During the reformation, those who rewrote the St. James Liturgy elected not to remove the following from The Great Intercession of the revised liturgy:

 "Lord, we remember the three Councils of Nicea, Constantinople, and Ephesus and all the holy fathers who participated in them.  Lord, grant us grace that we may obey and follow their true doctrines."

This is printed in every Mar Thoma qurbana book.  Yet, in practice the Mar Thoma Church does not hold to many of the doctrines formulated by these councils; in fact, this part of The Great Intercession is often skipped over altogether during qurbana.  Why was this part included if it is essentially against the Mar Thoma Church's theology?

When considering the question, I actually thought of the answer with which you responded.  It seems the only way to reconcile Malpan's beliefs and his inclusion of the clause.  I find myself in disagreement with him though; it seems to me like a covert attempt to disguise the Mar Thoma church as the true Orthodox church while being able to reform it.

The Mar Thoma church's theology is, to me at least, quite a confusing thing.  when I spoke to Sam Achen (Chaplain for the Philly/Jersey/Maryland region), he told me simply that "our theology is in our liturgy, and our liturgy is our theology."  That didn't help much, due to the fact that our liturgy is a heavily modified version of the St. James liturgy.  The best thing to do is research the original Syriac Orthodox Church of Malankara, specifically the unmodified St. James Liturgy.  Compare that to our liturgy and take note of what is absent, what is changed, etc.  That should give you a good idea of the Mar Thoma church's theology.  From my own research into Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism, the Mar Thoma church seems best characterized as a Malankara-Rite Anglican church.  Our vestments, liturgy, cultural underpinnings, etc are all Malankara, but our theology is Anglican for the most part.  We reject some of their tenets as well, though our church remains in full communion with them.  Here is a link to the true St. James liturgy:

http://sor.cua.edu/Liturgy/Anaphora/James.html

Hope this helps.

Ben:

When considering the question, I actually thought of the answer with which you responded.  It seems the only way to reconcile Malpan's beliefs and his inclusion of the clause.  I find myself in disagreement with him though; it seems to me like a covert attempt to disguise the Mar Thoma church as the true Orthodox church while being able to reform it.

The Mar Thoma church's theology is, to me at least, quite a confusing thing.  when I spoke to Sam Achen (Chaplain for the Philly/Jersey/Maryland region), he told me simply that "our theology is in our liturgy, and our liturgy is our theology." 

That didn't help much, due to the fact that our liturgy is a heavily modified version of the St. James liturgy.  The best thing to do is research the original Syriac Orthodox Church of Malankara, specifically the unmodified St. James Liturgy.  Compare that to our liturgy and take note of what is absent, what is changed, etc.  That should give you a good idea of the Mar Thoma church's theology.  From my own research into Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism, the Mar Thoma church seems best characterized as a Malankara-Rite Anglican church.  Our vestments, liturgy, cultural underpinnings, etc are all Malankara, but our theology is Anglican for the most part.  We reject some of their tenets as well, though our church remains in full communion with them.  Here is a link to the true St. James liturgy:

Anglican theology is summed up in The Book of Common prayer.  Essentially, everything in this book is their theology.  The Mar Thoma church does not reject the book, but it certainly does not make any use of it at all.  It contains the Nicene and Apostle's creed; the MTC, though it may not flatly reject it, does not make any use of the apostle's creed.  They also hold strongly to the thirty-nine articles of faith, a set of dogmatic statements outlined by the leaders of the reform movement.  The MTC does not hold to these.  The Anglican church only recognizes two sacraments as true sacraments, with the other five being "lesser rites"; the MTC recognizes all seven.  They also use elements like candles, incense, etc. sparingly (if at all, in some churches), and many churches only celebrate the Eucharist bi-weekly or even monthly.  Most Anglican churches advocate the ordination of women, and a decent percentage of them advocate the ordination of practicing homosexuals.  There is a huge controversy over these last two practices; the Archbishop of Canterbury (the spiritual head of the church) fears that a schism is inevitable at this point.  That's just a start...dig into the Book of Common Prayer to learn more.

