Baselios Joseph
Mor Baselios Joseph is the current Catholicos of India of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church. He also serves as the Metropolitan of the Kochi and Angamali dioceses. He was elevated to Catholicos on March 25, 2025, at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Atchaneh, Lebanon, in a ceremony led by Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, and he was enthroned on March 30, 2025 at Mar Athanasius Cathedral, Puthencruz. He is the 81st Maphrian of the East and the 4th Catholicos of India.
Joseph Jose was born on November 10, 1960, in Mulanthuruthy, Kerala, the youngest of four children of Srambikkal Pallithitta Geevarghese and Saramma. He studied economics at Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam; earned a BD from St Patrick’s College, Dublin; completed an MPhil in philosophy at Trinity College Dublin; and earned a Diploma in Clinical Pastoral Education and Counseling in the United States. He studied theology at Mor Julios Seminary in Perumpilly.
He was ordained a deacon on March 25, 1974, by Mor Gregorios Geevarghese of Perumpally, and later served as his secretary. He was ordained a priest on March 25, 1984, at Marthoman Church, Mulanthuruthy, by Mor Baselios Paulose II. On January 16, 1994, he was consecrated as Mor Gregorios Joseph, the Metropolitan of the Kochi Diocese, by Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas in Damascus, and enthroned on January 23, 1994 at Kyomtha Cathedral, Thiruvankulam.
From 1996 to 2002 he served as president of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Sunday School Association (MJSSA) and helped establish orphanages and educational projects. In 2019 he was elected Metropolitan Trustee of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Association. In 2023 Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II named him the 26th Malankara Metropolitan. He also served as Catholicos Assistant to Baselios Thomas I until 2024. Following Baselios Thomas I’s death, he was elected Catholicos of India.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:33 (CET).