User talk:Renikuttan

History of St. Mary’s Orthodox Church, Begur
God’s ways are quite mysterious and unknown to man. The beginning and growth of St. Mary’s Orthodox Church, Begur is a fine example of His abundant grace and His beautiful plans for the people who love and worship Him. This is our humble Endeavor to document the history of our church. From the year 2001 onwards Hongasandra area in Bangalore started to become a favorite place of residence, especially for people from Kerala. By 2003 there were more than 35 Orthodox families residing in this locality. Since there were no nearby centers of worship for the Orthodox faith, many families started attending service in churches and prayer halls of other faiths to fulfill their spiritual requirements. Many of the families who had settled in Hongasandra, were members of St. Gregorios Cathedral, which was the Orthodox Church closest to them. There was a humble but fervent wish to have a church so as to attend Holy Qurbana in this area and so there was a continuous search for a suitable place.

Also, since Hongasandra at that time was part of Madivala ward, one of 12 wards of St. Gregorios Orthodox Cathedral, it was not possible to have regular monthly prayer meetings.

In 2003, after conclusion of the Madivala ward prayer meeting that was held at the residence of Mr. Samuel Mathew which was led by Rev. Fr. P. P. Jacob, Vicar of St. Gregorios Orthodox ,it was decided to start a separate prayer group in Hongasandra, to cater to the spiritual needs of orthodox families in the area. It was however evident that such a prayer group would not get the services of the Vicar.

All the families who were present were very enthusiastic and felt that it was a good idea. They decided to get the approval of the vicar for starting the Prayer Group. The heads of families present in the meeting were the following:

Samuel Mathew, P. K Joseph, Samuel P Varghese, Peter Sam, K.P. Mathen, Saju M Varghese, C.G. Rajan and K. Thankachan

The families approached the Vicar in this regard and obtained the necessary permission to start a prayer group in Hongasandra and to conduct weekly prayer meetings every Saturday subject to certain conditions. The Vicar also made it clear that he would not be able to attend the weekly prayer meetings.

Accordingly the Hongasandra Prayer Group came into existence and started conducting weekly prayer meetings in the residences of the members. A committee for conducting the meetings was selected as under:

Mr. C.G. Rajan (President), Mr. Saju M Varghese (Secretary) and Mr. Peter Sam (Treasurer)

The families who were regular in attending the meetings were 1.Samuel Mathew, 2. P.K. Kochukunjan 3. Thomas Tharakan 4. P. K Joseph 5. Peter Sam, 6. P.K. Mathew, 7. Samuel P Varghese, 8. John P David, 9. K.P. Mathen, 10. Saju M Varghese, 11. C.G. Rajan, 12. K. Thankachan, 13. Baby John and 14. Biju

During these meetings, songs, prayer, Bible reading and discussions on selected subjects were conducted. The group was also fortunate to have the services of guest speakers on certain occasions. The group was very active in doing charity work given their limitations and in helping the members of the prayer group in times of need. Various celebrations were initiated like Christmas, Onam etc. with cultural programs and love feast with food items brought from the houses of all the members. Christmas Carols were also organised every year and all the member families’ homes were visited.

After the success of the prayer group, the members became more enthusiastic about starting a chapel under the cathedral for conducting Holy Qurbana, at least once in a month in this area so that the orthodox families in the area attending the services of other faiths, could also be brought back. Search was conducted in areas adjacent to Hongasandra for purchasing a suitable plot of land for starting the chapel. The General Body of the Cathedral also gave its consent for this step. But by this time, the land cost in the area had tremendously increased and all the efforts for purchasing a plot got delayed due to the prohibitively high cost of land.

The next major milestone towards the beginning of the church occurred in July 2005. At the time of the Ward prayer meeting held at the residence of Mr. C.G. Rajan, after Rev Fr T.K. Thomas took over as the Vicar of St. Gregorios Cathedral, the matter regarding starting Holy Qurbana in Hongasandra was discussed in detail and Rev Fr. T. K Thomas encouraged the idea. The prayer group was instructed by the Vicar to search for a suitable place for conducting Holy Qurbana. Accordingly, some of the Prayer Group members approached the then Vicar and Managing committee of Holy Family church, Hongasandra. The Vicar Fr. Cherian Thunduparampil and the Trustee Mr. Mathew Mampra were very co- operative to the idea and agreed to allow us to celebrate Holy Qurbana in the Parish Hall of Holy Family Church, once in a month, on Saturdays. After fulfilling the necessary formalities such as giving an official request by the Vicar of the St. Gregorios Cathedral to the Vicar of Holy Family Church, obtaining formal approval from the General Body of the Cathedral and after getting approval from the Diocesan Metropolitan H.G. Yacoob Mar Ireneos, it was decided to celebrate Holy Qurbana on 8th October 2005.

Accordingly the first Holy Qurbana was celebrated on 8th October 2005, by Rev. Fr. T.K. Thomas in the Parish Hall of Holy Family church which was attended by V. Rev. C.M. Philipose Cor– episcopa, Rev. Fr. P.C. Philip, Rev Fr. John Peter, Fr. Cherian Thunduparampil and a large crowd of believers. The 2nd Holy Qurbana was celebrated by V. Rev. Yuhanon Ramban on 5th Nov. 2005 and the 3rd by Rev. Fr. John Peter on 3rd December. In March 2006, Hongasandra was made a separate ward of the Cathedral. Mr. Peter Sam was elected as the ward member.

