Kerala's Orthodox Church embraces Catholic Bible
- The indigenous church has no independent translation of the holy book and it uses the Bible published by the Bangalore-based Bible Society of India.
- The new Malayalam translation of approved by the international theological commission will have the Apocrypha texts in addition to the 66-book Bible.
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In a landmark decision, the Catholic and Orthodox churches in Kerala have agreed to shed theological differences and accept a common Bible.
This also marks a major departure from the centuries old tradition of the unique Malankara Orthodox Church of Kerala, also known as the Indian Orthodox Church.
The international theological commission of both churches decided to compile and translate a common Bible.
Now, the Bible used by Orthodox Church has 66 books. The indigenous church has no independent translation of the holy book and it uses the Bible published by the Bangalore-based Bible Society of India. Most Christian churches except the Catholics use the 66-book Bible.
The new Malayalam translation of approved by the international theological commission will have the Apocrypha texts in addition to the 66-book Bible.
The Orthodox Church had earlier urged the Protestant Churches to include Apocrypha in Bible, a demand turned down by the latter. Though the Bible Society agreed to add the Apocrypha as an appendix, the proposal was not acceptable for the Orthodox Church.
