St. Andrews Mar Thoma Church

HISTORY OF ST. ANDREWS MALANKARA MAR THOMA SYRIAN CHURCH

St. Andrews Mar Thoma Church was formed as the 5th Mar Thoma Syrian Church in the tri-state area. With the approval of the Mar Thoma Sabha Synod, the parish was officially formed on the 8th of November 1982. The inauguration of our Church was later held that month on the 20th of November.

From the years between 1988 and until 1991, 2/3 of our families relocated and helped form St. Peters Mar Thoma Church in New Jersey, St. Johns Mar Thoma Church in Queens Village, and St. James Mar Thoma Church in Rockland County. At present we have approximately 68 families in our church.

It was our ambition to acquire our very own church building. Keeping this in mind, we began raising money in order to accomplish this goal. By the grace of our Lord Almighty along with the hard work and financial support from our parish members and well wishers, we purchased a church building in July 1995. On the 27th of January 1996, Rt. Rev. Dr. Zacharias Mar Theophilus Episcopa, conducted our church dedication service and inauguration.

Throughout our parish history, we were honored to have received pastoral care from various servants of God. They are as follows: Rev. N.M. Cherian, Rev. T.O. Joseph, Rev. John Mathew, Rev. Oommen George, Rev. M. Varghese, Rev. Mathai Joseph, Rev. Oommen Philip, Rev. George Abraham, Rev. Kurian George, Rev. Dr. C.P. Mathews, and Rev. Johnson Varughese.

Presently, Rev. Johnson C. Jacob is serving as our Vicar and President of the St. Andrews Mar Thoma Church.

(An edited excerpt from a report written by Mr. Koshy Prakash)

HISTORY OF THE MALANKARA MAR THOMA SYRIAN CHURCH

History of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church - India

History of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church - USA