Sunday, June 21, 2009

St. Stephen's Orthodox Church, popularly known as 'Kattanam Valiyapally' situated at the heart of Kattanam - A calm and cool small town at Bharanikkavu Punchayat, Alappuzha District in Kerala - is one of the prominent parishes of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. There are about 1000 families under the parish spread around Kattanam. The 175 years old church is a parish under the Mavelikkara diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. There are three 'Altars' in the church. The central one is dedicated to St.Stephen, our patron saint and the other two ‘Altars’ are dedicated to St. Mary and St. George. The church stands as a light house for the surrounding areas, showering blessings to the devotees.

Location: St. Stephen's Orthodox Church, Kattanam is about 7 km east of Kayamkulam Town, 9 km south of Mavelikkara Town and 19 km west of Adoor Town and stands beside Kayamkulam - Punalur state highway No. 5

About Malankara Orthodox Church

Official name of the Church 'Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church' can be explained as: ‘Malankara' is another name for Kerala, ‘Orthodox' is the category of Christian faith and tradition it follows (distinguishes it from the Roman Catholic and Protestant faiths), and ‘Syrian' comes from the Syriac language which was the liturgical language of the church for centuries. The church which St Thomas established remained as a strong community within Kerala for 19 centuries, without expanding itself to other parts of India. From the early parts of the 20 th century, as many people migrated to other parts of India, parishes started coming up all over India. As a result, the Church is presently known as Indian Orthodox Church. Now the Church has dioceses and parishes in most parts of India as well as in other parts of the world where Keralites are migrated. The Indian Orthodox Church (also known as Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Orthodox Syrian Church of the East), is a prominent member of the Oriental Orthodox Churches family. The Church traces its origins to St. Thomas the Apostle, who came to India in AD 52. St Thomas preached the gospel, established 7 parishes in Kerala in Southern India and ordained priests. Christian writers and representatives of the Churches, from the 4 th century refer to the evangelistic labours of St. Thomas in India, during the first century.

Faith and Liturgy
The Church, though modern in its vision and outlook, keeps the traditional Orthodox faith and liturgy. It accepts the first three Ecumenical Synods. In earlier days, the liturgy used by the Church was adopted from the Persian Church, which had to be abandoned at the Portuguese compulsion at the end of 16 th century. The liturgy now in use is the translation of the Syrian liturgy adopted from the Antiochian Orthodox Church in the 17th century. Today the Church uses Malayalam as liturgical language in Kerala, respective local languages in other parts of India and English outside India. The Indian Orthodox community inherited many aspects of Indian civilization and they are like any other communities in India, in their customs, manners and life style.
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