INDIA: Maramon convention, Asia's largest Christian event, focuses on green spirituality

By Anto Akkara, February 26, 2010 [Ecumenical News International, Maramon, India] The Mar Thoma Syrian Church's annual Maramon convention, which lays claim to being Asia's biggest Christian gathering, has in 2010 focused on caring for the earth, with government officials handing out tens of thousands of saplings for planting.

"If we persist with the unscientific exploitation of natural resources and neglect of environmental concerns, there will not be anything left for the future generations in the earth in which we live," cautioned Metropolitan Joseph Mar Thoma, head of the Mar Thoma Church.

The metropolitan's warning came in his concluding address to the Feb. 14-21 convention at Maramon in India's southern Kerala state, which organizers said drew crowds of up to 200,000 on some days.

The annual Mar Thoma event on the dry sandy bed of the River Pampa at Maramon village 110 kilometers (66 miles) south-east of the second largest city in the state, Kochi, has played a crucial role in the growth of the one million-strong church.

The Mar Thoma Church traces its roots to St. Thomas, a disciple of Jesus, and is characterized by a liturgical blend of eastern Orthodox tradition with the Anglican theology that influenced the church during the 19th century. The Mar Thoma Church is in full communion with the Anglican Communion.

Delegates from most Mar Thoma congregations around the world, along with other Christians and people of other faiths, gather at Maramon for an annual convention that consists of eight days of prayers, and biblical reflections by eminent preachers.

"The faithful have a duty to react with open eyes and ears, and intervene in social and environmental concerns," said Metropolitan Mar Thoma in his address.

On Feb. 15, the second day of the convention, Binoy Viswam, the minister for forests and environment in the Communist Party-led government of Kerala state, inaugurated a massive forestry program at the gathering by distributing 100,000 saplings ready for planting.

"Our priests and people are taking these saplings all over the country and abroad," an assistant metropolitan, Zacharias mar Theophilus, told Ecumenical News International. "This is much more than planting trees. Sustenance and maintenance of vegetation is a spiritual act."

The Rev. C.K. Mathew, general secretary of the Mar Thoma Evangelical Association, which organizes the Maramon convention, told ENI: "It is time for churches to preach eco-friendly spirituality. That is why we decided to focus on this theme. This will make the people aware of the sin of plundering God's creation."