Schism of 1912

Schism of 1912
Emblem of Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East	Emblem of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
Date	1912 – 1958 and 1976 - present
Also known as	Orthodox-Jacobite schism; Second Vaṭṭippaṇa Case; Second Community Litigation;
Type	Christian schism
Cause	Power struggle between the three trustees of the church, namely, Malankara Metropolitan Dionysius Vattasseril on one side and Korah Mathen Konatt and C. J. Kurian on the other; Decision of Dionysius VI Vattasseril to: remove Korah Mathen Konatt as Priest trustee and C. J. Kurian as the lay trustee of the Malankara Church; Decision of Patriarch Ignatius Abded Aloho II to: suspend Dionysius Vattasseril as Malankara Metropolitan and appoint Paulose Koorilos Kochuparambil as Malankara Metropolitan; Decision of Ignatius Abded Mshiho II to: Revive and relocate the autocephalous Catholicate of the East to India, elevate Paulose Ivanios Murimattathil as the Catholicos (Maphrian) for the Malankara Church, and entrust the patriarchal rights to the Catholicos;
Participants	Primary: Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East;; Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.; ; Secondary: Dionysius Vattasseril,; Korah Mathen Konatt,; C. J. Kurian;; Koorilos Kochuparambil,; Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church;; Ignatius Abded Aloho II,; Ignatius Abded Mshiho II;; Baselios Paulose I,; P. T. Geevarghese.; ;
Outcome	The excommunication of Dionysius Vattasseril by Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Abded Aloho II.; Creation of the autocephalous Catholicate of the East in India by Ignatius Abded Mshiho II.; Schism in the Malankara Church and formation of Patriarchal "Bawa Party" and Anti-patriarchal "Metran Party"; Independence of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church; Severing of submission to Ignatius Abded Aloho II, by the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.;

The Malankara Orthodox-Jacobite church dispute or the Schism of 1912 was the split in the Malankara Syrian Church that led to an ongoing series of church disputes in Kerala, India. The dispute, also known as the Second Community Case or the Second Vaṭṭippaṇa Case (Malayalam: രണ്ടാം സമുദായക്കേസ്, രണ്ടാം വട്ടിപ്പണക്കേസ്), has been intertwined with continuous litigations and has resulted in the formation of two rival church bodies, namely the autocephalous Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, an autonomous church under the Syriac Orthodox patriarchate of Antioch. Although the Indian supreme court judgement of 1995 made a terminal legal conclusion of the dispute, the disagreements related to the administration of the parish church property continues to cause occasional law and order problems and significant obstruction to a permanent solution of the dispute. The dispute in three of these parishes was moved to the court and its final verdict was made by the Supreme Court in 2017, in favour of the Malankara Orthodox Church.

The dispute remains unresolved, and police interventions to implement the judgement continue to meet intense protest and confrontation in churches currently administered by the Jacobite Church. The continuing dispute also led to increased sectarianism among members of the once undivided community and the solidification of the schism between the two rival factions.

Presently, according to data from the Indian government, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church is significantly larger than the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church adding another layer of complexity to the schism. Further issues have been caused by the churches geographic concentrations with the Jacobite faction dominant throughout the Ernakulam district, leading to scenarios of split-parishes with large parish disparities like Marthoman Cheriapally in Kothamangalam which has 3,000 Jacobite families to 8 of the Malankara Orthodox faction (later reports have recorded 25 additional families switching to the Orthodox faction).

When the two factions originally split in 1912, they were about even in numbers with the Orthodox having a slight majority. This changed after the 1990s with several Jacobite leaders switching to the Orthodox faction. Notable examples include Zachariah Mar Nicholovos of the Northeast America who led the switch of a few hundred Jacobite families and a couple churches to the Orthodox faction in the American diaspora. Other bishops who switched allegiance include Yuhanon Mar Meletius of Thrissur and Thomas Mar Athanasius of Kandanad East (Muvattupuzha). Later after the 2017 Court Case, there have been many cases of Jacobite faction members across Kerala switching allegiance to the Malankara Orthodox. An example is Saint John Church in Kanniattunirappu which had a major switch of Jacobite to Orthodox. Baselios I of the Jacobite Church had admitted "Kanniattunirappu parish in Ernakulam district has witnessed an exodus of believers.. It is a sad turn of events". Another example is 25 Jacobite families accepting the 1934 Constitution at St. Mary Church in Kattachira in 2019.