Moran Mor Cyril Baselios

James Malancharuvil was born on August 16, 1935 ^[1] in Pandalam in the family of Matai and Aleyamma Malancharuvil, besides him there were five more sons in the family. For all six brothers, religion played a big role, and they decided to devote their lives to serving the church. Bishop Mar Ivanios sent him to the Bethany Ashram, where he took a vow on March 18, 1953 and took the monastic name Cyril . He studied philosophy and theology in Rome, at the papal academy Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum . After returning to Kerala, Cyril led several mission centers in Trivandrum.

After that, Cyril was sent to the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome to continue his studies, where he studied canon law . His dissertation, entitled The Syro-Malankar Church, explored the special cannonical status of the Syro-Malankar Catholic Church. On his return from Rome, he was appointed professor at the Apostolic Seminary of St. Thomas in Cottoyama. In 1970, Cyril was sent to the University of St. John in New York to study psychology .

On October 28, 1978, Cyril was appointed bishop of the diocese of Bateria; on December 28, 1978, he was ordained. Cyril was ordained by Benedict Mar Gregorios and took the name Cyril Mar Baselios.

In 1989, Cyril became a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches , participated as a representative of India in the Conference of Asian Bishops in 1990, which was held in Indonesia . He became president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India twice ^[2] .

After the death of Archbishop Benedict, Mar Gregorios took the place of the administrator of the Syro-Malancar Catholic Church. On November 29, 1995, Pope John Paul II appointed him the new Archbishop of Trivandrum. On December 14, 1995, he was ordained; pallium was received on January 9, 1996 in the Vatican ^[3] .

Thanks to the work of Cyril, the Syro-Malankar Church received the status of the Supreme Archbishopric on January 10, 2005, and the Supreme Archbishop received the title of Catholicos .

Cyril Mar Baselios had good ecumenical relations with the Indian Orthodox Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Jacobites. Moran Mor Cyril Beselios died of a heart attack on January 18, 2007 in Thiruvananthapuram.