was born on 26 June 1884 at Perumbavoor , Vengola, to Abraham Kathanar of Chettakulathukara family. He was ordained as deacon by Kadavil Paulose Mar Athanasios. In 1905, as Deacon Mathai, he visited Syria and Turkey and 1908 at Jerusalem he was elevated as Ramban Oughan. Ramban (Monk) even while being a deacon and accepted the name Augen. In the Syrian Church a Ramban need not be a priest; even a deacon may be professed as Ramban. He was consecrated as Metropolitan Oughan Mar Timotheos on 15 May 1927 at Jerusalem. He was appointed as the fourth Metropolitan of Kandanad. He has left his imprint in several offices that he held during his life. He was principal of the Orthodox Theological Seminary, and the Metropolitan of Kandanad and Thumpamon dioseses.His Holiness Baselios Oughen I
On 17 May 1962, when the Malankara Association met at Niranam, he was chosen as the sucessor to the Malankara Metropolitan and Catholicose. It was on 22 May 1964 at M.D. Seminary, Kottayam that he was installed formally as the fourth Catholicose. As he was very old, he relinquished his position as Malankara Metropolitan to his successor on 24 September 1975.
Having achieved expectional scholarship in Malay- alam and Syriac languages, he translated into Malayalam the 'Pemkisa Namaskaram' 'Prumiyonukal', ' Valiya Nombilae Namaskaram', 'Pattamkoda Shushrusha Kramangal' and 'Pallikoodasha Kramangal'. He also composed the 'Hood- omakal' for 'Holy Synods' and the 'State after death'.
After a few years Ramban Augen returned to India and he stood firmly with the Patriarch faction. In October 1926 Kandanad Diocesan Assembly of the Patriarch group elected him to be a bishop and sent them to the Patriarch to get him consecrated. Patriarch Elias Ill consecrated him as bishop on 15th May 1927 and gave him the title Mar Thimotheos. After his return to India Mar Thimotheos became the Metropolitan of Kandanad Diocese of the Patriarch faction. However Mar Thimotheos increasingly got convinced about the independence of the Malankara Church and the genuine claims of the Catholicate; and in 1942 along with the majority of priests and laity in the Kandanad Diocese, he left the Patriarch fold and declared his allegiance to the Catholicose. In 1958, after the unification in the Church, Mar Thimotheos was given charge of the united Kandanad Diocese. He was elected as successor to the Catholicose in 1962 at the Niranam Association. The Episcopal synod decided to invite the Patriarch for the installation of the Catholicose, as per the Church Constitution, in the light of the unification in 1958. Accordingly the Patriarch came to India and co-operated with the Malankara Synod in installing Baselios Augen I as Catholicose. This took place on 22nd May 1964. In the general atmosphere of peace all the Dioceses and Metropolitans accepted Catholicose Augen I.
On an invitation from Pope Paul VI, Catholicose Augen visited the Pope at Bombay in 1964. The Pope was there in connection with the Eucharistic Congress. This was the first meeting between a Roman Pope and the Catholicose of the East.
An Assembly of the Oriental Orthodox Churches was at Addis Abbaba in Ethiopia in January 1965. Coptic, Ethiopean, Armenian, Syrian and Indian (Malankara) Orthodox churches constitute the oriental orthodox family. The Malankara delegation to this Assembly was led by the Catholicose. On 24th August 1966 Catholicose consecrated three metropolitans Philipose Mar Theophilos, Yuhanon Mar Severios and Thomas Mar Thimotheos. (The 1965 Malankara Association had elected five priests to the bishopric, but the Episcopal had confirmed only three)
The new blocks in the Theological Seminary were dedicated in 1967 by the Catholicose. The Romanian Patriarch along with a delegation was present at the function. Catholicose Augen I consecrated Holy Mooron on 21 December 1967 at the Old Seminary, Kottayarn.
On December 31, 1970, the Malankara Association meeting M. D. Seminary elected Metropolitan Mathews Mar Athanasios successor to the Catholicose and Malankara Metropolitan. The former Patriarch faction enthusiasts tried to stall the Association through a petition in the Court. However the court did not interfere in the matter.
Once again there were signs of the dark clouds of factionalism appearing in the church. Matters took a bad turn with an unfortunate letter written by the Patriarch to the Catholicose in 1970. Among other things the letter said:
...A long time before your letter I saw another letter heading
'Throne of St. Thomas' and was really surprised at that. Since the
establishment of the Catholicate in the 4th century none of the
Catholicosees or Maphrians have used this title. Secondly St. Thomas has
not founded any throne which may be termed as 'Throne of St. Thomas'. As
is evident from St. John's Gospel (20:21-24) he was not a priest. How
can he be a high priest without being a priest? How can he establish a
throne without being a high priest? Therefore no ancient historian ever
says that he ever ordained anybody as bishop or founded a throne of
Catholicose
.
