Baselios Marthoma Mathews II

* More than a million people lined up along the road late last month in the southern Indian state of Kerala as the body of Malankara Orthodox Syrian church leader Baselios Marthoma Mathews II was taken on a 12-hour journey to his burial place. The Orthodox leader, who died January 26 at age 90, had retired just last October.

Christian leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI and General Secretary Samuel Kobia of the World Council of Churches, joined Indian church and political figures in mourning the death of Mathews II, who held the title of Catholicos of the East.

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