A century of faith, 1926–2026

The Beginning

From 28 cents of land to a cathedral

St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral, Ernakulam is a parish of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, part of a Christian community whose presence in Kerala is traced to the mission of St. Thomas the Apostle in 52 AD — one of the oldest continuous Christian traditions in the world.

The parish's own story began in 1922, when 28 cents of land on Park Avenue were acquired for a new place of worship in the growing city of Ernakulam. Four years later, on 6 October 1926, the first Holy Qurbana (Divine Liturgy) was offered on this ground — the moment the community now marks as its founding.

In the century since, the parish has grown from a single congregation into the mother church of several parishes across Ernakulam city, raising two chapels of its own — at Elamkulam and Chittoor Road — to serve families closer to home.

2026 marks the cathedral's centenary — a year of thanksgiving for a hundred years of worship, service and community in the heart of Ernakulam.