SFA parishioners visit Syrian Orthodox Church

A busload of parishioners from the Church of St Francis of Assisi (SFA) visited the Orthodox Syrian Cathedral of St Mary the Theotokos, in Brickfields on Saturday, July 23.

Aug 04, 2016

KUALA LUMPUR (Herald Malaysia): A busload of parishioners from the Church of St Francis of Assisi (SFA) visited the Orthodox Syrian Cathedral of St Mary the Theotokos, in Brickfields on Saturday, July 23.

Accompanied by parish priest Fr Andrew Manickam OFM Cap, the visit was organised by the Parish Ministry of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (PMEIA).

The visitors were welcomed by Rev Fr Philip Thomas and some church members. The Syriac Orthodox Church also known as the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Syriac Orthodox Church belongs to the Oriental Orthodoxy, which has been a distinct church body since the schism following the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. Its roots are from the first Christian communities in Antioch in AD 37, described in the Acts of the Apostles (New Testament, Acts 11:26) and established by St Peter the Apostle.

The Orthodox Syrian Church in Malaysia comes under the episcopal jurisdiction of the Indian (Malankara) Orthodox Church’s Diocese of Chennai.

Syrian Orthodox migrant workers from India formed the first organised groups that met to worship in the Young Men’s Christian Association, Kuala Lumpur in the 1920s.

Rev Fr Philip Thomas was ordained as the first Malaysian Orthodox priest on May 6, 1984, . In 1987, another Malaysian, Rev Fr Abraham Oommen, was ordained. On March 1, 2009 onwards he was named the Metropolitan of Sultan Batery Diocese as H.G. Abraham Mar Epiphanios.

Apart from weekly Holy Qurbana Services, which are held in Malayalam and English on alternate Sundays, members also meet for prayer meetings and Bible study classes. Sunday school classes are held to nurture children in the faith.

The visit closed with a Q & A session followed by the closing prayer.

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