Episcopal Visit to Bhavanagar Mar Thoma Church

Dr. Geevarghese Mar Theodosius, the Bishop of Bombay diocese, visited the Mar Thoma Parish in Bhavanagar by travelling from Veravel on January 28, 2017. It was a six hours drive by road. The office bearers of the parish received the bishop in Bhavanagar and arranged his stay at the Government Guest House. Rev Suby Mathew Medayil, the Vicar, came from Rajkot.The Holy Qurbana service was on Sunday, January 29, 2017 at 9.00 am. The parish has only 9 families now. When it was recognized as a parish there were 35 families, who came to the place mainly because of the Indian Railways. They accured a place and constructed a place of worship about 17 years back. The adjacent plot is shared by the Orthodox Church who also has a place of their own.The service was attended by all the families of the parish and a good number of them participated in the Holy Qurbana.  There was a meeting after the service where the bishop spoke about the activities of the diocese and the need for everyone to participate in them. Senior citizens of the parish were honoured . There was a newly wedded couple who were congratulated. A student who passed the school final examination was given a prize.As there was no flight from Bhavanagar to Bombay on Sunday, Mar Theodosius went to Rajkot to board the flight in the evening at 5 pm. It was a four hours drive from there. The Episcopal visit was a blessing to the Mar Thoma Parish in Bhavanagar.With this visit, Mar Theodosius covered all the 60 parishes within the diocese within a period of 10 months. This enables him now to understand all the parishes and people in the diocese.

Diocesan Episcopa+