The St. Mary’s Indian Orthodox Church of Boston is pleased to announce that we have acquired a church building at 65 Great Road (at the intersection of Routes 117 and 62), in Maynard, Massachusetts on April 11, 2003. The sanctuary can hold up to 200 people with separate function hall, kitchen facilities, plus a beautiful, large, tree- lined backyard overlooking the Assabet River. This property is centrally located for its members and large enough to have a parking lot, a project the building committee is working on.

This parish, a part of the American Diocese of the Indian (Malankara) Orthodox Syrian Church is one of the oldest parishes in America. During 1960s several church members came to Boston for higher studies and in the 1970s more professionals migrated leading to the establishment of a parish in 1973. Several priests rendered their services to the faithful over the years and this parish remains united worshipping together and keeping the faith and traditions of the Church. During the last 30 years, we used rental space from various church denominations and colleges. The parish members have worshipped at the Espousal Center, a retreat center in Waltham, MA during the last several years.

We conduct regular worship services on Sundays and other important festival days. We have an active Sunday school and other spiritual organizations (Students movement, Ladies forum, and Prayer groups). The patron saint of this parish is Saint Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ and we celebrate our Church festival during September 1-8 every year. We conduct regular activities to promote both the spiritual as well as cultural / recreational interests of our membership especially our children and young adults.

The founder of our Church is Saint Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ. Saint Thomas came to Kerala (India) in A.D. 52 and we celebrated 2002 as the 1950 th anniversary year of our Church. His Holiness Baselios Mar Thoma Mathews II is the head of our church headquartered in Kottayam, Kerala, India. His Grace Mathews Mar Barnabas is our Diocesan Metropolitan and His Grace Zachariah Mar Nicholovos serves as the assistant Metropolitan. The American Diocese is one of the 26 dioceses of our Church and it celebrates its 25 th anniversary in 2003.

Rev. Fr. K.G. Philipose is the Vicar / President of this parish who is a native of Venmoney in Kerala, India and has served this parish since 1977. This parish had 5 families in 1977 and currently we have 47 active families. Fr. Philipose currently serves as the Diocesan Secretary of the American Diocese and as a Commission member of the Massachusetts Commission for Christian Unity.

November 25, 2002 marked an important milestone in the history of the St. Mary’s Indian Orthodox Church of Boston for the acquisition process of the Maynard property. On Sunday December 15, 2002 during a brief ceremony, after the Holy Eucharist, fundraising activity was officially kicked off. Mr. T. M. Jacob, the Building Committee Convener bought the first raffle ticket from Fr. Philipose. Fr. Philipose presented a check towards the building fund to Mr. James Samuel, the Treasurer of the Parish. The parish members are actively involved in the fundraising activities through lump-sum contributions, raffle tickets, candy sales, personal loans, collections from friends and well wishers, etc. The acquisition process was completed on April 11, 2003 when the property deed was transferred from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to the St. Mary’s Indian Orthodox Church of Boston. The Building Committee is planning a public celebration of Consecration and Dedication of the new place of worship on September 5-7, 2003.

We thank everyone who supported us to make this happen and request your prayers and financial support to make “building our future” complete and for a quick and smooth transition during the early week of September 2003. Your tax-deductible contribution payable to “St. Mary’s Indian Orthodox Church Building Fund” may be sent to St. Mary’s Indian Orthodox Church of Boston, Inc., 16 Gregory Street, Waltham, MA 02451. For further information, please contact: Rev. Fr. K.G. Philipose (781-899-6554), Mr. T.M. Jacob (781-245-1109), Mr. James Samuel (508-624-7154), or Mr. Binoy Samuel (781-272-3025).

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