Today marks the 11th memorial year after the demise of Archcorepiscopa Curien Kaniyamparambil. His departure on October 19, 2015 was indeed a sad moment for the Jacobite Church and for the people of Thiruvalla who had received his pastoral care and love. The members of the St. George Simhasana Church in Thiruvalla, of which he was the vicar for a period of 47 years were especially fortunate to have grown up listening to his sermons and more importantly to countless life lessons shown through his everyday life.
St. Matthew 23: 1-12 talks of how Jesus tells his disciples and people that they should listen to what the scribes and Pharisees say but should not do what they do because they do not practice what they preach. One can see this passage as a scathing critique of priesthood and priests as Jesus goes on to tell his disciples that they should not be called a teacher and should not call anyone Father as there is only one Father in heaven. All of this in conjunction should make us wonder and suspect the real need and value of priesthood and priests. The status of priests in society has also gone down because of several allegations with regard to priests wanting to live luxurious lives and rejecting any form of poverty, and morality being questioned because of lack of a disciplined and principled life and lack of faith and a prayer life.
This is where people who have departed from our presence offer a great model to follow. Archcorepiscopa Kaniyamparambil achen is foremost in that as far as the Jacobite church is concerned. His life was one where he practiced even more than he preached. He did not promote himself, lie to people, misbehave with anyone and he instead prayed from morning to night, offered Qurbana not as a burden but with full belief, always smiled, encouraged and strengthened. Despite having problems of his own, he never forgot to pray for his congregation. Achen realized what his skills were and developed those skills to the point of writing and publishing extensively.
I believe that priests are not beyond criticism and people have a right to point out mistakes when they see them as it will help priests to make essential corrections. Archcorepiscopa Kaniyamparambil achen realized his mistakes and never hesitated to correct them. He could carry himself in a gathering of his own church as well as an ecumenical gathering. Achen was also good in secular and church history. One could sit with him and get an idea of the congregation and the church. But none of this was beyond correction. If he felt that he was wrong he would gladly correct himself.
Today’s priests need to justify their ordination as priests to their family, community, church and society at large. They should offer themselves for scrutiny, examination and correction. Without this, priests of today will be the priests that Jesus talked about in St. Matthew 23. Our congregation will henceforth only listen to priests for the sake of listening but will never practice what priests do because priests stand exposed of not doing what they preach. If a priest preaches about love but doesn’t even love his own family what is the use? If a priest cannot control his anger why should the people do so? If a priest cannot embrace suffering and problems, how can we inspire the people to do likewise?
Archcorepiscopa Curien Kaniyamparambil stands as a challenge for those thinking whether there is any relevance for priests in our church and society. As people lose hope they can look back to a time when priests indeed lived for them. They can discuss this with the present lot of priests and remind them of their responsibility towards their congregations. In this world of social media where every priest is trying to self -promote and self- glorify, we should read the books of Kaniyamparambil achen and understand our history, faith and tradition and that he wrote books for the glory of God and for the benefit of people. May Archcorepiscopa’s memorial be an opportunity for us to rethink our responsibility to God and the people of God and be an inspiration for deviant priests to fall back in line.
