Like the followers of many other faith traditions, Christians maintain that God is mystery, beyond all human words and knowing. Yet, Christians also believe their encounter with God in the person of Jesus and the activity of the Holy Spirit has given them a special revelation about who God is. Central to Christian faith is the belief that in Jesus of Nazareth, God (the Word of God) becomes human. Here is a radical statement, proclaimed in John’s Gospel: “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14) This is the doctrine of the incarnation, from the Latin in carne “into flesh.” This is what we, Christians, are to live and proclaim as good news.
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Two parallel dialogues were established with the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the Malankara (Jacobite) Syrian Orthodox Church, respectively in 1989 and 1990, and were maintained even after the foundation in 2003 of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.
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The Commission for dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church met at the Spirituality Center of the Syro-Malabar Church at Kottayam (Kerala, South India) December 5-8, 1994. All Commission members were present.

1. The principal subject was the study on the role of the Episcopate in guaranteeing the Unity of the Church. After taking up again the text on “Synodal Structure and Practice” (P.M.O. John) two other documents were presented: “Koinonia in the Church” (Mar Severios) and “Ecclesial Communion: A biblical-theological perspective” (P.M. Vellanickal). The sub-commission has begun to draft a first synthesis on “the Church as Communion (Koinonia)” which has been discussed by the assembly.

These progressive studies, which have not led immediately to concrete decisions, have engaged the commission in a process of successive approaches to the mystery of the Church and more precisely of its sacramental structure which is common to the two Churches. These approaches also permit us to perceive the links between this structure and the exercise of authority in the Church. It has therefore asked a sub-commission to explore more deeply the notions of authority (exousia) and of service (diakonia in the Church understood as communion (koinonia).
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