News that His Holiness Marthoma Paulose II (Catholicos-Mooppan, and Malankara Metropolitan), the Primate of the Indian Orthodox Church in Kerala, has tested positive for the Covid-19 virus and has been admitted to the St. Gregorious Hospital at Parumala to undergo treatment, is the first case of an Orthodox Patriarch or Primate having succumbed to the current pandemic.

On hearing this news Abba Seraphim has urgently directed all the clergy and faithful of the British Orthodox Church to sustain His Holiness in prayer and to hope that he will respond very effectively to the treatment he will receive, so that he will soon be able to resume his full duties. He is highly respected by the British Orthodox Church and expressed a most warm and generous hospitality when Abba Seraphim led a pilgrimage to Malabar in 2010.