About Puthencavu Cathedral News in St.Mary's Orthodox Cathedral , Puthencavu P.O,Chengannur, Chengannur

Puthencavu St. Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral, a parish of Chengannur Diocese, is an ancient Pilgrimage centre of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church founded by St.Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ , in AD 52.

Due to the torment and aggression of Tipu Sultan and Pandy Army, many Christians began to flee from ancient Christian centers like Niranam, Kuravilangadu, Nilackal and started to come and dwell at Kadampanadu, Kanjirapally, Chengannur and later to Puthencavu and its surrounding places.They joined the Chengannur Pazhaya Suriyani Pally (Old Syrian Church) to meet their sacramental needs.The families who stayed in the eastern part of Chengannur found it difficult to access Chengannur when flooded heavily.They desired to have a place of worship at Puthencavu and prayed heartly and sincerely for its fulfillment .

Puthencavu is situated in the banks of Pampa River. It was known trade centre, centuries ago. More Christians started to arrive at puthencavu for their trade prosperity. Thus Puthencavu became a place where only Christians lived. The desire of having a place of worship in Puthencavu was made known to the Malankara Metropolitan MarThoma VI (H.G.Mar Dionysios the Great). A beautiful piece of land called ‘Puthenkalakunnu’ near the river bank was selected as the site for the worship place. H.G. Mar Dionysios the Great along with Mathu Tharakan went to Thiruvanthapuram and met the king Karthika Thirunnal who was pleased to allot the land for the place of worship. The first place of worship was built on the southern side of the existing church and now the same is situated in the Aramana building. According to some other versions, H.G. Mar Dionysius the Great purchased a plot of land belongs to Punnarattamatom on 26th Midhunam 968 ME, and constructed a place for worship and stayed there .

St. Andrews, known as the ‘Guardian Father’ of Puthencavu came to this place in 1678 before the church was constructed and he lived here, when MarThoma II was ruling Malankara Sabha. He propagated the Gospal and asserted the Christians faith. He went to Kallada near Kollam and stayed there and propagated the Christian faith there also.It was said that while taking bath at Kallada river , he slipped into the river and drowned . He was laid to rest at Kalladapally . The mortal remains of the Saint was brought from Kallada and buried at the western part of the Puthencavu near the tomb of his brother Ramban and later a chapel was built up there , known as St. Andrews chapel (KurisuPally). The feast of St. Andrews is being celebrated in the Church every year on 19th Kumbham with solemniety and gaiety .

Malankara Metropolitan MarThoma VI took the responsibility of building the church, laid the foundation stone for the church (Valiya Pally)on 17th Vrichikam 969 ME (29th Nov.1793) . Kayamkulam Philipose Ramban , who translated the Holy Bible in Malayalam was the co-celebrant and co –Priest . Though the construction work was stopped at certain stage, because of the obstruction from Hindus , the construction was restarted in 1796 with the permission given by the Diwan Rajakesavadasan. It is noticed that Niranam Pally donated 200 bushles of paddy for the construction work. After the completion of the construction work , a symbol of St Mary from Chengannur Pazhya Suriyani Pally and an unextinguished lamp from Niranam Valiya Pally were brought and Mar Thoma VI consecrated the church on 2nd Kumbham 970 ME (13th Feb 1795) and celebrated the first Holy Quarbana at the newly consecrated church and blessed the faithful.

H.G. Mar Dionysius I - the Great (MarThomaVI)left for Heavenly abode on 8th April 1808 at Niranam Pally and as per his last wishes he was entombed at the northern side of the “Madbhaha “ of Puthencavu Church . He ruled the Malankara Sabha for 43 years, out of which 11 years , he was keeping his head quarter at Puthencavu .

After the death of MarThomaVII , MarThomaVIII took the reign of Malankara Sabha keeping his head quarter at Puthencavu and ruled the church for 7 years . He was sick and went to Niranam for better treatment and left for Heavenly abode on 22nd Jan 1816. Since the Head Quarters of Malankara Church was at Puthencavu, his body was brought to this Church and entombed at the southern side of the “Madbhaha “ .

