THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Rev Dr Jacob Mar Barnabas, metropolitan of Gurgaon-Delhi diocese of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, passed away in Delhi on Thursday. He was 60. The metropolitan was under treatment for post-Covid illnesses for the past four months.
Dr Jacob Mar Barnabas was born on December 3, 1960, to Geevarghese and Rachel of Aerath family at Ranni in Pathanamthitta. After his schooling, he joined the Order of the Imitation of Christ in 1975. He was ordained a priest on October 2, 1986. The new priest was given charge of religious formation for pre-novices. He then went to Academia Alfonsiana, Rome, for higher studies in Moral Theology.
During his priestly ministry, he held various positions including Superior, Bethany Ashram, Pune, Rector, BVP, Pune, Professor and Head of the Department of Pastoral and Moral Theology at JDV, Pune, and visiting Professor to various seminaries, including Malankara Major Seminary. He was elected as the first Provincial Superior of Bethany Navajyothi Province in 2000.
On February 7, 2007 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as the Apostolic Visitator with an Episcopal Character for the Malankara Community in the Extra Territorial Regions in India and the Titular Bishop of Bapara. He was consecrated as Bishop Jacob Mar Barnabas by Major Archbishop Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis Catholicos in 2007. In March 2015 he was appointed as the maiden bishop of the Gurgaon-Delhi diocese. Dr Barnabas had established educational institutions in places like Bhopal, Odisha, Assam and Mumbai.
The body will be kept for prayers at St Mary’s Cathedral, Neb Sarai, Delhi, on Friday from 8 am. The funeral service will be held there on Saturday at 10 am.