Copies of this letter was sent to many others in Malankara. The Malankara Church received this letter with much sorrow, since the letter denied the highpriesthood of St. Thomas and the existence of the Catholicate. The Malankara Synod considered and discussed this letter in detail and the Catholicose replied to it. The reply contained the following points:- received Your Holiness' letter of 27-6-70 The contents of this letter were disclosed to our Metropolitans and some important priests. All of them were surprised and sorry for its contents. Your Holiness' letter relating to the priesthood of St. Thomas, apostolic Throne, the authority of the Catholicate is seen as against truth, history and the faith of the Church, by everybody here. Therefore everybody here is of the opinion that these are never acceptable and that thy should be opposed
The relatively peaceful
atmosphere in the Church was rudely and violently disturbed by the
letter of the Patriarch. At this time Ramban Aphrem Abudi - A Syrian
national - was staying at Manjinikkara. The Patriarch decided to
consecrate this Ramban as bishop and appoint him as his delegate to
Malankara. The Malankara Synod took a serious view of this and protested
against this wrong move of the Patriarch. But, disregarding the Synod's
decision, the Patriarch sent bishop Abudi Themotheos as his 'delegate'
to Malankara and requested the Catholicose to accept him as such. The
Catholicose disapproved of this, and the Synod's directive that the
delegate
should not be received in any parish in
Malankara was sent to all the parish churches. However some parishes
people against the Catholicose and the institution of the Catholicate.
This led to unrest and mutiny. Therefore some members of Malankara
Church petitioned the Union Government to cancel the visa of bishop
Abudi and deport him. On the basis of this, the Govt. of India cancelled
his visa and he had to leave the country in July 1973. He tried to move
the court against the deportation order, but the court did not come his
rescue.
The old Patriarch party was much disillusioned by the deportation of bishop Abudi. The Patriarch planned to manipulate the disappointment of the faction to his advantage. He came forward to ordain a few priests of Malankara as bishops, throwing to the winds the constitution of the Malankara Church, the Catholicate as the authority of the Church Management Committee and Association.
First, Kadavil Paul Ramban was called to Damascus and ordained as bishop Athanasios. This unauthorised bishop was barred by the Court from entering Malankara churches, on a petition from the Catholicose and the Catholicose designate. Soon two other priests - Fr. Geevarghese and Fr. Thomas - secretly went to the Patriarch and got themselves ordained as bishops
Mar Gregorios and Mar Dionysius. These two also were barred by the court.
situation looked like that of a proxy war being fought in Malankara by the Patriarch. His supporters seemed organize a parallel church within the Church. Hence the Malankara Church once again dicided to seek refuge in the cour. The Catholicose and the Catholicose designate filed a case in the Kottayam District Court in 1974 with prayers to declare the following:-
the bishops ordained by the Patriarch should not be allowed to enter the parish churches and interfere in the administration that the 1064 parish churches and their assets belong to the Catholicate and their administration is vested in the lawfully installed Catholicose cum Malankara Metropolitan and the Episcopal Synod of which the Catholicose is the president.
The court admitted the petition and gave an interim order preventing the bishops ordained by the Patriarch from entering the parish churches in Malankara.
The case passed through the District Court, Special Court and the High Court and reached the Supreme court. On 20th June 1995, the Supreme Court gave its judgement, mostly adhering to the 1958 judgement. Thus the authority of the Catholicate and the Church constitution was confirmed once again.
By 1974, the division in thc Church had become a reality. The Catholicosee and the Patriarch excommunicated each other and expelled each other from the Church. The Malankara Synod expelled Abraham Mar Clemis and Paulose Mar Phelexinos from the Church on 22nd May 1975. The expelled Mar Philoxenos was called to Damascus by the Patriarch and was installed as Catholicose on 7th September 1975, with this uncanonical step by the Patriarch the split in the Church became complete.
The Malankara Association meeting af Niranam Church on 2nd October 1974 condemned the unauthorized interferences of the Patriarch. The meeting elected five priests of the Church to be bishops and also elected the members of the Managing Committee. The bishop-elects were consecrated at Niranam on 16th February 1975. They were Mar Osthathios, Mar Gregorios, Mar Makarios, Mar Thodosius and Mar Pachomios.
Catholicose Augen I retired from his position as he was getting too old, and the successor - Baselios Mar Thoma Mathews I was installed as Catholicose by the Episcopal synod on 27th October 1975 at the Old Seminary, Kottayam. Augen Catholicose passed away at the age of 91 on 8th December 1975 and was interred at the Catholicate Chapel Devalokam.