Aboun Mor Ivanios "P. T." Geevarghese Panikkervettil, OIC (born 21 September 1882 as Panikkervettil Thomas Panicker Geevarghese - died 15 July 1953) was the first metropolitan archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and Major Archdiocese of Trivandrum. He was the founder of Bethany Ashram for monks in Order of Imitation Christ (OIC) and Bethany Madam order of nuns. He was the first M.A. degree holder in the Kerala or Malankara Church. He also served as the principal of the Kottayam M.D Seminary High School and as a professor at Serampore College. He is a candidate for sainthood in the Catholic Church, having been declared a Servant of God by Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottungal in 2007.
Family history, childhood and education
P. T Geevarghese was born in Mavelikkara, Kerala, India, on 21 September 1882 to Thomas Panicker and Annamma Panicker.
He was a descendant of the aristocratic tharavad of Panickervettil in Mavelikkara within the erstwhile Indian princely state of Travancore, currently in the Alappuzha district of Kerala. The Panickervettil family was honored with the title of 'Mylitta Panicker' bestowed upon by the Travancore rulers.
P. T Geevarghese had his early education in Protestant and government schools. From 1897 he attended M. D. Seminary High School, Kottayam and pursued his higher studies at Serampore College and Madras Christian College (M.C.C.). He completed his matriculation education in 1899: before which he received minor orders (of clerical life) on 20 September 1898.
Deacon
He was ordained a deacon by Pulikkottil Dionysius then the Malankara Metropolitan of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church on 9 January 1900, he then continued his studies at CMS College, Kottayam and obtained a bachelor's degree in economics and Indian History from Madras Christian College. In 1907 he took a Master's Degree (MA) with distinction from the same college. On his return from Madras he was appointed principal of his alma mater, M.D. Seminary High School. During this time he led various schemes for the renewal of the Malankara Church. He organized basic church communities, commenced Bible conventions, because of this he was popularly entitled "Koodasa Semmasan" (Deacon of Sacraments).
Priestly life
He was ordained to the priesthood as P.T. Geevarghese on 15 September 1908 by Vattasseril Dionysius then the Malankara Metropolitan of Malankara Orthodox Church. Geevarghese was popularly known as M A Achan, as he was the first priest with an MA degree in Malankara. At the same time, he took the initiative to empower the Malankara Church with hierarchical autonomy. He became instrumental to erect Catholicate for the Malankara Church on 5 September 1912. After the establishment of Catholicate in 1912 Malankara Church divided into two, one under the leadership of Malankara Metropolitan Vatteseril Dionysius (bishop's party) and one under Anthiochan Jacobite Patriarch (Bava Party). Geevarghese was belonging to Bishop's party.
Professorship in Serampore
In 1912 Vattasseril Dionysius received an invitation to attend a conference at Calcutta. Dionysius selected Geevarghese to accompany him to Calcutta to attend the conference. At the conference, they met Dr. Howels the principal of Serampore College who requested the Metropolitan to avail the service of Geevarghese as the professor of the College. The metropolitan permitted Geevarghese to take up the task. He made use of this opportunity to educate the Malankara Youth. About 20 young people from Kerala reached Calcutta for higher education.
At Serampore, Geevarghese got more time for prayer and contemplation. He came across the writings of Basil of Caesarea on monasticism. The Basilian monastic vision had a great influence on him. Besides the visits to the Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi and Santiniketan of Rabindranath Tagore gave him a new vision of Indian Sanyasa (monasticism). These experiences made him to reflect upon starting an order of missionaries to carry out the task of evangelization in India. Slowly the residence of Geevarghese and his followers at Serampore became an Ashram (Monastery), and they began to live a sort of religious life according to the monastic rules of St. Basil, adapting them to Indian culture. As he accepted this as his way of life, he resigned from the Serampore College.