St. Mary's Orthodox Valiyapally

St. Mary's Orthodox Valiyapally (previously St. Mary's Orthodox Church) is an Orthodox Church, located in Gangamma Circle, Bangalore, India. It is one of the oldest Malankara Orthodox Syrian churches in the city.

St. Mary's Orthodox Valiyapally
The Church in July 2011
Location	Gangamma Circle, Bangalore, Karnataka
Membership	300 families
Website	www.stmarysjalahalli.in

The Church belongs to the Bangalore Diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Church, which was founded by St. Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ,who came to India in A.D. 52.

St. Mary's Orthodox Valiyapally is also the first Orthodox parish in Bangalore to have a Church of its own. The parish is made up of over 300 families till date.

Origins

The Church was started in January 1961, when a decision was taken to form an independent prayer group, under the leadership of Fr Thomas Moothedam. Later, the Asst. Vicar of the Trinity Church, Fr Kuriakose was rounded in to help. In 1964, a full-time vicar Fr. G. John (Fr. John Geevarghese) was appointed, and the Sunday School was started. Initially, services were being conducted in CSI Holy Cross Church. On 15 August 1966, actual construction of the church began, and was completed in a year. On 5 March 1967, the new Church was consecrated by H.H. Moran Mar Baselios Augen I, Catholicos of the East.

In the year 1977, an English Medium Nursery school was established with the sole purpose of imparting knowledge and inculcating the right values in the tender minds of the children.

Over the years, to accommodate the growing congregation, the existing church was beautifully re-constructed and consecrated on 14 and 15 August 1993 by H.G. Philipose Mar Eusebius. It has remained the same building till date.

The chapel at Mathikere, which was a part of St Mary’s Orthodox Church, was declared as an independent church, St. Gregorios Orthodox Church on 1 January 2001.

To facilitate the number of members from Dasarahalli, a new Church was built at Dasarahalli and was consecrated on 24 December 2006 in the name of Saint Dionysius of Vattasseril. The St. Dionysius Orthodox Church has been growing rapidly with close to 100 families with active membership.

Change of Title

The Interior of the Church as on 2011

On 25 January 2009, St. Mary's Orthodox Church was declared as St. Mary's Orthodox Valiyapally by the Kalpana of Bava Thirumeni by the then Diocese Bishop H. G Dr. Yakob Mar Irenaios.

Vicars

Parsonage at St Mary's Orthodox Valiyapally in use since 2013

Sl No.	Vicar	Service Period
1	Rev. Fr. G. John	1964–1967
2	Rev. Fr. T.M. George	1968–1969
3	Rev. Fr. M.T. Easso	1969–1976
4	Rev. Fr. Joseph Kalapurayil	1976–1977
5	Rev. Fr. Stephen Viramon	1977–1980
6	Rev. Fr. A.C. Koshy	1981–1982
7	Rev. Fr. George Jacob	1982–1984
8	Rev. Fr. Abraham Marret	1985–1988
9	Rev. Fr. P.M. Kuriakose	1989–1995
10	Rev. Fr. George Joy	1995–1997
11	Rev. Fr. P.C. Philip	1997–2000
12	Rev. Fr. John Varghese	2000–2003
13	Rev. Fr. Jiju Varghese	2003–2007
14	Rev. Fr. K.M. Jacob	2007–2010
15	Rev. Fr. Iype P Alex	2010–2013
16	Rev. Fr. T.K. Thomas	2013 - 2016
17	Rev. Fr. James Kuttykandam and Asst.Vicar Rev. Fr. Bino Samuel	2016 - 2019
18	Rev. Fr. Skariah Mathew	2019 - 2022
19	Rev. Fr. Santhosh	2022 - present

Special Events

Harvest festival is celebrated every year on 15 August, which also happens to be the Indian Independence day. It involves regular morning Qurbana followed by breakfast and bid function, and lunch in the later part of the day.

Good Friday, Easter, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve and New Year celebrations are also noteworthy.

The newly built tower at St. Mary's orthodox Valiyapally in use since 2013

Activities

The spiritual wing of the Church comprises

• The Sunday School
• Good Samaritan Project Aid
• MGOCSM and Youth League
• Martha Mariam Samajam
• Prayer groups

Present Vicar

At present, the vicar of the church is Rev. Fr. Santhosh Samuel, who has taken charge of the parish since 2022.

Latest developments

A new parsonage and prayer tower/endowment have been constructed and are in use since the beginning of 2013.

Occasionally, two morning Holy Qurbana services are conducted on Sundays.

References

• "St. Mary's Orthodox Valiyapally". www.stmarysjalahalli.in. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
• "St. Mary's Orthodox Church (Bangalore) - Bengaluru". wikimapia.org. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
• "Parumala Seminary, Malankara Orthodox Church, Parumala Thirumeni, Parumala Church, Parumala, Indian Orthodox Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Parumala, Parumala Pally, Parumala Palli, St.Peter's and St.Paul's Church Parumala, MOSC, IOC, MOC, Malankara". parumalachurch.com. Retrieved 6 June 2014.