Manarcad Church

Manarcad Church

Manarcad Marthamariam Cathedral (St. Mary's Cathedral), is a Jacobite Syrian Christian Church located about 10 km from the town of Kottayam in Kerala, India and a destination for people on annual pilgrimages seeking the blessings of the Virgin Mary.The practice of the eight-day fast (ettu nombu) and the celebration of the Feast of Virgin Mary's birth between September 1–8 every year form part of an ancient tradition that continues to attract millions of devotees. During fast days, hundreds of thousands of people from the far corners of the world come to Manarcad to seek the blessings of the Virgin Mary. During his 2004 apostolic visit, Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka II, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East and Supreme head of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church, elevated St Mary's to the status of 'Cathedral' and 'Universal Marian Pilgrim Centre'.

Read more about Manarcad Church:  History, Parish and Traditions, Stone Cross, Feasts, Administration, The Small Church and The Crosses, Prayers and Religious Ceremonies, Schools

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    He prayed more deeply for simple selflessness than he had ever prayed before—and, feeling an uprush of grace in the very intention, shed the night in his heart and called it light. And walking out of the little church he felt confirmed in not only the worth of his whispered prayer but in the realization, as well, that Christ had become man and not some bell-shaped Corinthian column with volutes for veins and a mandala of stone foliage for a heart.
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