KOCHI: The members of the Jacobite faction will re-enter 52 parishes, which were taken over by the Orthodox faction, for prayers on Sunday. By reentering the parishes, the Jacobite Syrian Church will be launching their second phase of the protest against the ‘injustices’ against the church and seeking an ordinance to end the church dispute. As per a statement issued by the faction on Saturday, after conducting Holy Mass in the respective churches, the members of the Jacobite faction will enter 52 parishes by 9 am.
A 151-member protest coordination committee of Jacobite faction will coordinate the events. The protest committee includes members of the working and managing committee of the church and the chairman of the committee is Joseph Mar Gregorios, the metropolitan trustee of the church. “The protest march towards the church, and the prayers will be conducted following Covid protocol,” stated Metropolitan Joseph Mar Gregorios in a statement.
As part of strengthening the protests seeking an ordinance as a solution to the church dispute, the Jacobite faction will conduct a protest march to Secretariat on December 29. Earlier the Orthodox faction had welcomed the move of the Jacobites to re-enter the churches for prayers and also said that if any provocation is made by the rival faction to disrupt peace in the church, legal action will be taken.