Launching of Mar Elia Cathedral website by HH Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, Catholicose of the East and Malankara Metropolitan
Launching of Mar Elia Cathedral website by HH Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, Catholicose of the East and Malankara Metropolitan
Mar Elia Cathedral, The Cathedral of His Holiness the Metropolitan of Malankara and Catholicos of the East was established in 1896.
Mar Elia Cathedral is a historic centre of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church located in the heart of Kottayam. Originating as a student chapel attached to M D Seminary, it developed into a parish in 1937 and was declared a cathedral in 1966. The parish currently serves approximately 3,000 parishioners in about 850 families, maintains active spiritual and social ministries, and continues to contribute to the educational, cultural, and civic life of the region.
In the late 19th century the site where church now stands was a 20 acre estate known as Woodland Estate, with a bungalow at its centre in the heart of Kottayam. The property belonged to a foreign national, Mr. Hue Crafort, who sympathised with the growth of Christianity and sold the estate in Kolla Varsham 1064, Thula masam 24 (AD 1888) to the Nasraani Jaadhiyka Sangam (United Christian Group), a joint Christian fellowship led by His Holiness Pulikottil Joseph Mar Divannasios II and the Catholic priest Nidhirikkal Mani Kathanar. The tract was later known as the M. D. Seminary Compound.
