Description

St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral Dubai(STOC)today has emerged as one of the most prominent parishes in theMalankara Orthodox Church. The parish with a strength of more than3500, surges ahead day by day by the grace of the Almighty and theintercession of the patron saints, St. Mary, St. Thomas, St.Gregorios of Parumala and St. Dionysius.

St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral Dubai is affiliated to DelhiDiocese of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, with DiocesanMetropolitan H.G Dr. Yuhanon Mar Demetrios, Vicar Rev. Fr. ShajiMathew & Asst. Vicar Rev. Fr. Lany Chacko.

The first Malankara Orthodox congregation in Dubai wasofficially inaugurated on 2nd December 1968, by the then BahrainVicar Rev. Fr. K.K. Punnoose (L.L H.G Stephanos Mar Thevodosios).Initially the congregation was named St. Thomas OrthodoxAssociation, and weekly gatherings were conducted at the residencesof its members. Later on, as the membership increased, thecongregation began to gather at the Women’s Society Hall, situatedin Deira, near Fish Round About.

The Emirate of Dubai, then under the British rule, wasstrategically located in the Middle East, and was famous for itshistoric trading traditions. The oil boom in the 1960s and 1970senticed traders, visitors and job-seekers on a large scale, whobegan to settle in Dubai, the already established trading hub ofthe region. The steady influx of people from Kerala in thefollowing years made the number of Malankara Orthodox Churchmembers from Kerala, a large community in Dubai. As the membershipof the congregation steadily increased, the need for a formalchurch building became inevitable, and representations were made tothe authorities concerned in this regard.

The first Metropolitan to visit Dubai was H.G Thomas MarTimothios (H.H Marthoma Didimos I) in 1969. Later on, H.G MathewsMar Coorilos (L.L H.H Marthoma Mathews II) visited Dubai andrequested Dubai Ruler H.H Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum forland to construct a Church. Following that, H.G Mathews MarAthanasios (L.L H.H Marthoma Mathews 1) visited Dubai on 1972, andagain requested Dubai Ruler for land to construct a Church.