PATHANAMTHITTA: Philipose Mar Chrysostom, the seniormost metropolitan of the
Thiruvalla-headquartered Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church and also
Kerala’s oldest man, celebrated his 102nd birthday on Saturday.
The Bishop, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan last year, was born in
1918. Although he has now retired, Chrysostom even now participates in
services and moves around the church in a wheelchair.
He was ordained as
a priest in 1944 and became a bishop in 1953 and went on to head the
Church as its Metropolitan in 1999 before voluntarily stepping down as
the head of the church in 2007.
On Saturday, numerous bishops from his Church and other denominations
visited him and extended their greetings. To mark the occasion,
Chrysostom cut a specially made ‘vattayappam’
