St. Gregorios Orthodox Cathedral, Bangalore is an Orthodox Syrian Christian Cathedral located near Johnson market in Richmond town in Bangalore city, India. It is the only Cathedral for the Orthodox Christian community in Bangalore and known to be one of the oldest Orthodox Churches in the city.
The Church belongs to the Bangalore Diocese of Malankara Orthodox Church, which was founded by St. Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, who came to India in A.D. 52.
The cathedral was built around the year 1964. The parish has more than 800 families.
Origins
The cathedral was built around the 1960s when the Orthodox Christian community from Kerala was migrating to Bangalore in high numbers. Earlier, it was a church under the Diocese of Madras Diocese. Around the year 1993, the church was elevated as a Cathedral by Zachariah Mar Dionysius, Metropolitan of Madras Diocese. The Cathedral was renovated again in the year 2005.
The Cathedral was instrumental in developing the Bangalore Orthodox Diocese. It was here, the Metropolitan of Bangalore Diocese, Dr. Abraham Mar Seraphim, was officially declared as Metropolitan of Bangalore Diocese with the Sunthronito ceremony (Enthronement) on 27 March 2011 by Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, Catholicos of the East of the Malankara (Indian) Orthodox Church along with three other Bishops. Hence Bangalore diocese was officially declared as a diocese in this cathedral. The cathedral is officially the "Simhasana Pally" of the Bangalore diocesan Metropolitan.
As of 2016[update] Fr. Koshy Thomas and Fr. Jacob Thomas are serving as the vicar and asst. vicar of the cathedral respectively.
The Cathedral has three altars, the left one dedicated to St. Mary and the right one dedicated to St. Thomas. A school under St. Gregorios Cathedral has been functioning in Kengeri.
The Church is located near Johnson Market in Richmond town. A landmark near the cathedral is the Baldwin Methodist college.
Activities
The Cathedral has other wing organizations like Martha Mariam Samajam, Orthodox Christian Youth Movement, MGOCSM and other spiritual organizations. The feast of the cathedral is celebrated in the 1st week of November in the name of St. Gregorios of Parumala and the "Harvest festival" on 2nd week of November. There is a cross tower dedicated to"Parumala Thirumeni" and the holy relics of Parumala Thirumeni are interred here.
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (MOSC) also known as the Indian Orthodox Church (IOC) or simply as the Malankara Church, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church headquartered in Devalokam, near Kottayam, India. It serves India's Saint Thomas Christian population. According to tradition, these communities originated in the missions of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. It employs the Malankara Rite, an Indian form of the West Syriac liturgical rite.
The Malankara Metropolitan or the Metropolitan of Malabar is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. It evolved from the title of the sixteenth century East Syriac metropolitans of India who were also styled the Metropolitan of Malabar. Since the division among the Saint Thomas Christians following the Synod of Diamper, the title has been mostly employed in association with the West Syriac branch of the community, usually known as the Malankara Church, among whom the office of the Malankara Metropolitan became the continuation of the local dynastic Archdeaconate.
Gregorios of Parumala, also known as Parumala Thirumeni and Geevarghese Mar Gregorios, was a Metropolitan of the Malankara Church. Parumala Thirumeni became the first person of Indian origin to be canonised as saint. In 1947, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church declared Mar Gregorios as a saint, making him the first saint from India canonized by that church. In November 1987, the Syriac Orthodox Church canonized him as a saint.
Mar Gregorios Orthodox Christian Student Movement (MGOCSM) is the oldest Christian Student Organization in Asia. It is a spiritual organization of the Indian Orthodox Church, officially known as the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church for the student community. The MGOCSM headquarters is located in Devalokam, Kottayam, Kerala, India.
Mor Baselios Thomas I was a Syriac Orthodox prelate who served as the Catholicos of India (Maphrian) and head of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Christian Church. Enthroned on 26 July 2002 by Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas in Damascus, Syria, he led the church through periods of ecclesiastical and social challenge until his death in 2024.
Mor Gregorios Joseph is a Syriac Orthodox archbishop and currently the Malankara Metropolitan of the Syriac Orthodox Church in India.
