The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church here on Thursday reiterated its stance that the collective of Oriental Orthodox Churches had neither convened a meeting nor extended an invitation for peace talks.

In a statement, Youhanon Mar Diascoros, head of the Church’s media wing, said that claims suggesting that the heads of three Oriental Churches invited the Orthodox Church leadership to Cairo to resolve the Malankara Church dispute was unfounded.

“It is understood that the three Oriental Churches in the Middle East gathered solely to celebrate the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Some have misinterpreted this as a meeting of Oriental Churches. The union of Oriental Orthodox Churches comprises seven churches, including the Malankara Orthodox Church and no such forum has convened or made any decision in recent days,” it said.

He further claimed that other members in the Oriental Church family have denounced the move of the three Churches in the Middle East.

“The Antiochian and Coptic Patriarchs and the head of the Armenian Church in Lebanon were present at the meeting. The main Armenian Church, the Apostolic Church of Etchmiadzin, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church are not participants in this meeting. The move made by the churches in the Middle East with vested interests has been rejected by other churches in the Oriental Orthodox community,” Orthodox church stated.

The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church added that the Oriental Orthodox family, including the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, is clearly aware of the situation in India. “Other churches responded positively to the letter sent by the Inter-Church Ecumenical department of the Malankara Orthodox Church. The matters, including the final judgment of the Supreme Court of India, were brought to the attention of the church leadership,” it said.