Even prayers for the fathers and the councils during the "Great Intercession" have been greatly truncated by the reformers of Malankara. The 5th Thubden in the Malankara Liturgy is rather large compared to the two sentences that's found in the Mar Thoma liturgy. The full-form prayers for the fathers lists the venerable fathers notably, St. James, Archbishop of Jerusalem, Brother of our Lord (not a blood brother of Jesus, but that's a different topic, St. Cyril (Mar Coorilos) and (the non-chalcedonian) Patriach of Antioch, Mar Severios.

 The Malankara Rite Anglican Church is  good definition of the marthoma church since we have a distinct theology from the Anglicans but holds to their doctrinal views. (which is probably not reformed enough for many marthomites, but I digress). 

An Achen from our region, Manoj Zacharaiah wrote an article in a booklet on the three councils. He also wrote an article of Trinity in this month's messenger. He seems to be more Orthodox than Mar Thoma but the articles are solid.

Could you send them to me as well?

or post them here, if possible?

 

Georgee,

 
Were you ever able to get these booklets? 

If anyone knows, what are the Thubdens prayed in the MTC?
 

Mike,

I never received the booklet. Ben tried finding a copy of it in the Mar Thoma messenger but to no avail. I found a copy of the thubdens as recited the mar thoma church. Here it is below.

THE GREAT INTERCESSION

Normally the Deacon's prayers are read aloud and the Priest prays silently.

Deacon Look with mercy, O Lord, on your holy Church throughout the world, on all bishops who beer the burden of leading and guiding her, especially our father in God the Metropolitan , on the Moderator of the Church of South India the Moderator of the Church of North India and our bishops, priests and deacons. Give to each one your Holy Spirit that they may diligently work in your vineyard.

People Lord, have mercy.

Priest Save us, O Lord, from malice and insinuations, from unworthy ambitions and deceit, from violence and: hatred and from the results of our own confusions and errors. Help us to observe your com­mandment of love.

Deacon Remember, O Lord, all our loved ones, those here present with us and those who have not been able ,to join us. Answer their prayers as you know to be best. Remember, O Lord, all true and faithful, followers of Christ and give them the help and support of your grace.

People Lord, have mercy.

Priest Remember, O Lord, all those whom we have remembered, and those whom we have failed to remember. Accept their offerings in heaven. Give them the joy of your salvation and the help of your presence. Strengthen them with your power in all they may need to do or suffer.

Deacon Remember, O Lord, all who exercise authority in our country and society, especially the President, Ministers and all who hold offices in the State. Help them to put their trust in you and to seek from you wisdom, and spiritual strength. Implant in them the will to do good and a spirit of co-operation, and guide them in all their deliberations and decisions.

People ‑Lord, have mercy.

Priest O Lord, you are the Lord of both life and death. We remember the prophets and apostles, the confessors and martyrs, the Blessed Virgin Mary and al1 the saints who have lived in accordance with your will. Make us worthy, O Lord, to follow in their footsteps.

Deacon O Lord, we remember the mother of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is worthy to be blessed of all generations of the earth. We call to mind the holy prophets, the apostles, the preachers, the evangelists and the martyrs, the confessors and all the saints. Make us worthy, O Lord, to follow in their footsteps.

People Lord, have mercy.

Priest O Lord, who alone can make possible things that are impossible, by the grace and blessings which come only from you, gather, us, we pray, in the great assembly of those whose names are inscribed to heaven.

Deacon Lord, we remember the three Councils of Nicea, Constantinople and Ephesus, and all the holy fathers who participated in them. Lord, grant us grace that we may obey and follow their true doctrines.

People Lord, have mercy

Priest: O Lord, we remember the heritage with which you have entrusted us, the labours of Saint Thomas, Apostle of India, and of all the fathers; who passed on to us intact your word and doctrines and through whose care end nurture we now stand before you. Grant us grace that we may steadily adhere to the truth of this Gospel and faithfully pass OD our trust to our children.

Deacon Lord, in the last day when you raise and gather all the faithful who are departed and fallen asleep in the true faith, grant that we also may with them be counted worthy of the remission of our sins and be gathered into your Heavenly Kingdom.

People Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.

Does anybody know why during the first prayer ..we say  " our father in God the metropolitan"? How does this differ from what Jesus says in Mathew 23:9?