Little pearls from the Pearl Island -Part-3

Glory to the Triune God!

Church of St Paul the Apostle, Kynsey Road and Fr. Basil Jeyawardane (d.1958)- A close friend of the Malankara Orthodox Church.

Church of St Paul the Apostle, Kynsey Road, Colombo

Looking at the dome of church building adjacent to the Colombo National hospital, one wonders if they have encountered an Orthodox church in the city. This is the Church of St Paul the Apostle, Kynsey Road in Colombo, an Anglican church which celebrated 200 years of existence on September 18, 2016.

The construction of the St Paul’s Church was initiated by Rev Basil Jeyawardene in June 1930. The parish was originally located in a placed called Pettah in Colombo, where noise rendered the holding of the services impossible. In 1926, the decision was made to sell the church premises and use the funds to build a new church, in closer proximity to the homes of the people. On June 1, 1930 Rev Basil Jeyawardene assumed charge and addressed the very important need to construct the new Church at Kynsey Road.

Some preliminary thinking had already taken place and the general inclination was in the direction of a parish building modeled on traditional Gothic lines. However, Fr Basil did not favour this line of thought. Having examined many possibilities, they decided to adopt the Byzantine architecture based on the model of St Sofia Cathedral, in Istanbul Turkey. 
(Ref:  Rev Basil Jeyawardene, Church of St Paul the Apostle, Ceylon Today, December 1954, Vol III, No. 12, Page-23 and Church of St Paul the Apostle, Kynsey Road, Second Centenary Commemoration, 1816-2016, Pg-6).

The church built in Easter Orthodox style, has the priest facing the Altar during the Mass unlike the Anglican tradition wherein the priest faces the people. According to Rev Fr Dushyanta, the current vicar, the church didn’t have mics up until recently as the architecture supplemented the voices to be heard in the whole church.

Altar

Dome of the church

This parish did have a fruitful association with the Malankara Orthodox Church during the life and times of Rev Basil Jeyawardene. The magazines of Church of St Paul the Apostle note the following:

• A memorable occasion of such contact was the visit in October 1937, of His Holiness Baselios Geevarghese II, Catholicose of the East accompanied by Abo Alexios (later his Grace Alexio Mar Theodosius Thirumeni)- Abbott of the Bethany Monastery, Fr Matthew and deacon Koshy. The liturgy of St James was celebrated by Abo Alexios with the full majesty of the ritual of the Syrian church. It was an inspiring act of worship for the 360 persons who were present.

•  In June 1939, the parish was again honoured by the visit of His Grace Alexios Mar Theodosius Thirumeni, Bishop of Quilon/Kollam accompanied by Rev Fr Isaac and Rev Fr Mathews of the Syrian church. They joined the congregation of 16 priests and 327 lay persons in the Mass officiated by rev Fr Basil Jeyawardene.
• A year later, on 30^th June 1940- the Sunday of the Octave of SS Peter and Paul, St Paul’s parish had the pleasure of the presence of the His Grace Alexios Mar Theodosius Thirumeni on the occasion of a service celebrated by the Lord Bishop of Colombo the Rt Rev. Cecil D Horsley.

• After a lapse of many years the parish received yet another delegation from the Malankara Orthodox Church on Sept 15, 2015 led by His Grace Yuhanon Mar Diascoros Metropolitan along with few priests. They jointly celebrated the Holy Eucharist in the tradition of the Syrian liturgy assisted by Rev Jeyaraj (current vicar of St Thomas Church Gintupitiya) and Rev Cannon Joshua Rutnam, which was attended by parishioners as well as visitors.

The parish also remembers the services rendered by the Orthodox priest from India- Rev Fr KM Simon as a member of the Clergy staff from January 1941 to June 1944. During this period, he was for a short time the Priest- in -charge whilst Fr Basil was on an overseas holiday.

(Ref: Pg 22, Church of St Paul the Apostle, Kynsey Road, Fifty Years of Worship-1934-1984 and Pgs 29-30, Church of St Paul the Apostle, Kynsey Road, Second Centenary Commemoration, 1816-2016)

St Paul’s Kynsey Road was also visited by Russian Orthodox dignitaries- Archbishop Nestor and Archimandrite Nathaniel in 1937-38. As a dear friend of the Orthodox Church, Fr Basil Jeyawardene gave assistance to the Indian and Russian missions in Ceylon.

Vijaya Vidyasagara, noted Sri Lankan socialist and St Paul’s Kynsey Road parish member, who as a young child saw the visits of both the Indian Orthodox and Russian Orthodox dignitaries to this parish, states that it was Fr Basil Jeyawardene who secured the services of a Syrian Orthodox priest to look after the Independent Catholic church congregation (i.e. the community of Alvares Thirumeni’s mission in Ceylon) and Russian Orthodox community in times of need. 

(Ref;Vijaya Vidyasagara, Memoirs of a Christian and a Socialist, The Ecumenical institute for Study and Dialogue, Colombo, © 2016, Pgs 10- 12).

To be continued…

In Christ,

Rincy John

Link to Part-1 of the article is here.

Link to Part- 2 of the article is here.

Little pearls from the Pearl Island -Part-2

Glory to the Triune God!

St Thomas Church, Gintupitiya

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 5^th 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.

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.

Tombstone of Ondaatji family

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 17^th 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).

Notification at the entrance gate of the church

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.

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).

The chapel at St Margaret's Convent

Statue of St Margaret near the chapel.

To be continued…

In Christ,

Rincy John

Link to Part-1 of the article is here.