Quintessence of Religious Doctrines - Malankarasyriac Voice

8Translator’s NoteAs I sat down to translate the small but substantial malayalamcompendium or small book captioned Mathopadesa Sarangal -the 1908 edn.-, (Quintessence of Religious Doctrines) authored bythe late lamented erudite and scholarly priest, Rev. Fr. GeevargheseVattasseril, Malankara Malpan of the then undivided Church, wholater on became Metropolitan Mor Dionysius VI th , I became awareof my temerity or audacity as some would prefer to qualify. But Ireally had realised the wisdom of the adage that fools rush in whereangels fear to tread. Very soon, however, I felt that my attempt orventure was the result of a calling of God communicated to methrough the suggestions of friends like Sri. Thomas Daniel (Reji),Karimpanackal, Cheppaud and Sri. John Philip, Kottaparambil,Kottayam. And I started to write. Earlier than expected I couldfinish due to the dual operation of the divine and the human help.The latter, mainly came from Mrs. Jolly Mathew, my wife, whotranscribed my manuscript and gave constant encouragement toproceed braving the subtleties of the subject matter.Anybody who takes the pains of reading this work will beawe struck by the depth and width of the author’s vast reading. Allthe thirty four themes that His Grace has dealt with have beenelucidated with the utmost lucidity. He has substantiated them byappropriate biblical citations. Thus the Bishop has shown that thetenets of the Syrian Orthodox Church are not the fancies of somefanatics but have emerged out of the ruminating reflections on therevealed truths contained in the Holy Bible. Verily Syrian OrthodoxChurch holds the Bible along with the Tradition as the twofundamental sources of her theology and ecclesiology. This was wellbrought out by the great Mor Gregorios Bar Ebroyo, the unrivalledhistorian cum canonist of the S.O.C. For the Syrian Orthodox16Church, any attempt to separate the two sources or treat anyone ofthem to the exclusion of the other would render the one a corpseand the other a cripple. The two are to be studied in tandem. Anybodywho studies this work cannot but honour and love the SyrianOrthodox Church and will never suffer her being branded archaicand her practices obsolete. In the ineffable divine dispensation, MorDionysius was not destined to spend much time in academic pursuitsand author many books of this genre. We the faithful children of theMother Church mourn and groaningly state that his was the misfortuneand ours was the tragedy.The translation is in response of the ever growing demandfor this book by the English knowing Church members both in thediaspora and India, as it contains the doctrines of the Church. Trulythese members are impelled by the aphorism of Mor Ephrem, theSyrian and Cyprian of Carthage that he who did not know the Churchas our Mother could not know God as the Father. In order to dojustice to the original of the Bishop’s biblical citations, I had to consultdifferent versions of the Bible brought out by the Syrian Orthodox,the Catholic and the Protestant Churches. Then I had to exercisemy faculty judiciously to pick up that Bible version which seemedboth approximate and appropriate to the subject dealt with. Thenotations and the abbreviations used are detailed in the appendix.My thanks to the various persons and organisations whohave rendered invaluable help in bringing to light this translation. Iacknowledge my indebtedness to SOCMNet.org (SOCM Forum)and Mor Adai Study Centre, Cheeranchira, Changanacherry, Kerala,India for taking the heavy responsibility of publishing this treatise.I take this opportunity to thank the Lord Almighty whoshowered on me grace upon grace to bring forth this work. To HimI offer my salutations again and yet again.Kottayam,10-10-2006.Quintessence of Religious DoctrinesO.M. MATHEW ORUVATTITHARA