2017 SC order implemented as Orthodox priests enter Piravom

Priests of the Orthodox faction on Sunday conducted holy mass at a church in nearby Piravom amid tight security as a nearly two-year old Supreme Court order in favour of them was finally implemented.

Armed with a Kerala High Court directive, the Orthodox faction entered the church known as "Piravom Valiyapalli", a major Christian spiritual centre in the state, two days after Ernakulam district administration took over its control from rival Jacobite group.

The church had witnessed tense situation last week after the high court rdered the district administration to take over its control for implementing the Supreme Court order granting its possession to the Orthodox faction.

For the first time after the apex court order, the priests and followers of the Orthodox faction entered the church on Sunday morning after its doors were thrown opened to them by the administration.

A security ring was thrown around the church and Piravom town to prevent any untoward incident in view of implementation of the apex court order on the decades-old factional feud in the administration of the church.

Hundreds of protesting Jacobite followers, led by their priests, who lost one of their prominent spiritual centres in the legal battle, assembled in Piravom town and held their Sunday prayers on the road side.

Later, the Jacobites, who owe their allegiance to the Patriarch of Antioch, held a protest march