K.P. Yohannan's Believers Church has filed a defamation suit against the Church of South India (CSI) for slandering the Church's leaders.
A church dispute broke in August when the CSI refused to consider Yohannan a real bishop.
When the Kerala Council of Churches (KCC) admitted the Believers Church as one of its members, the CSI announced it would withdraw its four dioceses in Kerala from participation in protest.
"The CSI never considers the Believers Church as an episcopal church or accepts its leader, KP Yohannan, a bishop. As per the CSI view, KP Yohannan is a layman and the KCC decision, overlooking the CSI objection, was unfortunate," said Most Rev. Thomas Oommen, moderator of the CSI.
Now, Rt Rev. Joju Mathew, Bishop of the Niranom diocese in the Believers Church, has sued Oommen for defamation and accused him for slandering and defaming the Church's leaders.
The Believers Church is an evangelical denomination in India that claims to have over 2.6 million members.
