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REV. DR. V. C. SAMUEL - A GREAT THINKER AND PHILOSOPHER: Fr. Alex Daniel (H.G.Alexios Mar Eusebios)

I was lucky enough to be often with Rev. Dr. V. C. Samuel during the twilight ofhis life. My relationship with Achen began in 1995 when I persuaded for my Mast

ers Degree in Theology in Bangalore . Since I was given the charge of St. Stephens Chapel, Rajaji Nagar, Bangalore which was organized by Fr. Dr. V. C. Samuel,

I could meet him regularly on Sundays. I still remember the first Sunday I celebrated Holy Qurbana in the Rajaji Nagar Church in the presence of Fr. Dr. V. C.Samuel. After the service and while we were having the breakfast, Achen asked me a question Which text did you use for todays Holy Qurbana? I replied that it wasof Mar Ivanios. Immediately the next question came Who is this Ivanios? As writ

ten in the Thaksa I replied He is St. John ChrysostomHowever, Achen replied St. John Chrysostom was a church father of Greek Church who lived in the 4th century. If this Anaphora belongs to him, the prayer, Establish us by the Grace O Lord, upon the rock of the Orthodox faith of the three HolyEcumenical Synods in the fifth Diptych must not be there, since the third Ecumen

ical Synod happened after the death of John Chrysostom. So this Anaphora must b

elong to the Syriac Father Mar Ivanios who lived in the fifth century. I reflected on this and wondered how the flow of logic and reasoning was perfect with himeven in the old age.Fr. Dr. V. C. Samuel is known for his independent thoughts and depth of knowledge. He has three excellent theories that can be discussed in this context:1.The power of a church and the political power of the city are closely related.

Examples are the city of Antioch and Syrian Church , the city of Alexandria and Alexandrian Church and the city of Rome and the Roman Catholic Church. The different points in history, these churches came to dominate the world Christianity along with those connected cities, which were dominating the world at that time. This is a trigger where someone can work further on the political history and the church history starting from the first century till now, in different part

s of the world.2. The color of the skin and having native bishop: The Alexandrian Church tillbeing recently did not allow the Ethiopians to have a bishop of their own. TheSyrian and Persian churches did the same to St. Thomas Christians of India . Itwas always White versus Black or White versus Brown. So the color of the skin

was the deciding factor to get a bishop. And in both cases, things changed, when the native became conscious of their rights and in Kerala the classical pieceof church history happened when the priest came together to select and make their own bishop Marthoma I. Rev. Dr. V. C. Samuel was very proud of this one piece of event that signifies the freedom of thought by the Christians in Kerala; but later events made him sad. The followers of Marthoma themselves later felt i

nferiority complex and they again went for the blessings of foreign bishops.

3.The culmination of the native approach happened when the Royal Court , we invented an age old relation with Antioch , which was never there, just to win a caseagainst the Marthomites. Father Samuel refers to it as crime against history. For an immediate victory and possession of properties, to win a case, an eternal suicide was done by telling that we had the relation with Syrian Church from thebeginning. Today we know that an all legal battles, we agree this point legallyand fight for the freedom with the words such as autonomy and autocephalous. F

or Dr. Samuel those are words that we do not understand. We go to complicated legal terms when we know that things are messed up and we are attempting to coverup something from the common man.

While we speak of the Theology and of the identity of the church he always had apriority on the place of believers in the church. He was especially concerned

about the growing generation of the Church in this new era. A cultural westerni

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zation is happening now in India . If we look to the west, believing in religionis an option. We can be a Christian and in the meantime need not be going to C

hurch regularly. When we look in to other Asian countries, people believes in God, but not specific to a particular church or temple. Depending on the convenience, they choose to go to Buddhist temple or a Church. Now in India people arebeginning to think in the same way. Their worship life is becoming just like our choice of food. We go according to the interest of the day. But for Samuel A

chen he had a concrete stand in his ideological and theological understanding.So he advised the young generation for a consistence in the spiritual life.We are a Church in a great democracy. Samuel Achen was proud of the democraticstructure of our Church. He advocated for the rights of ordinary members in theadministration of the Church. Many a times he raised his voice against the pri

est and bishops who had been brought up in protected environments and who couldntreally relate with problems of parishioners. He also give due respect to the i

deas of lay people. He says ordinary people have the power to think and sharetheir views in right way rather than the usual view of the general clergy withinthe church. He called for the coming together of the likeminded people with po

werful thought to witness Christ in this modern world. Fr. Dr. V. C. Samuel was

a man with a wide exposure. It was easy for him to deal with young people of this e-age. He never turned his back to this present world of modern informationtechnology. In his speech he never condemned this present development of this

world. But he highlighted the good and advised for the right use of modern technologies. Now information reaches every one in a split of second across the world. And there are like-minded people at different point of this network. Today, if we want to start a paper we can start that over the internet practically costing nothing. We just need to have the knowledge and we should be able to express our views and like-minded people will read it. E-mail chains are another way of communication. In no time we can propagate a message across the world. Ifwe use these modern communication technologies we can cultivate a generation wi

th spiritual and moral values.

Achen was never behind money or position. Till his death he was a man of simplicity. With limited resources he learned how to lead a decent life. In his autobiography, he wrote, for the simple life he was inspired by the vicar of the novel of Oliver Goldsmith named Vicar of Wakefield , who led a decent life with limited income.Fr. Samuel proved his intellectual nobility throughout his life. He was the best student in his all the studies. His research work titledCouncil of Chalcedon Re-Examined is a unique one which removed the misunderstanding between the Easternand Oriental Orthodox Churches . He was a great thinker, profound preacher, gi

fted teacher, learned philosopher, talented organizer, scholar of different languages, author of many scholarly work, and a Prophetic voice in the ecumenical world. He worked with Dr. P. D. Devanandan and Dr. M. M. Thomas for the formationof the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society (CISRS), Banga

lore . He taught in Sera pore University, Haily Celasy University , Ethiopia ,United Theological College , Bangalore and our Old Seminary. He worked with manyorganizations and publication across the world. For more than twenty five yea

rs he held key posts in the World Council of Churches. His contribution to theecumenical world as member of the Faith and Order Commission was remarkable. He was also a member of the commission of the dialogue between the Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church. He was the founder Vice-president and Editor of the Ethio Hellenic Association. He was in the editorial board of the Church History Association of India . He also worked with Ecumenical Christian Centre, Bangalore; Federated Faculty for Religious Research, St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research institute (SEERI), Kottayam. His contribution for organizing the Orthodox community

in Bangalore , as its first Vicar and the later presence is commendable.

I bow before God for this Divine Gift, Fr. Dr. V. C. Samuel to the Orthodox Chu

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rch, on the occasion of the consecration of St.Stephens Orthodox Church, Bangalore , which was formed and nurtured by Fr. V. C. Samuel.Fr. Alex Daniel