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How the much negotiated peace and quiet arrived at by written adjustments worked out by issuing letters from both the groups was shaken even before expiry of 15 years since the judgement was delivered by this Court in September, 1958 and what leld to filing of numerous suits eight of which were consolidated by the Additional. District. Judge but were heard and decided by a learned Single Judge of the High Court, as they were transferred under orders of this Court, and were ultimately decided in appeal and cross objections by the Division Bench giving rise to these appeals and various legal issues including whether the suit under Section 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure was maintainable, effect of Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 and whether the decision in earlier suit filed by the appelants operated as res judicata can be, better, appreciated if the history how the Malankara Church came to be established, what is its nature and how the two groups Patriarch of Antioch and Catholicos came to be formed leading to internecine struggle and litigation may be noticed in brief. The adversorial duel between the two rival groups has assumed so much of publicity that it has found place even in the Encyclopedia of Religion. It may be prefaced with brief observations about the Christian religion and the Church.

Religion is founded on faith and belief. Faith emanates from conscience and belief is result of teaching and learning. Christianity is `a religion that traces its origins to Jesus of Nazareth, whom it affirms to be the chosen one (Christ) of God' [Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 5, Page 693]. `It is embodied both in its principles and precepts in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, which all denominations of Christians believe to be a Divine revelation, and the only rule of faith and obedience' [Faiths of the World by James Gardner, Volume 1, P. 516]. It is `a historical religion. It locates within the events of human history both the redemption it promises, and the revelation to which it lays claim' [The Encyclopedia of Religion, Volume 3, p. 348]. `In its origin Christianity is Eastern rather than Western. Jesus was a Palestinian Jew, and during the early, formative centuries of the church's life the Greek and Syriac East was both numerically stronger and intellectually more creative than the Latin West. Christianity came to India many centuries before it reached Europe as it is believed that St. Thomas, one of the original apostles of Jesus Christ, visited India in 56 A.D. and found the first Christian settlement in the South' [Religion in India by Dr. Karan Singh]. In A.D. 37 Apostolic See at Antioch was established by St. Peter to whom the stewardship of Church was entrusted by Lord Jesus Christ. It took root in Kerala within 20 years of the epoch making events in Jerusalem, the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. St. Thomas, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ visited India in A.D. 51/52 and established 7 Churches in the Malayalam speaking parts of South India. They are known as Malankara Jacobite (or orthodox) Syrian Church, "Malankara" means "Malayalam speaking" `The two Syrian Orthodox Churches in Syria and India, along with the Egyptian (Coptic), Ethiopian, and Armenian Churches, belong to the group of Ancient, or Oriental Orthodox, Churches, wrongly called "monophysite". Their Christology is essentially the same as that of the Eastern Orthodox related to the patriarchate of Constantinople. They affirm the perfect humanity as well as the perfect divinity of Christ, inseparably and unconfusedly united in the divine-human nature of the person of Christ' [Encyclopedia of Religion, Volume 14, page 227].

Jacobite Church is, `a name which the Syrian Church assumes to itself. When the Syrian Churches are interrogated as to the reason of this name they usually allege that they are the descendants of Jacob' [Faiths of the World by James Gardner, Volume II). `Known to the West as Jacobites (after Jacob Baradeus, c. 500-578, the reorganiser of the West Syrians and Egyptians in the sixth century), the Syrian Orthodox Church is found mainly in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, India, the United States, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Sweden. In 1985 the total number of Jacobites, including 1.8 million Indians, was about 2 million, in two separate jurisdictions -- one with Patriarch Ignatius Zakka as head in Damascus, Syria and the other with Catholicos Mar Thoma Mathews I as head, in Kottayam, Kerala, India' [Encyclopedia of Religion, Volume 14 p. 227]. The word `church' refers both to the Christian religious community and to the building used for Christian worship' [Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 5 page 739). The Christian religion is one, but, `Christians differ greatly in their beliefs about the nature of the church' [Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 5, page 739] which was, `originally applied in the classical period to an official assembly of citizens.... In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament (3rd-2nd centuries B.C.) the term ecclesia is used for the general assembly of the Jewish people especially when gathered for a religious purpose such as hearing the Law (Deut. ix, 10, xviii, 16; etc.) In the New Testament it is used of the whole body of believing Christians throughout the world (e.g., Matt.xvi, 18), of the believers in a particular area (e.g. Acts v, 11) and also of the congregation meeting in a particular house - the "house- church")' [Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 5 page 739]. `The four marks or characteristics by which the church is said to be distinguished are recited in the creed - holy, catholic and apostolic'.

Thus commenced the third period. If the first two periods were great for the growth and development of the Church then the third described as the, `turbulent period' is unique not for any development of religion, but for providing stability to the Church by creating a Catholicate of the East for India, Burma and Ceylon at Malankara and adopting a Constitution for the administration of the Church. The period unfortunately witnessed division amongst followers of the Church who came to be known as the `Patriarch' and the `Catholico', mainly because there was disturbance in Antioch itself and two of the Patriarch claimed to exercise the prerogative of being Patriarch of Antioch at the same time. Within a span of fifty years, five suits were filed, the first known as, `Seminary Suit', in 1879, the second as `Arthat case' in 1899, the third in 1913 which became famous as `Vattipanam case' the fourth in 1938 known as `Samudayam Suit' and fifth and last in 1974 giving rise to these appeals. The first was filed by a Patriarch ordained and duly elected Metropolitan at Mulanthuruthy Synod for recovery of property against nominated Metropolitan, whereas the second was filed for enforcement of the order passed in earlier suit as some of the parishes were denying the authority of the Metropolitan to exercise spiritual and temporal control over them. The third was an interpleader suit by Secretary of State for India due to formation of two groups laying rival claims against the assets. All the three suits were decided in favour of Catholico group. Therefore, the fourth suit was filed by the Patriarch group against Catholicos claiming that they had become heretics and had separated from the Church. This too was decided in favour of Catholicos. But the fifth and the last suits were filed by the Catholicos for reasons which shall be explained later. In the Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 14, P. 226, the history from creation of Patriarch of Antioch till 1970 is traced thus, The church in Antioch became practically the mother church of Christendom......The leadership of the Syrian church was decimated by the Diocletian persecution that broke out around 304. The persecution also led to the development of Syrian monasticism through the Christians who fled into the wilderness. The spirit of Syrian Christianity was shaped more by worship, martyrdom, and monasticism than by theology......In the twelfth century the Syrian church was at the peak of its glory, with 20 metropolitan sees, 103 bishops, and millions of believers in Syria and Mesopotamia......The turbulent thirteenth century, wracked by invasions of Latin Crusaders from the West as well as of Mamluk Turks and Mongols from the East, produced such great leaders as Gregory Bar Hebraeus (1226-1286), a Jewish convert to Syrian Christianity, a chronicler and philosopher, and primate of the East.....The nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been turbulent times for the Syrian Orthodox in the Middle East.....The Syrian church in India numbers 1.8 million and is divided into two jurisdictions. The smaller of the two jurisdictional groups (with five hundred thousand members and a dozen bishops) decided in the 1970s to revolt against the Indian catholicos and his synod, forming a wing of the church directly administered by the Syrian Patriarch in Damascus and with its own maphrian see. The larger group, numbering about 1.3 million is an autocephalous church in India under Moran Mar Baselius Mar Thoma Mathews I, Catholicos of the East. This group has a flourishing theological seminary and a number of ashrams and monasteries, as well as hospitals, orphanages, schools, and other institutions. Its members have established a diocese in North America with about thirty congregations and a bishop residing in Buffalo, New York. The Encyclopedia of Religion, Volume 14 p. 228].