Joseph Sulaqa

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Joseph Sulaqa , often also Sulaka (* around 1500 near Mosul , Iraq , † 1569 in Rome ) was an East Syrian Catholic Archbishop and Metropolitan of India.

prehistory

The Catholic Church in India is of apostolic origin. According to the constant local tradition, the apostle Thomas landed on the Malabar coast in what is now Kerala in 52 , founded seven Christian communities there and died as a martyr in Mailapur near Madras . From this foundation the church developed in India long before European colonial powers were active there. She followed the East Syrian liturgy. The Indian Church drew its bishops from the Catholic of Seleukia-Ctesiphon in what is now Iraq , from which the Assyrian Church of the East later developed.

Kodungallur near Ernakulam , in what is now Kerala , is considered the arrival point of St. Thomas and was for a long time the seat of the metropolitan of India. Later they moved their residence to Udayamperoor (Diamper), finally to Angamaly . When the Portuguese arrived and at the beginning of their colonial activity, the Indian metropolitans were taken over by the Chaldean Patriarch in Babylon, i. H. sent by the head of the Assyrian Church of the East . This patriarchy had long had a loose connection with Rome. Since Patriarch Mar Johann Shimun Sulaqa , consecrated bishop in St. Peter's Church in Rome in 1553, there has been a formal ecclesiastical union and the particular church has been called the Chaldean Catholic Church .

Metropolitan Joseph Sulaqa

Joseph Sulaqa was born around 1500 near Mosul in Iraq and was the brother of Patriarch Shimun VIII. Sulaqa. The latter was murdered in 1555. In the same year, in the presence of the papal nuncio Ambrosius Buttigeg, Mar Ebedjesus (= 'Abdīšo' IV. Maron) was elected as his successor. Like his predecessor, he also received papal confirmation and received the pallium on March 7, 1562 in Rome . His Catholic creed was sent to the Council of Trent , before which he did not appear in person. 'Abdīšo' appointed Joseph Sulaqa, the brother of his predecessor, to be metropolitan of the Thomas Christians in India.

Mar Joseph Sulaqa came to Goa at the end of 1556 via Hormuz and Mozambique . He was accompanied by the Chaldean Catholic Bishop Elias of Amida , who was to enthrone him on behalf of the Patriarch 'Abdīšo' IV. Marron, as well as the two Dominicans Antoninus von Sagra and Ambrosius Buttigeg, the latter as papal legate . On the trip, Mar Joseph carried Syrian liturgical books with him, which ended up in the Vatican Library after his death . In Vat. Syr. 45 (Gazarta, 1529) there is a handwritten addition by Joseph with the manufacturing note “18. Tammûz 1867 A.Gr. (= 8.07.1556 AD) in the city of Msmbyk (Mozambique) ”.

The Portuguese colonial authorities wanted both the long-established Thomas Christians and the newly converted Latin Catholics to be subordinate to their own Portuguese bishops of the Latin rite . The activities of foreign bishops who were not subordinate to the padroado , they tried by all means to prevent. For this reason, Archbishop Sulaqa was refused entry to his southern Indian official residence and he was held for 18 months in the Franciscan monastery of Bassein (now Vasai-Virar ). His western companions, including the bishop and nuncio Ambrosius Buttigeg († 1557/58 in Kochi (India) ), were arrested in Goa for a year and a half.

In Bassein, Joseph copied manuscripts, learned Latin and translated the Roman pontifical into Syriac (Vat. Syr. 66 fol. 1-10). It was only when Bishop Mar Abraham († 1597), authorized representative of the East Syrian Patriarch Mar Dincha Schimun VIII , who was not affiliated with Rome, appeared on the Malabar coast in 1557 that the Portuguese released Joseph Sulaqa in 1558 in the face of an impending schism among the Thomas Christians, and allowed him the exercise of office. However, Sulaqa was able to pull Mar Abraham to his side, who later became his successor with papal appointment and an important figure in Indian church history.

