Renovated St Antony’s Jacobite Syrian Church being Consecrated on Jan 30 / 31

Mangalore Today

Mangalore, Jan.30: It’s a moment of celebration for the Jacobite Syrian community of the region when the St. Antony’s Jacobite Syrian Church, Jeppu in  Mangalore is celebrating its Holy Muroon Consecration Ceremony and  Annual Feast on January 30 and 31.

 

The renovated building of the Church today stands magnificently, much to the delight of the  members of the community. This is one of the biggest churches outside Kerala, with the main throne dedicated to St. Antony and others dedicated to St. Mary, St. George, St. Gregorios Chathuruthil and St. Ignatius Elias III.
The St Antony’s Jacobite Syrian Church, at Jeppu established in the year 1937 comes under the purview of the Honavar Mission and is under the direct and supreme leadership of His Holiness Moran Mar Ignatius Zakha I, the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, at Damascus in Syria.

 

 

The founder of St Antony’s Jacobite Syrian Church in Mangalore is Fr George Pinto, a Mangalorean by origin who is also the Founder of the Honavar Mission. The Mission is also running around 32 schools, orphanages and oldage homes in Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi districts under a registered organization named St Antony’s Educational Society.

After the demise of Fr George Pinto in Mumbai in 1954, Rev Jacob Kurikkal Cor Episcopa took charge as the Director of the Honavar Mission and even served the church in Jeppu. In the later years, Fr Philip Pallichera, Fr MP George (Now HV Geevarghese Mor Polycarpose) Rev Thomas Cor-Episcopa, Rev.  PJ Jacob Cor Episcopa (now HG Yacob Mor Antonios), Fr PK Abraham, Fr Kuriakose Kavanatil, Fr Jacob Markose (Now HG Markose Mor Christostamus) served as Vicars in the Church.

 

 

 

The management of the St Jacobite Syrian Church at Jeppu decided to go in for a renovation of the church building which was in a quite dilapidated state, in October 2005 and accordingly, the renovation began under the guidance of eminent architect Santosh John.

The Church since its inception has been giving due importance to charity and has never looked back in  extending financial aid to orphanages and old age homes apart from helping  education of poor students and extending monetary aid for the marriages of girls hailing from  economically backward families.

The developmental and charitable activities of the Church got a further boost after His Holiness HV Geevarghese Mor Polycarpose took charge as Director of the Honavar Mission.

 

Fr. Sunny John, Vicar                             Church Interior

The present Vicar Fr Sunny John has been serving the Church since 2003 and has been playing a pivotal role in the progress of the church. Isac EP is a senior member on the church management. It has as its Secretary, senior advocate AC Jayaraj., while Saliba Mathew, an engineer by profession is the Treasurer and Thomas VI is the Joint Secretary.

A public function to be held as part of the consecration at 5.30 pm at the Church grounds, will be presided over by His Beatitude Baselios Thomas 1 Catholicos of the East, Ernakulam. Oscar Fernandes, former union minister and AICC General Secretary, will deliver the inaugural address. Dr D. Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala, will release the souvenir, while  CSI Bishop Dr J S Sadananda of Karnataka Southern Diocese will release the parish directory.

Krishna J Palemar,  District Minister, Bishop Gee Varghese Mor Polycarpose of EAE and Honnavar Mission, Bishop Joseph Mor Gregonos of Cochin Diocese, Bishop Mathews Mor Ivanios of Kandanad Diocese, Mathews Mor Aprem, Assistant Bishop of Angamali Diocese, Grace Yacob Mor Anthonios, Assistant Bishop of Honnavar Mission,  Denis Moraes Prabhu, Vicar General of Mangalore Catholic Diocese, Yogish Bhat and U T Khader, Legislators and Vinay Kumar Sorake, former MP of Udupi,  will be the chief guests.

On January 31, His Beatitude Baselios Thomas will consecrate the altar and precincts, followed by Eucharistic Celebration with five Bishops and laity.  There will also be a  community lunch after 1 pm.

Prior to the ceremonies, on January 29, Assistant Bishop Yacob Mor Athonios of Honnavar Mission, blessed the Holy Cross at the Church.  Fr Ebi Elanganamattam of  Kerala, delivered a homily on the Holy Scriptures.