PATHANAMTHITTA: The Believers Eastern Church bid a tearful farewell to its head Metropolitan Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan I (Dr K P Yohannan) as he was laid to rest with full state honours in Tiruvalla on Tuesday.
Paying scant regard to the heavy rain, thousands of people gathered at the Church headquarters, Kuttapuzha, to bid farewell to Yohan I, who passed away on May 8 following a car accident in Texas, US.
The body was brought to the Kochi airport early on Sunday, from where it was taken in a mourning procession that passed through Niranam, his birthplace, around 6.30 pm. The mortal remains were kept at the Believers Convention Centre in Tiruvalla on Monday for the public to pay homage. After public viewing, the mortal remains were taken in a procession to St Thomas Believers Eastern Church Cathedral from the Convention Centre.
As the eighth stage of the hours-long prayer service led by Chennai Diocese head Samuel Mar Theophilos Episcopa concluded by 1.30 pm, the metropolitan was laid to rest in a special tomb near the church’s ‘madbaha’ (inner sanctum).
Metropolitan Yohan’s son and US Diocese head Daniel Mor Timotheos, and other bishops, assisted in the service.
Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai, Ministers V N Vasavan, Saji Cherian, P Prasad, deputy speaker Chittayam Gopakumar, MPs K C Venugopal, Anto Antony, A M Ariff, and Dean Kuriakose, besides MLAs were among those who paid last respects to the metropolitan.
Born in a Syrian Marthomite family, Yohan began his spiritual journey as an evangelical preacher through his radio broadcast before turning as the Metropolitan of the self-founded Believers Church based on Eastern Orthodox customs.