Initially, Sulaqa officiated by mutual agreement with the Portuguese colonial rulers and the Latin missionaries from their entourage. However, a dispute soon arose when he refused to ordain Syrian Catholic seminarians in Kodungallur because they had not been taught the traditional Syrian liturgical language. Because of his inflexibility he drew the hatred of the Portuguese. This also accuses him of the heresy of Nestorianism , regardless of his papal legitimation and the long-standing statement by Cardinal Bernardino Maffei , in the Roman consistory of February 20, 1553, at the consecration of his brother Johann Shimun Sulaqua, that the Syrian Christians in Iraq and India traditionally called “Nestorians”, but in reality they are completely orthodox.

Archbishop Joseph Sulaqa was arrested on suspicion of heresy and deported to Europe for the first time. In Portugal he was shown to Queen Katharina and Cardinal Dom Henrique , on whom he made a very good impression. They could not find heresies in him, which is why he returned to India in 1565 and was allowed to continue to exercise his office.

In 1567 the 1st Council of Goa took up the heresy charge against Archbishop Sulaqa again and decided that the case should be examined by the church authorities in Europe. The metropolitan was again taken to Portugal, from where he could get to Rome. Here Pope Pius V had a detailed investigation of the case made personally, after which Joseph Sulaqa was absolved of any suspicion of heresy and his complete orthodoxy was certified. Because of the many sufferings and persecutions that he had endured in unswerving loyalty to the Church during his tenure, he was held in high regard by Pius V and he even wanted to elevate him to cardinal . Sulaqa died in Rome in 1569 when he was about to leave for India.

See also: Roman Catholic Church in India

literature

  • JM Vosté: Missio duorum fratrum melitensium OP in orientem saeculo XVI. In: Analecta Ordinis Praedicatorum. 4, 1925, pp. 261-278.
  • J.-M. Vosté: Catholiques ou Nestoriens? (Mss. Vat. Syr. 45, 63 and VS Borgia 21). In: Angelicum. 7, 1930, pp. 515-523.
  • Douglas Webb: Mar Joseph Sulaqa et la liturgie du Malabar. In: Orient Syria. 3, 1958, pp. 185-205.
  • JPM van der Ploeg: Mar Joseph, Bishop-Metropolitan of India (1556-1569). In: III Symposium Syriacum 1980. Ed. by R. Lavenant (OCA 221). PIO, Rome 1983, pp. 161-170.
  • Aidan Nichols: Rome and the Eastern Churches. Ignatius Press, 2010, pp. 125–126, ISBN 1-58617-282-4 ( books.google.de ).
  • Stephen Neill: A History of Christianity in India. Volume I: The Beginnings to AD 1707. University Press, Cambridge, 2004, from page 202, ISBN 0-521-54885-3 ( books.google.de ).
  • Walter Brandmüller : Annuarium historiae conciliorum. Volume 18, 1986, p. 335 ( books.google.de text excerpt).
  • Bertold Spuler : Handbook of Oriental Studies. 1st section, 8, volume, 2nd section Religious history of the Orient in the time of the world religions. 1961 ( books.google.de ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The 7 original communities of St. Thomas on the Malabar coast
  2. ↑ On the trip through Mozambique and Goa
  3. ↑ On the posting of Mar Joseph Sulaqa to India
  4. ↑ On the arrival of Mar Joseph Sulaqa in India
  5. ↑ On internment in the Bassein monastery
  6. ↑ On the compulsory stay in Bassein
  7. ↑ Source of Cardinal Maffei's speech on the Nestorians (Note No. 18)
  8. ↑ Source on the year and place of death
personal data
SURNAME Sulaqa, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sulaka, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Indian Thomas Christians
DATE OF BIRTH around 1500
PLACE OF BIRTH Iraq
DATE OF DEATH 1569
Place of death Rome