Reformation
The Malankara Church was following the teachings of Jesus as told to them by Thomas and had copies of the original Peshittha Bible. But things changed with the arrival of Vasco Da Gama on Sunday May 20, 1498. The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church were inculcated into the original teachings – prayer to and for the dead, veneration of icons, celibacy of priests, and so on. Many other practices of the Malankara Church were deplorable. So he and his friends pioneered a reformation in the church by which Church decided to follow the Bible.
His whole time he spent in bringing his Church to the Bible and to its "original purity.
In 1856, he printed and distributed prayer books in Malayalam, leaving out prayer to Saint Mary.
Holy Communion services were conducted in Malayalam the language of the people of Malabar. While with the Patriarch at Antioch, he was asked to preach at worship services. He continued this even after coming to Kerala. He encouraged clergy to read the Bible and interpret it to the common people of parishes.
Allowed Tamil missionaries to preach at various churches.
He was against honoring icons and statues, so he removed the statue of Saint Mary from Manarcaud Church (near Kottayam), and at Puthupally church, near Kottayam.
Read more about this topic: Mathews Mar Athanasius Metropolitan
Famous quotes containing the word reformation:
“Go on then in doing with your pen what in other times was done with the sword; shew that reformation is more practicable by operating on the mind than on the body of man.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)