Moran Mor Baselios Geevarghese II of the Malankara Church. Third Catholicos of the East in Malankara and 16th Malankara Metropolitan, was born to Ulahannan and Naithi of the Kallaserri family in Kurichi, Kottayam India on 16 June 1874.
Kannamcode Cathedral or Kannamcode St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral is one of the oldest churches in Central Travancore. The church belongs to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church under 'Adoor-Kadampanad' diocese. Kannamcode Cathedral is situated in Adoor, a town in Pathanamthitta district of the Indian state of Kerala. Adoor has a large population of Syrian Christians. Christianity in this locality has a tradition of more than a millennium and a half years, beginning from the village of Kadampanad. St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral, Kannamcode, a very old Church in central Travancore, has a history of approximately 900 years, belonging to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church under 'Adoor-Kadampanad' diocese. Kannamcode. At Kadampanad the age of early Christian community dates back to 4th century A.D about two centuries later than the arrival of St. Thomas on the Kerala coast. Prior to the building of this church, the Christian community had to depend on near-by churches - Thumpamon Orthodox Church and third Kannamcode Cathedral to full fill their Christian services and spiritual needs. The people had to walk quite a bit of distance to attend church services and return to their village and it appeared to be tedious. Upon getting necessary permission and support from the local Hindu kings of Kayankulam, at last, a church came into being then called Veerappallil Yakoba Palli", later renamed as Kannamcode St. Thomas Orthodox Church. The same church is presently known as Kannamcode St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral.
Geevarghese Dionysius Vattasseril, also Dionysius VI, Dionysius Geevarghese II or, popularly, Vattasseril Thirumeni, was a bishop of the Malankara Church and 15th Malankara Metropolitan. In 2003, Dionysius was canonized as a saint by the Malankara Orthodox Church, and his feast day is celebrated on February 23 each year. He is known as 'The Great Luminary of Malankara Church', a title which the Church bestowed on him in recognition of his contribution to the Church.
Saint Paulose Mor Athanasios, popularly known as Aluvayile Valiya Thirumeni, was the Metropolitan of the Angamaly Diocese and malankara Metropolitan of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church.
Baselios Marthoma Paulose II was the primate of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. He was ordained in 1973, consecrated in 1985 and enthroned as the 8th Catholicos of the Malankara Church and the 21st Malankara Metropolitan on 1 November 2010, succeeding Didymos I.
The Diocese of Delhi is one of the 32 dioceses of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.
St. Mary's Orthodox Valiyapally is an Orthodox Church, located in Gangamma Circle, Bangalore, India. It is one of the oldest Malankara Orthodox Syrian churches in the city.
Kadammanittapally in Kadammanitta, Kerala, India, is a parish church under Thumpamon Diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, named after St John the Baptist. Sacred footprints of Geevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala are claimed to be in the parish.
The Diocese of UK, Europe and Africa is one of the 32 dioceses of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church with its headquarters in London.
Geevarghese Mar Philoxenos aka Puthencavil Kochu Thirumeni was an administrator, orator and an advocate of Orthodox and the Catholicate of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of India. He served as Metropolitan of Thumpamon Diocese from 1930 to 1951.
Mor Gregorios Jacobite Students' Movement (MGJSM) is the student wing of Malankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church. It is a Christian student organization in India. The headquarters of MGJSM is located at Malankara Syrian Orthodox Theological Seminary of Ernakulam District in Kerala.
E. A. E St. Mary's Soonoro Syriac Orthodox Church, Meenangadi, is a Marian Pilgrim center of the Syriac Orthodox Church located at Meenangadi in Kerala, India. The church is under E.A.E Arch Diocese, the first missionary association of Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, and is currently under the direct control of Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church. In 2006, the church was elevated to the status of "Marian Pilgrim Centre", and in 2018, it celebrated its diamond jubilee. It is the first church to adopt the 8 Day Lent in Malabar Region.
St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral, Kadampanad, popularly known as Kadampanad Church is an ancient church of Saint Thomas Christians situated in the Central Travancore village of Kadampanad, in Pathanamthitta District, Kerala, India. This Church belongs to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church under the Diocese of Adoor-Kadampanad.
Martha Mariyam Cathedral or St. Mary's Church is a prominent Valiyapally of the Syriac Orthodox Church situated in Kothamangalam town in the Ernakulam district of Kerala, India.
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