St. Peter's J.S.O.Church Bahrain

ST. PETER - OUR PATRON SAINT

Bahrain St. Peter's Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church is established in 1978 and is directly under the rule of Patriarch of Antioch & All the East.  However, since 1994 the Patriarch delegates a metropolitan from Malankara to oversee the administrative affairs of the Church.  A brief history of the formation of this Church in Bahrain is as follows:

The Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church members faced the schism in Church for the last one century regarding the authority of Patriarch of Antioch over it, which ended up with the unity of 'Patriarchal faction' and 'Catholicose faction' in 1964. The Catholicose faction re-started the schism in 1970's, which ultimately lead to the split in the Church. 

The developments in Malankara had an aftereffect in Bahrain also.  The Syrian Orthodox Church in Bahrain, which was constructed by members of the then united Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, on a plot donated to the Patriarch H.H. Ignatius Yacoob III by the then Amir H.H. Sh. Isa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa, was came under the possession of 'Catholicos group' members.  The Syrian Orthodox Church members left that Church and under the leadership of the late Fr. P. K. Babu Paraikulath, started a small prayer group at his home in November 1977 .  The spade work of the handfull members of that time gave fruits and eventually more members joined the prayer group and it grown exponentially.  The necessity of establishing a separate Church materialised by the grace of God Almighty, and in 1978 the prayer group got registration with the Ministry of Labour & Social Affairs as "Jacobite Syrian Christian Association & St. Peter's Prayer Group", with the right to conduct Church services under the name of "St. Peter's Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church".

The desire of the prayer group members to have a Holy Qurbano was satisfied during the visit of Rev. Fr. Varghese Puliyan (Now Corepiscopos) from UAE and the first Holy Qurbano was celebrated on the day of the feast of St. Gregorios of Parumala on 2nd November 1978.  By December 1978, V. Rev. Thomas Moothedam Ramban (The late Thomas Mor Theophilos Metropolitan) took charge of the Church as its first Vicar.  The regular services were started since then at the residence of Babu achen and the tireless efforts of the new Vicar brought Church membership increased day-by-day.

The Church was blessed with the Apostolic visits of Patriarch of Antioch & All the East H.H. Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Supreme Head of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church, in 1989 and 2003.  The late Catholicos Aboon Mor Baselius Paulose II and the present Catholicos Aboon Mor Baselius Thomas I also visited and blessed our Church in 1988 and 2004 respectively.  We remember with gratitude the paternal visits of our beloved metropolitans to this Church on different occasions.

St. Peter's J.S.O. Church celebrated its Silver Jubilee in 2003, with year-long programmes culminated with the Apostolic visit of Patriarch H.H. Ignatius Zakka I Iwas.  To comemmorate the Silver Jubileee, the Church executed several charity projects in Bahrain and all Dioceses of Malankara; like Marriage Assistance, Housing Assistance, Educational Assistance etc.

The Church celebrated its 30th Anniversary on 3rd October 2008, in presence of the Metropolitan In-Charge H.G. Geevargis Mor Athanasios and the Indian Ambassador H.E. Balakrishna Shetty. The Church is now located in Sulmaniya area in a rental property (Villa No: 146, Salmaniya Ave.), just opposite the Sulmaniya Medical Centre (SMC) Gate No: 1.  Its administrative activities are managed by an elected Managing Committee consisting of 9 members, including the Vicar, who is its President.  Our present Metropolitan In-Charge (since August 2004) is H.G. Geevarghis Mor Athanatius, the Assistant Metropolitan of Simhasana Churches (Manjanikkara & Kunnamkulam) and the present Vicar (since Feb. 2008) is Fr. Paul Mathew, Nallila, Kollam (Dist), Kerala.

ADDRESS:

ST. PETER'S JACOBITE SYRIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH,

P. O. BOX - 20417,

MANAMA, BAHRAIN.

TEL: 00973-17245432 & 39840243

FAX: 00973-17251476

E-Mail: stpeters@batelco.com.bh

Website: www.stpetersbahrain.org

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