Geevarghese Ivanios

Archbishop Geevarghese Mar Ivanios, OIC (September 21, 1882 – July 15, 1953), born Geevarghese Panickeruveetil, was a Christian bishop and the founder of the Bethany Ashram order of monks. He was ordained to the priesthood as Fr. P.T. Geevarghese on Sept. 15th 1908 by His Grace Vattasseril Mar Dionysius, and ordained a bishop of the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church by Catholicos Beselios Geevarghese I.

Mar Ivanios and most of his order united with the Roman Catholic Church in 1930, establishing the Eastern Catholic sui iuris Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in India. In 1932, Mar Ivanios was named the Archbishop of Trivandrum and received the pallium from Pope Pius XI, becoming the first metropolitan of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. Because of his theological-pastoral insights and his attempts at reunion of the Malankara Church with the Pope of Rome, Mar Ivanios is often nicknamed the "Newman of the East". Archbishop Mar Ivanios passed away on July 15, 1953.

Mar Ivanios College was founded at Bethany Hills outside Trivandrum in 1949: it was affiliated to the University of Travancore, which became part of the University of Kerala.

Archbishop Mar Ivanios was declared Servant of God (Daivadasan) on 14 July 2007, the day prior to the 54th anniversary of his death. The proclamation was read by His Beatitude the Catholicos and Major Archbishop Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis at the Cathedral in Trivandrum, India. He is the first member of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church to be so designated. His cause for canonization continues.

Sources

• "His Grace Most Rev. Geevarghese Mar Ivanios O.I.C."; Bethany Ashram website, retrieved January 10, 2006
• "Archbishop Ivanios (Giovanni) Giorgio Tommaso Panickerveetil"; Catholic-Hierarchy.org; retrieved January 10, 2006

External links

• "The international homepage of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church"