Glory to the Triune God!
St Thomas
Church, Gintupitiya
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| St Thomas Church, Gintupitiya |
Perched
on a hillock near the busier and more famous St Anthony’s Church Kochchikade
(this is one of the churches which was affected by the 2019 Easter attacks), St
Thomas Church Gintupitiya stands as a simple, silent and an unwavering witness
to the Christian history in Sri Lanka. The current church is an Anglican one
and is also the first Anglican church to be built in Sri Lanka. This parish
celebrated the 200-year anniversary in 2015.
Dedicated
to St. Thomas and patronized by the Anglican community lead by the Ondaatji
family and the Colombo Chitty population, this church crowns the hill at
Gintupitiya, one of Colombo’s most degraded suburbs at present. (Nilan Cooray, Pg-9,
Quarterly tours no.20, National Trust Sri Lanka, 2011, accessed online).
The present
church was built on the existing site of the ruins of the Roman Church, which
in turn was said to have been built on the foundations of an earlier church of
the Persian Christians. Quoting the Portueguese priest Fr Fernao de Queyroz’s
work in ~17 century- “In the suburb of Colombo, the church of the Apostle St
Thomas, where resided the father of Christians, there was preserved a small
column stone- one of which the glorious Apostle worked with his own hands”. (Ref:
Frederick Mendis, St Thomas Church Gintupitiya magazine commemorating 200 years
of this church).
The current
vicar Rev Jeyraj informed us that a Persian cross of 5th century was
discovered first in this church but the whereabouts of this cross is now
unknown.
Frederic
Mendis further states in the same article that after the Dutch invasion (succeeding
the Portuguese), the Roman church at Gintupitiya fell into ruins but the
churchyard continued to be used for three small cemeteries- one for slaves, one
for natives and one for heathen. It was probably at this time the name ‘Santhomepitiya’
(plain of St Thomas) was changed to Gintupitiya (plain of the heathen). With
the advent of British, the Tamil/Malabar Christians following the Anglican
tradition submitted a petition to reconstruct this church. The governor Sir
Robert Brownrigg readily granted their request.
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| The holy Altar |
This
Anglican church has some interesting and unique aspects. Firstly, the holy
Altar is on the farther end and not closer to the congregation meaning, during
the Mass, the priest faces towards the Altar. This is unlike the Anglican tradition
where the priest faces towards the people during the Mass with the Altar being
closer to the congregation. Rev Jeyraj told that while constructing the present
church they didn’t alter the worship architecture of the church in ruins.
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| Tombstone of Ondaatji family |
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| The ruins of earlier cemetery |
The ruins
of the previous cemetery still exist in the church compound. One of the
tombstones stated the name of Ondaatji family. Rev Jeyraj stated that they are
amongst the prominent and notable families of the 17th century and
might have had a history with the Orthodox church in the past (considering that
St Thomas Christians existed before the arrival of Portuguese in Sri Lanka).
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| Notification at the entrance gate of the church |
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| With Rev Jeyraj and family |
St
Margaret's Convent Colombo.
Located in a quiet neighborhood at Hudson Road is the St Margaret's Convent. There is a
little history of Malankara Orthodox Church associated with this convent.
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| His Grace Alexios Mar Theodosius Thirumeni (of blessed memory) |
On June 29,
1940, His Grace Alexios Mar Theodosius Thirumeni (of blessed memory) started a
convent (at Bethany). In establishing the convent, Thirumeni took the help of
Margaret sisters of Ceylon. The first batch of nuns consisted of TK Thankamma
(Thekethayil, Thevelakara), CZ Annamma (Churulukuzhiyil, Vennikulam) and KA
Dinamma (Kurudamannil, Ayroor) who had their training in Ceylon. (Ref: pg- 478,
The Orthodox Church of India, David Daniel, New Delhi, 1986).
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| The chapel at St Margaret's Convent |
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| Statue of St Margaret near the chapel. |
To be
continued…
In Christ,
Rincy John
Link to Part-1
of the article is here.
