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A Human Wonder
Metropolitan
Dr. Paulos Mar Gregorios was a phenomenon- nay, a human wonder. He was
active in many fields, and in each of them his contributions were great
enough for one to be considered highly distinguished. Mar Gregorios'
capacity for high level intellectual work was prodigious, and it was no
exaggeration when someone observed that in sixty years he was able to do
what it would have taken most others three hundred years to do. The boy of
fifteen who had to discontinue studies after high school, and become a
post office clerk for want of finances for higher education, was the
person found fit to be chosen to preside over the great ecumenical
consultation on Christian Higher Education in India, which resulted in the
formation of the All India Association for Christian Higher Education. He
discharged his duties as president so well and with such distinction that
both during and after the event it was felt that Fr. Paul Varghese, as he
was then, elevated the level of the consultation by his contribution to
it.
As regards Mar
Gregorios's studies it was a demonstration of the dictum that where there
is a will there is a way and where the will is coupled with very superior
ability there is no stopping it. After working as a local journalist and a
postal assistant for ten years, and for some time as a school teacher in
The entire spectrum of
human activity was of interest and concern to him and his writings covered
the areas of science, religion, theology, philosophy, education, culture,
environment and so on, as will be seen from the titles of his books:
namely "The Gospel of the Kingdom", "The Faith or our Fahers", "The
Freedom of Man", "Freedom and Authority", "Science for Sane Societies",
"Cosmic Man", "Enlightenment - East and West" etc.
His standing as a
thinker on issues of vital importance to mankind was testified to by the
fact that he was chosen to be the Chairman of the world Conference on
Faith, Science and the Future held at MIT in 1979, and as the General
President of the Indian Philosophical Congress.
Part of the
explanation of the versatile achievements of Mar Gregorios was his amazing
capacity for observing and remembering things. This enabled him to acquire
proficiency in numerous languages. In addition to English and Malayalam,
in both of which he was a masterly speaker, he could handle Hindi, Tamil,
Russian, French, German and the Ethiopian language, as well as the
Biblical languages of Syriac, Hebrew and Greek. He had the capacity to
pick up in a short time the elements of the language of any area or region
in which found himself. And as a preacher and public speaker he was able
to adjust himself to the level required by any audience, whether it was a
school assembly or a gathering of the leading scientists, philosophers and
educators of the world.
Mar Gregorios was a
critic of the assumptions of the culture and civilization of the Western
world including Western education. And he delved deep down into the roots
of Indian Culture and sought to combine Eastern Christian and Indian
Culture in order to develop a new understanding of man.
As a Church worker and
ecumenical leader Mar Gregorios had a very distinguished and very
influential career. Starting as an Associate Secretary of the Student
Christian Movement of India, he served the General Secretary of the
Orthodox Christian Student Movement of India, and while in
Mar Gregorios was not
just a leader and an organiser of like minded persons interested in peace
or social justice or world affairs. As his understanding of the forces
moving the international economic and political order was very profound,
and as he had very clear ideas regarding the directions in which things
should move, he had considerations to urge and arguments to advance which
carried weight with the leaders of peoples and the heads of governments.
Those whowere close to him tell us that he was often able to influence the
course of international and national events.
The connection of Mar
Gregorios with AIACHE did not cease with the initial consultation and the
founding of the Association. He continued for long as a member of the
Editorial Board of "New Frontiers in Education" and had
participated in later triennial conferences. May God give us more men of
Mar Gregorios's calibre.
(Courtsey: AIACHE News
Letter, Vol. XXXI, No. 1, February 1997) |