Image
His Holiness Moran Mar Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, consecrating the new St Mary’s Orthodox Church Ghala, Muscat. Photo: courtesy of Liju Cherian

His Holiness Moran Mar Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, consecrating the new St Mary’s Orthodox Church Ghala, Muscat. Photo: courtesy of Liju Cherian

His Holiness Moran Mar Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, Supreme Head of the Indian (Malankara) Orthodox Church, and Catholicos of the East, led the Holy Moron consecration ceremony of the new building of St Mary’s Orthodox Church in Muscat on 7 December.

Addressing a large public gathering after the ceremony, the Catholicos said the new place of prayers should be a “branch house of heaven” as every church is a bridge between heaven and the earth. He emphasized that the church is a place where the faithful can visit and share their worries and secrets in a private manner.
The consecration was conducted in two parts, the first held on December 7 beginning with evening prayers while the second part on 8 December began in the morning with fixing of the consecrated stone and concluded with a Holy Liturgy.

The Ghala Orthodox Church, named after St Mary’s, will be the fourth Indian Orthodox parish in the Sultanate. The other three are the St Thomas Church at Ruwi (Muscat), St George Orthodox Church at Sohar and St Stephen’s Orthodox Church at Salalah.
All churches in the Sultanate of Oman come under the Indian Orthodox Diocese of Ahmedabad.