| Our church or
parish is a section of the body of believers in Christ
worldwide. We are an traditional Orthodox Christian
congregation having organized and Liturgical worship. Our
legacy comes from the ancient Syrian Orthodox Church of
Antioch. Today we follow Malayalam, the language of
Kerala (where
the church was found) in the liturgical services with
smattering remains of Syriac. Thus we are still an ethnic
church. Although we are trying hard to incorporate
multi-lingual liturgical services.
Locally we are part of the
Orthodox Church in India better known as the
Malankara or Indian
Orthodox Church which is headquartered at Devalokam in
Kottayam, Kerala. Geographically we fall in the Malad Zone
(administrative unit) within the
Diocese of Mumbai
or Bombay
Services (Holy
Qurbana or the Eucharist) are held every Sunday
Morning and Saturday evening. There are special services
for Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Maundy Thursday, Easter and
Christmas.
Our Parish started with a humble
congregation way back in 1977, and has since then grown
into a registered society, a full fledged parish within
the constitution of the Malankara Orthodox Church with
over 300 families, but still only halfway onto the dream
of having our own church building. Yes!. we do not have
our own premises. For the last 25 years we have been
conducting services in an hall (Ashankur hall) belonging
to the Holy Family Roman Catholic Church. We have a good
relationship with this sister church and may God bless them
abundantly for nourishing us.
Our Parish is dedicated to
St. John the Baptist, the precursor to Christ.
Today the parish is greatly involved in
the life of each of the parishioners, having active
organizations within it such as the
MGOCSM, Youth League,
Martha Mariyam Samajam, Sunday School etc.
It performs Christian charity by donating
to hospitals, orphanages, old age homes and runs a free
dispensary for the poor at Sahar in Andheri-E, Mumbai.
We are ably led by our
Vicar (Parish Priest), Rev. Fr. Koshy
Alex and our Diocesan Metropolitan, (Bishop)
H. G Geevarghese Mar Coorilose.
|
Our
Mission:
Charity is
the essence of Christianity. The motive force behind
all the good work of the church is the ideal set by
our Lord and God Jesus Christ “To Love God and
Love Man”
One cannot
serve God without serving man and conversely one
cannot serve man without serving God. This being the
cornerstone of Christian Life, we have set forth our
goal to concentrate on charitable work within our
might. Come, let us follow the foot-steps of our
Lord Jesus whose mission in this world was to
stretch his helping hand to the poor and needy.
|
|
Click Here to read our History
in Brief and learn about all our previous Vicars. |
|
Click
Here on Instructions for reaching to us or check out
our location. |
|
Click here to view the Parish
Organization |
| |
|
Click
here to read about our fund raising effort and
appeal for donations for building our own building. |
| |
|
Our Vision:
Right from the inception of our parish it was our
firm resolve to start a Free Medical Dispensary for
the poor. In a city like Mumbai where more than half
of the population lives in sub-human condition, the
poor people specially fall prey to various
infectious diseases. Few Municipal Hospitals hardly
meet the demand of the growing need for the medical
care of the increasing urban population. On the
other hand, the private Hospitals and Dispensaries
are unaffordable to the poorer section of the
Society. Taking all these into consideration, we
thought it just to make a modest beginning by
opening a Free Medical Center in a suitable locality
where it can provide optimum service to the poor.
Thus the inauguration of our Medical Center was
solemnized by the Asst. metropolitan of Mumbai
Diocese H. G. Geevarghese Mar Coorilos at a simple
function graced by the local luminaries and people
of Sahar Village, witnessing the fulfillment of a
long cherished vision of Andheri parish. |
|
Our Ambition: The
amazing progress that the Center has achieved in the
first one year gives enormous satisfaction to the
parish members. Started with one doctor and a staff
nurse, the Medical Center now provides for medical
aid to 40 to 50 patients a day by three eminent
doctors of post graduate specialization. Looking at
the steady progress of the Center, we feel there is
great scope in its development to meet the growing
demand for free medical aid to the poor. We plan to
house the dispensary in a more spacious
accommodation so as to organize it in a better way
besides adding a few more doctors to the medical
team. We also plan to conduct periodic medical camps
inviting eminent specialists. In short, we have
ambitious plans to upgrade the present dispensary to
a full fledged hospital in a phased manner. |
| |
|
