Christmas has come a little early in Secunderabad as the colourful fairy lights twinkle from the belfry and the walls of the St Andrew’s Church. Nearly 75 years after the scattered Orthodox Syrian Christian community began to pray at the St Andrew’s Church in Secunderabad, the parishioners are preparing to celebrate the platinum jubilee coinciding with the Feast of St. Andrew marked on November 30.
“The platinum jubilee celebration is a sign of the parish’s journey and coexistence where there are two churches within the same premises. The day will be marked with a service where the message of Jesus Christ, including his crucifixion, resurrection and second coming will be shared,” said Fr. Bino Samuel, Vicar of St. Andrew’s Orthodox Church.
The church shares the compound with Mar Thoma denomination. The planned year-long celebration includes a range of ecumenical and charitable activities. Inside the church, there is a wall to wall woven-coconut coir fibre carpet where the parishioners sit during the service. “Valiyapally means big church in Malayalam. This is a huge hall because we have nearly 1,000 parishioners in addition to that a lot of the floating population of the denomination walk for the service,” says a spokesperson for the church.
