Darmo, Toma (1904–1969) [Ch. of E.]

Metropolitan of India and first patr. of the Ancient Church of the East.

Metropolitan of India and first patr. of the Ancient Church of the East. Mansur Darmo was born in Iyel in Turkey, and ordained deacon in Baʿqūba in 1921. He taught at Yawsep d-Beth Qelayta ’s school in Mosul until 1926, then worked in Syria. In 1952 he went to the USA to be ordained priest and metropolitan for the church in India by Patr. Mar Eshai Shemʿon . In India he pastored the community centered in Trichur in Kerala, built a seminary, and saw through the press an edition of the Ḥudrā (1960–2). In 1963 he published an attack on the hereditary patriarchate, and was suspended by Mar Shemʿun the next year. The suspension was overturned in the courts, but a bitter schism ensued between the Darmoists and the patr. ’s supporters. In 1968 Mar Toma Darmo was summoned by the anti-patriarchal party in Iraq. A synod deposed Mar Shemʿun and Mar Thoma was consecrated patr. with the government’s blessing. He died in office less than a year later.