Metropolitan His Grace the Most Rev. Dr Joseph Mar Thoma, the primate of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, passed away early on Sunday at a private hospital in this Kerala town following a battle with cancer, church sources said.

The 90-year-old head of the Mar Thoma community had been under treatment for pancreatic cancer. He breathed his last around 2.30am, hospital sources said.

Born as P.T. Joseph at Maramon in Pathanamthitta district, Joseph Mar Thoma became the Mar Thoma Metropolitan in October 2007 after the then Mar Thoma Metropolitan, Philipose Mar Chrysostom, expressed his desire to transfer responsibilities of the Church to his successor due to his deteriorating health.

Joseph Mar Thoma was ordained as Ramban on January 11, 1975, and designated as Suffragan Metropolitan on March 15, 1999, when Philipose Mar Chrysostom, the Suffragan Metropolitan, was designated as the officiating Metropolitan.

The mortal remains of Metropolitan His Grace the Most Rev. Dr Joseph Mar Thoma have been kept at the Church headquarters in Thiruvalla where people from all walks of life paid their final respects to him.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of the spiritual leader, saying the Metropolitan was a remarkable personality who served humanity and worked hard to improve the lives of the poor.

The Prime Minister had on June 27 inaugurated the 90th birthday celebrations of the Metropolitan.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the demise of the Metropolitan was not only a loss to the Church but to the society as a whole.