Since Saturday was a working day for most of the members attending the Holy Qurbana, the Prayer Group tried to locate a place where it was possible to celebrate Holy Qurbana on Sundays. Some of the members approached Br. Xavier Alex, the Provincial of St. Francis ICSE School. Br. Xavier was very co- operative and in consultation with the Principal of the School, agreed to allow the group to celebrate Holy Qurbana in a convenient class room on Sundays. So Holy Qurbana was celebrated by Rev. Fr. T.K. Thomas in St. Francis School for the first time on 1st January 2006 at 6 PM.

Diocesan Metropolitan H.G. Yacoob Mar Ireneos entrusted V. Rev. Yuhanon Ramban (presently H.G. Dr. Joshua Mar Nicodimos, Metropolitan of Nilakal Diocese) with the responsibility of celebrating Holy Qurbana, in the new premises, twice a month. Rambachan very religiously followed the instructions of the Metropolitan and celebrated Holy Qurbana on the first and third Sunday of every month in consultation with the Vicar Rev. Fr. T.K. Thomas. Whenever he had to go out of station, he was very particular to arrange another priest to celebrate Holy Qurbana on scheduled days without fail. He also started spiritual organizations like Marthmariam Samajam, and Sunday school. Mrs. Leela Joseph was the Treasurer and Mrs. Molykutty Samuel was the Secretary for Marthamariam Samajam. Mr. Santhosh Varghese was the Head Master for Sunday school. Rambachan was very closely monitoring the activities of these organizations. Mrs. Ponnamma Rajan, Mrs. Annie Samuel, Mrs. Rosamma Raju and Mrs. Mariamma Mathen also served as the office bearers of Marthamariam Samajam of the chapel in subsequent years. Prayer meetings of Marthmariam Samajam were held in the residences of the members on every first Wednesday of the month. Sunday School was held after the Holy Qurbana.

The sacrifices made by the members for celebrating the Holy Qurbana on the scheduled days were commendable. The class room allotted for conducting Holy Qurbana, had to be cleaned and the temporary altar had to be set up on the previous Saturday evening so that Holy Qurbana could be conducted on Sunday. Most of the members were very enthusiastic in making these arrangements. Apart from this, the priest had to be brought from Cathedral or other places and Qurbana Appam had to be collected from cathedral. The church members acknowledge the services of all those who carried out these activities. We also acknowledge the help of Mr. Thomas Thomas, Sexton of the Cathedral and Mr. T.V. Varghese Accountant, Mr. V. T. Varghese and Mr. Biju Philip of the Cathedral and Mr. Rojan Philip for all the help extended to the chapel during this period.

After Rambachan completed his MDH course in March, 2007, Rev. Fr, M.M. Abraham was requested to help us in conducting Holy Qurbana. We gratefully remember the services of Rev. Fr. M.M. Abraham, Rev. Fr. Shaiju, Rev Fr. John Peter and Rev. Fr. Varghese P Idichandy, who celebrated Holy Qurbana on several occasions to ensure that there was no interruption in celebrating Holy Qurbana on the scheduled days. The cooperation extended to the Chapel by the authorities of St. Francis ICSE School, especially by Br. Xavier Alex and Br. George Provincials and Br. Charles, Principal by allowing us to celebrate Holy Qurbana, for a long period of 3 1/2 years without collecting any rent, is praiseworthy. The offertory collected during Holy Qurbana was remitted to the Cathedral and the honorarium for the priests celebrating Holy Qurbana, was paid by the Cathedral. This continued till July 2009.

In the mean time, the General Body of St. Gregorios Cathedral felt that it was necessary to purchase a suitable land for having our own Chapel. A lot of search and negotiations were conducted to finalize a suitable site for the chapel. The hard work done and cooperation extended by the Vicar Rev. Fr. T.K. Thomas, Treasurer Mr. Mathew Chandy ( Late), the Secretary Mr. Thomas David and the Managing Committee of the Cathedral, in searching and finalizing a suitable place, is very praiseworthy and will be remembered with gratitude by the St. Mary’s Church members, forever.

In 2006, M/s. Carmel Projects Private Limited was planning to develop a layout in S. Bingipura area and was negotiating for purchasing land for this purpose. Prof. Thomas Tharakan who was a Director of M/s. Carmel Projects Private Limited, after consulting with his co – directors, agreed to give a portion of the land required by us for the chapel at the same negotiated purchase price of the land for the layout. This proposal was placed in the General body of the Cathedral and the General body agreed to the purchase of 17000 sq. ft of land near the Main Road for a total consideration of Rs. 26.5 Lakhs. Accordingly a plot measuring 17000 sq.ft was purchased for a chapel by the cathedral on 31-1-2007 directly from the owner of the land. Rev. Fr. T.K. Thomas, Vicar and Late Mr. Mathew Chandy, Treasurer of the Cathedral signed the Purchase Documents on behalf of the Catholicate of the East and Malankara Metropolitan H.H. Mar Baselios Marthoma Didimos. M/s. Carmel Projects Private Limited constructed the compound wall for the plot purchased, free of cost. We gratefully acknowledge the help and co operation extended by the Directors of M/s. Carmel Projects Private Limited viz. Mr. Mathew Mampra, Mr. Thomas Kalari, Mr. Cherian Mampra and Prof. Thomas Tharakan

Immediately after the purchase of the land, the General body of the Cathedral felt that a chapel should be constructed in the plot so that Holy Qurbana of Begur chapel could be celebrated in its own premises. The foundation stone for the chapel was blessed by H.G.Yakoob Mar Ireneos on 25th Feb. 2007.