St Mary’s Church at Manarcad also known as Manarcad Marthamariam Cathedral is located in Kottayam District of Kerala . It is a Jacobite Syrian Christian Church . St. Mary’s Cathedral, Manarcad is the biggest church under the Kottayam Diocese of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church. The Church has always been an integral part of the Universal Syrian jacobite Church under the Patriarch of the See of Antioch.
There is a stone inscriptions in the church that says that the church was built more than a 1000 years ago. Archeologists have found out that these stone inscriptions were memorial stones set up at the tombs in 910 CE and 920 CE and the writing on them are in Malayalam and Tamil scripts prevalent 600 years ago.
Festival
The practice of the eight-day fast (ettu nombu) between September 1–8 every year and the celebration of the Feast of Virgin Mary’s birth form part of an ancient tradition that continues to attract millions of devotees. Devotees from all over the world come here to seek the blessing of Virgin Mary.
St Mary’s Church Feasts
- January 15 – A feast invoking the blessings of the Virgin Mary on agricultural seeds
- February 26 – Sunero Feast
- May 6 – Commemoration of St. George
- August 15 – Virgin Mary’s Ascension Day
- September 8 – The Feast of the Virgin Mary’s birth
June 27th, 2016 at 10:36 am
Well, nice article. But the pic shown here is not Manarcad cathedral though!!!!