Thoma Darmo (b. 21 September 1904 in Iyel,

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

– d. in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

on 7 September 1969) was the Catholicos-Patriarch of the

Ancient Church of the East The Ancient Church of the East is an Eastern Christian denomination. It branched from the Assyrian Church of the East in 1964, under the leadership of Mar Thoma Darmo (d. 1969). It is one of three Assyrian Churches that claim continuity with t ...

, from 1968 to 1969. Prior to that, he served as Metropolitan of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, from 1952 to 1964, within the Church of the East.

Church of the East

Thoma Darmo was born as Mansour Darmo, son of Elisha and Shirine. He spent his childhood in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

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. In June 1952, he was assigned as Metropolitan of

, based at Trichur (

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

), and thus became one of senior hierarchs of the 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 Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII ( syr, ܡܪܝ ܐܝܫܝ ܫܡܥܘܢ ܟܓ.) (26 February 1908 – 6 November 1975), sometimes known as Mar Eshai Shimun XXI, Mar Shimun XXIII Ishaya, Mar Shimun Ishai, or Simon Jesse,Foster, p. 34 served as the 119th Catholico ...

Ancient Church of the East

Subsequently, after three years of the seat of the

remaining vacant (1964–1967), Mar Thoma Darmo was elected as Catholicos-Patriarch in October 1968. He relocated the

to Baghdad where the church is headquartered. He died the following year on 7 September 1969. He was succeeded in 1970 by Catholicos-Patriarch

Mar Addai II Mar, mar or MAR may refer to: Culture * Mar or Mor, an honorific in Syriac * Earl of Mar, an earldom in Scotland * MAA (singer) (born 1986), Japanese * Marathi language, by ISO 639-2 language code * March, as an abbreviation for the third mon ...

Aftermath

In 1995, under new Patriarch

Dinkha IV Mar Dinkha IV (Classical Syriac: and ar, مار دنخا الرابع), born Dinkha Khanania (15 September 1935 – 26 March 2015) was an Eastern Christian prelate who served as the 120th Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the ...

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.

References

Sources

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External links

* Patriarchs of the East Ancient Church of the East 20th-century bishops of the Assyrian Church of the East 1904 births 1969 deaths Church of the East in India Assyrians from the Ottoman Empire 20th-century people from the Ottoman Empire 20th-century Iraqi people 20th-century archbishops {{Assyrian-stub