At the time of MarThoma IX , Protestent missionaries started to propagate their doctrines and as a result, groupism and disputes occurred in the Malankara Church. In the changed circumstances, MarThoma IX found it difficult to lead the Malankara Sabha from its Head Quarter at Puthencavu , he left for Kadamattom Church , where he died and entombed .

In 1843 Mathews Mar Athanasios arrived in Kerala and with the consent of the King, he came to Puthencavu, the Head Quarter of Malankara Sabha and took over the reign of Malankara sabha . He was encouraging the new doctrines of Reformist, which was opposed by many in Puthencavu. Certain people who were opposing Mar Athanasios built a church at Nellickal and after some time another set of people built Kutti Pally .

In 1875, the Patriarch Pathrose III arrived in Malankara and opposed the new doctrine of Mar Athanasios . His Holiness came to Puthencavu and stayed here. The members who were worshiping at Kuttipally gave a warm welcome to the Patriarch and returned to the Puthencavu Church and opposed Mar Athanasios thoroughly and that was the beginning of civil cases .

After the demise of Mathews Mar Athanasios in 1877, Thomas Mar Athanasios came as the successor. Cases had been filed to get all the churches and properties of Malankara Sabha , kept inpossession of Thomas Mar Athanasios in view of the Royal Courts order on Pazhaya Seminary . The civil case of Puthencavu Church is numbered as 391.

The Patriarch Pathrose III summoned a Holy Synod at Mulanthuruthy and to regulate the church Administration effectively , 7 diocese were formed and Puthencavu is included in Thumpamon Diocese and installed Parumala Kochu Thirumeni as its Metropolitan . As the court cases were not finalized Parumala Thirumeni could not enter the church . In 1890 in the light of out of court settlement, the reformist group built another church in Puthencavu and separated. The final verdict was infavour of Malankara Sabha .

In 1890 , a disciple of Parumala Thirumeni , Vadakkethalackal Thomma Kathanar from Mavelikara was appointed as the co- priest of the parish . He settled here and served the Parish. During his tenure, Malankara Sabah Bhasuran Vattasseril Geevarghese Mar Dionyios visited the church and to regulate the administration, a general body of the Parish was called and approved 12 Trustees who were elected and the tenure of each trustee was decided as two years and thus solved the problems for 24 years . The second son of Thoma Kathanar was chosen by His Grace for higher studies in Theology and consecrated him as a Metropolitan who is known as late lamented Puthencavu Kochu Thirumeni (H.G.Geevarghese Mar Philexenos) . He was given the charge of Thumpamon Diocese. Kochu Thirumeni left for Heavenly abode on 17th April 1951 and entombed at this church.

Puthencavu Cathedral is the only parish in Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church where three Metropolitans were laid to rest. This Parish hosted the historical Malankara Association in 1958, after the Supreme Court verdict and the two factions were united. Puthencavu Cathedral is the mother parish of several parishes in and around this place. At present the Cathedral has three chapels namely St Andrew’s chapel, St John’s chapel, St Gregorios chapel at Neervilakom. The Cathedral has 8 cross vaults (Kurisin Soudhams), an Auditorium, three halls , one Aramana. A Tri magazine called ‘Nuharo’ is being published regularly by the Cathedral. The parish had constituted an award in the name of MarThoma VI namely. MarThoma VI Award (Rs. 25000+Momentoe) to an eminent Malayalee who excelled himself in communal, social, cultural fields

The Diocesan Metropolitan H.G. Thomas Mar Athanasios , Very. Rev. Philipose Ramban, Rev. Fr. Dr. M.K. Thomas, Rev.Fr. N. S. Philip, Rev. Fr. K.G. Cherian, Rev. Fr. Mathew Thomas, Rev. Fr. K. M. Cherian, Rev.Fr. John Paul, Rev. Fr. Dr. Mathew Koshy, Rev.Fr. Thomas Joseph, Rev.Fr. Biju. T . Mathew, Rev.Fr. Joshua Abraham, Rev. Fr. Abraham Alexander, Rev. Fr. Abraham Thomas, Rev. Fr. Thomas Varghese, Rev. Sister. Saino, are from this Parish who are chosen by God for His Mission.