History
According to tradition, the forefathers of the church fasted and prayed for a holy place to pray and perform religious ceremonies for pilgrims. On the eighth day of prayer, they all had a vision. The holy fathers drew a parallel between the Virgin Mary and the 'Sakshipettakam' created by Mossaih according to the order of God. The circumference of this 'Sakhshipettakam' was 8 muzhams (around 12 feet (3.7 m)), a number equal to the eight salvation secrets of the Virgin Mary and her son Jesus Christ. Their vision was to build the church in a forest with a calf and cow lying down and where fish and deer could be caught in an area scattered with Acacia Instia and canes.
The stone inscriptions found at the church reveal that the church was built more than a 1000 years ago. Archeologists have found out that these stone inscriptions were memorial stones set up at the tombs in 910 CE and 920 CE and the writing on them are in Malayalam and Tamil scripts prevalent 600 years ago. The church was rebuilt on several occasions including during the 16th century when all churches in India were rebuilt in the Portuguese style. It is possible that the Manarcad church was reconstructed at that time using the Kottayam Cheriya Pally St. Mary s Orthodox Syrian Church and St. George Orthodox Church, Puthuppally as a model.
Read more about this topic: Manarcad Church
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