Thoma Darmo

His Holiness Mar Thoma Darmo, (b. 21 September 1904 in Iyel, Ottoman Empire – d. in Baghdad, Iraq on 7 September 1969), was the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East, from 1968 to 1969. Prior to that, he served as Metropolitan of India, from 1952 to 1964, within the Assyrian Church of the East.[1][2]

His Holiness Mar

Thoma Darmo
Catholicos Patriarch of the
Ancient Church of the East
ChurchAncient Church of the East ܥܕܬܐ ܥܬܝܩܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ
SeeApostolic See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon
Installed11 October 1968
Term ended7 September 1969
SuccessorMar Addai II
Orders
Ordination11 October 1968 at St. Zaia Cathedral (Baghdad, Iraq)
RankCatholicos-Patriarch
Personal details
Birth nameMansour Darmo
Born21 September 1904
Iyel, Ottoman Empire
DiedSeptember 7, 1969(1969-09-07) (aged 64)
Baghdad, Iraq
DenominationAncient Church of the East
ParentsElishai Darmo (father) and Shirine Darmo (mother)
OccupationClergy
Previous postMetropolitan of India
(June 1952 – October 1968)

Assyrian Church of the East
Main article: Assyrian Church of the East

Thoma Darmo was born as Mansour Darmo, son of Elisha and Shirine. He spent his childhood in Turkey and from 1919 in Iraq, becoming an ordained clergyman in 1921. He continued to serve in Iraq for 15 years. Then he moved to Syria where he served from 1936 to 1952.[3]

In June 1952, he was assigned as Metropolitan of India, based at Trichur (Kerala), and thus became one of senior hierarchs of the Assyrian Church of the East. He built a number of churches and established a number of new dioceses in India, encouraged the preparation of new clergy and established the Mar Narsai Press. In January 1964, he was suspended from the metropolitan office by Patriarch Shimun XXI Eshai.[4][5]

Ancient Church of the East
Main article: Ancient Church of the East

In a schism against the Catholicos-Patriarch Shimun XXI Eshai because of reform issues introduced by the Assyrian Church of the East as well as the hereditary system of the Patriarchate, he voiced his opposition. This resulted in a split from the Church (then headquartered in San Francisco, now headquartered in Erbil) and Mar Thoma Darmo became one of the founders of the Ancient Church of the East.

Subsequently, after three years of the seat of the Ancient Church of the East remaining vacant (1964–1967), Mar Thoma Darmo was elected as Catholicos-Patriarch in October 1968.[6]

He relocated the Ancient Church of the East to Baghdad where the church is headquartered. He died the following year on 7 September 1969.[7] He was succeeded in 1970 by Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Addai II.

Aftermath

In 1995, under new Patriarch Dinkha IV of the rival Assyrian Church of the East, reconciliation between fractions in India was achieved, and on that occasion the validity of ordinations performed by Thoma Darmo after the suspension of 1964 was recognized, and in 1997 the suspension itself was annulled by the Holy Synod of the Assyrian Church of the East.[8]

References
  1. Mooken 1974.
  2. Mooken 2003.
  3. Mooken 1974, p. 116.
  4. Mooken 1974, p. 57, 64-65.
  5. Mooken 2003, p. 169.
  6. Mooken 1974, p. 112.
  7. Mooken 1974, p. 114-115.
  8. Mooken 2004, p. 91.

Sources
  • Baum, Wilhelm; Winkler, Dietmar W. (2003). The Church of the East: A Concise History. London-New York: Routledge-Curzon.
  • Baumer, Christoph (2006). The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. London-New York: Tauris.
  • Mooken, Aprem (1974). Mar Thoma Darmo: A Biography (PDF). Trichur: Mar Narsai Press.
  • Mooken, Aprem (2003). The History of the Assyrian Church of the East in the Twentieth Century (PDF). Kottayam: St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute.
  • Mooken, Aprem (2004). Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV: The Man and His Message (PDF). Trichur: Mar Narsai Press.
  • Hage, Wolfgang (2007). Das orientalische Christentum. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag.
  • Coakley, James F. (1996). "The Church of the East since 1914" (PDF). Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 78 (3): 179–198.
Preceded by
(none)		 Catholicos-Patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East
1968–1969		 Succeeded by
Addai II Giwargis
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