Malankara Orthodox Church
Catholicate of the East The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church was founded by St. Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, who came to India in A.D. 52.
At least from the fourth century the Indian Church entered into a close relationship with the Persian or East Syrian Church. From the Persians, the Indians inherited East Syrian language and liturgies and gradually came to be known as Syrian Christians.
In the sixteenth century Roman Catholic missionaries came to Kerala. They tried to unite the Syrian Christians to the Roman Catholic Church and this led to a split in the community. Those who accepted Catholicism are the present Syro-Malabar Catholics. Later Western Protestant missionaries came to Kerala and worked among Syrian Christians; That also created certain splits in the community. In the seventeenth century the Church came to a relationship with the Antiochene Church which again caused splits. As a result of this relationship the Church received West Syrian liturgies and practices.
The Church entered into a new phase of its history by the establishment of the Catholicate in 1912.
At present the Church is using the West Syrian liturgy. The faith of the Church is that which was established by the three Ecumenical Councils of Nicea (A.D. 325), Constantinople (A.D. 381) and Ephesus (A.D. 431).
The Church is in communion with the other Oriental Orthodox Churches namely, Antiochene, Alexandrian, Armenian, Eritrean and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches. The Church is in good ecumenical relationship with the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches.
At present the Church has over 2 million faithful with 30 dioceses all over the world.
It is the yearning of every immigrant, who moves to a new country to continue their faith and traditions in their new homeland. Malankara Orthodox Christians began immigration to Canada as early as the 1960s and 70s and settled down in different provinces.
A good number of them settled in Edmonton, Calgary and other parts of Alberta. In the 80s, the Malankara Orthodox Christians in Edmonton, the capital city of Alberta, were able to establish a church in the name of the first canonized saint of Malankara Orthodox Church, St. Gregorios of Parumala.
The Calgary community, inspired by the establishment of the parish in Edmonton, organized more frequent prayer meetings at their homes in our tradition as time permitted. These spiritual gatherings progressed to occasional Holy Qurbana led by Clergy from Edmonton and other parishes in North America. This arrangement continued till 2000 when the Diocesan Bishop H.G Makarios, at the request of the community, directed the Edmonton Parish priest Rev. Fr. Lazarus to begin work towards establishing a dedicated congregation in Calgary.
On St. Thomas Day, December 21st 2002 the Calgary congregation was blessed to be elevated to a full-fledged parish in the name of St. Mary by the Diocesan Metropolitan. The occasion was graced by the presence of Clergy and laity from Edmonton and other local congregation including Ethiopian and Orthodox Church in America (OCA) The Parish continued to have monthly Holy Qurbana led by Fr. Lazarus and followed by Fr. Philipose Philipose from Edmonton. It officially came under the South West Diocese of North America in 2009 during the reorganization of Malankara Orthodox Dioceses. The parish which started off with about 10 families has now more than 100 families attending the Church, with more and more immigrants having moved to Calgary in the past few years.
The continual growth over the last decade warranted the need for a dedicated Spiritual father to nourish the life of the Parish. The Diocesan Bishop H.G Alexios Mar Eusebius appointed Fr. Binny M. Kuruvilla as a full time resident priest from August 15, 2010 to fulfill this role. The Parish is now blessed to have regular weekly Holy Qurbana service at a rented Church building with the last service of the month in English. Spiritual organizations continue to actively encourage and strengthen the participation in the sacramental life of the Church. Children and adults very actively participate in Sunday school, MGOCSM, Balika Bala Samajam and Morth Mariam Samajam respectively.
As the church keeps growing and to become firmly rooted in Calgary as an Orthodox Christian community accessible to all, the parish earnestly looks forward with prayers to owning a permanent place of worship.