Catholicos of India

[9] Gregorios Joseph, the Malankara Metropolitan, was elected as Catholicos, following the death of Baselios Thomas I.

καθολικοί), meaning “concerning the whole, universal or general”, a title that existed in the Roman Empire when the government representative in-charge of a large area was called 'Catholicos'.

It then moved to Mosul, before it was abolished in 1860 by the Holy Synod of the Syriac Orthodox Church, presided by Patriarch Ignatius Jacob II.

In 1912, the Malankara Metropolitan, Dionysius Vattesseril, was excommunicated by Ignatius Abded Aloho II.

In 1955, following reconciliation talks with this faction, the Syriac Orthodox Synod decided to canonically re-establish the Maphrianate of the East.

This culminated in the consecration of Augen I as Catholicos/Maphrian of the reunified church by the Episcopal Synod presided over by Patriarch Ignatius Jacob III.

After Baselios Paulose II's demise in 1996 the office remained vacant for several years to accommodate reconciliation attempts, which were unsuccessful.

According to the 2002 Constitution of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, his title became "Catholicos of India"[1]