cybernoon.com
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Armenian Church’s dwindling members cause concern
Malankara community steps in to revive Fort’s St Peter’s Church
Situated in the bylanes of Fort, within a stone’s thrown of the Bombay Stock
Exchange, stands St Peter’s Church, the temple of prayer for the Malankara
community. Unfortunately, however, the religious community is threatened by
extinction in Mumbai as it’s presently left with only three members who use
this church. To maintain the divinity, its present members are on the
lookout for the right people to undertake the spiritual responsibility to
take over as its future torchbearers. Sunny Perirayam, a Malankara orthodox
Christian and former president of the Young Men’s Christian Association
(YMCA) is one of the few who took it upon himself to rejuvenate the Armenian
Church.For the uninitiated, the Armenian Church is an independent Christian
church, also known as the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church. Its head is
the Catholicos who resides at Holy Etchmiadzin, near Yerevan, the capital of
Armenia. St. Peter’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Fort is the only church of
this community in Mumbai. Says Sunny Perirayam, “This church is a very old
church built in 1892. The structure was loose and in need of immediate
attention. It was Zabel Joshi’s daughter, an architect, who renovated the
church. It’s a small church, but indeed an immaculate one. There are people
who believe that this church is leased out to us. Please note that, this
church is just given to us to conduct holy services rather let it face
extinction. They are Armenian orthodox, while we are the Malankara Orthodox
people. So it’s by an understanding that we are servicing the church.”
Incidentally, relations between India and Armenia date back to over 2,500
years, with evidence of an Indian community in Armenia during the fifth
century BC. Armenian theologist Yeghishe (fifth century) refers to the
“Hindu language” as musical. Although some experts claim the existence of
this community on the Malabar Coast in the seventh century, the first
recorded visit is that of Armenian trader Thomas Cana who reached the
Malabar Coast in 780 AD. Cut to the present. Nuvart Mehta, one of the three
members of this community, attributes the cause of extinction of the
community to migration of its young members.”When I came here in 1952, we
had 30 members. But finally figures started dropping as some young members
left for Canada, Australia and the US. Earlier this church was in bad shape
and had to be rebuilt. Now this has been properly taken care of by the
Malankara Christians. Every Sunday, they have regular services in our
church. Now I don’t know what will happen to it after us.”
T.P. Mathew, a senior member of the Malankara Orthodox Christian community,
said, “This church is a very old heritage structure and a very divine place
to conduct a mass and attracts people because of its serenity. Surely, the
atmosphere of this church will bring the essence of Armenia. It is great
work by Sunny and certain people to bring liveliness back into the
church. Many churches in Mumbai are facing extinction and someone has to
come forward to save such structures of beauty