catholicate in Tigris should be
discouraged. We should be able to see the establishment of the Catholicate in
Malankara as a natural evolution of the ecleciastical hierarchy here _ from
Archdeacon to Mar Thomas Metropoltan to Malankara Metropoltan and finally the
Catholicos.

These suggestions may be placed before the Holy Synod.

Thomas Jacob,
Thiruvananthapuram