St. Thomas Orthodox Syrian Church , Kirkee

Reminiscence of our life and our activities in this historical city of Poona, goes as far as the early forties of this century. The second World war, the concentration of defence production, establishment of three Cantonments and a number of Government offices opened new vistas in Poona and our people came first for employment and later settled down here making Poona their home and abode. By the end of the War in 1945, Syrian Christians were in appreciable strength and their inclination to identify and practice their own spiritual pursuits realized when Rev. Fr. W.Q. Lash (later the Lord Bishop of the C.N.I., Bombay Diocese) the then Head of the C.P.S.S. Ashram at Shivajinagar, Pune – 4, showed keen interest in organizing the Syrian Christians and assisting them to set up common Malayalam Church Services. Priests belonging to the Orthodox Church from Kerala was invited to minister the congregation for a period of one year. This practice was continued for a period of few years. Rev. Fr. Lash was a great admirer of Syrian Christians of Kerala. His appreciation was mainly due to the fact that we are one of the ancient Churches of the world, established in AD 52 by one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ and have the unique distinction of an unbroken Apostolic tradition in our faith and worship all through the centuries.

In 1951, the Syrian Christian Malayalam congregation ceased to function as a united entity and established as Orthodox Syrian Christian, Poona. His Grace W.Q. Lash (formerly Rev. Fr. Lash) was generous to give his consent to conduct Holy Services in All Saint Church, Kirkee and St. Paul’s Church, Poona. Residential accommodation were also provided to our Priests at the CPSS Ashram, Shivajinagar. From the same year Orthodox Syrian Church functioned from Kirkee and Poona with the blessings of our Catholicos, the late H.H. Moran Mar Basselius Geevarghese II, His Holiness appointed Rev. Fr. Thomas Muthedom as our first Vicar. Regular holy services were performed at Kirkee and Poona on alternate Sundays. Our parish grew in strength and its members lived almost every where in Poona city, its suburbs and far away places like Lonavla, Dehurod, Hadapsar, Kothrud, etc. and the need to have two Parishes and sub centers was increasingly felt for proper administration and to effectively cater to the spiritual needs of our people with separate Vicars for the two Parishes.

In 1973, our Catholicos, H.H. Moran Mar Basselius Marthoma I issued Kalpana establishing Kirkee and Poona centers as two separate Parishes.

St. Thomas Orthodox Syrian Church Kirkee established in 1973 continued to function at All Saints Church, Kirkee. The C.N.I. Bishops were magnanimous in allowing different Christian denominations to use the All Saint Church, allotting different timings. With the growth of the Parish both numerically and geographically, our members felt it imperative to have its own accommodation so that they can worship at their own convienience.

With constant efforts of some enlightened members assisted by other Parishioners, our Parish has been able to obtain a piece of land behind Kirkee railway station from the Ministry of Defence, Government of India in 1983. Construction of the Church building commenced when on 6th November 1986 our Diocesan Metropolitan, the late H.G. Dr. Philipos Mar Theophilus laid the foundation stone of the Church building. Within a year the super structure of the Church building was complete. On 12th April 1987, our Metropolitan, the late Dr. Philipos Mar Theophilus conducted the Palm Sunday service in this building. On Monday the 21st December 1987 our parish celebrated St. Thomas Day. On 25th December 1987 Christmas was celebrated in the new premises, still incomplete. The construction work was virtually stopped for two years i.e. 1987and 1988. in 1989, the brick work and plaster of the Church building were taken up. Not much could be done due to paucity of funds. Remains works were taken up only in October 1992. Parishioners Prayers and humble donations all these years showed positive results. The Church in its present form and shape is the gift of God. On 19th and 20th February 1993, the consecration of the Church building at the hands of our Metropolitan, the late H.G. Dr. Philipos Mar Theophilus, assisted by our Assistant Metropolitan H.G.Geevarghese Mar Coorilos and the Metropolitan H.G. Thomas Mar Asthanosius and our Parish Vicar Rev. Fr. Joshua John brings us the most glorious occasion of the St. Thomas Orthodox Syrian Church, Kirkee.

We, the Parishioners, sincerely believe that our dream to have our own Church would never have become a reality if our metropolitan, the late H.G. Dr. Philipos Mar Theophilus did not take the lead in every way. We gratefully acknowledge and remember the grate help His Grace has been given to us, financially, intellectually and through physical supervision guiding us at every stage of the work. His Grace even at His old age visited the Parish