A new milestone

With the Madras Mar Thoma Syrian Church on Harrington Road receiving a platinum jubilee building recently, here is a historical tour of the parish

January 27, 2017 04:31 pm | Updated 04:31 pm IST

Digniteries at the inauguration of the parish hall. Photos: 
special arrangement

Digniteries at the inauguration of the parish hall. Photos: special arrangement

The Madras Mar Thoma Syrian Church, Chetpet, has crossed another milestone in its eventful history. On January 21, the church inaugurated its platinum jubilee building.

A host of dignitaries were present at the event.

Now, a historical tour of the church.

Did you know that the Madras Mar Thoma Syrian Church is the first parish of the denomination to be established outside Kerala?

In 1936, it began as a small congregation of students in Madras, under the leadership of reverend C.K. Mathai.

With the construction of a church building in 1951, the small congregation developed into a parish. The church was dedicated by Most Rev. Dr. Juhanon Mar Thoma, the then Metropolitan. The church was under the leadership of reverend A.A. Paylee, who was later elevated as the vicar general of the church.

In 1958, a parsonage — the official residence of the vicar of the parish — was built on Sixth Avenue in Harrington Road.

So far, 44 have priests, including vicars and assistant vicars, headed the parish.

Notably, in the eight decades of its existence, the parish grew in size, spreading its wings across the city, extending to various areas: Avadi (1963), Thiruvottiyur (1977), Tambaram (1990), Anna Nagar (1993), Padi (1997), St. Thomas Mount (2000) and Adyar (2006).

While the mother parish has over 3,000 family memberships (including a strong floating student community), the other parishes have family membership ranging from 30 to 350.

In 1995, the church building was reconstructed and consecrated in 2000 by Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma, the then suffragan metropolitan of the church.

The parish also received its first parish hall, which began to be constructed in 1973.

Years later, this auditorium was demolished to pave way for the Platinum Jubilee building, which is more spacious and completely air-conditioned.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.