Easow Mar Timotheos (25 November 1932 – 11 April 1988) was an Indian episcopa (bishop) of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, an Indian Christian church tracing back to Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. He was a bishop from 1975 to 1988, and a missionary priest before that. Early life Easow Mar Timotheos was born on 25 November 1932 in Thonniyamala, a small village about away from Pathanamthitta in Kerala in south India. His birth name was Valiyaparampil Thomas Koshy (V.T. Koshy) but he was commonly called Thankappan as a nickname. He is also sometimes called Easow Mar Timotheos Thirumeni, where "Thirumeni" has the meaning of "Divine Body" (an appellation used to describe the physical manifestation of Krishna), or sometimes just Thirumeni for short. V.T. Koshy was the eighth child of Valiyaparampil Scaria Thomas and Achamma (member of the Thasiyil Pulimoottil family of Karthikappally). Valiyaparampil is a branch of the Thazhayil family of Elanthur. The family were members of the St. Thomas Mar Thoma Parish, established in 1899 in Thonniyamala. In the 1930s there were about forty or fifty families in the parish. Music – hymns and harmonium playing – were popular in the parish, and Thankappan was good at music. Thazhemannil Mathaichen (T. K. Mathai) was the Sunday school headmaster for many years. Thankappan was active in Sunday school, and practiced fasting (four days a month) from an early age. Education After his primary education, V. T. Koshy entered the Catholicate High School in Pathanamthitta, where he was a good student and devout, and performed public service works among the poor. Missionary work After passing SSLC, V. T. Koshy enrolled in the AMM Bible Institute in Tiruvalla for a short course. During that time he decided to go to the Sihora Ashram in Madhya Pradesh in northern India and perform missionary work. On 9 July 1952, V. T. Koshy reached the Sihora Ashram. After three years of temporary membership he returned to Thonniyamala to continue his education. Higher education In 1955, V. T. Koshy joined the Catholicate College in Pathanamthitta for intermediate class. He passed his intermediate examination with first class. His relatives offered him support to continue his studies and urged him to get a secular career and look after the family, but he decided to pursue theological training at the Leonard Theological College in Jabalpur, where he enrolled in 1957 to pursue his Bachelor of Divinity