Paintings at Kottayam Small Church identified as Icons with Indo-Anglo-Latin Influences

 

 

Kisha D Dorado
Director- Department of Church Research and Studies – 6/8/19
Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE Society

Icons with Indo-Anglo-Latin Influences

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India/Kerala/Kottayam: The paintings found at the world famous St Mary’s Indian Malankara Orthodox Church, Kottayam also known as Kottayam Small Church (Cheriyapally in Malayalam) has been identified as icons with Indo-Anglo-Latin influences by the expert panel of Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE Society.

Prasad Abraham (OCP Legal adviser and Kottayam Small Church Secretary) recently  initiated a proposal to build a Museum for the Kottayam Small Church which  was accepted by the General Body of the Parish. Mr Prasad began to study various murals and paintings inside the Church and found some of them to be exceptionally interesting but remained unidentified without proper recognition nor description.

Ajesh T Phlip (OCP Delegate and Chief Project Coordinator of MARP) visited the Church upon the invitation of Prasad Abraham. Mr Ajesh expressed his concerns on the painting that these might be ancient icons.  As per him the icons are written under several influences which include Indian, Latin and Anglican styles. He also added that the Murals paintings inside the church is according to Indigenous Hindu Vasthu.  Ajesh also recommended the icons to be studied by eminent Orthodox Scholar Dr M Kurien Thomas.

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Upon the recommendation, Prasad Abrham consulted with Dr Kuirne Thomas.

Findings by Dr M Kurien Thomas

Dr Kurien Thomas after inspecting once of the icons stated that person appearing with a hat on the head is of St Behanan (Saint Behnam) which was previously believed by many as a British Officer in the army.

Dr M Kurien Thomas is a leading Indian Orthodox historian who has made the famous discovery of the holy relics of St Nicholas in Kerala. He has authored several books and countless articles.

Writings of Dr Kurien Thomas here:

St Behanan was a Persian Christian Martyr of 4th Century. Saints Behnam and Sarah, his sister, were the children of Sennacherib, King of Persia, who were martyred for Christ. The above icons has been written in by the famous Armenian Iconographer Yuhanna Al-Armani. 

More here: 

Later the request by Ajesh was forwarded to the OCP Secretariat and upon the approval  the pictures were submitted  to the Department of Church Research and Studies and from there it was sent to the expert panel for verification.

Verification by OCP Expert Panel

Fr Philaretos Archimandrite Klimakitis (Theologian and Icon expert of the Traditional Greek Orthodox Church – The Holy Synod in Resistance)

“The main part is for sure a Byzantine icon of the style we call “laiki tehni” or folk art but still Byzantine. The only difference is the INRI which is the Latin letters and usually in our icons only the Greek letters are shown INBI or the letters for King of Glory. The top two icons are evangelists. On the bottom it seems there is the conquest of your lands by the latin invaders (Portugese). ”

 

 Anca Sirbu (OCP Delegate and Romanian Orthodox Iconographer)

“The painting has many Roman Catholic influences. First of all the realism of the representation and then some of the elements (the naked angels and also they are represented entirely- in orthodox painting they are bust, just the head, hands and they are always covered; the book in St John’s hand and the position of their hands, especially the Theotokos attitude). It is some naive kind of representation and it seems to be from the 19th century. If it was in the church maybe it was a gift or something made by someone not very familiarized with orthodox painting (iconography) “rules. Hope it will help. ”

Stephane Rene (Icons Expert of Coptic Orthodox Church)

“Thank you for the images. Yes, it is an Orthodox triptych, probably 18th-19th c. It has no text to identify its provenance, but the style looks Syrian to me. It is interesting to see what looks like a European officer and some soldiers, which from the officer’s red coat could be British, but hard to identify without more info. I hope this helps. Best wishes.”

Further studies

Extensive studies and research is required on ancient churches, mural paintings, arts and icon drawing on Malankara. Sadly the Church has not taken formal steps in doing the same. There are several old Churches in Malankara that needs immediate attention. The Church must install Synodal Department of History and Archaeology for Research and studies on ancient murals, icons and church structures.

Indian Malankara Orthodox Church under Latin Rule

It is to be noted that the Malankara Nazaranis were forced to remain under the Roman Catholic rule for several years.

“In the 16th century it came in contact with the Roman Catholic Church through Portuguese colonialism, which after a century’s contact and interactions resulted in the enforced domination of Roman Catholicism over the church of the St. Thomas Christians. The Synod of Udayamperoor – 1599 played the decisive role in this regard. Thus this synod laid the firm foundation for all the problems which arose later on in this church. For about 54 years thereafter the St. Thomas Christians remained under Rome’s occupation and then onwards in a divided state.”

“In 1653 through an Oath, the St. Thomas Christians’ Church as a whole overthrew their enforced subjection to Roman Catholicism and resolved to restore their freedom as a church of India and to revive their Oriental Church heritage and indigenous characteristics.”

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The Church has also cooperated with the Aglican Church CMS Missionaries for a long time.

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First Ever Icon School in Malankara

The first ever icon writing School was established in the year 2009 titled Mar Baselius School of Icon Writing & Liturgy, Fr Boby Varghese as its director. Fr Boby is currently persuing his master’s degree in SVOTS, New York.  School is a part of the Mar Baselius Catholicos Academy of Research (BACA) owned by the Kandanad East Diocese (Ernakulam District of Kerala State – South India) of the Malankara Orthodox Church, which is under the auspicious leadership of His Grace Dr Thomas Mar Athnasius Metropolitan.

Read more here: 

Wrong trends of Icon Drawing in Malankara

OCP has recently observed that some of the new iconogrpahers of the Indian Orthodox Church are following wrong trends where some of them add their names and get them printed on icons, which is opposite to the rules of Orthodox iconography.

The Historical Kottayam Small Church

The Kottayam Cheriyapally (“small church”) is one of the oldest churches in Kerala which was built in 1579.  The architectural styles of the church are believed to be European. There are several mural beautiful paintings in Eastern  and Western styles on biblical and non-biblical themes.  More here: http://www.kottayamcheriapally.com/index.html.

Museum to be Opened

It has been announced that a Museum will be opened soon at the premises of the Church which have public access to ancient icons, murals and architectural beauty of the Church.

 

Visits by Ecumenical Patriarch and Patriarch of all Romania

Two Patriarchs of the Eastern Orthodox Churches have made their visits to the Kottayam Small Church. They are late lamented Patriarch Justinian of Romania and His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in the year 2000.

 Source:
OCP News Service