Holy Innocents Church South Wales United Kingdom

The Church we know today commenced from all but a prayer group and congregations in the houses of our faithful and benevolent members. The first amassing was on 20/05/2009 The St. Thomas Prayer group in South Wales was far from becoming an independent church in the diocese when we first knew it. Our dramatic elevate to triumph was entirely dependent on the benison of the one true living God, as well as the constant assiduousness and strenuous exertion of all our members. Our congregation was composed as an accumulation of many people who had come to the UK for jobs in the tertiary sector and mostly healthcare. in order to continue our spiritual journey to Christ we needed a church to attend and a priest to guide us. Before we were an independent church; we were a component of the St. Mary’s Indian Orthodox Church in Bristol and our Qurbana was directed by Fr. Varghese Mathew. Fr. Varghese Mathew directed a Holy Qurbana once a month starting from 2009 in Swansea due to the great geographical distance which we had to travel. Due to our peregrinate issues we had sent a letter of request to His Grace Dr. Mathews Mar Thimothios in 2011. Our members had to travel approximately 60 to 180 miles in order to attend Holy Qurbana in Bristol. This posed a real threat to how many Qurbanas we could attend and our spiritual life. This fuelled our ever burning passion and desire to have our own parish in South Wales. This request was benevolently abnegated due to the construction of the new church for St. Mary’s in Bristol. Again, we applied with a humble request to the Metropolitan on September 2013. By the blessings of God, the Holy Innocents Indian Orthodox Church was born on October 2013. The proclamation and establishment was performed by our Diocese metropolitan HG Dr. Mathews Mar Thimothios at St Davids College, Cardiff. Our Metropolitan appointed Fr.Varghese John Mannacheril as our first Vicar who lead the first Qurbana on 13th October 2013. Fr. Varghese John Mannacheril was succeeded by Fr. Anoop M Abraham on November 2014 who is currently the vicar.

Even after our Church was established we were forced to celebrate our Holy Qurbana and Sacraments in rented halls; we were still missing a key element, a church where we could worship, a place to call our own. Through many attempts to find a suitable church, we were unsuccessful. However, we maintained optimistic and full of hope, trusting in the Lord. Life hit us hard as a congregation and it seemed like all the doors we being shut in our face, but this didn’t stop us. We trudged through the constant disappointment and failures to show that when one door closes another ten open. Thanks to the constant motivation and persistence of our congregation; eventually we found a suitable church. The Holy Innocents Indian Orthodox church, Briton ferry, Neath, Wales. The discovery of a church building which suited our every need came as a surprise to everyone. Hence, proving that God could never forsake us and is constantly guiding us through life with his presence. Currently our church is in the process of construction and we hope that we will be able to worship in it soon.