Mar Gregorios, a Karmayogi: T. P. Sreenivasan said while delivering Archbishop Mar Gregorios Memorial Lecture in Rome

Archbishop Benedict Mar Gregorios was a karmayogi who strived tirelessly for total liberation of mankind, former Indian Ambassador to the UN T. P Sreenivasan has said.

He was delivering the Archbishop Benedict Mar Gregorios memorial lecture organised at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome.

Mar Gregorios was a scholarly spiritual leader, spokesperson for secularism and Indian culture, and an educational expert, Sreenivasan said. Mar Gregorios, who died in 1994, was also a practical economist, an advocate for modern farming methods and practical industrialism and personification of compassion. The lecture was part of a series organised by the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church to commemorate Benedict Mar Gregorios who was its second Metropolitan Archbishop. Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, stressed upon the need for united action beyond political and casteist considerations for the common good. George Alencherry, the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, described Gregorios as a ‘great personality’ who strived towards social good. He gained the strength for this through prayer, Alencherry said. Gregorios life should be looked upon as a model by all Christians, said Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the congregation for the Oriental churches in the Roman Curia.