The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church was established in A.D. 52 by St. Thomas, one of the disciples of our Lord. Our parish falls under the jurisdiction of our mother Church in India and has the foundation of the faith and traditions from the Holy Scriptures and the teachings of the Holy Fathers. The head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church is the Catholicos and Malankara Metropolitan, His Holiness Moran Mar Baselios Didymus I, the 90th Successor to the Apostolic Throne of St. Thomas. The Holy Episcopal Synod (which consists of all the Bishops of the Church) has appointed His Grace Mathews Mar Barnabas as the Metropolitan of the American Diocese and His Grace Zachariah Mar Nicholovos as the Assistant Metropolitan.

The Holy Qurbana (Eucharist) is celebrated every Sunday and on all obligatory days in our Church. Our Church was established 34 years ago on the Feast of Mar Gregorios of Parumala (one of the Canonized Saints of the Church) and given the name St. Mary’s Orthodox Church to honor the memory and ask for the intercessions of St. Mary, the Mother of our Lord.

It was a coincidence that on November 2, 1972, on the Feast Day of Mar Gregorios of Parumala (His Grace Geevarghis Mar Gregorios), the first Holy Qurbana was celebrated at 1800 Grand Concourse. Thus the Bronx Church was started. It was named St. Mary’s Orthodox Church, Bronx, New York and the Metropolitan of the outside Kerala Diocese was duly informed of all these developments. In the early stages, St. Mary’s Orthodox Church had to face strong opposition from the outside. But its acceptance by the Mother Church in 1974 by the order number 89/1974 from the Metropolitan of the outside Kerala Diocese (the late Senior Catholicos) gave it a firm footing in which the parish began to grow. By the same order, our vicar, Fr. A.K. Cherian was appointed as the first Vicar of the Bronx parish. In the mean time, the parish had also been registered with the State of New York.